Craft Corner - All About Cards

What better way to show someone you are thinking about them than giving them a lovingly made greeting card? You can make a card for any occasion. They can be as simple or as elaborate as you would like. You can personalise them to the person you are making the card for, that could be by including their name, their favourite colours or animal. Once you have thought of a design, there are a few things to do before starting: prep the card, get all your equipment together and practice any drawing or writing.

Prep

To start, you need to decide which card you are doing to use. This could be coloured card or ready folded cards. if you aren’t using a ready folded card you will need to lay the piece of card out flat and measure the centre of the card, draw a faint line down the middle and fold the card on the line. Now you have got your card sorted, you need to get all the equipment you will need to make your design. This could be scissors, glue, decorations, pens. If you are planning on drawing a design on the card or writing a lovely message, it is best to practice this beforehand so you can see if it will work or if that are thing to be changed.

When you have got everything you need, it is time to make your card. we have made a few different styles for different occasions that you will be able to personalise to the person you are making the card for.

Balloons

This card could be used for multiple occasions. Whether its birthdays, congratulations, or good luck. All you need to make this card is card, pompoms, glue, bakers twine and a pen to draw the strings.

Start by folding the card in half. Next, glue the pompoms in place so they look like a bunch a balloons.  Then draw the lines so it looks like the string holding the balloons in place. Finally cut a length of baker twine and tie it into a bow and glue it down at the bottom. This card could be easily adapted so the balloons were flowers, you could change the colour of pen for the string. You could even use mini pompoms and create a hot air balloon with a basket at the bottom. If you didn’t want to use pompoms as the balloons, you could use coloured card cut into balloon shapes or buttons. Instead of a bunch of balloons, you could make a line of balloon shapes out of card and write a name or ‘happy birthday’ on them. You could use a specific colour of card or pompom for a new baby card or an anniversary card.

Bunting

This is another card that can be adapted for multiple uses. Again, this card can be used for lots of different occasions like birthdays, retirement, congratulations, new baby. To make this cards, all you need card, bakers twine, glue and glue dots.

To start, cut a length of bakers twine that will go from one end of the card to the other. This will be the piece to attach the bunting to. Glue this bit of twine onto the inside of the card. you don’t want it tight across the card, you want it so it dips a little bit. Next, cut some smaller lengths of different coloured twine to make the bunting. To attach them to the main string, lay them all straight and thread them under the string then loop them through each other. Repeat this for each colour and that’s it. Instead of solid colour bits of bunting, you could mix the colours up or just have one colour for a specific occasion. You also don’t need the bunting to go right across the card, it could just go in the middle. You also don’t need to use bakers twine, you could crochet or knit little bits of bunting in triangles or squares and attach them onto a piece of wool. You could paint some bunting onto the card and write a name or occasion onto them. You could also use coloured card and cut out some shapes, little bits of ribbon or fabric.

Gem flower

This beautiful flower card can be easily adapted to the persons preferences. To make this card all you need is some card, gems and a pen.

Start by drawing the flower shape on the card. it can be as simple or as detailed as you would like. I would suggest practising on some paper first so you can try different styles and see which one works best. Once you have drawn the flower design on the card, you can add the gems. You can use as many different colours as you would like. When you are happy with the gems, that’s it! So simple but effective. You can write what the occasion the card is celebrating in the corner. Instead of gems, you could use paints to add colour for the petals. You could draw lots of little flowers instead of big ones.

Felt Square Flower

Another flower alternative you could do is this felt square flower. All you need for this card is some different coloured felt squares, card, glue, and wool.

Start by cutting out some round shapes for the flower petals. You can do this free hand or by drawing round something so they are all the same shape and size. Arrange them however you would like them to look and then you can cut out your grass shape out. Once you are happy with all the shapes, you can start to glue them into place. When they are in position, cut some lengths of wool and glue into place to make the stem. You could also make some leaves out of the wool. You don’t just have to do one or two flowers, you could make a bunch of flowers, you could add a felt vase for the flowers to sit in, you could cut out different shape flowers or you could use card instead of felt. You could also make multi coloured flowers by using bun cases.

Prams

The last card we have done is one for new babies. This card could be used as a baby shower card, birth announcement or new baby card.

To make this card, all you will need is coloured card, card, buttons, glue and a pen.

Start by cutting out your pram shapes. These can be as simple or detailed as you would like. We have gone quite simple. We have done 2 to show the different colours. If you are only putting one pram on the card you might want to go a bit bigger. Once you are happy with your shape, position the pram on the card then you can glue it down. Next, you can draw the handle on for the pram then position the buttons. You may want to use a glue gun or glue dots to glue the buttons down to secure them on better. Instead of card, you could use a felt square. Instead of a pram, you could cut out baby feet or a baby vest.

I hope you found these ideas useful and they inspired you to make your own cards to send to your loved ones. We would love to see anything you have made using products bought from our YTC stores or website. Don’t forget to tag us in them on Instagram.