Five dollars at Hallmark will buy you an impressive card, but with a little bit of love and commitment you can have a wowing card manufactured right out of your home. Not only do homemade cards tend to be cheaper, but they are also more personal and memorable. With the following homemade card staples, you can keep your card out of the trash and your recipient pleased.
Brilliant Home Made Card Additions:
1. Photographs or Artwork
Because the card cover makes the first impression, it is important for it to be impressive. If you are an artist, then this should be a piece of cake. Just do what you do best; paint the cover, draw on it, personalize it with your talent. Try to draw inspiration from the recipient’s personality or your shared history. If you are not artistically inclined, then print out a photograph. This could be a photograph of the recipient, a photo of you both, or even one of their favorite animal.
2. A Poem
Poetry is like music without the instruments. It is generally pleasing to the ear and if written well, pleasing to the heart. Try wiring memories into the poem, so your card cannot be mistaken for any old generic store-bought one. Also, do not write your poem’s first draft on the inside of the card. Write it elsewhere until you are completely satisfied with it, so you do not mar your card with scribbles.
3. Anecdotes
If the poem doesn’t work out, don’t worry. You can fill the inside with chummy stories that will keep your recipient laughing and smiling and hugging and thanking you. Write about the things Hallmark would never know like how you guys went skinny dipping in your grandma’s pool.
4. Googly eyes
If you are not an artist or wordsmith, and your homemade card looks more like something out of the kitty litter box, then you need some googly eyes. Googly eyes add the right touch of goofiness that will insure smiles. If you use a photograph, you can cover the old regular eyes with the googlies, or if you have no place to put the googly eyes at all, you can put them on the very back and draw a little head from which they can peer. Always end on a high note.
5. Money
If the googly eyes fail (which is nearly impossible), then the last effort in making a fantastic card is adding some green. Money makes everyone happy. Even if your card looks like a craft show reject, money will make it look like a pot of gold.
The best cards come from the heart and since home is where the heart is, logically the best cards are homemade (if you live at Hallmark, you are an exception). So, put a little heart into it, maybe some elbow grease, and make the card that specifically fits your loved one. That’ll show ’em how much you care.
