Handmade Greetings for All Occasions (Better Homes & Gardens (Paperback))

Rating:
Summary: Card projects for all levels and tastes -- excellent!
Review: Ever find yourself wanting to put more of an individual touch on your Christmas cards? Do readymade cards from the store seem a little too "canned" -- or maybe just boring? Perhaps the email invites to your friend's shower got buried with all the junkmail and you need something that will get people's attention. You don't want to spend all day on it, but there must be some way to rev up your cards or just get beyond the generic, fake-sentimentality that has become the greeting card industry.

Better Homes and Gardens has compiled a great resource here for the crafter who wants to send something other than the Hallmark standard-issue greeting cards and invitations. Handmade Greetings for All Occasions really does cover most possible situations that call for cards (except for St. Patrick's day - wait, I never sent cards for St. Patty's day anyway!). True to the style of their magazine publication, BH&G's designs are contemporary, fun, tongue-in-cheek, cute, elegant, whimsical, classy, lovely, or any sort of appropriate mode you could ask for; and without exception they stand out. The ones that caught my eye, for example:

A very girly purse-shaped card with an actual Velcro closure (perfect for my sister's birthday)
A valentine's card with beginner-level quilling design all over the heart shape - easy and elegant!
Autumn greeting cards with embossed papers and gilded leaves - rich looking, but fast to assemble
Colorful birthday cards with candle detailing baked from clay
Christmas greetings with beaded motifs and appliqués.
Stamp-embossed wedding card in vellum and silver; not exactly revolutionary, but simply lovely.

The techniques/materials used to make the cards range all over the craft world today, but are applied with a light touch (I wish I had room to name them all in this review). For instance, a few of the projects call for stamps, others show you how to make accents with clay, wires, beads, botanicals, ribbons...the familiar array of skills to paper crafters and scrapbookers, but explained and illustrated at the beginner level for the rest of us. If you are not already a crafter, you will have to make some initial investment in tools and materials to get started with most of these projects. You will get a brief exposure to all different kinds of paper crafts being used today, and maybe come away with a new hobby or two. In my case though I had a lot of tools floating about because I scrapbook.

I have looked at other card making books and find that often, the involvement or the investment is either too much for my purposes (such as making 40 invites for that baby shower) or so simplistic/standard that you may as well not bother wasting your time with handmades. HGFAO strikes just the right balance, so that the crafter can mass produce many of the projects for larger mailings or spend more time embellishing custom cards that become keepsakes. Let me reassure you that none of these projects look mass produced though. You will get lots of credit from your friends and family for being the artist who took the time to make it especially for them.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

Rating:
Summary: Card projects for all levels and tastes -- excellent!
Review: Ever find yourself wanting to put more of an individual touch on your Christmas cards? Do readymade cards from the store seem a little too "canned" -- or maybe just boring? Perhaps the email invites to your friend's shower got buried with all the junkmail and you need something that will get people's attention. You don't want to spend all day on it, but there must be some way to rev up your cards or just get beyond the generic, fake-sentimentality that has become the greeting card industry.

Better Homes and Gardens has compiled a great resource here for the crafter who wants to send something other than the Hallmark standard-issue greeting cards and invitations. Handmade Greetings for All Occasions really does cover most possible situations that call for cards (except for St. Patrick's day - wait, I never sent cards for St. Patty's day anyway!). True to the style of their magazine publication, BH&G's designs are contemporary, fun, tongue-in-cheek, cute, elegant, whimsical, classy, lovely, or any sort of appropriate mode you could ask for; and without exception they stand out. The ones that caught my eye, for example:

A very girly purse-shaped card with an actual Velcro closure (perfect for my sister's birthday)
A valentine's card with beginner-level quilling design all over the heart shape - easy and elegant!
Autumn greeting cards with embossed papers and gilded leaves - rich looking, but fast to assemble
Colorful birthday cards with candle detailing baked from clay
Christmas greetings with beaded motifs and appliqués.
Stamp-embossed wedding card in vellum and silver; not exactly revolutionary, but simply lovely.

The techniques/materials used to make the cards range all over the craft world today, but are applied with a light touch (I wish I had room to name them all in this review). For instance, a few of the projects call for stamps, others show you how to make accents with clay, wires, beads, botanicals, ribbons...the familiar array of skills to paper crafters and scrapbookers, but explained and illustrated at the beginner level for the rest of us. If you are not already a crafter, you will have to make some initial investment in tools and materials to get started with most of these projects. You will get a brief exposure to all different kinds of paper crafts being used today, and maybe come away with a new hobby or two. In my case though I had a lot of tools floating about because I scrapbook.

I have looked at other card making books and find that often, the involvement or the investment is either too much for my purposes (such as making 40 invites for that baby shower) or so simplistic/standard that you may as well not bother wasting your time with handmades. HGFAO strikes just the right balance, so that the crafter can mass produce many of the projects for larger mailings or spend more time embellishing custom cards that become keepsakes. Let me reassure you that none of these projects look mass produced though. You will get lots of credit from your friends and family for being the artist who took the time to make it especially for them.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle