How I Got Started Making Cards

I guess I should start with some background.  So here it goes...

While I do remember having this toy as a child on which you would place 3 plastic pieces, cover it with a 1/2 piece of paper, close the lid, and then rub a crayon over that would help you create cards, I really didn't get into my current style of card marking until I returned to Ohio after graduate school.  A friend of mine introduced me to Hollo's PaperCraft.  I was in awe.  So much paper! 

I got a few items and decided I should make my own Christmas cards that year.  Let's just say before this I was a Gold Member of the Hallmark Store Loyalty program.  Included in that first purchase was 8x5 cards stock and papers in different colors.  The green paper I had chosen had a pretty neat texture to it.  So I decided to make wreaths.  I used a cup to get the basic shape and decides to rip the paper instead of cutting it so the edges wouldn't look so rounded.  I cut pieces of holly (or at least what I thought looked like pieces of holly - growing up Jewish I hadn't really even noticed holly before) and added them to the wreath that I put on the folded card stock.  I then proceeded to make 49 more (did I mention that I've always sent A LOT of cards).  I wrote Merry Christmas on the fronts with one of my scrapbooking markers (at the time I was still scrapbooking, though I've mostly given it up now).  Inside I wrote a short four line message that I no longer remember the exact text of but it was something along the line of "May your Christmas / be merry and bright / and your New Year / filled with delight".  Family and friends that I sent those cards to came back with a lot of positive response. 

I started making other cards - birthdays, Chanukah, anniversaries, Rosh Hashana, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, everyday cards featuring poems I had written when I was younger (you get the idea).  I even expanded and made bookmarks with some of my poems.  I went to the paper store almost every month and really got into crafting again - making decorations for the holidays too.  One year, I decided to re-teach myself calligraphy and also took a Hebrew calligraphy class offered at the synagogue.  The next year, I made gifts for family members featuring mostly biblical verses in English and Hebrew - some of the others used song lyrics or a poem I had written with some hand-drawn artwork.

My cards have never been really fancy, though some have been more involved than others (you'll see once I start posting about them).  My intentions have always been to start with the 8x5 cardstock folded in half so that I could use a small but decent sized envelope and that the card wouldn't be too intricate that I wouldn't want to make the total number I needed.  This past year I made about 80 Christmas cards and 40 Chanukah cards to give you an idea of how many I do by hand.

While I don't go to the paper store nearly as often, I still enjoy making my own cards to send to family and friends.  I usually send birthday cards to the children of my close friends, some cousins & nieces and nephews.  I send anniversary cards to family members on 5/10 year anniversary increments.  I always send Christmas cards and will alternate between Rosh Hashana and Chanukah cards for my Jewish family and friends.  Occasionally I remember to make and send other cards like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, even St. Patrick's Day some years. 

So there you have it, a little bit of background.  I hope that gives you enough to understand the types of cards and other paper crafts I'll be posting about and want to read about them.  And I really do mean it that I'll start posting about actual card ideas very soon!