WHAT WE’RE CREATING:

Hey there Design Cutters! Renee here with an Illustrator-based tutorial for a baby gender reveal postcard invitation. We’ll create our layout using adorable hand drawn illustrations, patterns and ornaments.

You can also enjoy a really extensive freebies pack, featuring all kinds of creative goodies, taken from our current bundle.

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Here’s a look at what we’ll be creating:

Baby Reveal Postcard

Follow along with this tutorial: Download the freebie files

This huge freebie pack includes vector elements courtesy of Lisa Glanz, Julia Dreams, Draw Baby Draw and The Artifex Forge.

This freebie pack is just a small sample of the resources available in The Creative’s Complete Inspirational Arsenal for just $29 (that’s an incredible 98% off). This collection is sure to inspire you with tons of hand drawn illustrations including characters, florals, patterns, brushes and more.

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Step 1: Background

Open Illustrator and go to File > New. The New Document dialog box will open. Under Number of Artboards, enter 2. Next to Columns, enter 2. Enter a width of 6 inches and a height of 9 inches. Under Bleed, make sure the link icon on the far right is selected (to apply our input to all four sides) and enter a Top bleed of .125 inches.

Click OK to create the two page document.

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At the top middle of the artboard, click Document Setup. In the Document Setup popup box, click Edit Artboards.

Click once on the right artboard to select it. At the top left of the artboard, click the icon for Landscape.

Click on the right artboard, hold and drag to the right until it’s no longer overlapping the artboard on the left.

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Switch to your Selection tool (v), then press cmd + s to save your file.

At the bottom of the Layers palette (Window > Layers), double click the name of the layer, Layer 1, and change it to Background.

Select the Rectangle Tool (m). Click once on the left artboard. In the dialog popup box, enter a width of 6.25 inches (6 inches plus .125 inches bleed on each side = 6.25). Enter a height of 9.25 inches. Click OK.

To center the rectangle on the artboard, open your Align palette (Window > Align) and under Align Objects, select the icons for Horizontal Align Center and Vertical Align Center.

Note: If nothing happens when you click the align icons, you may need to change your Align To settings. Click on the arrow just below Align To at the bottom right of the Align palette and select Align to Artboard.

Open your Gradient palette (Window > Gradient). Click the gradient thumbnail on the palette to activate it.

Next to Type, select Radial. Next to Aspect Ratio, enter 150%.

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Click once on the white slider on the left side of the gradient palette. Next to Location, enter 60%.

Double click the black slider on the right side of the gradient palette. At the top right of the popup, click the menu icon to access the flyout menu and choose CMYK. Change the CMYK values to 3/40/18/0.

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Open the Swatches palette (Window > Swatches). Click on the Stroke icon at the top left of the palette to make it active, then select None in the swatches (the white square with a red slash).

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In the freebies folder, open JuliaDreams_LoveStory_Pattern26. Use your Selection tool to select the dot pattern. Press cmd + c to Copy. Close the file, then in your main layout, press cmd + v to Paste.

With the dot pattern still selected, go to Object > Pattern > Make. The Pattern Options dialog will open. Next to name, enter Pink Dots. At the top of the artboard, press Done.

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Select the dot pattern vector on the layout and press delete. Select your gradient background. Press cmd + c to Copy, then press cmd + f to Paste in Place.

In the Swatches palette, select the Fill color icon at the top left of the palette. Now select the new pattern swatch we’ve just made, Pink Dots. It will be the last swatch on the Swatches palette.

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Open your Transparency palette (Window > Transparency) and change the Blending Mode to Multiply.

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Now lock this layer. Open the Layers palette and click the space between the eye icon and the layer name.

Step 2: Frame

In the Layers palette, click the Create New Layer icon. Double click the layer name and change it to Art.

Open the JuliaDreams_LoveStory_Frame11 in the freebies folder.

Click once in the middle of the big blue oval to select it (without the decorative edge – they aren’t grouped together, so no technique is needed to separate them). Press cmd + c to Copy. Close the file and press cmd + v in the main layout file to Paste.

At the top middle/right of the artboard, make sure the link icon between Width and Height is turned on. Next to Width, enter 5 inches and press Enter.

To center the oval on the artboard, open your Align palette and under Align Objects, select the icons for Horizontal Align Center and Vertical Align Center.

