One good idea for making a handmade birthday card is to make the card using the birth flower of the month of the person’s birthday. You could stamp the flower on the front of the card, take a picture of the flower
to add to the card, draw the flower, or cut out a picture of the flower. That way you could actually make 4 different cards for each month of the year.

This month is October so I will begin with that flower which is the marigold. The meaning of the marigold is grace or joy or love of nature. Marigolds are also called calendulas. They are found throughout Europe, Asia,
and North America. Both in India and in early Christian countries the marigold held a special sacred significance for people. The Christians called the flowers “Mary’s gold” and placed the flowers around statues of Mary. In India the flowers were placed around the necks of holy statues.

The color of the marigold is perfect for making a handmade birthday card at this time of year. It fits right in with the all the autumn colors of reds, greens, yellows, and golds. Because one of the meanings is love
of nature, it can combine that idea with the seasonal colors to make a really meaningful card for a person who loves the outdoors. Walking, hiking, hunting and fishing are thoughts that come to mind. Another advantage to these autumn colors is that they can make great cards for men, who are typically a more difficult group to find ideas for.

With the birth flower for this month on the front of the card, it would then be a great idea to make reference to the meaning of marigolds in the thoughts expressed inside the card – For the nature lover in the family, or For the person who has brought so much joy to my life, or May your day be filled with grace might be included as a part of your message.

Birthstones are often thought of as gifts for a person’s birthday. However, it seems to be rarely that birth flowers are given. Using the marigold as the main focus for a handmade birthday card in October may be a more unique idea and at the same time can be as simple or as embellished as you would like.

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Here are some of the common terms for items that are used in handmade cardmaking. Although they are common, it is not necessarily obvious to a beginner what they are. I have written my understanding of what each item is and what it is used for in your handmade cardmaking projects.

Blank Card and Card Stock

 A blank card is just what it says – a plain card with no design or writing on it yet. You can buy these as card kits but you can also make your own with plain paper. Usually you will use card stock which is a heavier weight of paper than normal writing paper. It is normally 100 to 250 gsm weight which is the lightest cardstock to the super heavy kind. The craft stores often sell pieces of this paper in sizes that are handy for making cards by just folding the piece of paper in half. If you want a smaller card you can cut it in half and then fold in half. Card stock also comes in sheets so that you can cut or tear the paper to the size that you want.

Bone Folder

This is used to create a neat crisp fold for your card. A bone folder looks like a tongue depressor that has a point at one end. The pointed end is used first to score the paper along the fold line and then the side is used to press the fold nice and flat. It is also possible to use it for pressing down stickers or make sure all the air is out from under a paper that you are gluing down. The reason it is called a bone folder is because originally they were made out of animal bones. This allowed them to be made strong and smooth. However, today most of them are made of plastic.  This is not an essential tool but it can make your card look more professional with a nice sharp fold.

Paper Trimmer

A paper trimmer is simply a tool that is used to trim paper such as your card stock, decorative paper, photos etc. to the size you want for the card you are making. It is not an essential tool. You can use a pair of scissors but it makes it easier to cut straight lines. You can also use a ruler and an X-acto knife or a craft knife.  Paper trimmers come in different sizes and some can cut through a stack of paper at one time. This really cuts the time required for your handmade cardmaking tasks unless you have purchased your paper already cut to the size you want to use.

Pop-Dot

A pop-dot is simply a piece of double sided tape with a piece of foam in the middle. When it is placed on the card and then another item placed on top of it, a 3 dimensional effect is created. They are usually small and come in various shapes. Once again this is not an essential item but rather something that makes your work easier.

Hopefully you can now follow some of the instructions you find for your handmade cardmaking without sitting and wondering what in the world they are talking about. Instead you can get started working right away. 

Technorati Tags: basic terms, blank card, bone folder, card stock, Handmade cardmaking, paper trimmer, pop-dot

It seems too early for me to be thinking about Christmas cards. However, for those people who are super organized, I’m sure some of them already have their cards ready to send. It is definitely time, though, to begin thinking about your handmade Christmas cards for this year. After all it is not very much fun to wait until the end of November and then try to fit your handmade cardmaking around the parties, shopping, and decorating that you want to do. You end up feeling frazzled and wondering why you always look forward to Christmas.

