greeting cards.homemade crafts

homemade greetings

Is someone special's birthday impending? Do you need a canvas for a juicy love letter? Sending cards to friends and loved ones is an incredibly warmhearted expression that in the digital age, continues to dwindle. You know the feeling of when you open the mailbox, and amid monotonous bills and junk mail, you find a sparkling letter with scrawled handwriting with your name on it. 

Its about the human connection of writing from the hand that loves the other, and taking the time to do so. The whole process of writing letters also provides an introspective, contemplative experience for the writer, who is forced to collect their thoughts and consider the person receiving the card. In essence, sending a card is an emotional experience on both ends.

Instead of buying pre-made greeting cards, there's a more meaningful and uniquely artistic way to do so. That's right, Do It Yourself. Making the card itself adds a deep layer of meaning to a letter, and can be an easy, fun project to experiment with. But in addition to just folding a piece of paper and adding some sweet thoughts, there are endless ways to rethink the format of the humble greeting card. And we all love when we can use recycled items to create beautiful things, right? So welcome in old newspapers, recycled paper, and small scraps of fabric to make these upcycled greeting cards.

It can be as simple as pasting an old photograph found at a thrift store on a thick brown folded piece of paper, and can become a unique work of art while corresponding to a loved one. And most likely, they will be much less expensive than the tacky ones sold at the store. So many benefits to making DIY cards! I've outlined some of the basic supplies for some of the types of cards I make, as well as a list of additions that can be fun to experiment with.