January 2026 project - Greeting Cards

Your January project is to make a greeting card using your calligraphy tools:

You will need:

• Nib and ink or brush pen

• Blank cards (I like to buy these in packs from UK card craft on Amazon or ‘thepaperbox’) (non affiliated)

• Pencil, ruler and rubber

• Rhodia dot pad

• Light pad

How to design a card:

1. Plan your layout by drawing the outside of the card onto your dot pad with your pencil and ruler. Then section off where you want to put your text and if you want to draw any images. I like to leave at least 3 dot rows for each line of text. Depending on how much text you are writing on the card.

2. Using the pencil write out your wording and images doing a very light rough sketch to start with to plan out the spacing.

3. Work over this sketch with slightly firmer pressure gradually perfecting the lines.

4. You may wish to trace onto another sheet if you need to further re work or your lines get lost.

5. Finally when happy with the design use a pen or brush pen to go over the final lines so it’s easy to trace.

6. If you haven’t already then now would be a good time to warm up your calligraphy skills by doing some drills before creating your ‘final piece’.

7. Using your light pad with your design on top, place your blank card on top and trace the design using your nib and ink or brush pen.

8. Allow plenty of time for the ink to dry before opening to write your greeting inside.