ALPHABETICAL LIST OF BABY NAMES

Making Cards in a Weekend

Handmade greetings cards have grown in popularity, and this manual demonstrates how to make your own cards for a fraction of the retail price. Featuring cards suitable for a range of occasions - from birthdays and weddings to new babies and anniversaries - and in a range of styles and tastes, each one can be made memorable with a personal touch. This practical guide provides fully illustrated step-by-step instructions together with all the basic techniques.

Handmade cards are an ideal medium for self-expression: the small, event-oriented format means we can indulge our creativity fairly readily, while tailoring a greeting specifically to someone we care about. The colorful, clever cards in Jain Suckling's Making Cards in a Weekend offer ample opportunity for creative play: confetti fish swim in an acetate sea, eyed by a hopeful (rubber-stamped) kitty; a paper stork cut-out dangles a little bundle; a fun-foam clown becomes a finger puppet. Techniques include stamping, foil embossing, quilling, and collage. Good step-by-step directions, each accompanied by individual photos, make these mostly easy projects even easier, and seven eye-catching "gallery" spreads provide dozens of additional ideas to take your card creativity even further. --Amy Handy

Help Photog Friends
Please Critique

A friend of mine is starting a card making business. She wants to have a portfolio of her cards that she makes. She asked if I would help make her portfolio.

I have no idea how to do commercial photography. I'm trying to come up with something that makes the card appealing and shows its characteristics but do you know how hard it is to take pictures of a flat object? ha ha

Let me know your thoughts. If this were in some type of brochure or portfolio - does it serve its purpose? Thanks.

Christmas is almost here! Card making while the baby is sleeping is awesome. Inside the cards are going to say "let it snow."

Linocut with archival ink.

Introducing current, popular coloring methods for card making, this guide is divided into three instructional chapters that showcase a specific medium—watercolor, colored pencils, and alcohol ink. With an introduction to each medium, every one of the eye-catching designs in this book include a detailed walk through, a materials list, and coloring tips. A special section on how to accentuate designs includes suggested use for glitter pens and gel pens as well as techniques on shading and creating texture. Projects include Fairy Thanks, Meowy Christmas, Geranium Get Well, Secret Fishing Spot, Beary Happy Birthday, Sharing a Cookie, and Special Friends.