Create your own cards
How to create your own postcards, greeting cards and gift labels using mainly recycled materials.
To make your own personal cards is great fun – and easy done: With some cardboard, scrap paper and paint.
- Take a cardboard box, a ruler and a sharp knife and cut out pieces approx 24 x 18 cm.
- Put the pieces in a bucket with water and let soak for 5-10 minutes.
- Now peel the layers apart (usually cardboard boxes consist of 3 layers).
- Let all the pieces dry under pressure – or iron the pieces when almost dry to make them as flat and straight as possible.
- Add a slightly irregular layer of white/whitish paint by using a painter roll. Let dry.
Then fold along the centre line to make it a double card. Add an image: could be a photo, a cut out from a magazine, a piece of scrap or fabric – it can be anything – and glue it on the front page. Use your sewing machine and stitch along the edges – just as a decoration…
- Take a normal piece of paper, slightly smaller than the cardboard and fold it so it is double thickness.
- Place the folded paper inside the folded cardboard centre-line to centre-line.
- Stitch the paper on to the cardboard.
Now the card is like a small “book”. The cardboard functions as the cover and you write your message or greeting on the inside pages. Have fun!
About the author: Hanne is a mixed-media artist who loves to recycle objects and ideas. You can find her at heaven+earth blog
