Monday, May 31, 2010

Treat Your Wedding Stationery as Significant as Your Wedding

First and foremost, if you want a wedding to be remembered by your guests you should give much attention to your wedding stationery. You must have a wedding announcement or save the date card which is sent to the guests so they know about the wedding date and the venue. You will be able to have a rough estimate of the guests who will be coming to your wedding by including an RSVP card, then requesting your guests to reply by a phone call or with the enclosed return envelope and postage.

A wedding invitation is essential to your wedding so close and careful attention must be given to every detail. The guest will know of how formal the occasion would be and it would set the tone of your wedding as a whole. Here, envelope liners, envelope seals, floral accents, ribbon and multi-layered designs are just few of the many things to consider. A reception or direction card which is a single sheet with no adornment stating the direction to the wedding reception should be printed clearly to avoid guests getting lost. Also to be included are menu and table cards.

The wedding stationery should be as perfect as your event so paying attention to many details should be considered for creating a lasting good impression. In sending wedding invitations, be sure to include return envelopes and postage. If you intend to have your guests reply for an RSVP through mail, good wedding etiquette dictates that you include self-addressed and stamped return envelopes. A calligraphy font style is also highly recommended to add sophistication when printing the text of your stationeries. Make sure that your guests know that you don’t want children on this special occasion if you have limited space or facility to accommodate kids.

Upon delivering your wedding invitations you should place it, the wedding invitation card and its envelope, into a cheaper envelope to avoid any smudges during postal delivery. Adding envelope seal such as wax seals and paper seals when delivering your wedding stationery will add a high level of quality for a cheaper cost.

For most couples, the wedding stationery is not only essential to their wedding but it is something that anyone wants to have a perfect outcome. These are the few things that go into the making of a high quality of wedding stationery set for you and keeping this in mind will surely help you create a successful and memorable event.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

An Eco-Friendly Approach to Card Making

Have you ever seen art made from scrap, from discarded materials, empty bottles and soda cans, plastic containers and the like? Have you seen those colorful bags made of sewn-together tetra packs? People are becoming more and more environmentally aware of the negative impact that comes from the discarded wastes of our lifestyles. That is why the 3Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – became a popular movement in the 1970s due to rising energy cost and global warming and is a continued practice today.

In card making and similar crafts like scrapbooking, there are many available materials that can be purchased in specialty stores and online markets. Yet during these times when being thrifty is a must and green-living is ideal, why not be practical in both your lifestyle and your art? Creativity, after all is reflected not in the price of the materials used, rather on the final product. If you are to use the 3Rs principle, you’d not only be saving dollars into purchasing expensive greeting cards, you’d also be saving the environment from much unnecessary waste, not to mention succeeding the challenge of producing something of value from discarded and pre-used items.

Card making is one of the crafts that anyone with a drop of creativity can do. It can be inexpensive and enjoyable to make and meaningful to the recipient. It can also be a means to reuse discarded items that would otherwise have ended up in the dumpster. Here are some ideas on how to use discarded items as card making accessories:

1. Used ribbons from gifts can be used as decorative ribbons in cards, and can be used to tie pages of the card together.

2. Old newspapers can be used in making paper mache.

3. Images from magazines can be cut and pasted to create a collage.

4. Discarded buttons, thread, beads, laces and other accessories used for sewing can be used as decoration.

5. Discarded cereal boxes can be used as the card itself, which can be covered by art paper or paper with print only on one side.

6. Used gift wrappers can be made into envelopes for the cards.

7. Used crayons can me melted and blown into the card for a unique design.

8. Cardboard could be replicated to make embossed designs.

Being practical doesn’t mean being cheap. Re-using and recycling materials definitely reduces wastes. By following the 3Rs in card making, objects that are wastes for many can be made to be something of value to some.

Cardmaking for the Handicapped and Elderly

Cardmaking and sending has become a multi-billion business in the world. Who could deny the happiness a simple card could bring during an occasion? The wonderful thing about cardmaking is that anyone can do it. Not only do the huge mass-producing companies and small businesses profit from this business, even those who are handicapped and elderly have found their own niche and are earning from this craft. Many different institutions were established to cater to help the handicapped and the elderly to be able to earn a living. One company is called THASC (The Handicapped and Senior Citizens) Sales Company, Inc. It has been around since 1977 and has under their employment more than a hundred handicapped, disabled and elderly artists. It is common now to see cards in the book and stationery stores that are made by these artists. Some are wonderful paintings that were made using the mouth or the foot of the handicapped or disabled. Their products not only feature greeting cards for all occasions, they also make business cards, address books and pocket planners. Income from the sales of these cards profits the institution allowing them to not only continue, but expand their operations which in turn benefits many.

