HOW MY ‘WILD CARDS’ EVOLVED

So I’ve pledged to do some card /craft things on this website, if you’ve noticed.

Disclosures:

• I don’t like to spend $6 to $8 or more for commercial notecards.
• I am old-school and still write hand-written notes – meaning cards – to send birthday cheer or get-well wishes, or for any other occasion. Yes, emails get there swiftly; you can create original e-cards with clip art, or enlist on professional e-card companies that create wonderful graphics, animation, and music to mark any occasion. What you can’t effectively do is scribble out a note.
• I create original handmade stationery because I enjoy the process. Started years ago, when I sought a Hallmark card to send a personal note with a precise vibe. Couldn’t find one, but the one beaut   might have bought had a message that didn’t reflect my sentiments.

That’s how my Wild Cards were born. I secured reams of assorted paper, of vellum quality so they have crisper and durability than standard paper. I sought out art paper stores on numerous trips for resources that gad more glitz and zest.

But I also do notecards relying on washi tape, colored pens, paints and various other media – wire, felt pieces, wrapping paper, rubber stamps, stick-on alphabets, and good old-fashioned hand-lettering with pens of many colors – and then work out motifs. With a paper cutter, scissors, doubled-edge tapes and X-Acto pens, I let the imagination go wild.

Here, I share a couple of simple cards anyone can create. One uses stickers of dogs, the other of cats. The exclamation point for me here are the hand-written captions.

I won’t engage in DIY make-a-card instruction here – that’s not my role — but perhaps you might find some inspiration to make your own, then send someone a hand-written note, too. You don’t know the joy you’ll bring to the recipient.