Saturday, July 04, 2020

How to Make Greeting Cards from Artist Photos

Every year or so I stitch up a bunch of greeting cards that I use in all kinds of situations. I just finished a new set, so I thought I'd share the process and include all the materials I use.



I start by ordering blank cards and envelops. These are 5x7 and work great with a 4x6 image. Here's a link to the set of 50 I like. 



I also order 50 4x6" photos from Shutterfly. I just go through my recent work and crop them to a nice detail. I think I chose about ten different images and ordered five of each. I ordered glossy prints this time, but I think I prefer matte.



Then I stitch the photo to the card using a coordinating thread color and a wide stitch. I start in the middle of the bottom of the image and stitch about 1/8 inch from the edge.





I leave the threads long...



Then trim them a little.


Here's what they look like from the inside.



Several years ago I ordered a self-inking personalized stamp from Etsy. It took several weeks to arrive, so I'm not sure I'd recommend that particular shop, but you can easily find lots of options and decide what info you want to include.




I use this same stamp for the back of my small art quilt collages that are mounted on mat board.

Ta Da! I'm not sure it's "easier" than ordering professionally printed cards. It's probably cheaper. It's also easier to get multiple images, usually when you order printed cards, you order just one design. Plus, I like that they feel a little hand-made and it's certainly not a difficult project.



Let me know if you make some!

4 comments:

Candy said...

I ordered a pack of cards that arrived last week so I'm the same page. Thanks for ink stamp idea - I like that. Candy

Kathy Angel Lee said...

I also use 5x7 cards but I get the at Michael's. They are usually about $10 for 50, but they often go on sale for half price or I use one of their coupons. Most times I get them at the 50% off price which is a very good deal.

Wen said...

Cool! I like to make artist carts too and go through a similar process. But then I always struggle with trying to get my name on the back, setting it up in the printer and so forth. I like the stamp idea a lot. I will have to investigate that.

Carol said...

Thank you! I am in the middle of working on the same thing for our local Artists' Gallery. It is a co-op and the cards sell really well, but I hadn't made any yet as I only started with them the first of March and then you know what happened. LOL. Stitching the photo on the card and the stamp are the perfect touches. I got my blank cards and cellophane envelopes from Michaels as well. Thanks again for sharing!