Homemade Cards – simple card ideas, another typewriter craft

It is not in my nature to over promise and under deliver. I’m not a great fan of living life that way however I have to come clean right away. There is no secondary craft as promised here last week. I couldn’t do it… quite simply I could not carve up the pink tablecloth. I love it too much the way it is and have enjoyed it like so several times. As I stood with the fabric scissors in my eager little mitt, I came over all of a to-do and stopped short of chopping right through the middle to make napkins. And I don’t need any more of those either. So instead this week I’m bringing you another typewriter craft which I’ve had waiting in the wings for such moments. Homemade cards. They are a staple part of my arsenal and these personal and thoughtful handmade cards are quick, simple and better still, original card ideas…

I’ve always liked making handmade cards, I think. I certainly have since I became a grown up. And I always encouraged my son and daughter to think of card ideas and make homemade cards and not buy when they were younger. I still do encourage this practise since homemade cards are relatively inexpensive and thoughtfully individual and their shop bought counterparts are often neither. And cards don’t seem to be out on display for too long whereas I tend to keep homemade cards out a little longer. You’ll recall I recently purchased a new old typewriter and showed you these craft ideas for displaying garden flowers. Todays handmade cards are my second typewriter experiment and I have a few more to show you another time. To start I gathered together all that I needed for these card ideas…

A few tips. I try to buy the same size and shape of undecorated card in pastel or neutral colours. Then when I can, I change the envelopes around and use contrasting colours for interest. I also apply a rule I use in home decor and styling: Layering. One or two layers of card, paper or material in different textures, tends to encourage the eye to look further and see more. When applying glue, use sparingly and the appropriate kind. Too much glue on paper or card will curl and crinkle both out of shape as they dry. I use glue dots and craft glue depending on what material I’m sticking to which base. And if it’s fabric to fabric I tend to use something like this to get a good fix without curling or shrinking. If I’m trying out new glues or mediums, I’ll often create a dummy card first to make sure I know what I’m dealing with. After that there are no more rules; I just play around with ideas until I create something I like and hopefully the recipient will enjoy too.

For this first of my handmade cards I selected a white base since the red of the vintage linen, is fairly vibrant. I tore a strip of pretty handmade cream paper, using a ruler to get that ripped edge look. Then using a small paper punch, I cut out a heart. I made sure the paper was long enough to include a small fold to sit over the top of the card. and secured the fold in place with glue dots. Glue dots don’t tend to show through delicate paper like craft glue would. Then I cut out two pieces of vintage linen using my zig zag scissors (I’m sure they have a proper name) and I typed my message directly onto one, trimming as I went. I simply layered the linen on top of one another and secured to the paper with more glue dots. To get a delicate fix of the paper to the card, I used a tiny amount of craft glue on a cocktail stick, wiping it over the card first and fixing the paper in place. I deliberately left the corners of the paper unstuck, again to add more interest. The tiny heart button finished it off. Now the homemade card sits in my card box waiting for the right someone and the right moment to be sent.

The homemade card on the right of this photo is for a girlfriend of mine who has a birthday soon. I’ve typed the wording directly onto a scrap of vintage cotton once again and pressed on a few sparkles. She likes sparkles and pink, so she should be quite happy with this.

As a final touch, the reverse of each card gets a small stamp stating the obvious…

And finally his handmade card is for a special lady and her family moving into their new home. I thought she might enjoy the scent of summer too with these gorgeously perfumed sweetpeas and not forgetting of course, a pretty jar to keep them in.

Do you ever make homemade cards? I’d love to know about your card ideas, just leave a message below and join in. Whatever you get up to this week, I hope you have a very happy one x