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Open your Color palette (Window > Color). Enter CMYK values of 55/5/20/0.

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Next up, we’ll add our own decorative edge to the oval. First, we’ll want to make a little area of solid color so our decorative edge doesn’t get lost in the dot background.

With the oval still selected, press cmd + c to Copy, then cmd + f to Paste in Place.

Open the Color palette and change the Fill to None. For the Stroke, enter CMYK values of 0/15/7/0.

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From the freebies folder, open TheArtifexForge_WatercolorBrushes. Select the bottom brush, watercolor regular 7. Press cmd + c to Copy, then paste into your main layout file using cmd + v.

Open your Brushes palette (Window > Brushes). Drag the brush stroke from your artboard into the Brushes palette.

In the New Brush popup box, choose Art Brush and press OK. In the Art Brush Options popup, name the brush Watercolor Regular 7. Next to Colorization Method, choose Tints. Press OK.

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Press delete.

Use your Selection tool to select the pink stroked oval. In the Brushes palette, select our new brush, Watercolor Regular 7.

Open your Stroke palette (Window > Stroke) and enter a Weight of 1.5. Next to Corner, select the middle icon for Round Join.

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Open your Transparency palette and enter an Opacity of 75%.

To send the pink brushed oval behind the teal oval, press cmd + [ (left bracket).

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Now that we have a good base, we can create our decorative border.

In the freebies folder, open JuliaDreams_LoveStory_Element67. Select the branch and press cmd + c to Copy, then Paste into the main layout file using cmd + v.

At the top of the artboard, change the Width to 1.25 inches.

In your Color palette, change the Fill color to 37/54/100/22.

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Open your Brushes palette. Just like we did with the watercolor brush earlier, we’ll drag the branch into the Brushes palette. In the New Brush popup, select Pattern Brush and press OK. In the Pattern Brush Options popup, name the new brush Brown Branches and click OK.

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Press delete.

Use your Selection tool to select the blue oval. Go to Object > Path > Offset Path. In the popup, enter an Offset of 0.1 inches. Press OK.

By default, Illustrator will group the offset path with the original path. To separate them, press cmd + x to Cut the offset path, then cmd + f to Paste in Place.

In the Swatches palette, change the Fill color to None. In the Brushes palette, select our newest brush, Brown Branches.

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This looks a little nuts since our offset path has so many points. To fix it, we’ll go to Object > Path > Simplify. In the popup box, enter a Curve Precision of 50% and Angle Threshold of 0 degrees. Press OK.

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This looks pretty good, but there are still a couple of crazy points to clean up.

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Click once on the branches oval to make it active. Now select your Pen tool (p). Hover over the crooked point on the right until you see a minus sign next to your pen icon on the cursor. Click once on the point to delete it.

Now we’ll add a new point that will have a better curve to it. Click once on the line about where the point was that we deleted.

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Press a to switch to your Direct Selection tool. Select the new point and drag it down and to the right until it’s creating a smooth oval shape around the outside of the blue oval.

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Now we’ll repeat the same process for the funny point on the bottom left of the branches oval.

Select your Pen tool and delete the existing “crooked” point. Click again to add a new point in about the same location. Switch to your Direct Select tool and drag the new point until it forms a smoother oval shape.

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Step 3: Pups and Balloons

In the freebies folder, open LisaGlanz_FreeSpirit_Pups. Select the insanely cute scruffy puppy on the top left and press cmd + c to Copy. Paste it into the main layout file using cmd + v.

Position him in the top left corner of the postcard so that most of him is inside the blue oval.

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Now go back to the Lisa Glanz file and select the cute little guy on the right. Press cmd + c to Copy, then Paste into the main layout using cmd + v.

Position him in the bottom right of the postcard.

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Grab your Group Selection tool (the white arrow with a plus sign accessible from the flyout menu available on the Direct Selection tool in your toolbar).

Click once on the big orange area of the orange balloon above the scruffy dog. Go to Select > Same > Fill Color. This will add the separate little piece of orange balloon below the large orange area.

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Switch to your Eyedropper tool (i) and sample the blue color of the big blue oval.

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Now we’ll repeat for the two other balloons, but turn them pink. Use your Group Selection tool to select the big teal area of the second balloon with the scruffy dog.

Go to Select > Same > Fill Color.

