Card Making

As part of our homemaking curriculum, we have spent some time over the past three years making cards.  It is thrifty, useful, and a great creative outlet. It also offers a way for a busy homeschooling mama to reach out and minister to others.

The first year, I bought some cardstock.  I already had several stamps and ink pads.  I found a book on stamping cards at a used curriculum sale and added that to our stash.  We read our book over the course of a week or two and played around with the various techniques described.  That year, we mostly invented reasons for making cards--a pretend party we were hosting, a quick thinking of you note to a friend, etc.  We also made our Christmas cards using stamping techniques.

The second year, I decided to explore scrapbooking techniques.  I already had many scrapbooking supplies since I am a scrapbooker.  Again, we took a couple weeks near Christmas and worked on making cards.  These we gave to family and friends.  Any time we needed a card during the year, my daughters made them using scrapbook techniques.

The third year, I decided to try quilling techniques since my youngest daughter had an interest in quilling.  We purchased a book or two with ideas and some quilling papers and tools.  We used the quilling techniques to make our Christmas cards  which we gave away to friends and family.  Again, any time we needed a card, my daughters made them.  As an example, my father in law has a birthday this week and my youngest daughter is making quilled cards for him.

We only spent at most 2 weeks each year on card making as a part of our homeschool over the past 3 years.  And this will probably conclude card making as an official part of our homemaking curriculum.  But my daughters now know they CAN make nice looking cards with a personal touch and save money doing it.  This skill can be very useful in their lives later on.

Here is a quilled card before any lettering is done.  The recipient loves flowers and we added a butterfly at the corner.