Handmade Cards: Special Touches

Sometimes the tiniest touches can be the show-stoppers. When making handmade cards, don't forget to go one step further with a few extra special details.

Charm and eyelet phrases, quotes and words from Making Memories are a great way to add a sentiment or greeting to any card, because they have such a large variety of themes to choose from. Adding eyelets to cards is easy, but unlike in scrapbooking, the recipient of the card is likely to see the back of the eyelet. So, to avoid having eyelet prongs showing on your card, attach the eyelet to a scrap piece of paper and trim it off so it doesn't show around the metal, then glue the whole thing (by the paper) glue to your card. Or, attach the eyelet to pretty paper and trim around it, this time leaving enough paper showing to frame the metal, and then glue onto the card.

When heat-embossing with detailed stamps like this Anna Griffin Repousse background stamp (All Night Media #580K06), make sure to use an ink that will capture all those details. Inkredible! inks by Stewart Superior will do just that. When you're ready to emboss, play around with different techniques and different papers. Use ink and powder that match or nearly match your paper for tone-on-tone look, or use a shiny metallic ink for a holiday look. Vellum takes embossing nicely, too, with a very elegant result.

Sometimes there's just no time to completely make a card by hand, but you still want to do something special. This little birthday gift card was a snap, made by sticking a self-adhesive birthday cake Accent from Meri Meri onto one of their little gift enclosure cards. Tiny cards are always adorable, and this one came with a pretty matching pearly envelope. Go a step further and attach a bugle bead candle and a dot of gold glitter for the candle's flame.

Don't forget to "hallmark" the back of your cards using Hero Arts' "handstamped" barcode stamp #A1296.

From the time I discovered Jenny Sweeney Designs (www.jennysweeneydesigns.com), I've been hooked on glitter again. Their pretty cards are incredibly cute — and usually involve a simple design accented with a touch of glitter here and there. If you make your own, don't forget the power of glitter. Crayola's glitter glue pens are an easy way to add glittery accents, and they come in about 20 colors. You could use embossing ink or the Zig Emboss pen and sprinkle on embossing glitter to heat emboss, or just add a few dots from a Sailor glue pen and sprinkle on your own fine glitter.

Cardmaking doesn't have to stop with paper and glue — add fibers, ribbon, bows and trims to dress up notecard edges or give a little extra frill when tied around a card's fold.

Don't forget the envelopes.

Pretty cards deserve special envelopes, and it's easy to dress them up.

Wax seals close an envelope with a classic touch. Faux wax seals from Sonnets by Sharon Soneff are thick and sturdy, so they won't break like real ones sometimes do. Plus, they attach easily with Glue Dots.

I learned this trick from Anna Griffin at the Hobbies & Crafts show in 2003: Slip a liner of decorative paper inside the envelope. Trim a piece of paper wide enough to fit inside the envelope, and trim it off along the flap so that the adhesive strip isn't covered. Use a glue stick to adhere the lining inside the envelope. Then don't forget the decorative scissors when it comes to adding a pretty edge to an envelope.