Creating cards for someone you don’t know can be a bit daunting. Especially if you don’t have experience making many handmade cards. Never fear – take a deep breath and relax – it’s not as overwhelming as it may seem going into, and you have a lot more tools and supplies at your disposal than you may originally think. Keep in mind, too, that any colors, themes, occasions are welcome! Basically you have an open palette to work with. If you don’t have access or the finances to buy lots of scrapbooking paper, don’t worry – use simple construction paper, stamps and stickers. A little ribbon goes a long way, too. If you want some more color try cutting pictures, letters, words or images out of magazines you have lying around. When I started out making cards, I used old National Geographic magazines we had lying around, outdoor magazines (a lot of my friends love snowboarding and surfing). Anything you have an interest in or that will fit into your particular theme will work. Think outside the box!

If you want to go real simple, use a patterned paper, tie some ribbon around, and stamp a greeting (”Thank You”, “Thinking of You”, “Happy Birthday”, etc). Cards don’t have to be loaded with lots of intricate detail and complex stamping, drawing or cutting out embellishments. Sometimes the more simple your design is, the more beautiful and elegant it is. Cards for Troops is also the perfect excuse to experiment with ideas and designs you may be nervous or hesitant to make for friends, family or to sell. It is also a great opportunity to use paper you love but haven’t used for a while and can’t convince yourself to get rid of. For myself, I have a couple dozen 12×12 sheets of Bohemia paper that I love but cannot find anymore here in Boise. I haven’t used the paper in almost a year and chances are, I won’t come across another project I want to use it on since I can’t find embellishments to coordinate with the paper anymore. So I got out my stamps, ribbon, some bling and some paper flowers and went to work. What is really great about a lot of scrapbooking paper is that it is patterned or colored on both sides. My Bohemia paper, for instance, has a pattern on one side, and a coordinating solid color on the reverse. When I go to make a card or album with two-sided patterned paper like this I can create a variety of looks with the same sheet of paper. It is also great for using the pattern as a base for your card and using pieces of the solid side for stamping or creating a layered look.

For more ideas, I suggest looking in magazines and card making books. Cards magazine put out by Scrapbook Trends is an excellent monthly magazine, as is PaperCrafts magazine. There are a lot of books out there that have templates for making cards and scrapbook layouts. Close To My Heart has a couple of books that have great scrapbook layout templates – Imagine and Cherish. I have a great “book” called “Stacy and Friends: 40 Techniques for Making Cards” put out by Paper Crafts – this book has tons of ideas and examples for cards – a lot of templates and 3-4 different ways to apply those templates and the different looks you can accomplish. It even comes with a cd with even more ideas! (I got mine for $20 at one of the scrapbooking stores here in Boise)

To help give you some ideas here are a few of the cards I have been making for my own Cards for Troops package:

Thanks for reading with me!