Design your own greeting card

The reason to design your own greeting card is not the saving, it is that a handmade card is specific to one person in a way a shop-bought one structurally cannot be. That specificity comes as much from what you write inside as from the design, and the writing is the part most people skimp on.

Why design your own greeting card is worth an hour

Cards get kept when they contain something only the sender could have written: a shared memory, a detail nobody else would mention. The design gets the card looked at; the message is why it stays in a drawer for ten years. On the making side, scoring before folding is the single technique that separates a crisp card from a cracked one.

How to design your own greeting card step by step

1. 1

   Score before you fold

   Run a blunt point along the fold line against a ruler. Card cracks and looks amateurish without this.

2. 2

   Keep the front to one idea

   One image, one phrase, or one shape. Crowded fronts are what make handmade cards look homemade.

3. 3

   Use texture rather than complexity

   Embossing, a torn edge, a stitched line, one contrasting paper. Texture reads as considered where detail reads as busy.

4. 4

   Write the message before decorating

   So you know how much room it needs. Cramped handwriting squeezed into a corner undoes the whole card.

5. 5

   Say something only you could say

   A specific memory or detail. This is the entire advantage over anything bought in a shop.

Tips to get more out of it

• Check the envelope size before designing. Making a card that does not fit is a common and annoying mistake.
• Heavier card stock feels substantially better and costs very little more.
• Make several at once while the materials are out. Having a blank card ready is worth a great deal later.

Ways to mix it up

If you cannot draw, a photograph or a well-cut piece of patterned paper works perfectly. If you make cards regularly, produce a small batch of blanks in one session and personalize each one when the occasion arises.

Design your own greeting card: frequently asked questions