Want to give handmade cards as a holiday gift?

I love the convenience of giving gift cards at Christmas.  But I never feel like I'm giving a real gift when I give one  . . . you know, a real gift - a package with wrapping and ribbon.  So, what I've taken to doing is to give a handful of homemade cards with the gift cards.  I have A LOT of cards in my stash, so I choose a nice assortment and bundle them up with the gift card.  Most people really seem to appreciate them (because people always need cards but many people don't have the time or know-how to make cards). A few years ago, for my brothers and sisters, I took collage sheets I made with family heritage photos and used them to make simple note cards.  They were a big hit.

What if you want to give handmade cards but don't have any on hand? 

Here's an easy recipe for using collage  images in cards:  patterned paper + image + ribbon + embellishment.  Need more detailed instructions?

1.  Choose a collage image. It can be vintage, fun, grungey, whatever.  Mat if desired.

2.  Choose a patterned paper for the background - coordinate color and mood, but a small and fairly busy pattern works best. 

3.  Choose an embellishment (or set of embellishments) that captures the same color and mood of the card.  I like to use small embellishments in groups of three.

4.  Choose a coordinating ribbon.

5.  Arrange the image and embellishments.  Adhere.

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Acknowledgement and Variation

I got this idea from a pair of cards I received in a card swap.  The cards were created by Debbie B, and her original card (with the Dubai postage stamp) is below.  If you would like more layers on your card (or if your patterned paper background is not busy enough), you can add some stenciling on the patterned paper and stamped script, like I did in the "Daddy's Girl" card below.

You may be wondering - what is a collage sheet?  It's basically a collection of images that you can cut up and use in your art.  You can buy them at places like artchix, or you can find lots of free downloadable collage sheets by googling free downloadable collage sheets.  Here's a link that's a nice start (you just click on her image and it will give you a screen that you can print out).  

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p.s. This post is a combination of a couple of posts from 2009. I got the idea to freshen them up and repost from Sian's "Blog cos you want to" Suggestion #2: Play on the Popular. You can read her great idea here.