How to Make a Nice Card

Select card stock with a plain front or light border.

Making a nice card involves selecting materials with a personal touch. Photographs and postcard images with meaning for the cards intended recipient work well for this project. The Smithsonian Institution states that the popularity of postcards for trip souvenirs dates from the beginning of the twentieth century. Part of the satisfaction of making a card for someone comes from personalizing it with the colors, images and words that express what you want to convey. No commercial greeting card compares with taking a photo for a personally created card. Planning the card makes the process of making it go smoothly.

Things You'll Need

• Card stock blank card from a stationery store Matching envelope Photograph, post card or artwork to fit the card Mechanical pencil or sharp pencil Ruler White glue Waxed paper Hardcover book or phone book

Instructions

1. Sketch ideas for the card--think about the recipient and the occasion. Try five different images and texts. This is the same process professional writers and artists employ.

2. Leave the card ideas and do something else for at least an hour. After you return, pick the card idea you like best.

3. Create or find the image for the card. For example, if the idea calls for a beach scene, select a beach picture you took or a postcard.

4. Employ a ruler to mark the layout for the card. For example, create a nice card that opens from the bottom instead of the side so that the beach scene extends all the way across the front of the card with one line of text centered below the picture. Center the picture where you want it and make small "L" marks at the corners lightly in pencil.

5. Draw lines lightly in pencil for the text. For example, draw four lines for text inside the card. Open the card the way the recipient will open it--in this example, open the card from the bottom. For a short message, start the text a third of the way down from the card's fold.

6. Write the card's message neatly on the pencil lines.

7. Apply glue to the back of the image, 1/4 inch from the edge all the way around. Place waxed paper over the image and put a book on top of it. This will help glue the picture securely to the card.

Tips & Warnings

• Put on some music that reminds you of the person the card is for when you sketch your card ideas. Relax and don't expect the first version to be perfect. Cut the image with scissors to make a shape, for example, a heart-shaped picture of yourself for Valentine's Day or an oval picture of your dad with the title, "World's Best Dad" for Father's Day. Create writing lines on the card's envelope with the pencil and ruler to make the writing on the envelope as neat as the writing on the card.

References

• Smithsonian Institution: Beatrice Litzinger Postcard Collection, 1900-1990
• Martha Stewart: Take a Good Photograph