Making Birthday Cards! What You Need To Know.

Making birthday cards is what you find yourself doing once you start cardmaking. There is bound to be someone celebrating his or her birthday in your family, in the office or among your friends.

Let me ask you. How many birthday cards did you receive on your last birthday? For me, I received more than 10 happy birthday cards. And all of them were personally handmade by the senders. I still display them all over the house; in my bedroom, craft room and also the living room. I treasure everyone of them because I know that the senders put in much time, thoughts and effort to create the cards. When I look at them, I feel much loved and appreciated.

I'm sure that any recipient of your handmade birthday card will also feel the same way I felt when he or she received your homemade card. So take time to plan each card when you are making birthday cards. And very likely that you might even be asked to make birthday cards for your friend's friends or a friend of your family. How do you know what design or color theme to use? How do you approach each card and how to make them?

Here is a list of things you might find helpful and like to consider before you embark on making birthday cards.

Things to Consider When Making Birthday Cards

• Who are you making the birthday card for? Find out more about this person. Let's say that you are making a birthday card for a female friend.
• What is her favourite color?
• What do you think is her style? Look at her dressing, things that she admires, her home decoration, etc.
• When is her birthday? Spring time, summer, autumn or winter?
• What is her favorite pastime? Gardening, cooking, horse riding, playing golf or just shopping?
• Does she has a pet? A dog or cat that she loves very much.
• How old will she be this coming birthday?
• Any thing or cause that she's passionate about?

The above are just some information that you might like to find out about the recipient of the handmade birthday card so that you can make a personlised birthday card showing that the card is made with much thoughts and care.

---

Cardmaking Ideas For Making Birthday Cards

For a fun loving person who loves the outdoor - Use an image of her favorite sport as the main focus point in your card design. Choose colors that are sporty and uplifting. Include some elements from nature in the design. For example, a sea shell for someone who loves the sea.

For a fashionable woman who loves to shop - Make the card in the shape of a handbag, a hat or a dress. Use fabric, sequeins or beads to embellish the birthday card.

For a house-proud person who loves to entertain - Make a Let's Celebrate! card with wine glasses, tea pot or a birthday cake.

For someone who loves gardening - Use cliparts of flowers, garden bugs and gardening tools in the design. Make a garden collage.

For a stamp collector - Create a faux postage stamp and use it as the main image on the card.

For a musician - Take a photo of his musical instrument or one like his; if he's a guitarist, part of a guitar; for a pianist, a piano. Or use music sheet or other musical item in the design.

Making Birthday Cards For Teens

Birthday Cards For Teenage Girls

I love making cards for teenage girls. Pink, purple, turquoise and lots of glitters. Images of make-up items, handbag, shoes, tiara, hearts and flower power - all these and more. Add candy color beads, fashionable charms, ribbons and sticker embellishments that young girls love.

Also for girls who love animals - photos or images of animals; horse, dog, cat, rabbit, hedgehog and mouse.

Teddy bears are also favored by girls. So images of teddy bears will also be suitable for young girls. There are lots of rubber stamps with "so-cute" bear images.

---

Birthday Cards For Teenage Boys

Boys are totally different from young girls. I always hear people telling mothers of boys - "Boys are boys." or "Boys will be boys." And they are just boys with toys that they love; football, psp games, fishing, and other sports. (Some girls do love these too.)
For boys who are soccer's fans - A card in the shape of a soccer ball, or the shape of a football jersey in the colors of their favorite team.
For boys who love the wild life - Pictures of wild animals, campsite, etc.
For boys who surf the net or sms alot - Internet jargon or sms messages, etc.

---

Making Birthday Cards For Younger Children

Younger children love receiving birthday cards too. When making birthday cards for them, use bright colors. Primary colors are great colors to use for the very young.

Images to use are toys that they love. For example, my nephew just loved anything to do with the Chinese lion dance when he was very young. A friend's child is crazy about trains and aeroplanes. And her daughter will love anything that has Hello Kitty.