Making Handmade Cards – Easy and Fun Way to Express Unique Messages

Life is scattered with many important occasions. We have big days like Christmas Days, Valentine’s Days, Thanksgiving Day and we also have days that are personally special to us like birthdays, graduation days, christenings and even anniversaries.

Of course, greeting cards play a huge role in the special occasions scattered through our lives. It is not uncommon for us to receive a birthday card, a Valentine’s card, a congratulatory card or even a good luck card. Now, if you are one of those people who simply love to receive cards, then it is high time to turn the table around. Why not start giving out really great cards to those people who matter to you? And the best thing about this plan is that you can make card-giving extra special for those people — by creating handmade cards or personalised cards.

Hesitant to try out your luck in card making? Here are the best reasons why you should try it out…

1. Cardmaking is fun and easy.
One of the best reasons why you should make your own cards is because it is easy and fun. Card making can make idle hands work and be creative. Imagine yourself enjoying conceptualizing of card themes, thinking of concepts, creating personalized messages and adding color and spice to each card you make. Making cards at home can be a family activity as well. It can certainly be exciting to gather round the entire family (adults, teens and kids alike) to go shopping for card making supplies and set the weekend for a fun card creation activity.

2. Cardmaking allows you to express your creativity.
If you have always wanted to put a part of you in a work of art, then card making can be one way to do so. Making personalized cards allow you to harness your creative skills. This can easily be done as you try using various card making materials just to end up with the perfect card you have in mind for a special person.

3. There are a lot of tools that can make card making easier and more enjoyable.
Nowadays, making handmade cards is no longer that difficult as there are different tools that can be used. For example, there are decoupage card making materials that can easily be bought online. You can even have embosser machines or even stamp blocks to use for your card making activities.

4. Handmade cards show your sincerity.
Most people opt to receive greeting cards that have the personal touch. While store-bought cards still have their value, handmade cards automatically touches us deeply. When we receive cards that were handmade, we often feel very special.

5. There are tons of card making materials to use.
Since there are practically no rules in personalized card making, anyone can use all sorts of materials to create a unique greeting card. Many card making materials can be used including stickers, stamps, glitters, glitter pens, paint, stencils, stick-ons, ribbons, laces and even cut-outs.

6. Making your own cards can be a good alternative to store-bought cards.
If you simply do not have the patience to buy greeting cards from malls or bookstores, then making your own cards can be a good alternative to the usual cards which are bought from a store. Also, your own cards can prove to be a relief from the generic themes and ideas found on commercially-made cards.

Joanna walks you though a Decoupaged card using images and backing papers printed out from the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady CD www.joannasheen.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

More Decoupage Card Making Articles

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Posted by admin on March 5th, 2011 :: Filed under Decoupage Card Making
Tags :: Cards, Easy, Express, Handmade, making, Messages, Unique

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Decoupage, 3d decoupage, decoupage crafts, decoupage card, m3D Decoupage. Learn How To Make a Decoupage Card

3D Decoupage comes on many levels. If you are a beginner, start with an easy design and build up to more challenging projects. It is possible to create great results early on. There are 3 key skills to master: choosing, cutting and applying. It always saddens me when those who craft look down their noses at those who use Sticky Fixers (sticky pads) to do Decoupage. They think it marks out the men from the boys or the new craft person from the Professional. Having taught crafts for over 20 years now (and taught Teachers who Teach), I do know what they mean, but; and it IS a big but, I am a believer in starting from where you are at. And when you begin, sticky pads are ideal. But let us get down to basics. Having said that there are 3 key stills, the sticky pads come unto the application stages. First it is vital to get the design bit right. It means : – Choosing the right weight of design
- Cutting it carefully
- Separating any paper layers into individual parts With that done you move onto cutting. Some would say this is the most important stage, but I would disagree. All 3 impact on the other. If you choose an inappropriate design for working on you will get a poor result – no matter how great your scissor skills. Equally, if you are great with the old blades but let down at putting it all together, no matter how accomplished your preparation, your assembly will scupper your final result. I am a believer in all skills working together. Start with the end in mind. It does not matter when you are kicking off in Decoupage if you use sticky pads, but if you have got great loads of tab visible, you have not mastered the basics. No sign of assembly (glue or pad) should be visible. It comes down to learning the stages with patience and practice. If you want it, then you will get better. So ignore the nay-sayers who may be ahead of you, because one day you may well overtake them. Go after your 3D Decoupage projects with a passion and you will soon master the essentials.

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Posted by admin on February 4th, 2011 :: Filed under Decoupage Card Making
Tags :: card, crafts, Decoupage, Learn

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Essential Techniques For Card Making

If you are a beginner in card making it is best to study the basic techniques applied in making card. All techniques available will give you a unique and elegant finish to your invitation or greeting cards. Browse for online techniques and you will see the techniques below that are used regularly in the card projects by seasoned and beginner card makers. They’re all techniques, easy to master and wonderful for creating dozens of cards.

Water paints – Water paints creates a lovely effect for backgrounds on cards. It has this amazing look effect of drawings reflected by the water paints.

Calligraphy – Using different types of fonts for alphabets and numbers adds a very artistic flair to card making.

Rubber Stamping – Rubber stamps can be purchased, including different colored inks to create patterns, shapes and pictures onto your cards.

Embossing – Is used with metal templates to create a raised effect on the piece of metal. This can be done using stamps, patterns and shapes that are “embossed” into the metal to create these effects.

Quilling – Quilling involves rolling several layers of thin paper to create a great effects on your cards. The paper is wound around a quill to create a basic coil shape. The paper is glued at the tip and the coil shaped, these shaped coils are arranged to form flowers, leaves, and various ornamental patterns.

Punching – Using different sizes and designs of hole punch, you can create a few great textured holes that can be embellishments on your card making craft.

Iris Folding – Very similar to quilling as it involves layering different colored strips of paper to create spiral effects in your crafts.

Decoupage – includes using colored and printed paper that is glued to create effects. You could also use gold leafing techniques that come under the heading of decoupage. Decoupage is actually very simple. If you know how to cut and paste, you already have the basic techniques involved in decoupage. Basically, you cut out pictures; you glue the pictures onto an object like a card; and then cover the object and pictures with a few coats of glue/decoupage medium to protect it.

The techniques above are very simple to learn yet very effective when used in card making. You can purchase a great guidebook that will enable you to check over how each technique is executed. It will also give you easy instructions and inspiration for your imagination.

Card Making Kit from Dawn Bibby Design Studio
Video Rating: 5 / 5

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Posted by admin on December 10th, 2010 :: Filed under Decoupage Card Making
Tags :: card, Essential, making, Techniques

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