Open your Color palette and change the CMYK build to 0/60/12/0.

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Now select the light teal area of the balloon in the bottom right corner. Go to Select > Same > Fill Color.

Switch to the Eyedropper and sample the pink balloon.

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Let’s give our dogs a little room to breathe by removing some of the brown branches directly around them.

Select the brown branches path with your Selection tool. Switch to the Pen tool.

There’s already a point in about the right place just above the balloons.

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So, we’ll just need to add a point to the path below the scruffy dog. Click once on the brown branches path about .75 inches from the bottom of the dog.

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Select your Direct Selection tool (a). Select the point between the top point that was existing just above and to the right of the balloons and the new point we added. Press delete.

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Now we’ll repeat this for the dog at the bottom right.

Select the brown branches path with your Selection tool. Switch to the Pen tool.

Click once on the brown branch path above the dog and once below so he has a decent amount of space on either side.

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Now use your Direct Select tool to select the point in between the two new points and press delete.

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From the freebies folder, open DrawBabyDraw_FuntasticSticker_Hearts.

Use your Group Selection tool (white arrow with a plus sign) to select the solid yellow and solid pink hearts at the bottom right. Press cmd + c to Copy, then Paste into the main layout file using cmd + v.

Select your Eyedropper tool and sample the brown nose on either dog.

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Switch back to your Selection tool (v). At the top of the artboard next to Width, enter 15%.

Drag one of the hearts just below the break in the top left of the brown branch path and the other just above the break at the middle left of the path.

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Select both hearts by holding Shift and clicking once on each. Press cmd + c to Copy, then cmd + v to Paste. Drag the copies to the same relative location where the line breaks on the bottom right side.

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In the freebies folder, open LisaGlanz_FreeSpirit_BalloonTagBow. Use your Selection tool to select the balloon. Press cmd + c to Copy, then cmd + v in your main layout to Paste.

At the top of the artboard, change the Width to .9 inches. Position at the top right of the artboard.

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Zoom in close to the balloon. Use your Group Selection tool to click once on the large green area of the balloon. Hold down Shift and and click once on the chartreuse bit below the large green area.

With both selected, switch to the Eyedropper tool and sample the blue of the large oval.

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Switch back to your Selection tool (v). Click once on the balloon to select the entire group. Hold opt, then click and drag to the left to create a copy.

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Zoom in and use your Group Selection tool to select the large blue area of the balloon and the small blue area under it (where the balloon would be tied). Use your Eyedropper tool to sample the pink from the balloon just below it.

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Use your regular Selection tool to select the entire balloon group (that we just changed to pink). Hover over the corner handle until you see the rotation arrow. Click and drag to the left about 2.5 degrees so it doesn’t look so much like a copy.

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Step 4: Text

In the Layers palette, lock the Art layer. Click the Create New Layer icon. Double click the name of the new layer and change it to Text.

Select your Type tool (t). Click once at the top middle of the blue oval and type in all lowercase:
it’s time for the

Switch to your Selection tool by selecting it in the toolbar or pressing esc, then t.

Open your Swatches palette and change the Fill color to White.

Open your Character palette (Window > Type > Character). I’m going to use a 100% free font from Phitradesign called Cookies & Milk at 25 pt.

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Go to Effect > Warp > Arc and set the Bend to 30%. Press OK.

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Select your Type tool and click once below the current text. Type:
BIG (line break)
REVEAL

Use your Type tool to select BIG. In the Character palette, change the font to another 100% free font, Cardenio Modern Bold by Nils Cordes, at 84 pt. Decrease the Tracking, the space between letters, to -20.

Now use the Type tool to select REVEAL. Keep it in Cookies & Milk, but increase the font size to 80 pt.

Switch to your Selection tool.

In the Swatches palette, change the Fill color to White.

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In the freebies folder, open DrawBabyDraw_FuntasticSticker_Ornament. Copy the ornament and Paste it into the main layout.

At the top of the artboard, change the Width to .7 inches. Position so it’s centered just above the headline text.

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Use your Group Selection tool to select one of the gray sections of the ornament. Hold Shift and select the other gray section. Switch to your Eyedropper tool and sample the dark brown of the hearts or dog noses.

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Now use the Group Selection tool to select the heart between the two (now) brown sections. Switch to the Eyedropper tool. The pink from our balloons is a little too bright to use on this blue background, so let’s sample the pink from the inside of the scruffy dog’s ear.

