The gifts are bought, you’re starting to wrap them… But who do they belong to? This is another opportunity to dazzle your friends and family with your mad lettering skills. Add some chilly goodness to your presents this season with these winter wonderland gift tags!
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Things needed:
- Plain white gift tags*
- Black or Grey Fude pen (e.g. Tombow Fudenosuke Twin Tip)
- Uniball White Signo broad
- Watercolours
- Paintbrushes — one big and one small (I’m using round brushes in size 2 and size 8 here)
* I make these out of cardstock and just make a hole at the top.
I’m very picky about colour, so I prefer to DIY my tags from scratch. That means outlining them on a sheet of cardstock, painting each tag in varying shades of blue, before going into the decoration, and cutting them out after. I found that doing it this way stops the paint from going onto the other side, which keeps the whole look cleaner.
I won’t go into too much detail on how to paint the background — it’s just blue watercolour, and using a larger brush! You could also use create watercolour washes as backgrounds, or just use blue paper too! That last one is pretty much a no-brainer. Let’s move on to the (more fun) winter wonderland part!
As with last week, I’ve put together a video tutorial for you — which you can also find on YouTube! But if you prefer to read, I also got you covered in the post below. Let’s roll!
1. The Snowing Forest
This is by far, my favourite gift tag! You need a dark coloured gift tag for this one — but not too dark, or the forest won’t show up!
We start at the bottom of the tag by drawing tree trunks. Be sure to space them out a bit and make them different heights! Then start at the top of one tree trunk and draw little strokes down in an inverted V, getting a bit wider at the bottom. Repeat until you’ve got your forest!
To make it snow, take some white gouache and a flat brush to splatter. This is your light snowfall.
It isn’t obviously wintry yet. This is where your white pen comes in. At the top of each tree, add clumps of snow, and a few extra ‘strokes’ of white further down as well.
Finally, for the name, simply do an easy monolike with your white pen in the sky and you’re done!
2. The Snowed-On Power Line
This gift tag is one for lighter coloured tags. Start by drawing the poles the power lines will hang from. I like to make one taller than the other.
Then across that space, letter the name this tag is for. I prefer thick downstrokes here, so I can add snowfall easily later. Connect the name to the poles and then add thin strokes for additional power lines. I like to flip my Twin Tip over and use some grey for variation here.
You have your power line, now you need the snow!
Again, splatter! Splatter is subtle but it adds to the look. Then pick up your white pen and add clumps on top of the downstrokes. Don’t cover it precisely! We’re not going for a two-tone look here! Make it slightly rounder or larger than the letter on top, then as it gets lower, make it look like it’s ‘dripping’ — much like how during Halloween, you have letters dripping slime or blood, here you want them dripping snow to really get that winter wonderland look!
3. The Cosy House
This last one isn’t quite a winter wonderland, but it is mine! I like looking out at chilly weather while I’m all warm and cosy inside and so, this winter wonderland gift tag was born. It works for both light and dark tags, but I personally prefer something lighter — or a gradient from light below to dark above. It makes painting the house easier!
There isn’t much to the house. I make mine brick red, because that’s what ‘cosy’ makes me think off.. On the roof top, add some snowfall with your white pen — you know the drill by now! You can also add a homey yellow window if you like.
Then of course, splatter! Don’t avoid the house. Make sure you get the whole tag with it.
Once you’ve done that, you can add the name. Again, I’m going with a white monoline. I haven’t found a white thin brush pen yet, so my options when writing small on dark surfaces are monoline, faux calligraphy or using pointed pen.
As a finishing touch, add stars and snowflakes in the sky with your white pen. If you know how to use a dip pen, you can also do finer details with some white gouache!
Which one of the winter wonderland gift tags is your favourite?
You already know mine! Let me know yours in the comments below!