By Annie Webber

How?  When?  With whom?  Wherein?  Wherefore?  All your pressing questions about the ups and downs of card-making answered! 

The golden rule in any card-making endeavour is to always have the recipient in mind.  Think about what they love, why you love them, your favourite experience with them, who might open the letter before they get the chance… These are all important things to consider-the love and care will show up in the end results.  Also, that last thing about who might open the card first is good to keep in mind for friends with… well, with parents.  Because what is funny to your friend might be downright horrifying to their mother or father. 

Think about creating a homemade card much like you would getting dressed in the morning.  You don’t have to be a celebrated designer/stylist/socialite to dress yourself well.  It’s all about mastering the basics and working your way up from there.  For instance, some of the loveliest cards are the simplest.  If you collect the packets of sugar from your Saturday morning breakfast haunt, add a stapler and a little co-ordination you can make just the loveliest little “You’re Sweet” cards.  Copyright Annie Webber.  Seriously. 

Furthering that same analogy of card-making/getting dressed, there is also the notion that you needn’t be exceedingly wealthy to look dynamite.  Simplicity is key.  That, and taste.  Take a stack of National Geographics, or whatever magazine you have to hand, and start snippin’.  Give each photo a nice white border round the edges, and keep it to either a solitary image or a few choice items that work well together, and you’ve got yourself a bang-up greeting card.  Add a dash of cleverness to the inside (i.e. clipping of a room = make a space in your heart for me.   

If the one-liners just won’t materialize in your tired little brain, just make it look pretty.  Hey… that’s kind of a metaphor, too… 

Now here’s some advice every girl worth her weight in baubles can attest to – when the outfit lacks pizazz, enter accessories.  Card accessories are FUN.  Glitter being your number one source of bling, of course – it’s like the Swarovski of the greeting card aisle.  Other cute little bits of jazz include teeny-tiny photo frames.  Cut out an equally teeny-tiny photograph of your loverboy/girl and BAM, now it’s personal. 

Much like Valentines Day is your yearly excuse to dress like a lovesick fool, February 14th lends itself nicely to the cheesiest lines on earth.  An example:  it’s a Tuesday in April, and you pass a note to that guy who sits at the next desk/cubicle/diner booth.  You don’t know him very well, but you’re not strangers either.  He opens the note with a smug little glint in his flirtatious eye.  “Make a space in your heart for me.”  He disappears in a cloud of dust and utter terror.  THAT’S BECAUSE SAYING SOMETHING LIKE THAT IS CRAZY.  Except on Valentine’s Day. 

Lastly, cards are like clothes in that they can convey a very personal message (especially ones that sometimes you all-aloney-on-your-owney might have trouble conveying).  Sometimes it’s best to keep it at “Happy Valentine’s Day,” but who doesn’t love a nice, hand-crafted, lovingly thought-out personal note?  All the love you put into your card is going to come right back at ya through the recipients quivering lashes and teary puppy-eyes.  Awww. 

Above all, fill Valentines with love.  They are the best part of the day, no argument.   Well, chocolate’s kinda okay, too… 

For the jazzy among us, there is glitter. 

For the wit in your life, there are latin names and ironic sentences. 

For the loves of our lives, there are words of passion and undying love. 

For the nearly-a-friend-but-really-more-of-an-acquantainces in our lives, there are red cut-out hearts. 

And for everyone, there are gluesticks, scissors and paper.  Get at it.