Cardmaking for the handicapped and the elderly has not only profited them financially, it has also proven to be therapeutic. Being creative is an expression of the soul which is often times stifled with the pressures of everyday living. What more for the handicapped and elderly who must more often than not feel that they are already useless and are unable to contribute even for their own means of living? Aside from increasing ones self esteem from being able to earn money, cardmaking is a kind of healing art, which unlike traditional art where there are certain standards that the end products that need to meet; healing arts like intuitive painting is more expressive and lets one surrender to the creative process. Practicing art therapy, in methods such as cardmaking, painting and even the writing of messages, can have significant healing in the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual faculties of the person. For example, repressed emotions can be released when painting or when writing messages in greeting cards. Devotions of faith can be shared; and even physical activity and exercise is promoted.

Indeed, cardmaking for the handicapped and elderly has a plethora of benefits; and it would be a good thing to support these kinds of endeavors.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Wedding Cards in a Humorous Manner

Making wedding cards can be done in a manner suitable to you. There are lots of ways to make wedding invitation card these days and most of them uses the formal manner of making the card. Going beyond the usual way of making invitations can be one of the best things you can do especially if you don’t opt for a traditional type of wedding and cards. In making up a humour card invitation you need to be very creative and unique to come up with a nice outcome. It doesn’t need to be homemade but of course; you still need to put words into your card even if you will just be ordering it from a shop.

Most people would like to make their wedding occasion light for everyone. They want all people to be happy in this memorable event that is why they also want to make wedding cards that are humorous to complete the occasion. Have you ever thought why there are people who chose to make humorous wedding cards that stick to traditional type of invitation cards? This is because some people find it fulfilling when they make someone else happy. An invitation card doesn’t have to be suitable to the standard way of sending them. These there are lots of funny patterns for card making especially when it comes to invitation cards.

Funny words not just attract other people but also with the craft which you will incorporate to the card. Usually, this type of invitation cards requires talent because it’s hard to make someone laugh than to make them cry. With all the tragic things happening in the world today, you don’t expect people to laugh easily. Most of them are seriously thinking about personal matters so it’s hard for them to focus on something which they don’t really understand. Everything needs to be clear to them if you want them to laugh. Being different is not an easy task, it takes a lot of effort, if you would like to stand out from the rest and make your wedding truly remarkable to everyone, humorous wedding invitation cards will answer all your concerns. These helpful techniques will be helpful to you along the way:

1. You need to think of the right concept for your wedding invitations. Using odd shapes will be very helpful to you. Set the tone for the invitation and making it associated with your wedding theme and favours too.

2. You can also use humorous background. This will add design and attraction to the card.

3. Humorous cartoon designs will also be very helpful to you. There are lots of cartoons that are really funny so you will not have much effort in making them laugh.

4. Pop up cards will be very helpful to you too. You need to look for craft shops that are widely available online these days. There are also craft shops near you which will surely cater to your needs.

Incorporating Different Techniques on Cardmaking

When you seek for something to do during vacation time or during a bad weather, you will find cardmaking as one of the simplest yet interesting form of hobby. It will not just make you relaxed, it will also help you find new venture to earn some more income through simple ways which you can do at home. The fact that you don’t need capital to create a card is one of the most interesting parts of it. You will be able to earn without spending anything at all. What you need to do is to study the basic principles of cardmaking and try to use them with your own ideas. It will be very helpful to you if you will make a simple research regarding the complex steps of making simple cards.

Before you start with the advance forms, you need to make basic cards first before you go into the next level. Simple and hand crafted cards is fun and rewarding too. It can be given to someone special anytime of the year. When you prepare for a special occasion, you don’t need to rush in preparing for a card because you can do that ahead of time. There are lots of techniques for cardmaking; all these techniques will be very helpful to you along the way.

