Five Tips for Creating Unforgettable Handmade Greeting Cards

Author: Pam Wylie

Greeting cards are not only fun to make, they serve a valuable purpose. When someone receives a handmade card, they experience a level of joy that cannot be achieved with a store bought card. Make sure your handmade cards deliver the emotional message you intend. Whether you are creating handmade cards for your personal use or selling them for profit, here are five helpful tips for creating attractive, remarkable handmade cards.

1. Layer Papers. Shop the scrapbook aisle of your favorite craft store for many different types of papers, card stock, thick and thin, foiled, embossed and printed pattern papers are just as few. Layer the papers by cutting out shapes and various sizes of papers and then gluing them together to create a very expensive look for your card. Don’t go overboard with too many layers, but at least one different layer can make all the difference.

2. Use the Right Tools. Invest in some paper crimpers, special edged scissors, various sized hole punches, a good glue gun and different types of adhesives. Using different edged scissors to cut your papers greatly adds to the impact and crimped papers and foils add even more interest. New hole punches are available in many sizes and shapes, these cut out shapes add style and definition to your papers. Use the right glues and adhesives for the materials you are working with. There is no point in adding embellishments if they fall off right away.

3. Add Flat Interest. Depending on the theme or occasion for your card embellish it with some interesting items like ticket stubs, magazine cut outs, old photos, stickers, quotes cut from newspaper articles or cut outs from old calendars and postcards. Other interesting papers include old labels from wine bottles and gourmet foods, confetti and aluminum foil.

4. Add Texture. Here is where your creativity can flourish. An unforgettable card will contain great texture such as pressed flowers, leaves and other plant material, ribbon, yarn, lace, buttons and other sewing supplies. Try using beads, bottle caps, sea shells or colored rubber bands. If your card is to be mailed don’t use too much texture or it will be mangled during transit.

5. Create Your Own Envelope. Finish your handmade cards properly by creating a matching envelope. Use paper that is heavy enough to protect all your beautiful artwork, embellishments and textures. You should keep the theme going by using the same colored paper as the base of your card. Be sure to mark the envelope Non-Machinable as indicated by the U.S. Post Service guidelines.

Your style, mood and materials are the ingredients that make your handmade card different and memorable. Don’t be afraid to express yourself, uniqueness is what a handmade card is all about. For some inspiration visit the Cards category at HandmadeCatalog.com.

About the Author:

Pam Wylie, professional crafter, business women
and owner of HandmadeCatalog.com -
The Place to Buy and Sell Crafts Online

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/art-articles/five-tips-for-creating-unforgettable-handmade-greeting-cards-501100.html

Fun & Quick Easter Craft

Author: Jennifer Stevens

Spring is one of the most anticipated times of year…especially if you live in a colder climate. The winter snow has melted away and cherry blossoms are blooming on that backyard tree. It’s time to brighten up your house with the signs of Easter! Whenever you’re in need for an instant craft, always look to the brown paper bag. These bags are dirt cheap and have several uses ranging from decorative lanterns to holiday centerpieces. Grab the kids and get ready for a fun and crafty afternoon.

With holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, decorating for Easter seems to get overlooked. If you want to spruce up your Easter collection, a good place to start is with Easter Bunny Sacks. Finding online instructions, the only things you will need to purchase are the sacks, tracing paper and whatever painting colors you desire. Having a good supply of some basic paint colors will allow you to mix and create a broad range of other colors.

Accessing an online crafting website, print off an Easter Bunny template designated for this particular project. Carefully place your tracing paper right on top and copy the full design. After you are completed with the tracing process, it’s time to mix up your paints. There should be instructions online for what paint colors would look best with the project, but ultimately the decision is yours! Use your favorite Easter colors and watch the Easter Bunny Sacks come to life.

After the bags have dried, stuff them with brightly colored Easter paper. You now have a beautiful and unique gift bag, or a household decoration. If you’d like, forget the tissue paper and use them as lantern bags to illuminate the front porch. You can even loan these fabulous little sacks to the Easter Bunny for his annual “delivery.” Whatever you decide, you now have a fun and quick Easter Bunny template to look forward to every spring!

