5 IDEAS to Fix a Pen Spelling Mistake in Your Sketchbook

Your beautiful Hand lettered quote in your journal has pen spelling mistake! No worries, I’ll share 5 ways to fix it today!

It has happened to us all. Even with the best intentions and double-checking every word you pen- you’ve made a spelling mistake. While using brush pens, spelling mistakes happen but they can be easily fixed and these are my go-to tricks.

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Fixing Pen Spelling Mistake Video:

Click the video box below or head here to watch on Instagram.

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5 ideas to fix Pen Spelling Mistakes in your Sketchbooks:

1. Use a Sand Eraser

For this quote, I misspelt the word and wrote “Many” instead of “Matter”

Since I was using this Mixed media sketchbook, which has quite decently thick pages I chose to fix the spelling mistake by using a Sand Eraser. This eraser works like super-fine sandpaper and will gently scrape off the top layer of your paper.

Tip: This will erase even a black ink off of a white page- but you need to erase slowly and apply an even soft pressure.

I then lettered the correct word and I love how it turned out!

This method will leave the area you erased rough and uneven, so be cautious when you bring the pen back to the paper.

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2. Use a Water Brush

Using a Water Brush will not work on ALL papers! If you are working on watercolor or mixed media paper AND using a lighter color of brush pen this method will work.

Here is spelled muffin with 3 f’s :). A big pen spelling mistake indeed. As soon as you catch your spelling mistake paint over your letter with a generous amount of water using a Water Brush. Be careful to not touch the water to the adjacent letters. Work carefully but also quickly.

Then using a paper towel or tissue dab all of the water off of the page. Repeat these two steps- paint with water and then dabbing with a paper a few times till the color almost disappears.

NOTE: This method will not completely remove the mistake, but it can remove enough so that the word can be reworked.

ALSO NOTE: This method works better with certain colors than others.

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3. Cover it with paper

This is an easier solution if you don’t mind a little layer on top.

Here, my pen slid while I was lettering the last word “side”. But I so loved the floral illustration already, that I decided to think out of the box. I trimmed a small banner shape of the same paper and instead of trying to make it blend in-, I made it stand out. Run your pink marker along the edges of the banner to decorate it and then adhere it in place. Letter your correct word into the banner 🙂

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4. Paint over it

A great colorful option to correct your mistake is to use paint.

Here I didn’t make a pen spelling mistake, but I really did not like the way the f from “mindful” and the w from “new” collided. Since this was in my dot grid journal, the sand eraser might have torn the page.

So I used a pencil to lightly sketch out a floral illustration, that was large enough to cover the words. Using these acrylic craft paints, I simply painted bold florals to cover my mistake.

NOTE: You can also paint the entire page a solid color and then write on top with a marker or gel pen

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5. Leave it be

While this is not a “fix” this is also a great option to consider.

Here I spelled the word “Happiness” with just one p instead of two and did not realize my pen spelling mistake till much later!

I liked the way quote looked, and decided to let it be as is. That is not a bad option- as we are all human and mistakes are just a part of life.

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Hi, I’m Smitha! I live in Minnesota with my husband and two daughters. You’ll always find me painting florals in my sketchbook. And I love the sheer joy of making something with just my hands! But my bigger love is capturing it all on camera

Thanks for stopping by today! If you learnt something from this tutorial, do share this post with a friend or on social media! Tag me @smithakatti #smithakatti I’d love to see what you create!

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