Welcome Baby!

While the major greeting card companies have created thousands of greeting cards to say congratulations on the new baby, sometimes you can't match the card to the gift inside...so make your card to match the outfit inside the box and have some fun!  

Giraffe Pattern

 To make the card:

1. Purchase or cut your own card to size.
2. Choose a background paper and cut to the size of the card's face.  Attach to card.
3. Either print a pattern from the internet, free hand, trace, stencil, cut the animal print from your choice of paper.  
4. Take spots (in this case) and use a paper embossing system to add a pattern to the spots to add some extra cuteness.  Attach to your card.
5. Cut a strip of paper and use a boarder punch to create a lace looking strip.  
6. Cut a smaller strip of coordinating paper and attach to the middle of your lace strip cut from step five. 
7. Using foam stickers, attach to the strip created from steps five and six to the desired place on the card face.
8. Cut your desired letters using a stencil or paper cutting machine.  Attach to the lace strip.
9. For the inside of the card, cut a slightly smaller square from the same base paper cut in step two.  Attach to the inside face of card.
10. Use the same paper from step four and cut a smaller square than that cut in step nine.  Attach to the center of the square from step nine.
11. Use a neutral colored paper to create a writing block. 
12. Punch holes using an awl, needle or skewer in each corner of the writing block.
13. Use a dark colored brad and attach to writing block in the holes punched from step twelve.
14. Attach writing block to the square from step ten.



Inside of Card

15. Write your sweet message, stuff in your envelope, seal with a kiss and enjoy putting in the mail or seeing the reaction in person at the baby shower.  

Tip: I used a giraffe pattern because the outfit I purchased for the shower was obviously a giraffe.  You could create a similar card in almost any animal print.  It takes a little time and a little creativity, but makes for a wonderful card for wonderful friends having their first little one.

Fall Love

For some people, the falling of colored leafs, smell of fires burning, hot apple cider, and cool crisp air is the best time of the air.  If you cannot spend some wonderful, quality time with your loved ones this season, send your fall love with this card!  This card is also good for inviting loved ones to Thanksgiving dinner!

Fall Love

To make the card:

1. Use a pre-cut card, or cut your card from a neutral colored card stock.

2. Cut your fall leaf patterned paper, and cut slightly smaller than the face of your card.  Attach to card.

3. Cut a neutral colored card stock background and punch holes using an awl, skewer, or needle in the top two corners.  Attach a neutral colored brad. 

4. Find about five different, coordinating, patterned paper and cut about thirty leafs of different sizes using pre-cut leafs, or using your paper cutting machine.  Apply adhesive of choice to each leaf and randomly place at the bottom of the card, saving a few for the inside of your card. 

Tip: To add some dimension to your card, you may want to use double sided foam stickers to elevate some groups of leafs from the pile.

5. Use a coordinating colored piece of card stock and cut out your letters for the front of your card using pre-cut letters or using your paper cutting machine.  Attach to the front of your card.

6. Lay three bottoms, of coordinating color, on your card and punch holes using an awl, needle or skewer in each hole.  Attach buttons by using a needle and twine or embroidery floss.

7. For the inside of the card, cut a base background paper that coordinates with the overall design of card and attach.  

Inside of Card

8. Cut a neutral colored background paper and attach to inside of card on top of rectangle cut in step seven.

9. Using a striped piece of coordinating paper, cut two strips of about .5 inches and attach to both top and bottom of block cut in step eight.

10. Using pre-cut or your paper cutting machine, cut your base letters for "Fall" and attach to your card.

11. Using the same paper selected in step two, cut out your "Fall" letters of the same size in step ten.  Attach to letters in step ten using double sided foam stickers.

12. Using the same paper used in step five, cut the word "y'all" out using pre-cut letters or your paper cutting machine.  Attach to the inside of your card.

13. With the remaining leafs cut in step four, spread and attach to the bottom of the inside of the card.

14. Write your sweet message, put in your envelope, slap on a stamp, and put in the mail for some fall, warm wishes.  

Winter Greetings

Some people love playing in the snow during the winter.  Others move to warm climates to avoid shoveling the white stuff that falls from the sky. But for most, sending a little winter love is enough to warm the soul during the chilly, winter months.  For those that absolutely love snowflakes, these cards might just be enough to put a smile on a loved one's face regardless of how close they live to the Equator.  This card is also a great option for a unique Holiday Card. 

Winter Love for Warming the Soul

To make the card:

1. Purchase blank, colored cards or cut your cards from a piece of colored card stock.

2. Find a base, patterned winter themed card stock or paper and cut a strip about two inches wide, and a height slightly smaller than the height of your card.  Attach to one side of the card.

3. Use another winter themed piece of card stock or paper and cut a large base square, approximately 4 by 4 inches for this card.  Attach to card.

