Creating homemade cards was never my niche. I couldn’t get into the stamping and embellishing, I was really good at smearing the stamps with my hand before they were dry. Before I found out that this wasn’t my niche, I had a good stock of stamping accessories and ink. However, I did LOVE the idea of homemade cards. They seemed more personal to me and I liked the idea of creating special cards for special occasions. One day it dawned on me, hmmm, I photograph a lot of scenery; I think I’ll use my photos for personalized photo cards. I had found my niche for card making!

I started by making sets of homemade personalized photo cards for each season. I carefully chose the photos I loved and printed 5 or 10 of each photo. I arranged the photos by season, so I could make the cards efficiently. Wow, was it easy and fun. I also printed pictures of several family members from our younger days, I use these photos for their birthday cards or a quick note – they are so fun to use and the receiver gets a blast from the past! Making holiday photo cards are so easy too!

Can you make your own photo cards, yes you can! It is so simple. The first step is finding the photos you want to use and order the photos. I use several online photo developing companies. I watch their online prices and specials to make sure that I’m getting a good deal. If you have a Target nearby, you can upload your photos to Shutterfly and choose the option to pick up at Target. Target is not my first choice for developing, but in a pinch, you can get your photos in one hour. Shutterfly and Snapfish do a better job at processing digital images, but they still like to mess around with your color. I do Photoshop some of my photos and I want them printed my way. Costco is my favorite, they do not modify your original photo and they have some of the best photo developing equipment around. You can upload your digital photos to all of these companies and expect a five to seven day turnaround. The face of the card measures 5 ½ x 4 ¼ , I have my pictures printed in 3 x 5 so the card stock is used as a frame for the photo.

You will also need good quality card stock, envelopes and double sided photo mounting tape. DO NOT USE GLUE! Photo tape allows the receiver of the card to remove the photo and save as a keepsake. You can purchase card stock on line or at craft stores such as Michaels or JoAnns. I prefer to purchase the folded card stock. I purchase a wide variety of colored card stock along with your basic black, white and ivory. Depending on the occasion, I will use a linen card stock, as it has a richer feeling to it. Envelopes can be purchased online or at office supplies stores such as Office Max or Office Depot.

Now that you have your photos, card stock and double sided tape runners, you are ready to begin! When choosing the card stock for the photo, I want to make sure it frames the photo nicely and make the photo “pop”; I don’t want the photo to get lost in the color of the card stock. Using double sided tape runner, tape all four sides and use a strip of tape across the center of the photo. Center the photo onto the card stock and you are done! I like to leave the inside of the card blank for personal notes. On the back of the card, I handwrite my logo and year.

The best part of picture cards is that you can use your imagination and creativity. Some cute ideas are pictures of your children on cards to send to Grandma & Grandpa for their birthdays, snows scenes can easily be made into great Christmas cards and summer scenes and flowers work well for birthdays, get well and congrats cards.

These are several of the photos I use for my cards. They are called my "Tropical Collection" I took these photos in Maui in December of 2008. Friends and family seem to really enjoy these photos!

Copyright by  Jane@CM all rights reserved.  Photos may be used by  permission.