Hand Drawn Thank You Card with Dandelion Drawing Made Easy

Hand drawn cards are a way to be creative while sending loving thoughts to the special people in your life. 

There are many ways to make handmade note cards, and the focus of this tutorial is making a hand drawn thank you card with an easy dandelion drawing.

Take a peek at a similar dandelion thank you card!  Both are so cute!

Remember that this dandelion note card is general in design, so it can be used in many ways.  Feel free to send this as a hand drawn thank you card, a special hand drawn birthday card, or a handmade card for any occasion. 

For a hand drawn birthday card idea that could be used for any occasion, see our Wildflowers Birthday Card.

WHAT YOU NEED to make a hand drawn thank you card:

• Number 2 pencil
• Permanent fine tipped marker (Sharpie fine tip pen is recommended)
• Package of card stock note cards and envelopes
• Large pink eraser (Pink Pearl is recommended)
• Watercolor markers  (Artist's Loft Watercolor Dual-Tip Markers were used in this tutorial)

INSTRUCTIONS for making a hand drawn dandelion thank you card:

STEP 1: Draw the Dandelion Flower stem and center

Make sure the card opens from the bottom and is lengthwise. Use the pencil to draw a line beginning slightly to the right of center at the bottom of the card.

The line should curve slightly to the right, stopping half way up the card.  Draw a circle at the end of the dandelion stem for the center of the flower.

STEP 2: Draw dandelion fluff

With the pencil, draw stems for the dandelion seeds. Begin the stems at the center of the flower. Make eight seed stems, equally spaced, coming out from the center.

At the end of each stem, draw a dandelion seed in a circular shape. These can be the same size as the center of the dandelion flower.

Step 3: Add more dandelion Fluff

Between each dandelion seed fluff that has been drawn, make shorter dandelion seed stems.  The stems should have a slight curve to them. 

This curve does not need to be exact, but making the stems straight leads to a flower without creative movement. These should have circular seeds at the ends just as the first set of seeds.

step 4:  Write greeting card sentiment

To the left of the dandelion that has been completed, write a sentiment for the card.  This example has a simple "Thank you", but "Thank you for your kindness and support" is a special sentiment as well.

Remember, this card has a general dandelion seed flower that could be used for any type of note card.  Feel free to get creative with "A wish for the happiest of birthdays" or perhaps "My wish for you is to feel better soon".

Some of those who are comfortable drawing may not be comfortable writing words.  It is not too difficult, though.  Drawing light and straight pencil lines as a guide for the words can be helpful.

Please don't worry too much that the writing is not perfect.  If different writing fonts are of interest, check out all of the font styles on the internet.  They range from simple to quite fancy and are easy to copy.

step 5: trace the pencil marks with the permanent marker

It is important to go over the pencil marks with a thin, permanent maker to highlight the shape of the dandelion flower and thank you sentiment.

Carefully trace the pencil marks with the fine point permanent marker, keeping in mind that if the marker strays from the pencil marks, all of the pencil marks will be thoroughly erased after.

Tracing does not need to be exact.

step 6: Add color to the handmade dandelion

For this example, three complimentary colors have been chosen.  Green, blue and violet have been used.  Feel free to try other color combinations!

Choose one of the colors to begin the decorating.  Add the color to the circular tips of the dandelion seeds.  This is random, but be sure to use the color on both the longer and shorter dandelion seeds. 

Next, choose another color to add to the dandelion seeds.  Once again, this is random.  Just be sure to add the color to the outside and inner seeds.  Leave some dandelion seeds white in order to add the final color.

This color was also used to trace the flower stem as well as to color in the center of the dandelion.

To completely color the dandelion fluff, use the final marker color to fill in the circular shapes that are left.

step 7: add sparkles to the dandelion flower

Using a light color such as yellow, draw lines between each of the dandelion seed stems.  The lines should be about as long as the shorter seed stems.

This adds dimension to the dandelion flower design.

Next, make four short lines or dots around each of the outer seeds.  For this tutorial, orange was used.

Finally, using the same color, make the four short lines or dots around the inner dandelion seeds.

Step 8: Erase all pencil marks on the thank you card

As the last step, using the large pink eraser, remove all of the pencil marks on the front of the card.

This is easiest if the card is placed on a hard surface such as a smooth book or table so the card does not bend with the pressure from erasing.

Smooth off the bits of any remaining eraser and take a close look to be sure every pencil mark has been removed.  Erase again if necessary.

Is your eraser dried out?  Click to visit our tutorial on How to Make Dried Erasers Work Again.

Ta da!!  The beautiful dandelion seed with fluff and sparkles is finished and ready to send to a lucky recipient! 

Here are some other card ideas!

• Scrap Fabric Valentine Card
• Machine Embroidered Greeting Cards