What are the origins of the greetings card? The custom of sending greetings cards can be traced back to the ancient Chinese, who exchanged messages of good will to each other to celebrate the New Year, and to the early Egyptians, who conveyed their greetings on papyrus scrolls. By the early 1400s, handmade paper greetings cards were being exchanged in Europe. The Germans are known to have printed New Year's greetings cards from woodcuts as early as 1400, and handmade paper Valentines cards were being exchanged in various parts of Europe in the early to mid-1400s.

By the 1850s, the greetings card had been transformed from a relatively expensive, handmade and hand-delivered gift to a popular and affordable means of personal communication, due largely to advances in printing and mechanization, as well as the 1840 introduction of the 1-penny postage stamp. From this time on the sending of greetings cards took off and expanded into the multi-million pound industry that it is today. So why would we want to make our own greetings cards when they can be purchased relatively cheaply from many commercial outlets? A good question?

How many times have you gone shopping for a greetings card only not to be able to find exactly what you are looking for? I have for one. You find the perfect card, open it up and the verse is inappropriate or the verse is fine but the card is not what you really want. So make your own. Join the hundreds of thousands of folk that do so now.

It could not be easier. There are even T.V programs dedicated to this craft along with hundreds of websites where you can download free all that you need to get you started. O.K. Let us get you started on one of the latest most popular craft pastimes so that YOU can create the perfect greetings card of your choice.

Have a look now at some of the lovely cards that YOU could create using your own ideas, and very cheaply too.

Card 1. Happy Birthday
Difficult to make? Very easy, we will show you how later on.

Card 2. Merry Christmas
A little bit harder using a cutout lined with Christmas wrapping foil. Easy, we will show you how.

Card 3. Another Birthday Card
A different approach on construction. This card uses "built-up" 3d decoupage. Again, we will show you how easy this is with a little care.

Card 4.

Card 5. A Valentines Card.
The above two photos show the outside and inside of a Valentines card. This type of card is called a gate card, and NOT for the beginner but results like this can be achieved with practice.

So do we have you tempted to design and make your own personal greetings cards? Look at Greeting Cards - How to Get Started to see how easy and inexpensive it can be to produce beautiful cards of your own.

Until the next, time……GREETINGS.