About the Author:

The author Jennifer Stevens writes here about the most anticipated times of year, The Spring and it’s the signs of Easter. She is talking about how to make quick Easter craft. She gives some idea to make Easter bunny templates. Also she learnt how to make free crochet patterns. For more information on free knitting patterns, free crochet hat patterns visits www.favecrafts.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/art-articles/fun-quick-easter-craft-815413.html

Start Scrapping! – 4 Quick Scrapbooking Tips

Author: Sharon Tulley

Scrapbooking can be a great way to share the memories of your family and friends by taking advantage of a creative medium and organizing them in a pleasing way. For many of us, the problem is getting organized in the first place!

A scrapbook is like a photo album on crack (or steroids, if you prefer to go with something less illegal. Or Red Bull, if less illicit). With a scrapbook, you’re not limited to photos; anything you have that you want to save and/or display, as long as it will fit reasonably, can be included. All of your favorite knicknacks, trinkets, and other memorabilia can make great additions to a scrapbook.

1. You Need Help (Or Could Use Some)
It might take hours to go through the items you want to include, but this can be one of the most fun parts of the process. You can make it even more fun if you manage to convince your significant other, spouse, parents or kids to help you.

2. Theme It!
The next step in scrapbooking (or “scrapping,” as some like to call it) is to design a theme or layout – there could be a recurring theme throughout the book with a different layout for each page, or you could theme every new page independently of the others – the beauty is that it’s completely up to you. Your theme can be as simple or as involved as you want it, but remember not to be overzealous; less is more in many cases.

3. Use Your Tools
Grab anything and everything you can think of that might be of help. Odd shapes make good stencils or borders, and trying several types of adhesives and writing implements will allow you to get the best results with your materials. You can never have too much colored paper, either!

4. Get A Second Opinion
This isn’t medical plan 101, I’m talking about actually asking for input from your friends on what they think. It’s hard sometimes to have tough skin and deal with any critiques or criticism someone might have, but I’m sorry to say that it’s part of being a designer! The visual appeal you are trying to create can always benefit from a second set of eyes, no matter what the application.

About the Author:

For many more easy tips and scrapbooking ideas, or to learn more about scrapbook layouts, head over to ScrapTown.com!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/crafts-articles/start-scrapping-4-quick-scrapbooking-tips-769454.html

Organizing Craft Supplies

Author: Paul Easton

Craft supplies organized in 3 simple steps.

Do you find yourself looking at a room with bits everywhere, let alone a house with knitting in one room, Painting gear in another, card making supplies in another? Does this sound like you? If so lets look at a 3 step plan to get you and your craft gear organized….

1. Start by collecting all your craft supplies into one room, I mean everything! If you have the space then at the same time, put like with like ie Paint brushes with your paints and canvases. Wool and needles together with patterns. Card, cutting pads, embellishment’s and the like for card making all together and like wise with scrap booking supplies and any other craft that you par take in. Whilst doing this, take time to get rid of things that you don’t use anymore. If you haven’t used it in six months, out it goes. If you have a lot of magazines on crafts that you enjoy, keep them together as well.

2. Now that you have all your craft supplies in one room and organized into piles, its time to look at what you have around the house to tidy them into. If you can afford it, then maybe its time to go and have a look at Target or Walmart for some storage containers. If your like me and have a lot of little embellishment’s then a lot of small plastic containers is perfect. What you can do is put all like small supplies into these containers and then keep them together in a larger container (this can be a shoe box). Keep all your scrap booking papers together (I have an open file that I keep all of mine it, makes it easy to see what you have too) The other option is if you have a filing cabinet, you can use one draw for papers, patterns, cutting pads, and even canvases and another for all the other more bulky supplies. The idea is to keep it simple, but all together and easy to access. You don’t need to spend a lot of money doing this, you can even cover a few boxes with pretty paper and keep supplies in these.

3. Lastly, make sure you keep your craft supplies where you can access it easily. After all, its really not worth it to put these things that you use at least once or twice a week on the top shelf of a storage cupboard. If you are lucky enough to have a room that has space then make the most of it. I have a desk in the spare room, and under it I have a plastic wheelie bin, with the things I use lest often, on top of that I have my canvases so they are easier to get hold of. Next to the desk I have a set of plastic coated baskets, which hold all my main craft supplies in shoe size boxes, and a few other containers I found around the house. It really does work, because you come to learn where everything is. It also means that if you run out of something its easy to see that its not there….you don’t find yourself running around looking for the particular item for days on end, swearing you had it the other day.

Good luck with sorting out your supplies.