One of the ways to prevent that rushed feeling is to begin to plan and design your handmade Christmas cards now. Once they are designed, you will be able to fit the making of them into the spaces that are less busy in your day. You won’t have to make all ten or fifty cards within a few days. You can gather up the supplies you need one day and make a list of anything you need to purchase or gather from outside the house. Then you can spend your next 15 or 30 minutes that are available, cutting your paper to the size you want for your cards. When you have all the paper cut to the right size you can move on to the next task – stamping the design, creating the border, putting the stickers on, painting the picture, or whatever it is that you are required to do for the particular design you have planned.  It is much less stressful to break the work up into these smaller tasks and work on one at a time, than to try to do it all in a few days.

You will also save time if you do one task on all the cards rather than doing everything on one card at each sitting. That way you do not have to get out all the tools – scissors, adhesive, stamps, paints, pens etc. at each session and then put them all away again until the next session.

Those of us who haven’t already planned our time and design for our handmade Christmas cards should begin to do this now. This will prevent the stress of making them at the last minute. We just have too many other tasks to accomplish at this busy time of year.  

Technorati Tags: choose a simple design, Handmade cardmaking, handmade Christmas cards, plan and design, smaller tasks

I’ve been researching the craft cardmaking topic to learn more about the field of handmade cardmaking. After all, I haven’t really made very many cards myself over the years so I consider myself a real beginner.

 Now that I am retired I would like to make cards for birthdays, Christmas, and other occasions of celebration including friendships. I have discovered that I need to define a few things. Even some of the tools used in craft cardmaking are items that some people have never heard of. So they might very well be asking, when they visit a cardmaking site “What is a paper cutter? Is it a pair of scissors?” That may cause some of us to smile but if you don’t already do the craft of scrapbooking, you may not know what a paper cutter is. “What is a pop-dot?” others may ask, especially if they are reading about adhesives. It isn’t obvious at first glance. Or, how about a bone folder? I can just imagine what pictures someone might have in their head after hearing that they need one of those to do handmade cardmaking.

Of course most people will know what those items are even if they don’t yet do the craft of cardmaking or scrapbooking. It might be because they know someone who does those crafts. Or it may be because they check out what the items are used for, which then makes the meaning of the term quite obvious. However, there are terms used in various websites or blogs that are not so obvious since they are refering to various commercial products that are being used by many people in their craft cardmaking to make their beautiful cards. Another is the terminology for different types of cards. A few of these that I have come across in the last few weeks are: Tilda cards, easel cards, trifold cards, gatefold cards, shutter cards etc. I think I know what most of them are but I am not positive about some of them.

I am assuming that I am not the only one who begins and doesn’t understand much of the insider lingo. So I think the next task that I will do is to check out what all these terms mean that are specific to craft cardmaking and post the ones that I find here.  It is not absolutely essential to know the terminology to begin the craft of cardmaking but it would be nice to know. Some of the terms relating to types of cards were not even obvious when I was reading a description while looking at a picture of the card that had been produced. I will try to clarify for other beginners.

Technorati Tags: beginners, bone folder, craft cardmaking, gatefold cards, Handmade cardmaking, terminology for cards, tools used in craft cardmaking, trifold cards

There are many reasons why you might want to send handmade friendship cards. They can be sent for special occasions such as birthdays, Easter, Halloween, when someone has moved into a new home, completed a course successfully, is having a bad time, or just because the person is your friend. No other reason is really needed. The real reason is because you are thinking of them and want to let them know that.

Also there is a friendship day that is celebrated in some areas. That of course would be a good time to send all your friends a card to let them know you are thinking of them on that special day.

Since there are so many occasions when you could send handmade friendship cards, there are no particular types of cards that you need to send. You will choose the type of card depending on why you are sending one. It may be one that expresses happiness for her accomplishment, or wishing her happiness on a trip she is about to take. It may be one expressing condolences which might be almost automatic if she has lost a person to whom she was close, but it might also be because she has lost a pet. It may be get-well wishes or offering encouragement that the unhappy events in her life will surely improve in the next while.