4. Cut a small strip of winter themed paper or card stock about one inch by three inches.  Center and attach to strip from step two.

5. Cut a square of about 3.5 by 3.5 inches and attach to base square from step three.  

6. Using an awl, needle or skewer, punch holes in each corner of the square in step five.

7. Attach brads of choice to each corner of card. 

8. Purchase or cut your own snow flakes.  For this card, the snow flakes were ornaments found at a local craft store.  You could also use a pre-cut snow flake or cut your own snow flake from your paper cutting machine.  Attach to the card using double sided foam stickers.

9. Use embellishments that look like little snow balls and jewels from your local craft store.  The more random the pattern, the more they will look like snow on your card.

10. Find a piece of card stock or paper that has a snow-people repeating pattern and cut a strip wide enough to see all of the snow-people  

Inside of Card

11. Using paper that matches the paper already used for the card, cut a strip about two inches in height.  Attach to the inside of the card.

12. Attach the strip of snow-people from step ten to the strip cut in step eleven.

13. Using the same embellishments from step nine, add to the base strip above your snow-people strip.

14. Write your winter greeting, use a holiday inspired stamp, seal with love and send in the mail.

  

 Always remember, you might be sending a card with some winter warms to your loved one, but a cup of hot chocolate goes great when watching the snow fall outside of your window, creating this card. 

Happy Holidays

For those that love to send out their holiday cards, or create them, the earlier they can get them done the better.  For this super simple, yet wonderful looking when completed, card, cutting in July so you can get them out by Christmas in December can be quite a bit of fun.

Simple Holiday Greetings

To make the card:

1. Either purchase a pre-cut card or cut use a simple based card stock, cut your card to size.

2. Using a dark green or patterned paper, cut two strips of approximately 1.25 inches.  Attach to card.

3. Using the same paper from step two, cut a strip of card stock approximately 2 inches.  Attach to card.

4. Using a lighter green colored, textured card stock, cut two strips 1 inch and one strip 1.75 inches wide.  Attach to strips from steps two and three.

5. Find or create a textured piece of card stock and cut three squares to a size slightly larger than your snowflake embellishments or brads.

6. Using an awl, needle or skewer, punch a hole int he center of your squares from step five and attach.

Option One: room for a family picture.

7. Using a slightly lighter, textured piece of red card stock, cut three squares and attach to cards.  

8. Attach the square from step seven to the square from step six.  Attach to card where you please.

9. Using twine or a neutral piece of string, wrap around cover of card and tie in a bow.

10. Using the same paper from step four, or a color very similar, cut to size for the inside of your card and attach.

11. Using the same paper used in step five, cut two strips, about one inch side, and attach to the top and bottom of the inside to the card.

Option One
12 a. Print your family photo, add sticky photo corners to all our sides of your picture, center and attach to the center of your card.

Option Two 

Option Two: room for holiday message 

12 b. Either add a piece of neutral colored paper as a space to write your holiday message. You can either leave as is, your punch holes in the top left, bottom left and top right corners using an awl, needle or skewer in order to attach silver brads.
13 b. Cut a small dark green square the same size of that cut in step seven.  Attach to the bottom right of your message block in step twelve b.
Cut a square of the same paper used in step seven, and cut to size as square done in step five.
14 b. Punch a hole in the center of the square cut in step thirteen b.  Attach your snow flake brad and attach to the center of the square in step thirteen b using a double sided foam sticker.

15. Put into your envelope, use a holiday stamp, and put in the mail box after you have sealed in your holiday greetings with love.

Halloween | October 31st

Every year, one special holiday comes around filled with laughter, a few scares, wonderful hand made costumes made by mom, but especially the joys of Halloween.   

Halloween greeting cards 

 To make the card:

1. Either purchase colored blank cards, or cut our card to size out of your choice of card stock.

2. Use a foundation piece of decorative paper that fits our style of Halloween.  For this card, the embellishments are a bit more cartoon like, so the back ground is a little more animated. Cut foundation to size.

3. Using an awl, skewer, or something to poke a hole in each corner, place card on top of cork and punch holes so that you can attach brads of choice.  For this card, I chose to use colored brads with a bit of glitter to add some shimmer to the card.

4. Either use purchased embellishments or create your own accents using a stencil, stamp or paper cutting machine.  Attach to your card.

Option One: Simple Inside of Card

5. For the inside of your card, cut out your word of choice in a base color using stencils or paper cutting machine.

6. Cut out the same size of letters you did in step five in patterned paper to match the stile of your card. Attach to letters used in step five using double sided foam to "raise" letters off their individual background letters. 

