What A Card! Creating Fun DIY Greeting Cards

These how-to tutorials for handcrafting greeting cards are both simple and genius, meaning more creative time for kids, goodbye to last-minute store runs and lots of fun for everyone.

Blow Paint Blossoms

Unleash the inner artist in your toddler by getting them to blow paint a cherry blossom tree on the face of a greeting card. So easy and fun, it’ll be hard to pull young ones away from the activity. Simply drop a blob of slightly runny black paint on paper, and let them blow at it with a straw in an upward direction. Then, with a little splotch of pink here and there, watch the card blossom and come alive.  

Sew A Message

It’s more fun to sew a message on paper than write out a card the conventional way. A little old-fashioned perhaps, but the effect is beautiful and unique. Plus it’s so easy, even preschoolers can do it with a little guidance and love. Craft-making mainstays like scissors, needle, thread, card stock, plain paper, glue, pencil and pin are all that’s needed. And 20 minutes, approximately.

Make A Flower

Paper tulips are perfect for spring, fun to create and make wonderful little presents to perk up dreary days. Even better if they double as greeting cards! This project is simple, quick and suits most ages, yielding attractive results without much effort and going far beyond the season or occasion at hand. Don’t blame us if you get sucked into it as well.

Quill A Heart

No doubt quilling requires a fair degree of skill and dexterity, but when it comes to this project, you’ll be amazed at how even a 5-year-old can masterfully quill a pretty little heart. Quilling tools and supplies are optional: substitute a toothpick for a quilling needle and cut out thin strips of coloured paper if there’s no quilling paper at hand. Get glue, watch the tutorial, and let the fun begin.

Fold It, Wrap It, Gift It

No sketching, painting or quilling here, just measuring, cutting, folding, sticking and inserting a message inside a beautiful gift-wrap-style card. TIP: Origami is a formulaic and precise art. To get the desired results, follow instructions to the T and make sure that folds are accurate and meet perfectly at the corners. Recommended ages: 10 and up.

Make It Pop Up

Whoa! A 3D pop-up gift box within a greeting card! Such a creative and clever way to enclose a tiny present or gift card for any occasion. It might appear complex, but all that’s required are basic folding and sticking skills. Not just that, creators will be bursting with pride and joy afterwards. Older children will particularly find this project challenging as well as rewarding.

Create A Flip-Up Book Greeting

Add a dash of novelty and sentimentality by creating a flip-up greeting card and decorate each chamber with photos, labels and messages. No doubt the most complicated on the list, but also the most satisfying. So, who wants to give it a go?

Article by Purnima Shrinivas