Homemade Greetings Cards

I'm not particularly creative or artistic but I do like making greetings cards. My cards do not involve much drawing, painting or talent so anyone could recreate these cards or make similar ones. You don't need any specialist materials to make a greetings card, just some card, scissors and glue. Lockdown is the perfect time to give some of these designs a go or get creative and come up with your own idea to make the next card you send special. Use parts of old cards, magazines, scraps of wrapping paper and anything else you have available.

Cut and stick cards

Minimalist card designs not only look good but are also very quick and easy to make. This card is one of my favourite designs and it took me less than half an hour to do. To make it I started with some scrap paper the same size as the card and pencilled out how I wanted it to look. This is what I do for almost all the cards I make. I then cut out my drawing of the balloon as a stencil and reproduced the shape in coloured paper. Once it was stuck on the front of my card I used a coloured gel pen to outline the balloon, draw on the string and write "happy birthday". As a final touch I went over the string using sparkly glitter glue to add another texture and make it that bit more interesting.

The two cards above are simple ideas for Christmas cards. For the Christmas pudding one I just cut out four circles from patterned dark coloured paper and four lots of "sauce" from pale paper (I tried to choose paper with some sparkle or texture to it) and stuck them onto the card. I then used green and red glitter glue to draw on the holly. This design of four different takes on the same image could be done with other shapes too such as Christmas trees, stockings or Santa hats.

The penguin card was an idea I got from an old Christmas card someone had sent me in a previous year. I always find old greetings cards to be a great source of inspiration. I cut out all the shapes from different colours of paper - the red hat, white head, black body, orange beak and feet, blue scarf and pink cheeks. I glued them all down, drew on the legs and eyes, used cotton wool for the detail on the had and stuck on some star sequins in the background. This card was a little more fiddly and it took longer to make but I am really happy with the result.

These two birthday cards were made in the same way by cutting shapes out of colourful patterned paper. The happy birthday lettering in particular was very fiddly and took a long time to do though you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at it. I enjoyed making the card on the left because balloons are a good shape to cut out and you can have fun with the patterns but it took me a while to make the bear, mostly because it took a few attempts to draw a bear shape that I was happy with and then cutting out the tiny ears, legs and muzzle proved tricky.

This butterfly card took a long time to make but I think if I made it again I could make it a bit quicker. All the butterflies have the same paper as used for their middle on the back but actually the wings don't come far off the page so this step could be skipped. The double layer made the wings very stiff which made it hard to stick them down but it did mean that they held their shape well. The 3d butterflies make it not the best card for posting but great for giving to someone in person. Again, this card uses only pieces of coloured paper and gel pens and it's great for a special occasion.

Embroidered cards

These two cards are ones I made a few years ago. An embroidered card can be very simple like the flower on the left or it can be as complicated as you want to make it. The flower is only 5cm tall and didn't take long to do but I like the simplicity and it makes for a nice handmade look. It uses chain stitch, back stitch and stem stitch which are all easy stitches that can quickly be learnt.

The cow took a little more time and effort but was still fairly easy to do. I found a template of the design I wanted and traced it onto the fabric - I think this one was in a book but it could be found online or drawn yourself. I then used stem stitch to embroider over my lines and I sewed the bell on at the end.

These designs were embroidered onto the fabric then glued into window cards with an extra piece of fabric or card stuck on the back to keep the inside looking tidy.

Cross-stitched cards

Cross-stitched cards are made in much the same way as the embroidered ones above except that I do the embroidery onto aida cloth which keeps the cross-stitching even. Cross-stitched cards are currently my favourite type of card to do because, although they are very time consuming, they require little concentration, a bit like knitting. I do small designs whilst watching TV, listening to music or talking on the phone and I think they look very smart when they're finished. I have a couple of books of cross stitch patterns that I use for most of my cards but there are also hundreds of patterns available free online. Each one takes me approximately 2-3 hours of work depending on the size and complexity or the design.

#crafts #diy #art #cards #lockdown