June 5, 2007

Storing and Displaying Greeting Cards

Submitted by design team member Stacy Brunner

Recently my sister-in-law asked me to think of a creative way to scrapbook greeting cards. She gets a lot in a year and hates to part with any of them. But they can be so bulky to store. And how do you know when they were sent when you are just sifting through a box of them?

So I started thinking on her request. My friends had recently thrown a baby shower for the little one my husband and I are expecting. I had a whole pile of sweet cards filled with well-wishes for our little baby. I also had very few photos of the event, since I was too busy to take any photos of my own. So I got busy.

My idea was to make a book of the cards. I wanted as much of the cards to show as possible. Sometimes folks will write on the back of the card or there will be something funny or interesting on the back. So I wanted to avoid gluing the cards to another page, as with a scrapbook. Plus, by the time you'd glue each card to another sheet, it would get really bulky. Book binding rings were the way to go. I could punch a couple holes in each card and put as many cards on a ring as it would hold.
I clipped tags from gift bags and off the clothes and other items we recevied as gifts. There were lots of tags of similar shape and size. With a little paper and glue stick, these became convenient journaling cards. I also clipped a few bits of the gift bags that I really liked. Several of the packages were wrapped in ribbon or had a bag with a ribbon handle. Can't very well make something scrappy without ribbon, right?

My card book measures approximately 6 x 10 inches. You could make the book ANY size at all. If you already have the cards you're going to include, you can plan to make your book just the right size to hold that collection of cards.

For the front and back cover, I cut two pieces of cardboard the same size. You can buy archival quality chipboard in large sizes, but I just save the packaging that comes with all the other scrapbook stuff I buy. So I had a nice collection of 12×12 inch sheets of cardboard from which to choose. You may notice that the corners of the book are rounded. I prefer the look of a rounded corner. And if the book gets much wear and tear, a rounded corner is less likely to get bent and curly. But the cardboard was too thick to punch with my corner rounder. So I punched a piece of scrap paper to trace a corner that I then cut out with scissors.

To decorate the covers, I glued scrapbooking papers and cardstock to the cardboard. You'll want to use glue that is a little more moist and sticky than a glue stick. You could use Mod Podge or Scotch Scrapbooker's glue. Let the glue dry while being pressed under a stack of heavy books or magazines. This will ensure that your covers are nice and flat when ready. When the glue is dry you can trim any excess paper from the edge of the cardboard. Then use sandpaper, emery board, or another chipboard filing tool to smooth the edges all around. The finishing touches on my cover are a piece of ribbon on which I sewed some buttons and a title stamped with paint and foam stamps.

The cardboard was a too much for my little hole puncher. I used a hand-held drill to make the holes in the covers. You can also raid your dad's or husband's toolbox to find something that will punch or drill a hole through the cardboard. Make yourself a template or use the first cover you hole-punched as a guide to punch the other cover and the cards that will go inside the book.

As always, don't forget the journaling! Add a piece of cardstock to make some notes about why the cards are special to you. Or describe the occasion that the cards represent. Glue photos to cardstock to include with the book.

I wish I had a card book for every occasion. You could create a book at the beginning of the year and keep all the year's cards in one book. Or you can make theme books to house cards only for a certain occasion, like birthday or Christmas cards. My next card book will surely be for the cards from my wedding. For several years, they've been hanging out in a basket in our living room. How great would it be to put them in a book that I could stash with our other mini-books? They'll be easy to store and packaged to tell the story of our wedding day from our friends' and family's perspective for years to come.

If you make a greeting card book, we would love for you to share it with us on My Scrap-n-Craft. Please leave comments on this article if you have other suggestions for themes, items to include in the book, or tips and tricks on putting the book together.