About the Author:

Paul Easton is a home organizing professional and the owner of a Home Organizing Blog, which helps anyone looking to organize their home environment and get more out of life, by providing helpful free idea’s and ways of clearing the clutter from your home. You can instantly download a copy of the 7 lemon scented home organizing idea’s by visiting http://www.completehomeorganizing.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/organizing-craft-supplies-343994.html

Selling Your Crafts Through EBay

Author: Paul Duxbury

Selling on EBay has become a popular phenomenon. Many a time I’ve heard people mention that they bought their latest gadget from no other then EBay. For the craft lover who doesn’t know where to begin marketing their crafts, EBay would be a good start. It is the best way to get the broadest audience’s attention. EBay goes beyond your backyard and reaches people all over the world. With their advanced search engine, it allows someone who may be looking for a particular item to go straight to what their looking for.

For those who have heard of EBay but not actually gone searching, this is how it works. For a first time seller, you must create an EBay account which includes your name, address and credit card number (secure site). Once you’ve filled in the online forms, you will have your own seller account which will list your auctions. Each time you want to check your sales, you must log in with a screen name and password. When selling an item, you will go through a series of pages describing your item for sale. To top it off, you will upload a picture onto the auction site for others to view your craft. When listing a craft, you will be charged an initial fee which is a set amount for the listed price. For example: If you list a craft for .99 cent, your initial fee will be .25 cent. If you list an item from $1.00-9.99, your initial fee will be .35 cent and so on. Once your item has sold, you will also be charged a “final value fee.” This is calculated by a percentage of what your craft actually sold for. If someone likes your craft they will put a bid on it. If someone else comes along and wants the same craft, they will put a higher bid on it. At the end of the auction which is generally seven days, the highest bidder wins.

EBay also offers EBay stores, which allow you to sell many items in an online store. When listing an item, you usually list a BIN (Buy it Now) price. There is no auction involve. In your online store, you can list prices as well as pictures of the item. This is a good route to go if you plan on selling multiple items of different colors, shapes or use.

Be sure to list pictures. People love to see pictures of the items their bidding on. You even have the option of placing multiple pictures on your auction site. Try to get different angles when taking pictures. Get close-ups of any detailed work. When taking the picture, be sure to get it in the right lighting and best background. Appearance sells!

When listing a price at auction, it’s best to start low. This will attract more buyers to your item. If someone is interested in your craft and they want to watch it to see the bids being placed on it, they can put it in their “watch.” You will know how many people are taking interest in your item because the number of watches shows up beside the item in your account.

When listing your craft, be sure to give plenty of detail. If there is a default in the craft, make sure you explain that in the description. Also describe the color and the size of the item. If you sell it in various colors, explain this to the potential buyer. Some people are looking for a certain color and you want to be open to them. If they like your item, they might come back for more in the future.

EBay isn’t for everyone. Sales are made by pay pal, cashiers check or even person checks, whatever you’re willing to accept. And the only communication that generally transpires between the seller and buyers is through email.

The most important thing to remember when getting started is to be honest about the item, and explain the craft in detail. People want to know all there is about an item that they may purchase. Explain the texture if you’re selling something that is wearable. Let them know about the special detail you’ve put into a painting. And if you’re expertise is pottery, elaborate on the special colors used for the craft.

About the Author:
If you want to find out more about Starting a Home Based Craft Business you can at http://www.pkblogging.com/craft-and-home-business-ideas

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/selling-your-crafts-through-ebay-30082.html

Top Types of Arts and Crafts For Kids

Author: Chris Peace

Children do best when their imaginations and creativity are being stimulated. That’s why having plenty of arts and crafts for kids is important when you’re raising a family, babysitting little ones, or running a school program. However, you may not know just how many types of arts and crafts for kids are available. Here are a few of the best ones to consider.

Colored Pencils

Of all the arts and crafts for kids that are available, some of the best are colored pencils. These tools can open up whole words of creative possibilities for a young mind and small hands. They can pull out some coloring books and create their own masterpiece or they can draw their own unique picture using any type of paper you have around the house, even old paper grocery sacks!

The best part about these specific arts and crafts for kids, however, is they can be useful learning tools as well. Drawing is a good way of refining basic motor skills. The colors can be used to teach kids about their colors. They can even used for teaching counting, following instructions (color by number sets are great for this), and more.

