Many years ago a friend of mine received an award of recognition. It was a great honor to be recognized in this way and I wanted to acknowledge it with a very special card.

I searched and searched through numerous shops and specialty stores for just the right card that would say just the right thing, but nothing seemed to feel just right.

The usual congratulations cards didn’t convey exactly what I wanted to say, so I decided to make my own.

That was the beginning of my love affair with paper crafts and card making. Since then, I have amassed an entire library of magazines and books and all things related to card making ideas.

I have spent countless Saturday mornings and hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, visiting all the local crafts stores shopping for more card making ideas and for what has become the makings of my own studio. A studio filled with card stock, stickers, embellishments, pens, pencils, stamps, ink, ribbons, specialty papers, brads and on and on and on. And of course all of the various necessary and unnecessary but fun, tools of the trade.

In other words, I am hooked on card making and card making ideas and I really enjoy it.

Since I am an inspirational writer, card making for me has been a form of connection with others, a way to uplift and inspire one person at a time, with one little piece of art at a time, in the form of a handmade card.

What could be more wonderful than opening your mail box to find a beautiful hand painted or colorful envelope inside. And in this age of email and teleconferencing, how truly rare that is becoming.

So, perhaps the next time you are looking for just the right card, for just the right occasion, for just the right person, and you can’t seem to find it, you too will consider creating your own and enter into a whole new world of imagination and creativity that will uplift and benefit so many others in the process.

Find: More card making ideas here.