Make Your Own Greeting Cards

Valentine's Day has passed for this year and many people doled out big bucks for cards for their special someone. Paying 3 to 6 dollars for a folded piece of cardboard with some witty picture on it seems like a big waste to me. The better way to go is to make your own cards.

All you have to do is buy a pack of colorful construction paper and some glue. Now add in some scissors, markers, and creativity and you can make several years worth of cards for under 5 bucks! Typically you will give at least 2 cards to everyone close to you throughout the year and up to 4 or 5 for certain people in your life. Let's say an average card price turns out to be $5. With the number of people you know well enough to give cards to, one could easily spend anywhere from $25 to $200 on greeting cards throughout a year's time.

Not only is making your own cards a lot cheaper, it is can also be more heartfelt and personable. You can say what you really feel inside the card, make up your own witty picture or tag-line, or use an inside joke to make it really hit home. The possibilities are endless and you'll never have trouble finding a card that says "the right thing". If you're feeling really adventurous you could try to make a pop-up card for a challenge. Whatever you try to do, just make sure you use your creativity and keep your recipient in mind.

If you think you lack the creativity and can't pull off this method, then I'll tell you not to give up yet because you can do it with a little creative corner cutting. Let's say you're not up on your cutting or drawing skills and wouldn't dare try to make a picture for the card cover. Instead, you can try to craft a picture with a computer image editor or just search for some applicable image from a simple Google image search and print it out. Glue the printed picture to a construction paper card, throw on an applicable line of text, and voila! You have a card. You can also just try to think simple with your card cover. Shapes like hearts and stars are easy to cut out and can easily be put to use on a card for a special occasion. If you can't think up any good ideas, then you can cheat and look through the card aisle at the grocery store or look online. Find something you like and replicate it by hand with your own special spin. A last pathetic effort that I can't really endorse is to find free cards online and just print them out. It won't really have the same effect as a handmade card though. In fact, it will probably come across as lazy.

I would still purchase a tasteful sympathy card if needed, but for any other occasion I think that handmade cards are open season. I really do think that they end up being better cards overall since they are special made for a specific person and the effort can be seen and appreciated. The potential savings for hundreds of dollars over the course of several years doesn't hurt either.