Lacing Cards

While everyone has probably heard of colored pencils and crayons, not everyone is familiar with lacing cards which are quickly becoming another type of popular arts and crafts for kids. You can buy sets which include these cards that contain a picture surrounded by small holes. Along with the cards, your child receives colorful laces which are then “sewn” onto the card to finish off the picture.

These cards are popular because they allow kids to work on their fine motor skills and their eye hand coordination – both very important abilities for future activities, including everything from writing to sports to driving.

Sketchbooks

Another fun arts and crafts for kids idea is to use sketchbooks. Basically, these are a compilation of blank art pages which children can use for creating their own creative vision of the world. From the stick figure version of the family to a sketch of the backyard or the neighbor’s dog, these books are a great and easy way to encourage children to make the most of a blank canvas and to let their imaginations run loose. That’s the main idea behind arts and crafts for kids: to encourage creativity and imagination.

Enjoying the Fun

Of course, no matter what arts and crafts for kids your child enjoys the most there’s no reason you should feel excluded. If you become active in these pastimes with your child then they will become even more memorable for both of you. Plus, you’ll be improving your own creativity and imagination: something too many adults tend to give up once they hit puberty.

Just remember that having arts and crafts for kids isn’t just a way to keep them entertained it’s a way to help them have a more wonderful life and to appreciate the beauty of the world around them.

About the Author:
Smalltime Child offers a great selection of arts and crafts for kids in addition to Toddler Toys. Check out our arts and crafts for kids today!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/top-types-of-arts-and-crafts-for-kids-562481.html

So What Really is a Handmade Card?

Author: Geraldine Jozefiak

What exactly is a handmade card? If you buy one what are you looking for? If you make one, how much help do you want? Do you go it alone, or dive into a mix of pre-formed shapes? The Handmade card category is big business “” in both the Craft arena and Greeting Cards and so it covers a variety of card combinations:

1. any hand made -or rather ‘home made’ cards

2. hand-embellished but pre-packaged

3. a card kit that you ‘hand-assembled’ at home.

The breadth of the category makes it more challenging for card retailers to classify for sale stock, but easier for the crafter to pass something essentially shop bought as handmade.

Let’s look at them more fully.

1. The handmade/home-made card

This one gets my thumbs up or rather a thumbs on! Homemade doesn’t mean cheap and tacky. With some excellent courses, books and tutorials out there, there’s no excuse for half-hearted efforts.

This category applies to any hand-made card made from scratch using your own ingenuity, creativity and resourcefulness. It certainly requires the most inventiveness and the likelihood is that a handmade card – made from either casual or carefully selected materials will be truly individual.

Such handmade cards are made with considerable love and attention and usually treasured by the lucky recipient.

2. The hand-embellished card

Interestingly the greeting card industry considers handmade to cover any ‘hand-assisted’ card, often with ‘proud’ features. That includes (but is not limited to) sequins, felt, glitter, ribbon, beads etc. Think base design, on a quality card stock. This background is then topped with a selection of hand-embellishments: anything from tinted photos to faceted beads.

Many publishers use emotive vocabulary such as ‘embossed, sophisticated and elegant’ – to attract customers to purchase what they (both public and customer) consider one step above the mass market crowd.

3. The card kit

Card kits are increasingly popular with all age groups. You know the thing – a complete set of blank cards and envelopes, with inclusive, inviting little thingummies that you hand assemble to create new. You might get some templates as to layout, or be inventive in laying out your surface additions. Card kits include all the embellishments and card blanks you need to create your own handmade card. Detailed instruction may, or may not be included.

There are a number of advantages to card kits: a. everything (and sometimes this means glue too) is included, ready-to-go b. placement and assembly is directed by the materials. instructions come as standard – so no need to be inventive in your use of the materials – unless you want to.

On the other hand, whilst card kits don’t give you too much freedom of choice they can give you a way into testing your creativity. With a great range of kits to choose from it shouldn’t take long to find the right kind for you. A number of sites and stations have tantalising packages to buy and the immediacy of them makes card making fun.

There’s no reason to lessen your sense of achievement in using card kits and they are often one move up from the hand embellished card, and a pre-cursor to going it alone – in free thinking creativity.

Whatever you opt for, making or giving a handmade card shows your willingness to go the extra mile for something extra special. How much or how little you do, depends on the type of card you buy and how handmade you want your handmade card to be.