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With your main Selection tool, select the entire ornament. Go to Object > Transform > Reflect. In the popup dialog box, select Horizontal and hit Copy.

Hold Shift (to move along the nearest 45 degree angle) and move the copy down until it’s below REVEAL.

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The heart on this bottom ornament looks a little goofy upside down. Use your Group Selection tool to select just the heart. Go to Object > Transform > Reflect. Choose Horizontal and press OK.

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Select your Type tool and click once in the open space at the lower left side of the blue oval.

Type:
Join us as we discover if we’re having a little he or a little she!

Switch to your Selection tool.

In the Swatches palette, change the Fill color to White. In the Character palette, change the font to Cookies & Milk at 30 pt with -20 Tracking.

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Use your Type tool to click below that paragraph and type:
October 22, 2016 at 2pm Ginny’s Corner Cafe 425 Main St., USA

Change the Fill color to White and the font to Cardenio Modern Regular at 18 pt with Tracking set to 0.

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Use your Type tool again, clicking once in the middle of the pink balloon being held by the dog at the bottom right. Type a question mark. Change the Fill color to White. I’m using the font Bookeyed Martin (at 35 pt) because I like the tall, curly style of the question mark, but any sans serif handwritten font will work.

Position the question mark in the middle of the balloon.

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Let’s add a decorative divider between our main text and date/location info.

In the freebies folder, open LisaGlanz_FreeSpirit_BalloonTagBow. Select the bow and copy it, then paste it into the main layout.

At the top of the artboard, change the Width to .5 inches. Center it between the main copy and the event date. It’s ok if the ribbon overlaps some of the letters.

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In the freebies folder, open TheArtifexForge_WatercolorBrushes. Select the Watercolor Standard 12 brushstroke. Copy and paste it into the main layout.

We’ll create a brush like we did with the last brushstroke. Open your Brushes palette. Use your Selection tool to drag the brush stroke from the artboard into the Brushes palette.

In the popup, choose Art Brush and click OK. Name the brush Watercolor Standard 12, change Colorization Method to Tints and click OK.

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Press Delete to get rid of the vector brushstroke.

Select your Line Segment tool (\). Hold Shift and click and drag to draw a short line behind the bow.

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In your Swatches palette, change the Stroke color to the Pink Blush swatch. This swatch was automatically added to the palette when we pasted in our scruffy dog.

In the Brushes palette, select our newest brush, Watercolor Standard 12.

Open the Strokes palette and change the Weight to .05 pt.

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To send the line behind the bow, press cmd + [ (left bracket) once.

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Step 5: RSVP Tag

From the freebies folder, open LisaGlanz_FreeSpirit_BalloonTagBow. Copy the tag and paste it into the main layout.

Go to Object > Transform > Rotate and enter -80 degrees, then press OK. Position in the bottom left corner.

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With your Type tool, click once in the tag.

Type:
RSVP to Annette & Bill by October 15702.555.1212 designcuts.com

Switch to the Selection tool.

In the Swatches palette, make the Fill color Pink Blush. Change the font to Cardenio Modern Regular at 13 pt.

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Go to Object > Transform > Rotate and enter 10 degrees, then press OK. Center in the tag.

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We’ll give our tag a little more string to better anchor it in the overall piece.

Select your Pen tool.

Click just after the existing string on the tag to create the first point in our new path. We’ll create a rough spiral shape. For the next point, click and drag out to create a curved path just to the right and slightly below the first point.

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We’ll continue to move around in a spiral shape, creating new curved points. Three awesome things to remember – fewer points = smoother lines, we can edit the points when we’re done AND this adorable hand drawn style lets us be way less precise.

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We’ll finish off the string by looping out of the blue oval.

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Use your Eyedropper to sample the dark brown of the hearts or dog’s noses. At the bottom of the toolbar, click the double sided arrow at the top right of the Fill and Stroke thumbnails to toggle to dark brown to the Stroke (instead of Fill).

Open your Brushes palette. At the top right of the palette, click the menu icon to access the flyout menu. Select Open Brush Library > Artistic > Artistic_ChalkCharcoalPencil.

Hover over each brushstroke in the new palette to see the name of it. Click on the Charcoal – Feather brush.

