It dawned on me the other day that I don’t write about cards a lot. With the exception of the most recent TPK blog post, I mostly focus on envelopes — but not what to put inside! That realization is what brought this DIY greeting cards tutorial to life. In it, you will find four examples of different cards you can create. I hope that you’ll get inspiration from at least one of the cards; and while you’re at it, why not make a batch? It’s never a bad idea to have a few cards on hand!
1. The Junk Mail Card
The secret to any good DIY greeting card is the paper you use. It needs to be somewhat thick and substantial; card stock is ideal. You can find card stock for free in a somewhat unlikely place: your mailbox. My alma mater sent out the calendar below, which I kept because I had a hunch I would use it for a project. I am sure you have received something like this from someone/some entity as well!
To transform a piece of paper like this into a card, simply fold it in half. I love using a bone folder to make a crisp, clean fold; sure, this particular tool didn’t make the TPK Top 10 List of Art Essentials, but it still makes life a lot easier! For detailed instructions on how to use a bone folder, refer to the Personalized Birthday Card tutorial.
Once you’ve folded the card, find yourself another piece of junk mail or random paper. I happened upon an airline ticket, so I opted to use that. Cut it into a piece of paper that has a width that’s around 3/4 the width of your folded card {the length doesn’t really matter}.
Now, fold the paper accordion-style. If you’re going, “Lindsey, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” right now, don’t worry! You can watch this tutorial on YouTube to get up to speed. I’d start the video at 0:45 and watch her fold; that’s exactly how you’ll do it, except of course your creases will be significantly closer together.
Once you’ve folded your paper, apply gentle, even pressure to it with your whole hand to get the folds to spread out a little bit. Basically, just press down until you like what you see. {You can skip this step, but I find that after folding, the folds are too close together for my taste.} Once you’ve got your accordion-style paper looking like you want it to, measure its length and width.
Add about 1/4″ inch {0.6 cm} to your measurement calculations for each side, then cut a plain piece of paper out that has the new measurements. Glue it to the center of your junk mail card. I drew around the paper with a black pen for emphasis, but that’s optional.
At this point, you can draw in a design, if you’d like. I opted for a henna-inspired floral motif in the upper right and lower left corners.
Now, put glue on each spine of your accordion-folded paper, like so:
Glue the accordion-folded paper to the card, centering it on the paper in the middle.
That’s it! You’ve just created a unique and versatile DIY greeting card that no one will suspect was born of the recycling bin!
2. The Vintage Card
You will probably need to adapt this card to suit the materials that you have available to you; which is fine because it will look good using anything. I, personally, have a lot of old Reader’s Digest condensed edition books that I love to use for making cards.
Each book has a great title page that is made out of a pretty heavy paper … which, of course, is wonderful for making cards. It’s also delightfully faded because of its age!
You’ll start by folding your card paper in half, regardless of what paper you are using.
Next, cut a long, thin strip of paper {I have chosen white}, and glue it in the middle of the card, like this:
You can write or stamp whatever you’d like on the card; just make sure it has a right or a left orientation and doesn’t take up too much space!
Now, draw a floral motif like this one. If you want a shortcut on this step, you can download the one that I created by clicking here.
You can color in the motif however you’d like! I have chosen to use wax crayons, which I sharpened with a cheapie plastic sharpener for precision.
Once the floral motif is colored in, cut it out. You don’t need to be precise; I actually like a little bit of white space between the illustration and the cut!
Here’s the part where you need to be resourceful: your goal is to find something that will give your flowers some leverage … something that you can use to sandwich between the flowers and the card to give them a 3D effect. For me, that “something” is a paper bubble-wrap package.
Cut out little squares of your material, and glue the squares to the back of your flowers, like so:
Put glue or double-stick tape to the back of your squares and affix the flowers/squares to your card, and that’s it! You now have a lovely, simple card that is perfect for any occasion, from birthdays to holidays to just because days.
3. The {Ridiculously Simplistic} Butterflies Card
This card is the least time-consuming of the four cards I am showing you today. It will set you back all of five minutes, honestly. To make it, you’ll just need a folded piece of card stock; I have chosen black.
Next, pull out a magazine and choose a page that has an interesting pattern. I have chosen the diamond below because I know it will contrast well with the dark card stock. Draw a butterfly shape like this on that page, making sure you use a long, skinny rectangle for the butterfly’s body. Don’t worry about making the wings completely symmetrical; this card is appealing because of its DIY nature, and imperfections add personality!
Cut out your butterfly, and it will look something like this:
Fold each wing toward the other wing, making sure you create the fold crease where the wing meets the center {the long, skinny rectangle}. Do not fold or crease the center itself. Once you have done this, flip the butterfly over and put glue on the back of the butterfly’s “body”, like so:
Glue the butterfly to the card, then make a couple of friends for it.
Your card is done at this point, unless you’d like to add something else {a henna design, calligraphy, whatever}! When I send out this type of card, I slightly flatten the wings with my hand so the card will not catch on the envelope on its way in. I always include a little note to the recipient that the butterfly wings will perk up if they are gently squeezed together.
4. The Abstract Card
This particular design was inspired by artist Martha Lever’s Graffiti of My Life. I love the look of her “graffiti” — beautiful! To make your own abstract card, I’d recommend using 140 lb. watercolor paper. {It holds up well to a lot of water because of its low absorbency.} Paint a few random clouds and circles of different colors using watercolor, like this:
Next, put a couple of drops of gouache or acrylic paint on the puffy side of bubble wrap.
Use a brush to distribute the paint over the bubbles.
Double-check to make sure the watercolor on your card is dry. If it is, flip the plastic bubbles over and apply gentle, even pressure to apply paint to the card.
You can use this technique for a couple of colors!
Once your paint dries, you can go over your design with a regular gel pen {as I have done} and do some stamping/embossing. It’s an abstract card, so what you do is completely up to you! This is just the route I went:
And that’s it! Ideas for four different cards that are unique, thoughtful, and will most definitely never see the recycling bin.
If you create any these cards, I’d love to see your handiwork on Facebook or Instagram {#thepostmansknock or @thepostmansknock}! If you have any tips or ideas for cards, please share them in the comments! I am consistently impressed and inspired by your creativity, so I love to hear your input and advice. 🙂
Warmest wishes — and thank you again for reading the TPK blog!
