Tropical Leaves Envelope Tutorial

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