The Perfect Father’s Day Card

Bonnie has designed the cutest Father’s Day Card that is a real ‘hoot’! And she also has included a tutorial for how to draw an owl.

Handmade cards are always the best to receive, and I know a lot of dads out there appreciate receiving a card that is extra special. Here is my tutorial on how to make a cute Father’s Day card.

KELLY CREATES SUPPLIES:Ruler, pencil, eraser and Black Brush Pens from the Deluxe Lettering Kit, Black Fineliners, Project Paper Pad, Dotted Paper Pad

First, cut your piece of card stock from the Project Pad to 6” x 11”. I used the Kraft colour but you could choose white or even black. Fold in on both ends 2 ¾” to create the tri-fold card base.

I used a scorer attachment I have on my paper cutter to create a clean line. You can also run the side of the wooden ruler, over the fold, to create a nice clean crease.

I centred, traced and cut out a 3” circle by hand with scissors.

I traced the cut circle onto the inside of the card with pencil. I made a light pencil sketch of the owl and then outlined it with Kelly Creates 005 Black Fineliner.

Let me break down the basics of how to draw your own owl.

Practice on a piece of dotted paper from the Kelly Creates Dotted Paper Pad. Trace out the size of the circle and follow along. You can even zoom in and look closely to count the dots for spacing if that would be helpful to you.

Top left – start with the simplest shapes found in the owl:

An oval for the body, and toes, a circle off to the side of the large oval, for the head.

A triangle nose, ears and claws.

Circle eyes and a couple guidelines on the face.

Top right – Soften the edges where the ears meet the head, the wings meet the head, and taper some wings in.

Create a small circle in the eyes to give it the light reflection. This will remain white.

Bottom left – Use the Kelly Creates 01 Black Fineliner and begin drawing short strokes to outline your pencil lines.

Follow the direction that feathers would naturally lie down. Fill in the eyes, excluding the small circle.

You can give the beak a small shadow line too.

Bottom right – Now you can add more lines as needed to create some dimension and shadow spots.

Now that you’ve practiced drawing an owl, you can follow those same steps in the card. You could also use transfer paper and trace the outline onto the card as I’ve shown in my other tutorials. Another option would be to find an image of an owl online, print and cut it out. Or a large owl stamp would work too.

Back to the card…just for safety’s sake, I put a piece of paper over the cut out so I wouldn’t accidentally mark up the owl. Using the Kelly Creates 01 Black Fineliner again, I drew a few circle outlines to appear as tree growth rings. Remember these lines can be wobbly, just like in nature, not perfectly straight.

With the Kelly Creates Large brush pen I create a wider, loosely drawn in layer of bark. You could also use the Midnight Dream pen or even the Nest or Bark colours of the Dream Pens in the Meadow set.

I used the Kelly Creates 10 Black Fineliner and Fine Black Brush Pen to letter the card sentiment around the owl. For guidelines, lightly draw curved lines above and below the owl with a pencil and erase them after the black ink is completely dry. TIP: It’s best to practice on a rough draft first to determine how the words fit and their spacing.