Make Handmade Postcards for Family and Friends
Postcards have always been a great way to keep in touch with family and friends if you have already moved away to another place or if you are travelling for some time. You can easily buy them in stores and send them out with a very cheap stamp. And yet, your recipients will really be happy because at least you remembered them.
If you are a homemaker and you would like people to know that you already have a family, you can endeavor to do your own postcard printing at home using family portraits. Or you may go to the store, bring a digital file of your photo, and have the photo developer put your photo in a digital frame along with some greetings before you have it printed. That could also be your cheap, personalized postcard.
But, you can also go beyond the norm of printed postcards by making your own customized handmade postcards. If you have some extra time on your hands and you have the knack for doing crafts and stuff, then you might as well dabble on your own designs. The outcome might not be as cheap as store printed digital images but at least your family and friends will surely appreciate the effort that you put into making them. Here are some guidelines that you can follow in making handmade postcards. Of course these are not ground rules, as you can always exercise your own creativity.
1. First of all, you need to cut out several pieces of 4” x 6” rectangular shapes from stock cards. The number of pieces will depend on how many people you will need to send postcards to. You can also make different shapes; after all, you have the control on the design of your postcard.
2. Decorate the front panel of your postcard. You can use any material that you like, such as paint, markers, oil colors, or even spray paint. Or you can combine some of them, like a mixed media artwork.
3. Add some embellishments. To put a personal touch, you can add your photo and some trimmings that you can easily glue on your postcard. You can also print out a quote or verse from the Scripture on a colored paper and cut it out. You can then stick it on the postcard. Just remember to secure your embellishments so that they will not fall off during shipping and handling. Or if possible, use only embellishments that are flat so that they will not snag.
4. When the decorations on the front part are already dry, turn it over. On the other side, draw a vertical line in the middle. Use the left side for your message. The upper right hand part is reserved for the stamp while the bottom part is for the recipient’s name and address.
These personalized handmade postcards are great if you only have a few people to send them to, like your immediately family members and a few close friends. But if you have more than 10 people in your list, you just might have to consider personalized postcard printing at the store. Or, if you intend to send them on a particular occasion, like Christmas, then maybe you can start making them in July so that you will have 6 months to prepare all these handmade materials.
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