The Advantages Of DIY Greeting Cards by Christina Delgado

 
Happy Easter! I hope you had a wonderful and blessed holiday weekend.
Many of you know that making handmade greeting cards is one of my favorite hobbies. I am happy to welcome a fellow paper crafter and guest blogger Christina Delgado.

Today we find ourselves in the age of Do-It-Yourselfers. There are many reasons that people are shifting toward making their own products. The first, and probably most influential reason, is to save money in a time of recession. However, people are also finding that by making products that they would normally buy, they can get exactly what they want, rather than settling for mass-produced items that are close, but not perfect. One industry that is not immune to the effects of the Do-It-Yourself generation is the greeting card industry. The number of people engaging in DIY greeting cards is increasing every year and here are the biggest reasons why:

1. Money

Although buying all of the different materials that are required to make greeting cards can be expensive if you're not doing it right, the cost is actually generally still cheaper per card than the cards one would buy at the local drugstore or grocery store. The benefit is that you buy a good amount of materials once and don't need to spend more money every time you need to send out a greeting card. You simply gather the materials you bought and make your own. This makes every greeting card you make after the initial purchase seem free!

 

2. A Personal Touch

Even the most unique cards from a store will be somewhat generic. Although some of them have funny sayings or cute animals on the front that you think your loved one will enjoy, the card was not made just for them. There will be other copies out there, and ya never know - they might get the same one twice. When making your own greeting cards though, you can personalize them so that you can demonstrate how well you know the person you are giving the card to, and you can make sure that they will truly enjoy it. A personalized card shows that you took the time to design and construct a card that celebrates their unique personhood. They will seem exponentially more thoughtful.

3. Creative Outlet

Everyone has those days where all you want to do is come home and unwind. You don't want to think about the stresses of work or family life. You simply want to do something that you truly enjoy to get your mind off of the things that you don't want to think about. An activity that can help you to take your mind off of all of these things is making greeting cards. It allows you to be creative, but also gives you a finished product that you can be proud of, a definite mood lifter for most everyone. If you are looking for a hobby that will make other people happy and will allow you to get your creative juices flowing, DIY greeting cards are a great choice.

Christina Delgado is an art teacher that writes about the arts and education. Her recent work can be found on the list of 30 Great Blogs for Teachers and Educators.

Do you make handmade greeting cards? If you enjoyed this article by Ms. Delgado, please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below.

Mo's "Friends" Challenge

I made this card to enter in Mo's Challenge #148 - "Friends".

I used the digital image "Kimono" from Mo's Digital Pencil Shop. I colored the image with Copic Sketch Markers and toned down the white background with pastel Pebbles chalk.

I layered Origami paper, cardboard and burlap on the background. This card measures 5" by 7".

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Unusual Ways To Market Your Greeting Cards

I like to make greeting cards so I purchased Unusual Ways to Market Your Greeting Cards and 22 Places to Get Your Designs Featured by Kate Harper. I found many unique ideas in this 20-page booklet. This article is a compilation of unusual ways the author has used to market and promote her own cards.

Ms.Harper believes your best advertising is your cards. She started out sending cards out with her bills. She sent the dentist a card with her payment for his services. She sent the bank a card with her deposits. She took advantage of every opportunity to get her cards into the hands of potential customers.

Ms. Harper suggests that card designers hand out greeting cards instead of business cards. A postcard could be designed with a sample of your artwork or a special verse. If the cards are attractive or have a witty quotation on them, people tend to keep them around longer and share them with others. The author emphasizes that you should always include your logo and contact information on the back of the card.

The second half of this booklet is a list of 22 trade publications and design blogs related to the gift and greeting card industry. This list includes specific submission guidelines and contact information for each publication. This is a real gold mine of useful resources.

It's amazing what greeting cards bring out in people. They touch people's hearts in a special way. I think it would be a good strategy for small businesses to invest in unique, handmade cards to send to customers and clients. A greeting card from the heart might be the one thing that sets you apart from your competition.

***The picture above features a handmade card that I made with a Kate Harper Designs rubber stamp. This touching quotation was licensed and distributed by Inkadinkado.

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Digital Images By Mo

A digital stamp in crafting, stamping, card making and scrapbooking is a digital image printed onto paper from the user's printer. Digital stamps come in a variety of formats, including PNG, JPG, and TIFF. Digital stamps offer many advantages over traditional rubber stamps because of their ability to be flipped, resized, rotated and easily stored.

In addition, digital stamps can be printed on a variety of papers and cardstocks, and when properly heat sealed can be used with a variety of coloring mediums including colored pencil, copic markers, even watercolors.

I have been hooked on handmade card making for the past two years.  My very favorite source of digital images is Mo's Digital Pencil Shop.  Maurie J. Manning is a children's book illustrator who has built a very successful digital image business. 

This is the step-by-step process that I use in making cards using a digital image;

1. I choose an image from my "digital stamps" folder on my computer.  I have hundreds of images stored in this folder.  
2. I use Microsoft Word or a picture editor program to size the image and print it on a piece of watercolor paper.  This paper is thicker than cardstock and is better for coloring the image with colored pencils.
3. I color the image with Prismacolor pencils and a blender pen. The blender pen contains a solvent that melts the wax pencil lead so that you can blend the colors together.
4. I use scrapbooking tape and glue dots to mount the image to cardstock and patterned paper.  There are many different layouts that you can use to put the card together.
5. I embellish the card with ribbon, bows, lace, buttons, etc.

I created this video last night using the Animoto online video service. These are cards that I have made using digital images from Mo's Digital Pencil Shop. 

As I watch this video, I think about all my friends who have received these cards on their birthday, wedding anniversary, Valentine's Day, Christmas....or just because I was thinking about them.  Card making is a wonderful hobby that allows you to spread joy to those around you.  You can get started making handmade cards with supplies that you have around your house. This is a great way to send your love to family and friends.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.