How to Create Your Own Birthday Cards

Creating your own handmade birthday cards is a lot of fun! Even the most “un-crafty” people in the world can’t help but get sucked into the world of card-making. Much like scrapbooking which took the world by storm, card-making is simple, fun and addicting!

Each year, billions of birthday cards are shipped all over the world. These cards as mass-produced and are in no way special or unique. Handmade birthday cards, however, are quite the opposite. They are very special and very unique. This is because they can be created in just about any theme or color scheme. No longer will you need to browse aisle after aisle of generic birthday cards. You can create your own handmade birthday cards!

If this is the first time you are making handmade cards, you will need basic card-making supplies such as a paper trimmer and adhesive. View my hub on this topic for an entire list of basic card-making supplies.

Birthday cards should be fun and festive, so make sure to use bright, vibrantly colored designer scrapbook papers and cardstocks. Coordinated paper packs in birthday themes are readily available at most craft supply stores and can make this process simple, quick and easy.

Birthday-themed image rubber, acrylic, or digi stamps are readily available in stores and online and can be colored with inks, pencils, markers, watercolors and more! They can give your handmade birthday cards that extra special touch and let the recipient know you spent a lot of time creating your finished product.

Birthday-themed word/phrases rubber, acrylic, or digi stamps are essential to creating handmade birthday cards. If you are just starting out and do not have a large stash of these sentiment stamps, consider purchasing pre-packaged collections that include basic greeting card sentiments such as “Happy Birthday,” “Birthday Wishes,” and more! The good thing about these stamps, too, is that you can use them over and over again.

Pre-made embellishments (such as Jolie’s boutique). If you are not quite ready to stamp and color your birthday card images, there are many pre-packaged embellishment sets on the market for most any occasion. These embellishments are usually die-cut images with foam tape backing and can simply be placed on the card in any design you wish. Embellishment ideas for your cards could include birthday balloons, cake, confetti, presents, party hats, and more!

Assembling your handmade birthday cards is completely up to you as an artist. Play with your papers, images and embellishments until you get the design you are looking for. Once settled on a mental plan of your card, use scrapbook adhesive (glue, double stick tape, foam dots) to mount your embellishments securely.

The inside of your handmade birthday card should include a short message, greeting card verse or sentiment. This can be hand-written, but if you aren’t happy with your hand-writing, it can also be computer-generated. Rather than running your greeting card through the printer, a very simple way to add a computer-generated greeting card verse is to print your message out on some plain white cardstock, and while centering your message, trim the cardstock to approximately ¼” smaller on all edges of your inside card. This ensures that the front of your card is left undisturbed and will also give your card more stability as well as a framed look. Ideas for greeting card sentiments can be found on my published hubs on this subject.