How to Make Handmade Cards

Here is a list of supplies that beginners will need to make handmade cards. This is a very basic supply list. As you get more advanced, you can add more tools, and embellishments.  Embellishments is a fancy word that card makers use that means decorations.

This post contains affiliate links.  Should you purchase any of the products by clicking through links, I will receive a commission, and you’ll be helping me continue to bringing you crafty projects.

• Cardstock – You will want to choose a good quality cardstock with some weight to it. If you use cheap cardstock, your cards will not stand up. Cardstock comes in different sizes, but 8 1/2 x 11 is the easiest size to start with. If you cut it in half, you can make two cards. (Each piece of cardstock will be 8 1/2 x 5 1/2) If you fold the two halves, they will fit into an A2 invitation size envelope.

• Adhesive – A good quality scrapbook adhesive is important when making greeting cards.  Scrapbooking adhesives come in a variety of styles. I recommend a permanent tape runner, which is double sided adhesive tape in a dispenser.  I have tried many, but my favorites are EZ Runners by Scrapbook Adhesives.    Card Making and Scrapbooking Adhesive explains all of the different types of adhesives that you will eventually need.

• Paper Trimmer – You will need a 12″ paper trimmer for cutting cardstock and patterned paper when making your own handmade cards. Paper trimmers have measurements so that you can easily cut mats and borders for your cards.  You may think that you are cutting straight lines with scissors, but when you get a paper trimmer, you will see a big difference.  It gives your handmade cards a professional look.

• Sharp Scissors – I have two pairs of scissors that I use for making cards. One pair is called Cutterbees made by EK Success. They are small with a sharp tip and teflon coated blades. The teflon coating keeps adhesives from sticking to the blades. They are also very sharp all the way to the pointy tip, making them perfect for cutting into small areas. The EK Success Cutterbees are sharp enough to cut ribbon as well as paper.  The other pair of scissors that I use has a long titanium blade, and I use them for cutting larger pieces of paper.

• The final thing that you must have to make greeting cards are decorations.  You can use rubber stamps, which can be used over and over again.  Craft Rubber Stamps are great for making cards.   They can be an investment, but they can be used for many years. The most popular rubber stamps are the ones with sayings and sentiments on them. They are available for every occasion and holiday.  Rubber stamps also come with decorative elements or pictures that can be colored with markers, pencils, or watercolors.  They can be cute like cards that I made using Wild Rose Studio or they can be modern and funky.  Ink is available in a rainbow of colors as well.  More recently, images called digis have become available online. They are very reasonably priced and can be resized to use for any size project. My favorite rubber stamp manufacturers for making my own cards are House Mouse, Penny Black, and Stampin’ Up.  Visit How To Use Rubber Stamps to learn about the different types of stamps and inks.

Tip:  Before folding card stock in half, score it for a neater fold.  A bone folder comes in handy for scoring the line and then making a crisp crease.

Start With An Easy Card Making Project

Once you learn the basics of making cards, you can branch out and use more techniques and discover new tools.

 

All of the features on this jungle card were cut out using the Cricut Electronic Cutting Machine. This is a more advanced card, but once you learn the basics, you can branch out and learn about new tools and techniques.

 

There are as many tools for card making as there are card designs.  Die Cutting Machines are great tools for making handmade cards. Some are very simple and use a hand crank with metal dies, and others are electronic cutting machines that cut complex shapes that you can design yourself on the computer.

Some of the machine names that you might recognize are Cricut, Cuttlebug, Sizzix Big Shot, Silhouette, and Spellbinders.

There are also a million ways you can decorate your cards. The possibilities are endless so that making my own cards is always fun and never boring.

Fiskars has a Gallery of Card Making Ideas on their website.

 

More Advanced Card Making Supplies

After you learn the basics about making greeting cards, you will want to try all of the fun supplies and tools that will take your card making to the next level. Here is a list of supplies that you will want to explore.

• • Paper Punches – Paper Punches come in a variety of styles and for different uses. You can get punches that make fancy corners and borders. Other paper punches cut shapes for adding to your cards. My favorite punches are from Stampin’ Up, EK Success, and Martha Stewart.
• • Die Cutting Machines – Die Cutting Machines are great for all kinds of paper crafting, not just card making. They are great for scrapbooking, making bulletin boards, and decorating school projects. My favorites are the Cuttlebug, Big Shot, and the Cricut Personal Die Cutting Machine.  Making Cricut Birthday Cards is a great way to use your machine.
• • Embellishments – What are embellishments? Embellishments are anything you use to decorate your handmade cards. That includes buttons, bows, rhinestones, brads, eyelets, pearls, ribbon, twine, trim, seam binding, ruffles, metal accents, flowers, tulle, glitter sequins, buttons, and lace.
• • Advanced Markers and Coloring Mediums – There are numerous ways to color your handmade cards.  When you first start, choose colored pencils and inexpensive markers.  As you advance, you can use Copic Markers and watercolors.   Copic Markers are alcohol based and used for blending colors.

 

The sweet deer, hedgehog, and butterfly image was colored using Copic Markers. You use them with special paper, and hey are alcohol based so that you can blend the colors. The fancy ovals were made using Nestabilities dies from Spellbinders.

 

The Internet is a wealth of information when it comes to card making.  You can spend hours on Google and Pinterest looking at different card designs.  Visit my Cards Board on Pinterest for over 1500 card making ideas.

All Free Paper Crafts has pages and pages of card making ideas as well as scrapbooking, origami, paper flowers, printables, and paper crafts for kids.

The best way to learn is to dig into your new hobby and try different techniques and supplies.

I hope that you will learn how to make greeting cards.  It’s a wonderful, relaxing hobby.  I better warn you though, it’s addicting!