Updated: Apr 4, 2023
Daffodils always make me think of spring! My birthday is in March, and this is the birthday flower for the month. I always looked forward to seeing these First flowers of spring popping up--a small glimpse of hope that winter is ending. Follow along and make this sweet flower envelope with me!
Happy Lettering!
Carrie
Hi friends! I'm excited to share this tropical leaves envelope with you today! Drawing leaves and flowers is one of my favorite things to do, so this envelope was just pure joy for me! I hope you love it too and if you make and send one, I'd love to see it!
Let's get going!
Materials needed:
1 white 5 x 7 envelope
Pencil
Ruler or straight edge
Markers:
I used: Tombow Dual Tip - 173, 947, 743, 245, 133
(also used but not pictured- N75)
Michaels' Artist's Loft - Sage
Now we need to draw the rectangle we will be adding our tropical leaves around! Follow the guidelines below: top margin is 2 inches, right margin is 1 inch, bottom margin is 1/2 inch and side margin is 2 inches. Remember that I am using a 5 x 7 sized envelope. If you are using a smaller or larger envelope, you may need to scale the rectangle so it fits better.
Now we will start sketching. Here's some options to get you started!
How I find it easiest is to draw one large leaf on each side (except the bottom margin.) This gives you a visual to start and then you can fill in around the large leaves.
Then just keep going, adding different leaves and layering them. If you finish a section and something doesn't look just right, erase and add in something different! The beauty of this style of envelope is that is is whimsical and not perfect. Allow yourself some grace (all you perfectionist friends of mine!)
Close up of what the overlapping elements look like! Layer, layer, layer!
Now the colors! Start filling in with the greens. I used both the brush side and the felt tip side of my Tombows to add details and outlines. Have fun with color combinations!
Now you're ready to add the name and address!
Audrey below is a little over an inch tall, using 3 markers to blend. I started with the pink, put a bottom blend of brown and a top blend of orange. I then used the N75 netural gray for a shadow next to each letter. To keep the rest of the lettering simple, I chose to just do block letters for the last name and the two address lines. But of course you can add your own flair!
Stick a stamp in the corner, write a cheerful note to put inside the envelope and send that Happy Mail off! Yay!
I'd love to see your finished Happy Mail! If you post on social media, remember to hide part of the address always or make an extra envelope with a fake name and address to share. Tag me @sparrowlettering on Facebook or Instagram and use the hashtag #sparrowletteringhappymail so I'm sure to see them!
April is just a DIY Happy Mail month (no official matches.) Feel free to send to your nursing home match from previous months. We will have new matches in May!
Spreading joy always,
Carrie
Hi friends!
We have a fun envelope tutorial for today! My kids and I loved watching the live landing of the Mars Rover Perseverance. What an amazing thing to see! So in honor of that landing, here's some galaxy lettering!
Supplies I used:
White envelope
Ruler
Pencil
Crayola markers (or brush lettering markers such as Tombows)
White gel pen (or white paint with small brush OR white opaque paint pen)
I made a video to show you step by step! Watch it below!
Here's the steps in order:
Using a ruler, mark your lines on your envelope. I am using a standard A7 envelope that fits a 5 x 7 card. This means that the envelope is 5.25 by 7.25 inches. Please note that if you are using a different sized envelope (which is fine,) you'll need to adjust these lines to fit your envelope.
For the first name line (in this example NEIL), I drew a top guideline and a bottom guideline, about 1.75 inches apart. The reason we mark a top and a bottom, is that it is really hard to keep your letters the same size when doing block lettering. A top and bottom guideline helps with that A LOT! After you draw that first set of lines, then draw three more lines, a little over half an inch apart. To be honest, I've drawn lines on envelopes so much, I just eyeball the spacing. You just want them to be equally spaced apart.
2. Pencil in your block letters. Because Neil has 4 letters, I lightly drew in four equally spaced boxes across the top space. Then, inside each block, I drew in my block letters. (The video explains this part!) Erase any stray lines around the letters.
3. Galaxy Letter time! I used black, purple, pink and blue to make these galaxy letters. Start with the black, and trace the tops of each of your block letters, then fill in the tops of each letter, about 1/3 of the way down. Then, color a line with your purple marker, making sure to blend the black into the purple. Follow with a thin line of pink, then finish the bottom of the letters with blue. Make sure you trace the bottom of each letter with the blue marker.
Next, use your white gel pen or small brush and paint to draw some dots to represent the stars in the sky. I drew dots in each of the colors except the blue. You'll see in the L above, that I drew a crescent moon, and a little tiny Saturn in the I. Be creative!
Use your black marker to carefully trace around each letter to make the lines crisp and clear.
Last step (optional), use your white gel pen to draw a thin line on the inside of each letter to really set it off.
4. On the next line, write the last name for your envelope in cursive, alternating colors. Remember if you've taken a lettering class from me, you'll want to bring the last stroke of each letter up to *almost* the midline before changing colors. This helps to make each letter flow into the next. Watch the video to see this!
5. On the last two lines, use all block letters to write the address on line 3 and the city, state and zip code on line 4.
6. And there you go! Great job making a Galaxy Letter themed envelope! Write a note, stick a stamp on it, and go mail that gorgeous envelope to make someone's day happy!!!