1. Punching papers –you don’t have to suffer cutting parts of the cards to make small circles. You can do that using punchers. Most punchers today come in variety of shapes. Through this tool, you will be able to make different shapes into the card and make it accessorized through it. It is available in these shapes:

a. Squares
b. Hearts
c. Flowers
d. Circles
e. Border designs

2. Rubber stamping – most people are thinking that rubber stamps are just of certified artists and for office use. What you don’t know is that it can be used for simple handcrafting needs. You can easily choose from variety of designs, letters, numbers, and phrases at a very affordable size. Rubber stamps can help you save time if you ought to make lots of cards. This is ideal for business use. Before opting to use rubber stamps for making cards, you need to check first if the design or logo you acquired doesn’t have a previous owner because it may cause trouble later on.

3. Quilting –this is one of the most artistic ways to make a card but it is also very time consuming. This is not ideal for business use unless you have quilting machines.

4. Embossing –it gives a different appeal onto the texture and looks of the card. It will make its texture raised up by using a stencil or power. Stencil is one of the best ways to make an embossed look on card for beginners. Heat embossing is another way to emboss a card but make sure you are knowledgeable in this area of expertise because it can be hazardous for beginners especially if you don’t have any background at all.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Cardmaking Thank You Card for Teachers

Teachers are important person of every person’s life, without them you will not be able to learn many things. Many students do not know the importance of teachers in their life. The roles of teachers are important especially for pre-schoolers because they are the first one to teach your kid on how write and read properly. It is worthy to give honor to teachers especially during teacher’s day. Actually, you do not have to give them expensive or material gifts.

A simple thank you card for your beloved teacher will do. Thank you cards are the nicest way to express your gratitude to someone who had helped you a lot. Thank you card should be as simple as possible. For kids thank you card are very easy to do, if you want to send smile to the face of your teacher. Cardmaking for kids are useful activity that they can do with the supervision of their parents. The following are ideas that you can do to be able to create thank you cards for your teachers in school.

1. The first thing that you have to do is to ask your parents to help you pick and purchase stationery for your thank you card. It is better if you know the favorite color of your teacher and pick a stationery base on their favorite color. You may ask your teacher about his or her favorite color without mentioning that you are going to make a thank you card for them. Your parents will surely be the one to pay for all the materials that you need, but if you want to use your own money, it is better if you will save some from your allowance.

2. The next thing that you have to do is to start preparing for your cardmaking. Prepare all the needed materials and tools such as papers, designs, glue, sticker, and scissors. If you think that you cannot handle all the things that you should cut with the use of a scissor then it is better if you will ask the help of one of your parents. You can draw your own design using crayons or colored pens. Create you own heart felt messages for your teacher. It can be sort or long depends upon what you want to say and feel.

3. If you are a kid that is an internet savvy, you may choose to crate your card using any software in the internet or locate a website where you can create your own card for free. There are lots of free websites that you can use for your cardmaking. Do not settle for websites who are asking for fee. You will surely fin lots of website offering their free service, but some them am yaks you to sign up. You can sign up if you want to take advantage of the privilege to create our own card. Some of these websites just need your email address. You can also edit text to insert your special message for your teacher.

This is the right time to give acknowledgment to your teachers by giving a simple thank you cards.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Ways to Make Home Made Wedding Stationary

These days, more and more couples are looking for ways to save money on their wedding. This is probably because there are lots of expenses to think of during this time and saving money for more important things later on should also be a priority. One of the best ways to save money is to make your own wedding stationary and wedding invitations too.

Although it requires much attention, the need to spend large amount of money is not needed anymore. Designing your own wedding stationary is one of the best things to do to show your guests that this day is very important to you and their presence will complete the occasion. There are helpful ways in making your own wedding stationary here are some of them:

1. Selecting the right design and program –these days, it’s very easy to make and plan for a wedding invitation because the process of making your own wedding stationary is easier and worry free compared to the traditional way of selecting and ordering. Photoshop is one of the best places to find and make your own set of designs. Mixing and combining colours are easier and worry free. With the advent of technology, you will be able to come up with your own unique blend of colourful designs others cannot duplicate. One of the best ways to come up with a nice design is to make a trial and error. It may take time but it will surely bring out the best in you which will also be helpful in making a unique and well blended design.