Whatever the reason, you will be expressing your heartfelt feelings in a more permanent way than a telephone call does. A phone call is an excellent idea for any of these occasions but a follow up with handmade friendship cards will be make it even more meaningful. Your thoughtfulness will be more evident and she will have the card to remember that thoughtfulness for a very long time.

One of the benefits of making a handmade birthday card is that it can make a person feel really special when they receive it. Another benefit is that you can have a lot of fun making it. The possibilities are endless. There are no rules to making a birthday card for someone except to make it cheerful, to take the knowledge you have about the person into account, and of course to put some of your own personality into it.

Making it cheerful is obvious. You would not be sending a birthday card to a friend or relative to make them feel depressed on their birthday. So whether you use humour, bright colours, or a cheerful design, it should raise the person’s spirits. The very fact that you have gone to the trouble of making a handmade card will probably make them smile immediately.

Think about the person you are sending the card to, so that you can produce a card that shows you are thinking about them personally. For instance what kinds of things do they like to do? Do they have a special hobby, or participate in a sport, enjoy music, gardening, or painting? Do they have an interest in a good cause? Perhaps you could include a design that incorporates that theme in the card when you make it. What is their favourite colour? What is their overall style – latest fashion, country style, an era such as the 50’s or 80’s?

What about the person’s age? Normally you would send a different type of card to a child, a teenager, or an adult.  It might be a special birthday such as 15^th, 16^th, 21^st, 3oth, 50^th etc. Can you think of special designs or verses for those special occasions that you could use in a handmade birthday card?

Another theme could be related to whether the person has any pets they are fond of. Fish, birds, and snakes would add interest to the design if the person appreciates these pets as well as the more traditional pets such as dogs and cats.

When is the person’s birthday? An autumn design would be more appropriate than a spring design or a winter design if the person’s birthday is in October.

Your own personality will naturally come through in all your handmade cardmaking, including your birthday cards. How could it not when it is you who is making it? And that is a good thing. It will ensure that the card is unique. If you are a nature lover, you will be more inclined to use flowers, leaves, or pictures etc. that reflect that fact in your cards. A card is a type of communication and since communication is two way, it only makes sense that both yours and your recipient’s personality will be evident in the handmade birthday card you send. Remember if you include your feelings and thoughts in the card, it cannot be wrong. Just use your own creativity and both of you will enjoy the card.

Technorati Tags: cheerful design, handmade birthday card, Handmade cardmaking, recipient’s personality, use humour, your own personality

Handmade cardmaking is a wonderful hobby. People really
appreciate getting a handmade card. It is so much more personal than a card
that is purchased at a store. People realize how much thought and effort went
into it. They know that the statements in it are your true feelings rather than
just something that you felt you should do.

There are many kinds of cards and many occasions for sending
them. They can be made for the obvious reasons of Christmas, birthdays, Easter
and so on. But they can also be given or sent to a person just to say that you
are thinking of them. This would be something you might really like to do if
the person is not well or is going through a tough time. It might be someone
they have lost or they might be going through a divorce. Losing a favourite pet
can also be a good time to let them know that you understand that they have
lost something that was very meaningful in their lives.

There is also a wide range of materials that can be used to
make a homemade card. These things can vary from things around the house to any
of the materials that are available in the craft stores, or business supply
stores, or dollar stores, or any place you see something that strikes your
imagination. Many of the materials are the same ones that are used in
scrapbooking. The stickers, the cut outs of special patterns, and the artistic
way that they are arranged, are used in scrapbooking, but the same tools and creativity
are used in handmade cardmaking. Nature is another source of materials for your handmade cards. Grasses, flowers or parts of them, leaves, and seeds are some of the elements you will find on a walk in the woods that may be used to make a special card.

If you are a real enthusiast, you can make cards and sell them to others who appreciate their uniqueness and meaning to give to the special people in their lives. This requires much time and work but some people have made it into a profitable business. Others just enjoy handmade cardmaking as a pleasurable activity for themselves and a pleasureable occasion for the receiver of the cards. Whether you are a full time or a part time enthusiast let’s work together to create one-of-a-kind cards to communicate our feelings to those important people in our lives.

Technorati Tags: birthdays, Christmas, creativity, Easter, handmade card, Handmade cardmaking, materials