Greeting Cards

Everybody loves to get a greeting card that has been made especially for them.
There are so many things to celebrate: birthdays, anniversaries, special days like Mothers and Fathers Days, Valentines Day, Easter, Christmas are but a few.
Thanking people using a card that is specially designed lets the person know that you really appreciated their contribution.

What do you need to consider when making a card?

• When you need to have the card ready for. Use a calendar to see how many days or weeks away the event is.
• What type of card you're going to make. You'll need to decide how you're going to deliver the card. If you're posting it you need to know that bigger cards cost more to post.
• The theme of your card.

Things you may need to make your cards.

• Scissors, card, old magazines, felt pens, colouring-in pencils, crayons, a dictionary, glue, double-sided tape, a ruler, old cards you could copy or cut up.

Planning

• Think about the message you want to have on your card. The best rule of thumb is "short, sharp and punchy!" Usually, cards have a two or three-word message on the front and a slightly longer one inside.
• Make sure you have spelt your message correctly using a dictionary or someone to help you.
• Think of some pictures that would match your message. It is especially good if the pictures are of things that are important to the person you are making it for.
• Collect the materials you need to make the card, have you got an envelope? If your card is an unusual size you may have to make an envelope from plain paper.

Paper engineering - this is when you make things pop up or out from your card

• You might want to practise these skills using scrap paper as they can be a bit trickier than you thought at first.
  

                    This shows how to use a paper fan to make your card more beautiful. You could use this technique to make butterfly wings too.

This shows how to create a place to stick a pop-out thing onto.

This card shows how you can decorate the bent out parts.

Collage is a very effective way to make a card. You can cut letters and words from magazines as well as pictures and photographs.

Have lots of fun making cards for the special people in your lives. If you can take a photo of any you make we'd love to post the photos on this blog to inspire others. You can email them to us at claire.howison@ararira.school.nz or donna.frame@ararira.school.nz