2. Imaginative design ideas – there are lots of samples available online today. Most of them are free to view so you can easily look for one which will serve as a pattern when making your own stationary and invitation card. You don’t have to be afraid in playing with variety of photo effects, mixing colours, and experimenting with the alignment and texture of the design because all these will help you come up with a nice wedding invitation. There are certain things you must keep in mind before you go along:


a. Decide if the invitation card will be on a landscape or portrait form. It will be more personalized if you put nice photos of you and your fiancé as a background of the invitation card.


b. Be careful with your border designs because there are some instances when border designs are not suitable for the design and appearance of the card.


c. Borderless will be best for personalize design because you will be saved from worrying about the design of the borders.

3. Printing options — when it comes to printing, you can do it easily using your own printer at home. It will surely save you from spending a lot of money which you can still use for some other important needs. You can also choose the right type of paper needed for the printing materials.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Effective A4 Card Brochure For Landscape Advertising

A print advertisement has greater chance of ending in trash bins than being read so be sure that your prints are worth keeping. The secret is to design prints in your A4 card brochure that are convincing and appealing to read. For your landscape design brochure, you can try to deviate from the normal to tri-fold or two-fold prints.

Give your prospective customers something unique by going for die-cut brochure copies. You can put a tear off coupon using the last page of a two-fold or three fold A4 card brochure. You can place three to four coupons giving them discounts every time they use your service. It’s up to you how much discount you are willing to give and for which landscape design service they can use the discount coupon for.

You can attract and hold the attention of your prospective market by applying a marketing strategy and creating an interesting and unique printed material based on careful research. So you have to be resourceful and imaginative in doing this. Think out of the box and don’t be afraid to express yourself in planning for the design of your next landscape design brochure marketing drive.

Marketing materials are your weapons in trading for tight contention in landscaping business and they help in creating visible recognition and build consciousness for your business. Since the sales from your customers is what fuels your business, it is important to make every prospective customer aware of the business. All of your marketing strategies should reach as much number of people as possible. Distributing printed advertising materials like business cards, postcards, flyers and brochures will help you on this matter.

Your landscape design business is not complete without the business cards that you can hand out to your prospective customers visiting your office for inquiries. A well-designed graphics and persuasive text on a postcard will catch the attention of your current and prospective customers you want to get in touch with. A catalog is a multi-page marketing material that allows you to include several photos of your landscaping projects in the past. Flyers are perfect for posting on bulletin boards, inserting on windshields, sending through mails, displays on store counter or handed out personally. A4 card brochures can be used to explain each of your landscape design, landscaping concepts and different styles.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Starting a Term Paper

It is impossible for one to get through college without having to write a term paper. Many times the task of writing a term or research paper can be daunting to student who has exams to study for, homeworks to finish and several extra-curricular activities to attend to. This is where some seek help and assistance from outside sources which includes older siblings or relatives who have gone through the same process of writing a paper, classmates who are gifted with excellent writing abilities and in desperation, there are those who seek writing services online and buy their term paper.


Writing, literally, is easy to learn, as most people were taught to write since childhood. But writing for academic, artistic or creative purposes takes more work. Although there are people who can do and actually enjoy it, there are also those who needs to exert a lot more effort in order to produce a decent paper. But this is not to say that it is impossible. In fact, the right attitude is all that's needed to get through the task successfully. Once the proper mindset is in place, the required diligence and determination are sure to follow.


So one might ask, where do I start? Choosing a topic is the very first thing that one must do in writing a term paper. There is a wide range of topics that you can write about. The task of finding the right topic will be initially dictated by your particular course or subject that you are taking. For example, if you are taking philosophy, you should not expect writing a paper on which ingredients are the best for preparing food for diabetics.

Most instances, too, your professor will give a specific focus of interest which is still broad enough for the whole class to have a different topic for each one, but narrow in such a way that it would be easy to look for specific topics within that area of knowledge.


In choosing a topic, it is advisable to start with a list that you can think of or make preliminary research to check on which specific topics are available to you. For example, if your professor said you need to write a paper on mass communications, you can list down topics on journalism, broadcasting, communication research or film and audio visuals. Then you can focus on one of these specific areas of study then list down sub-topics further down.

After listing down your topics, narrow it down further based on your interest. It is important that you choose a topic that you personally like in order to maintain that interest to work on it till the end. Keep in mind that choosing your topic is very important so you should devote ample time in selecting that one topic that can make or break your grade.