7. Take a dark back ground paper and cut a strip of a wide width, approximately two inches.

8. Use bright green or a color that will "pop" off the paper and cut slightly smaller than the strip from step seven.

9. Like step eight use a color not as bright as that used in step eight, but lighter than that chosen in step seven.

10. Layer and attach steps seven through nine together and attach to inside of card.

11. Use the letters from step six and attach to layered strip from step nine.

Option One

12 a. Write a spooky message or Halloween greeting, put in an envelope, seal with a kiss and put it in the mail.

Option Two  

Option Two: Spooky Inside of Card

12 b. Using a Halloween themed card pack, select a patterned paper and cut to the exact size as the inside face of your card.  Attach.
13 b. Attach your strip created in steps five through eleven.
14 b. Using a neutral colored background paper, cut a rectangle slightly smaller than the remaining area of the inside of your card.  Attach.
Note: You can punch holes in each corner of your rectangle in step fourteen b using an awl, skewer or needle, and use the same colored brads used in step three to attach to card.

15. Write your sweet Halloween message or use as an invitation to your Halloween party, put in your envelope, slap on your stamp, and put in the mail!

Happy Halloween!

Note Cards | Flowers

For When You Can't Send Real Flowers... 

Sending flowers is such a wonderful way to show someone that you are thinking of them.  For those that a flower delivery truck is hard to reach, but a mail box isn't, these cards might just be a cute solution.

Flower note cards

 To make the card:

1. Use pre-made, plain cards or cut a card out of plain card stock that will fit your envelope.
2. Using brown card-stock, cut the basic flat bottom "V"-shape of a pot.
3. Cut a strip of the same colored brown card-stock that is the width of the widest part of the flower pot base and attach to your flat bottom "V".
4. Punch two holes just slightly below the ridge you created in step three of equal distance.
5. String a piece of twine, rope or jewlery thread and tie a bow.  Using twine proves to be a little less manageable.
6. Using a piece of green card stock either hand cut petals for your flowers or use a paper cutting machine.  Sparadically place around the top of your pot.  If you really want to add some character to the card, you can use a green marker to draw in the veins of the petals.  
7. Using pre-made flowers of two different sizes or creating your own through a stencil or paper cutting machine, have enough to create a full arrangement of flowers for your pot.
8. Either use button brads/tacks, sticky jewels, or sew real buttons  of coordinating colors to attach to the center.
9. Attach both size flowers evenly around your pot even using foam stickies that will elevate some flowers and petals from the card.  
10. If you have any remaining flowers and petals, attach to the inside of our card.
11. Write your sweet message, put in your envelope, slap on a stamp and put in the mail!

NOTE: If you want to put some extra love into the card, you could punch holes around the edges of the pot and use an almost matching in color thread to stick around.  You could also use an almost exact color green thread to stitch the veins of the flower petals as well. 

Birthdays | Year Round

Though I'm sure two year-olds are far more interested in ripping open gifts and chowing down on a sugar filled cake, a little birthday card sent with love just adds to the magic of the great day!

Second Birthday Love

 To make the card:

Inside of Card

1. Cut a plane piece of card stock out that fits the size of your envelope.
2. Cut a base patterned piece of paper that will coordinate with your color scheme, slightly smaller than your card size.
3. Choose a piece of patterned paper of a different color and cut various sizes of the birthday year (in this case, a handful of number twos).  Attach the numbers sporadically around the base square from step two.
4. Punching holes in even lengths around the base using an awl or needle over a piece of old cork board, thread a coordinating color of thread around the card to give it a stiched look. 
5. Choosing a dark piece of card stock with a subtle pattern, cut out the words "appy" and "irthday" either from a stencil or by a paper cutting machine, and attach to your card.
6. Cut out the letters "H" and "B" from the same paper used in step five, but larger in size from your words in step five.
7. From a bright piece of patterned paper, cut out the letters "appyirthday" from a stencil or using your paper cutting machine. Attach letters to the base words cut out in step five.
8. Choosing a coordinating paper, cut out the letters "H" and "B" slightly smaller in size from those cut out in step six. 
9. Using an awl or needle over a piece of cork board, punch holes around the edge of your letters from step eight and thread a piece of coordinating thread to give the stitched look.  Attach letters to their bases and then attach to card.
10. Punch two holes in the remaining space of your card and cut a piece of twine or jewelry making thread. Thread through holes and tie a bow.
11. For the inside of the card, use the same paper from step eight and cut to slightly smaller than the width of your card. 
12. Punch holes around the edge of the rectangle from step ten with an awl or needle over a piece of cork board and thread a piece of thread through the holes.  Attach the rectangle to the card
13. Cut a piece of cream colored card stock to write our sweet birthday message on.  Attach to the center of the inside of card.
14. Using the paper from step two and three, cut the birthday number of various sizes and place around the boarder of your message box from step thirteen.
15. Put in your envelope, add a stamp, give it a quick kiss and send it off!