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Fine arts cards may include pencil, pen and ink, colored pencils and watercolors. If you're artistically inclined, you may have already made a few greeting cards. Use paper suited for the art medium you use. Bristol board is excellent for both pencil and pen artwork, while watercolors do better on heavier papers with more tooth, such a watercolor paper. Rather than using high-quality professional watercolor paper, lower grade student paper works fine, but don't use much water for washes to avoid rips and tears on lighter weight papers.
Calligraphy is a useful skill for making cards and also works well on Bristol board. If you have beautiful handwriting, make most of the card in script rather than images.
Pop-up cards can be made by folding large, 5 inch by 8 inch, unruled index cards in half. Then in the center of the fold, cut about three to four 1-inch slits to make "shelves." Press the slits outward so they stand out, making the card three-dimensional. Glue small pictures of flowers, from an old greeting card, on the shelves. Cut construction paper the same size as the folded index card to use as a card covering for any up any ragged edges. Finally, glue the covering to the inside folded index card.
Computer-made cards are an option if painting or drawing skills are low. Using word processing software such as Word, you can make any type of card. For pictures and graphics, use photos of family stored on your computer. Or, use a free photo website such as "picfindr.com to find images. You can also take advantage of computer artwork software such as Paint. When making your card, make sure you're not adding text over the fold in the card. - Have your children use finger paints to create their hand-prints for grandparents. Besides their own artwork, kids can cut out pictures from magazines and glue them onto construction paper. For ideas, spend a morning at your child's preschool or kindergarten class and volunteer to help the teacher.
- Save old greeting cards and cut out objects to glue onto homemade cards. Other good references for pictures come from postcards, magazines and newspapers. Also save old poems and greeting notes from cards which you can either copy or use. To make your cards more personal, compose your own poems or messages.
- Besides the basics of paper, pens, crayons, markers and scissors, other supplies may include items such as rubber stamps and glitter. Or, use materials such as facial tissues, paper towels, newsprint kitchen parchment and others as outlined in the book, "Making Greeting Cards with Creative Materials" by Maryjo McGraw. Find supplies in the scrapbooking aisles of craft stores. Also explore embellishments such as fabrics and ribbons.
- Decide if you want the card to be vertical or horizontal. Before doing any artwork, fold your card. For example, you can fold it in halves, quarters or thirds.
- Use and experiment with various papers of different colors, textures and thicknesses. Make xerox copies of pencil and pen-and-ink cards so you can use them again. To save money, buy card stock, as well as envelops in bulk.
- Weigh your card before applying postal stamps to avoid getting it returned to you for inadequate postage. Homemade cards with embellishments often weigh more than traditional store-bought cards.
