Finding unique greeting cards to send to your loved ones can
be hard; having looked long and hard for a greeting card that fits them and the
occasion it would not be great to know that someone has sent them the exact
same greeting card, the chance of this happening can increase for holidays
where card giving is popular like “Thanks Giving” or “Charismas”.
Many of the large greeting card manufactures that have
stores on the high street or in shopping centres may have at what first seems
like large selection of greeting cards which quickly drops down when you start
to look at the individual categories. Some stores that sell lots of different
goods as well as greeting cards may well have some unique greeting card
produced only for their company along with a selection from a number of the
large greeting card manufactures. Your next stop on your search for unique
greeting cards would be small independent greeting card stores. By their very
nature they will have the smallest selection of greeting cards but each one
unique from the cards in the large branded stores. This is because they will be
getting their greeting cards from the smaller manufactures that are unable to
supply the lager branded stores and if you are lucky they will have greeting
cards made by local artists.
To find the largest selection of unique greeting cards you
need to venture onto the internet where you can find the work of tens of
thousands of artists and designers from all over the globe. My first point of
call would be
Greeting Card Universe that only produces greeting cards, finding
cards is easy by typing in “key words” or using their very logical categories
that can be very specific “happy birthday estranged farther from daughter”. You
can alter the inside verse on all the cards and on some of the cards you can
alter the text on the front or even add your own photo to a section of the
front of the card. You can even ask an artist to alter one of their designs for
you or you can put in a request for a design you have in mind that will go out
to all the artists on the site and you will get to see how artists with
different styles interpret your request and all for no extra cost to you.
The next place to look would be the gift sites where you can
find artists and designers work for sale on many items from clothing to clocks
and puzzles to phone cases as well as greeting cards. Two of the biggest would
be
Zazzle and
Cafepress press, the large number of products and designers on each of
the sites can make it a little daunting in finding what you are looking for but
is well worth the effort. Other sites are more tailored to the artists manly
focusing on art prints and canvases but also include greeting cards, sites like
“Red bubble” and “fine arts America”. Then there are the newer and smaller
sites where the market place is not flooded with the designs of the more
prolific artists like
Mydoodle and
Societ 6.
One thing that all the websites above have in common is that
once you have found and purchased your unique greeting card that design is
still there for any number of people to come along and buy it, even if you have
had a design changed by an artist on greeting card universe, the artist will
think “one person liked the changes enough they bought it, maybe others will
buy it as well” so leave for all to see and buy. The next group of websites are
where you can buy handmade products only. On sites like
www.Etsy.com or
www.Folksy.com you can find beautifully hand crafted
greeting cards that by their nature are only produced in small numbers.
To get truly unique greeting cards for you loved ones and
friends is to make them yourself. STOP, before you click away from this site thinking
that it is going to be too hard or fiddly and you have no artist talent in you
give me a chance, after all you have read this far why not read the rest of it.
Now, I am not talking about making your unique greeting cards from scratch
though I am sure that in a short time and with a little practice that is
exactly what you will be doing. I am not even talking about using the wonderful
kits with easy to follow instructions that you can down load and print out over
and over again from great sites like
Crafts U Print or
My Grafico.
Embellishing greeting cards that you have acquired, I like
to buy packs of holiday greeting cards from charities or thrift shops, these
are not so expensive that you will worry about making mistakes and are a good
starting point to hone your talents. When choosing your greeting cards try to
pick a simple designs or pleasant images that have plenty of space to place you
embellishments, the ideal card is one that you think is nice but just needs a
little bit more decoration.
Many of the tools that you will need you may already have
around your home; pens, scissors, marker pens, paper glue and if you have
children you may have a lot more like paints, glitter, colouring pens, paint
brushes and more. A quick visit to your local craft store or the craft section
of a department store will give you an idea or the range of embellishments that
you can use to decorate your cards with. You will need to have self-control not
to buy everything you see, I know that I do. Buying a few stock items to get
you started will do today, as you get the bug for making greeting cards you can
build up your stock of what you like and know how to use and what tools will be
useful to you. To start, for the price of one or two greeting cards you can get
a selection of rhinestones, glitter glue and foam pads.
Taking a perfectly pleasant greeting card like the one above
by adding a little embellishment you can make it uniquely your own.
Above are some of the tools you might find useful when
creating your greeting cards and below is a small selection of rhinestones,
glitter glue and foam pads, this small selection is enough to make many cards.
By just adding a little glitter glue in different colours
can make a big change to a greeting card. Using glitter glue is good for intricate work, if you want to cover larger areas it would be better to apply
glue and then sprinkle on glitter, remember to put your card onto a large piece
of paper or card so that you can collect the unused glitter.
Adding a few rhinestones to key points on your greeting card
to finish off. Let the cards design or image speak to you as to where to add
the glitter and rhinestones. When you first start it can be hard to know when
to stop “less is more” after all you want to add to your card not overwhelm it.
Try different styles and effects, do not be worried about
making mistakes as you can always start again on another card and above all
have fun.
Now the before and after.
