Hello to all, and welcome to another blog post. Today we will talk about birthday cards. Handmade cards are really heartfelt and unique. They show that you thought of that person and made it specifically for them. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with buying cards at the store, but doesn’t it give you a warm feeling when you get something made just for you? And an even better feeling to give someone a gift or card that you made yourself? I personally love it.
Do you have someone in your life who is funny and loves puns and jokes? I’m sure they will love the cards we’re making today! And even if you don’t have a cutting machine (or don’t feel like using it), there are some ideas that you can do with only a printer or even by hand if you have the skills.
List of supplies used for these projects:
– White cardstock (A4)
– Printer (it can be ink or laser, but it needs to be laser if you are using foil)
– Cutting machine
– Foil machine
– Gold foil
– Retro Cassette Tape design [https://www.creativefabrica.com/product/retro-cassette-tape-svg-cut-file-set/]
– Video Game Card design [https://www.creativefabrica.com/product/accordion-video-game-card/]
Let’s start!
First of all, I used CorelDraw for putting together the base of all my cards, it’s where I wrote what I wanted to print. You can use the software you feel more comfortable with, or even write it by hand if you wish.
Today we will see four different card designs, only one of them will be printed on the cover only, and not on the inside, so be prepared for double-sided printing. Get to know your printer because they all work differently when it comes to print on both sides of the paper.
To start, I opened a new document on my software. The size is A4, which is the paper I used. Each page fits two cards. I “divided” the layout into 4 pieces with the scorelines and used the right side for the layouts of the cards. To print the inside, we will also use the right side (I opened another document to avoid mistakes) and print on the back of the paper. Be careful not to print on the left, or it will not work out after we cut and fold the cards.
Now let’s get to the specific designs!
Cassette birthday card
I’m going to start with the obvious joke about getting/being old. I could write a whole article about those jokes because let’s face it, I’ve heard a lot of them myself, but I will stick to just one, which is a fun cassette tape birthday card.
For the text, I used colored geometric shapes behind the words to give it a 90s vibe. I printed my text front and back, which said “If you know what this is, you’re old” on the cover and “but we already knew that” on the inside. Too far with that line on the inside? Maybe, so be sure to give these cards to someone you know well, and that you know will laugh with it.
Don’t forget to leave enough space in the middle for your cassette tape!
For the next step, I went into Silhouette Studio and resized the cassette file to fit the size of the card. I cut the parts in colored cardstock, glued them together (except the small part in the front, I used foam tape to make it more 3D), then attached the tape to the card using foam tape as well, right in the middle. And it’s ready to go!
Gaming birthday card
For this project, I chose the accordion video gaming card design. It is designed as a card itself, and it has a few layers, but I used it in a different way, in order to make the text fit in the way I wanted. I took the controller design only (just the top and bottom layers, to keep it simple), resized it to fit the card, then cut it in black and red metallic cardstock. Afterward, I put the details of the buttons with a silver sharpie. The metallic paper was great as it looks like the Xbox controller we have at home.
Then it’s time for the printed part. The text I used was: “Happy Birthday from the love of your life” on the cover, and on the inside “just to be clear, it’s your wife, not the Xbox”. Lastly, I attached the controller to the front of the card with foam tape.
Make sure you measure everything first and leave enough space to put the controller design. Mine got a little tight in that space, it still worked, but when you do it, make sure there’s space for the design to breathe a little more than mine did.
It’s a great card if your partner spends a significant time playing games (I know mine does!)
Foil candle birthday card
– I’d say “make a wish”, but you already have me, what more would you want?
With this card, you can see that even simple designs can look good. I didn’t use cutting files on this one, but as you can see in the picture, I did use foil here. To use foil, you need a laminating machine, like Minc, and a laser printer. It needs to be laser because if you use ink, the foil won’t stick to the paper when heated.
I used foil on the front and also inside the card, so I printed everything first, then put the foil on both sides at the same time. If you are going to use foil on one side only, I recommend using the foil before printing the side that will not be using foil.
The design is really simple, I just wrote the sentences and used my drawing tablet to quickly draw a single candle on top of a cake. It’s not a super nice and professional drawing or anything, but I wanted to make it a little more personal, and I think it worked out fine, especially with the font I used, which looks handwritten.
You can use a candle design or a cake with more candles on it, you can even use one of those fonts that have drawings instead of letters if you have one. You can draw directly on the card as well, I think it would look really good in watercolor, but I have to admit, I love the sassiness written in gold foil.
Succulent birthday card
This is one of my favorites, and it’s really the easiest one of all the cards I made for this article. It only has text on the cover, nothing on the inside, it was very quick and easy to make, and the result is very cute.
All you will need is your printer, a nice font, and a picture of a succulent. I chose a picture with a white background, so the text would be readable and the card would have a clean look. The text I wrote was “I hope your birthday doesn’t succ” and I chose a dark green to match the color of the plants. It would be even more special if this card goes along with a small succulent as a gift.
And that’s all we have for today. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed my card ideas and soon you’ll be making your own funny birthday cards! See you next time.