Design a Hand Lettered Quote with Florals

Bonnie Peters (@diamondandwillow) is sharing a tutorial on how to design a really cute hand lettered quote with ‘retro’ flowers and bright colours!

I designed a little retro floral to go with this simple lettered piece, and these are the Kelly Creates supplies I used: Grid Practice Pad, Project pad, Dream Pens, Aqua Brushes, Multicolor Small Brush pens, Multicolor Fineliners, Black Fineliners, pencil, ruler, eraser, light pad.

I almost always start with a pencil sketch first and I did that using a piece of Kelly Creates grid paper. It works great for spacing my letters as I go.  This design works best for a short quote with 3 – 6 words. You could even change the quote to the name of a month for your bullet journal!

I wanted a border of blooms above and below the words so I added a line to separate the words from the art. To create a little interest, I cut that line through the cross bar of the ‘t’.  I used my light box to trace my rough copy onto a piece of Kelly Creates white cardstock from the Project Pad.  

I incorporated two styles of lettering for this short quote: A more traditional block for the ‘it is’ using the fineliners to both outline and fill in, and a bouncy brush style for the ‘what’ using the Turquoise Dream Pen.  

Afterwards, I outlined the word  ‘what’ with a fine liner and added a fine drop shadow line to the right side/bottom of all the lettering. I love shadows, even in the simplest of ways,  just to add some dimension.   

I stuck to a limited palette and simple line drawn florals and leaves to try and create a retro feel to this piece.  I broke it down a little further in this sample so you can see how easy it is. 

Try not to be overwhelmed at first glance. Think of each bloom or leaf as a shape of its own and draw them in lightly with pencil, one at time until you’ve filled your space. Of course you can go wild and create shapes and designs of your own,  and I encourage you to do just that.  

I coloured the florals first with the Dream Pens, Small Brush pens and Aqua Brushes, and then I outlined them with the Kelly Creates Fineliners.   

 Here you have the finished piece. You can customize it by using a different quote or name and colours of your own choosing. I hope I’ve inspired you to try a project like this! Happy lettering! 

Thank you Bonnie for making this hand lettering design seem so ‘doable’ ! You don’t have to be an expert to give this a try. For more inspirational art work by Bonnie, visit her Instagram @diamondandwillow and website http://www.diamondandwillow.ca 

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To shop for the supplies Bonnie used to design her project, click HERE and visit the Kelly Creates online store http://www.kellycreatesstore.com.