Pretty Cards & Envelopes DIY

You know how I love to make handmade cards because it makes the idea of sending someone a little note that much more meaningful! One thing I do to make this easier is I make a bunch of cards at once and I keep them in a drawer where we can easily get to them when we need them. I also include some simple but cute premade cards in there, like these from the Flourish collection. But you know what, even my girls will go for the handmade cards first when they are choosing one to give to someone. They can sense that the embellished cards made by hand have a little extra something special and they are eager to share that with family and friends! 

Today design team member, Kathleen is sharing some simple but really cute DIY cards that you can make at home! This is also a fun project to do with your kids because they will love picking out each paper and decorating the cards! To take it up an extra little notch, you can also make your envelopes like Kathleen does. It might seem hard if you’re not sure how to make an envelope with pattern paper, but it’s not! Having the right tools for something like this makes the process quick and takes the guesswork out of it. This envelope making tool from We R Memory Keepers is one of those paper crafting tools you will not regret buying! You will use it over and over again to make your own cute pattern envelopes. I promise, because once you make one, it’s hard to go back to the plain white ones ever again! 

I don’t know about you, but there is just something about sending a handmade card that makes it very special. And although I definitely don’t consider myself a cardmaker, I do like to create some every now and then. I especially like to have some on hand that can work for any kind of occasion or even just because.For my five cards I used white 4×6 side-folding card bases and decorated them with different elements, mostly from the Willow Lane ephemera pack, the chipboard stickers and the journaling ephemera. But I also mixed in a few pieces from recent Maggie Holmes collections, like the “yay” die cut from the Carousel collection and the black tag with the floral design from Flourish.

I also created matching envelopes with papers from the 12×12 paper pad (it’s perfect for the envelopes since the papers are a bit thinner than the single sheets and you don’t “waste” a double-sided paper for them) with my 1-2-3 envelope punch board. Having matching envelopes really takes the cards up a notch, don’t you think? I made sure that every card had some kind of sentiment on it, either on the die cuts I used, or by adding phrase or letter stickers. You will also see that each card features a butterfly somewhere (some were fussy cut from the Flutter paper and one is from the ephemera pack). I just like the dimension and pop of colour they add to the cards and couldn’t resist adding them to each one.For the “Hey, good lookin’!” card below I also used the gorgeous large flower cluster from the Willow Lane stamp set and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder to add some more sparkle and texture to the card.

I really can’t wait to send these cards out to friends! And I hope they inspire you to maybe create some yourself using the gorgeous Willow Lane products. Thanks so much for stopping by, KathleenHappy Thursday Friends!

xoxoxo

Supplies Used >> Maggie Holmes Willow Lane/ Willow Lane 12×12 Paper Pad/ Willow Lane Ephemera Die Cuts /  Willow Lane Cardstock Stickers/ Willow Lane 12×12 Chipboard Stickers / Willow Lane Waterfall Cardstock Stickers / Willow Lane Floral Acrylic Stamp Set/ Acrylic Stamp Block / Willow Lane Glitter Foam Thickers Wonderful /  Willow Lane Flutter Paper / Willow Lane Standouts Layered Stickers / Willow Lane Puffy Stickers / Willow Lane Journaling Ephemera / Willow Lane 6×8 Basics Paper Pad / Carousel Ephemera / Flourish Ephemera  / Flourish Die Cut Flowers Ephemera / We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board