Creative Cards: 40 Projects for Handmade Invitations, Greeting Cards, Gift Wrap, and More

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

On the surface this book is impressive: cover-to-cover professional
photos illustrating how to perform the various techniques used in making
greeting cards, plus step-by-step directions for approximately 30
specific projects. It’s big, bright, colourful, and well organized,
with checklists, a great index, and a table of contents. Only on taking
a closer look does it become obvious there’s a measure of overblown
promise here. The designs are static and stilted. Any appeal comes from
the materials themselves rather than their creative use. Some of these
(page pebbles?) may not be available to all crafters. In the directory
of resources, U.K. and U.S. suppliers outnumber Canadian sources 17 to
two.

Half the book covers techniques used for creating greeting cards, gift
boxes and bags, wrapping paper, and tags. Folding, gluing, stamping,
punching, scoring, cutting, and embossing are covered. Some of the
less-known techniques include applying gold leaf, using water to create
a deckle edge, and using embossing powder. Also, if there are hobbyists
who need illustrated directions on how to use a paper punch or rubber
stamp, this work fills that gap.

The projects include how to wrap a gift, and making gift boxes and
greeting cards for various occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries,
and even the American 4th of July. For the cards, the methodology is
intended for ease of mass production (e.g., 100 wedding invitations).
The cards are intended for use as greeting cards, invitations, and thank
you or general notes. Card designs are unimaginative—a heart for
Valentine’s, a tree for Christmas, a turkey for Thanksgiving, eggs for
Easter. While a novice will benefit from a quick flick through the
techniques section, the work has little in the way of inspiration to
offer to most do-it-yourselfers.