Perhaps it comes down to semantics. I often used to equate handmade with homemade which meant (to me) a cheap version of shop bought. What I didn’t know then was that handmade really gives you a chance to shine in your particular avenue of creativity. And if you are an aspiring free thinker then the card kit will naturally impose just one too many restrictions on your ability to go with the flow. If however it allows you, with good conscience to say ‘handmade’ with pride then it has great appeal.

The craft market is in boom time right now and card making is enjoying a high too. Hence the number of card making magazines available marrying these two great trends perfectly.

So handmade need not mean a ‘less than’ card. It certainly shouldn’t. Personally I’d favor handmade over bought. Where you step into the realms of making or buying a handmade card lies in your needs, abilities and pocket.

Choose what’s right for you and give or make a handmade card with pride. It will always single your card giving out from the crowd and say much about how you see the act of giving as well as the art of making.

About the Author:

Geraldine Jozefiak has written extensively about how to craft a special handmade card. Greeting Card Guide gives you the latest news, trends and products to make your greeting card selection as quick, fun and painless as possible. http://greetingcardguide.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/relationships-articles/so-what-really-is-a-handmade-card-227639.html

Don’t throw your Christmas cards away! There are so many creative ways to use your Christmas cards, many of which you can do with your kids. We have brought together some ideas below. (more…)

Greeting Card Printing and Design Ideas for the Holidays

Author: Carla San Gaspar

Spread the cheers these coming holidays and share your festive spirit through greeting cards. Craft and design greeting cards that would liven up the nearing holiday seasons. Start your greeting card printing early and send them out early as well so you can be one of the firsts to greet each and everyone.

The holidays are a great reason to start making greeting cards which you can send out to friends, neighbors, family, employees, clients and business partners among many others.

If you want to keep in touch and even widen your social connections or circle of friends, start by designing your very own cards that would become an intimate taken of affection.

There are so many events or activities that occur during the holidays starting October that making a hundred or so greeting cards wouldn’t be a problem. Greeting cards are flexible enough you can use them as invitations or gift tags as well.

Practical Design Ideas for the Coming Holidays

The holidays are just around the corner. If you truly want greeting cards that are truly unique and those that truly communicate your message, then start designing, sketching one now. Use these ideas to help you remember and embody the spirit of the holidays in your cards.

1. Choose the right words to imbibe the theme. Greeting cards work nicely when the message is consistent with the image of the greeting cards. There are certain words that fit certain occasions, so be sure to choose your words wisely. But, do not be afraid to play with words.

One example would be Have a Spook-tacular Halloween. For Christmas, it can be a simple Have a White and Merry Christmas.

2. Remember to use identifiable images. Identifiable images on your greeting cards immediately set the scene. It makes the readers aware of what the greeting card is all about.

However, this is not to say that you should limit your imagination to these popular images. Be sure to put your own creative touch especially if you don’t your greeting cards to look like anyone else’s.

Nevertheless, remember to use these images to help inspire you bring out the season’s theme in your greeting cards.

Popular Images and Themes for Halloween

Haunted house, spiders, full moon, witches, cauldron, costumes such as vampires, mummies, Frankenstein, bats, jack-o-lanterns, candy corn, the headless horseman, ghosts, spooky trees, eyeballs, black cats

Popular Images and Themes for Thanksgiving

Scare crows, thanksgiving feast with the turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, pilgrim scene and the like.

Popular Images and Themes for Christmas

Fireplace, snow men, the Nativity, snow angels, Christmas trees, presents, mistle toe, Christmas wreaths, egg nog, milk and cookies for Santa, Santa Claus and his reindeers, Christmas socks, and candy canes.

3. Thematic Colors are important too in achieving the look of a greeting card for the holidays. Halloween and Thanksgiving are dominated by the warm colors of autumn. Other than that, Halloween is identified too with colors of black and orange.

Christmas, on one hand, are the colors green, red and white like the colors on the stripes of a candy cane.

There are still plenty of ideas to go around for making greeting cards these holidays. And with these special occasions fast approaching, be sure to read more on various design tips for your greeting card printing.

About the Author:

To find more interesting topics about greeting card printing please feel free to visit Postcard Printing Full Color: My Postcard Printing

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/printing-articles/greeting-card-printing-and-design-ideas-for-the-holidays-225685.html