How to Make a Birthday Card for a Brother

Give your brother a homemade card.

Store-bought cards are perfect when time is short and you need a card on the fly. But sometimes pre-made cards do not capture exactly what it is you want to say. That's why you may want to create your brother a personalized card with his name and include a special personal message from you. Use crafting materials to make a quality card that he will keep forever. Work on your card at least a day before the birthday party or your mailing to ensure all glue and ink is completely dry. Glue should dry at least 24 hours before handling it.

Things You'll Need

• Light blue cardstock
• Sharp scissors
• Ruler
• Cake stamp
• Dark blue inkpad
• Computer
• Photo paper
• Glue stick
• Silver calligraphy pen
• Ink pen

Instructions

1. Trim the light blue cardstock with sharp scissors until it is eight inches long and five inches wide.

2. Position the light blue cardstock in landscape orientation on your workspace. The long sides of the paper should be at the top and bottom. The short sides will be on the sides.

3. Position a ruler vertically in the center of the paper. Fold the cardstock over the ruler, making a crease in the paper.

4. Press your cake stamp down on your inkpad. Press the cake image on the outside of the card. Allow the card to dry.

5. Use your computer to crop and drop pictures of you and your brother together onto a page to create a collage. The area should be small enough to fit on a single panel of the card. Broderbund's Print Shop and Adobe Photoshop are good programs to use for this project.

6. Print the images on photo paper or cardstock. Trim the collage with sharp scissors.

7. Open the card. Glue the collage to the left side of the page.

8. Write "Happy Birthday" at the top of the front page, then your brother's name on the bottom of the page with a silver calligraphy pen.

9. Open the inside of the card and write a special message using a regular pen on the right hand side of the page.

10. Flip the card over and write your brother's favorite phrase or a family motto in the place a card logo would normally be.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have do not enough photos of your brother for a collage, take a picture of yourself. It could be a comical picture of you with your tongue sticking out.

References

• Making Birthday Cards: Card Making Materials

Resources

• Broderbund
• Adobe