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Open your Stroke palette and set the Weight to 0.2 pt.

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You may need to edit points to get a final shape you like. Select your Pen tool. If you click on an existing point, it will be deleted. If you click on a part of the path with no points, it will add a new point. If you hold opt, it turns into a Convert Anchor Point tool that you can use to adjust the amount of curve. To move an individual point, select it with the Direct Selection tool.

This is my finished string.

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That finishes up the front of our postcard. Now we’ll just add a couple of small decorative touches to the back.

Step 6: Postcard Back

In the Layers palette, unlock all of the layers so we can easily copy anything we need.

Use your regular Selection tool to select the pink divider line behind the bow. Press cmd + c to Copy, then cmd + v to Paste. Drag the copy to the second artboard.

Hover over the corner handle until you see the Rotation arrow. Hold Shift and rotate 90 degrees left or right.

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At the top of the artboard, change the Height to 3.5 inches.

Open your Align palette (Window > Align) and under Align Objects, select the icons for Horizontal Align Center and Vertical Align Center.

Note: If nothing happens when you click the align icons, you may need to change your Align To settings. Click on the arrow just below Align To at the bottom right of the Align palette and select Align to Artboard.

Open your Stroke palette and increase the Weight to 0.2 pt.

In your Swatches palette, select the Khaki swatch for the Stroke color. Next, open your Color palette and enter a Tint of 30%.

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Select the dog at the bottom right of the first artboard. Press cmd + c to Copy, then cmd + v to Paste. Drag the copy to the second artboard so he sits just below the middle line we created.

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On the first artboard, select the blue balloon on the right side. Copy and paste it onto the second artboard. Drag it just above and to the right of the pink balloon in the dog’s mouth. Press cmd + shift + [ to send it behind the pink balloon.

It seems a little big in this context, so at the top of the artboard, change the Width to 0.8 inches.

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Let’s add a spot for an address and a little box for the stamp.

Select the light khaki line in the middle of the second artboard. Copy it and then Paste a new copy of it.

Hover over the corner handles until you see the Rotation arrow. Hold Shift and drag to the right or left 90 degrees.

Position at the bottom right of the second artboard.

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With the line still selected, hold opt + shift while clicking and dragging up to create a Copy. Release when you are about 0.3 inches above the bottom line.

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Now we get to use my absolute favorite shortcut in Illustrator. To create three more lines at equal distances, we’ll simply Duplicate our last action. Hit cmd + d three times.

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Drag your regular Selection tool across all five lines. We’ll need to move these to the same layer as the dog so we can send them behind him. Open your Layers palette. Click on the green square to the right of the Text layer. Click and drag it down to the Art layer. Press cmd + shift + [ to send the lines behind the dog.

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Select your Rectangle tool (m). Click once at the top right of the second artboard. In the popup box, enter a Width and Height of .75 inches and press OK.

In the Brushes palette, select Watercolor Standard 12. In the Stroke palette, change the Weight to 0.2 pt. Position at the top right of the second artboard, equidistant from the top and right edges.

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Lastly, let’s give our dog a little ground to sit on.

In the freebies folder, open the Watercolor Brushes file from The Artifex Forge. Copy Watercolor Chunky 3 and Paste it into the main layout.

Drag the brushstroke into the Brushes palette. Choose Art Brush and change the Colorization Method to Tints. Name the brush Watercolor Chunky 3. Press OK to create the brush.

Now hit delete to get rid of the vector brushstroke.

Select your Pen tool. Start at the bottom left of the second artboard and create a very rough line that ends under the dog.

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In the Brushes palette, select the Watercolor Chunky 3 brush.

In the Stroke palette, change the Weight to .25 pt.

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Open the Transparency palette (Window > Transparency) and change the Opacity to 60%. Press cmd + shift + [ to send the brushstroke behind the dog.

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And that’s it! We have a sweet, whimsical invitation to a gender reveal party that uses fun patterns, shapes, brushes and the cutest dogs ever.

Seriously though- I’m totally in love with the scruffy puppy.

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Remember that whether it’s your outcome for this tutorial or something new you’ve made, we’d love to see your designs on our Facebook page.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions or suggestions. I always look forward to hearing from you!

And there’s still time to check out The Creative’s Complete Inspirational Arsenal to get an excellent collection of hand made elements for only $29.