Laying out a simple card
Okay. Twenty-one lessons in, and today we're putting all of it on an actual card instead of a practice sheet.
This is the lesson where it stops being letters on a page and starts being a thing you'd hand somebody. A birthday card. A thank-you note. Something for a neighbor who brought soup over. The mechanics are the same as what you've been doing, but there's a layout problem now, and layout is its own skill nobody warns you about.
Plan before you letter
Here's the thing — you cannot draw your guideline sheet straight onto the card and then just start writing at the top like it's a letter to your grandma. Well, you can, but you'll run out of room for "birthday" and end up cramming the last three letters into the margin, and I've done that, so I'm saving you the trip.
Plan it on scratch paper first. Same size card, same word or phrase, and just rough out where things land. I like to figure out my longest line first — usually the main word, like "Congratulations" or somebody's name — because everything else gets built around it.
Find your center
Fold your scratch paper in half to find the vertical center, or just eyeball a line down the middle if you're comfortable enough by now. Your main word doesn't have to be dead centered, but it should look intentional, not like it drifted there.
I center my word by writing it out on a strip of paper, folding that strip in half, then matching the fold to the card's center line. Low-tech. Works every time. There's fancier ways to do it but I like this one because it doesn't require math, and I'd rather not do math at the kitchen counter at nine at night.
Layer your sizes
A simple card usually has two or three size levels — a big line, a medium line, a small line. Something like:
- Big: the main word or name
- Medium: a short phrase underneath
- Small: a date, or a little line like "with love"
Don't make everything the same size. That's the number one thing that makes a beginner card look flat. Size contrast is what makes the eye know where to land first.
And this is where I'll say it again, because it matters here more than almost anywhere else: pressure is the whole thing. On a bigger word you can lean into your downstrokes more, get real contrast, and it'll read as important. On the small line, keep it lighter and simpler. Don't try to make the date fancy. Nobody needs a flourished "2026."
Lay your guidelines lightly
Pencil, light hand, ruler if you've got one. Three sets of guidelines usually — one for each size tier — and space them out on your scratch layout before you commit to the real card. Measure the gaps between lines too. If your medium line is crammed right up against your big line, it'll look like an accident.
I use a ruler and a pencil I can barely see the marks from, because erasing pencil off cardstock after ink is set is one of those jobs that never goes perfectly. Press too hard with the pencil and you'll dent the paper — you'll see the line even after you erase it, especially on cheaper cardstock. Light hand.
Ink it, work top to bottom
Once you've got your layout figured out and guidelines drawn on the actual card, letter the biggest word first. If something goes sideways there, you've only wasted one card, not a finished piece. Let it dry — you know my feelings on that by now — before you move to the next line, especially if your pen is anywhere near where you'll be resting your hand next.
Actually, real quick, because it'll save you a card: work top to bottom on the page, but plan bottom to top in your head. Know where your last line ends before you start your first one. Otherwise you get to the bottom with your "small" line and there's an inch and a half of blank card and it just looks unfinished, or worse, no room at all and you're squeezing.
An aside, because I can't help myself
I watched a tutorial a while back — alone in my kitchen, mind you, nobody else around — where the instructor was laying out a card and told her viewers to always center every single line independently, no exceptions. And I said, out loud, to an empty kitchen, "that's not right." Wyatt walked in from the other room and asked who I was talking to.
But it isn't right, not always. Sometimes a left-aligned small line under a centered big word looks more intentional, more like a design choice, than three centered lines stacked up looking like a wedding program. Centering everything is the safe answer. It's not the only answer. Once you've got a few cards under your belt, play with that.
Erase last
Once everything's dry — really dry, not "I think it's fine" dry — erase your pencil guidelines. Do this last, after every line of ink is set, or you'll smear something and have to start over on a card you already spent forty minutes on. Ask me how I know.
Before next time: pick one short phrase, plan the layout on scratch paper first, and bring both the scratch version and one real attempt on cardstock. Doesn't have to be perfect. Just has to have a plan behind it.