XpLoR UoR kRe-8-T-wiTTy!!!

By now I presume you figured out the topic…yes! Today, I thought that I’d share something totally creative with you…mind you, I was pretty good at craft in my school days, so these ghosts do hiccup at times; and the result? Peek –a-boo!

Making your own greeting cards.

Yes, that’s what I am gonna show you. Well, nothing new about greeting cards- we all make them, we all use them, atleast everyone’s seen them. So what’s the big deal?

Hmm…the difference is in the design. It’s very interesting to create greeting cards this way; it’s also easy, economical and it looks a darn better than the old fashion opaque cards. Besides, it’s always a great thing to have your own personal touch to a greeting card; it shows a lot of affection and care for the person whom you are gifting it to.

So, let’s get started with it… To begin with, we need the following materials:

• White or designed paper (approximately A4 size) for the background. Make sure it’s smaller than the OHP.

• A single OHP transparency sheet.
• An OHP pen.
• Ribbons of your choice of color.
• Scissors.
• Glue.
• Blade/knife.
• A sea shell, colored marble or attractive rocks.

You now need to understand how the greeting is, in order to proceed smoothly. It has a semi-transparent appearance, so we make a colorful background; and use the OHP to cover the background. Using the butter paper along with the OHP produces the semi-transparent effect, and you then use the marker to write your own personal message on the top of the OHP. WTF? Got confused? Don’t worry…let’s get it started; you’ll surely get the hang of it.

• Begin by deciding what you want for the background. In this example, I simply created a pattern of stripes using three colored ribbons. You could make things easier by using a photograph. Alternately, you could also draw something colorful using oil pastels/poster colors, etc. Anything, as long as it’s bright and vibrant.
• Once you are done with drawing/making the background, go and get the paper laminated. Now this is totally optional, however I recommend doing this, as the effect is more pronounced.
• After laminating the background, take the OHP transparency along with the butter paper and adjust both on the laminated background. Try to adjust the transparency such that it covers the background completely, and there’s some extra sheet at the top. Fold this extra part such that it hinges on your background paper.
• Firmly stick the extra part on the back side of your laminated background.
• You should now have a greeting card template ready, where you can make out the colors of your laminated background against the transparency.
• Get you brains racking and write some good thought for your loved one on the front of the transparency sheet. (try google!)

• Finally, you can decorate the front by sticking a sea shell or colored rocks. Use permanent glue for the same.

That’s it! Simple, ain’t it? Go ahead now, try it out…

P.S: If anyone has any ideas/suggestions, I will be most happy to hear them. Adios!