I would gather ideas first. And check what paper items you may already have in the house. any decorative paper or even scrap of material. Practice using a plain paper cut to card size and start layering some of the snippets on it to form an attractive background. Then find a cute pictre of an animal or flower and carefully cut it out and glue it to the front. If you have a nice handwriting write a saying on the front. see how it looks. Then when you go to the store get a little pack of plain notecards with envelopes usually found in the card making area. look at the rubber stamps and pick out a general one that you could use on a lot of different cards and then get a black rubber stamp pad. Take those home and try the sme practice method with those. Then you can expand your supplies Hope this helps.

The napkin had two layers... the printed color layer, kinda bonded to a plain white layer so it had more substance than some paper napkins. I left the layers together. The glue I used was Elmer's Washable School Glue 'No Run Gel' - the light blue stuff. I ran a thin bead all around the edges of the backside of the picture, and made a few squiggles in the center area, then used a soft flat paintbrush to smear/paint the glue to the edges and moosh it around in the middle. The glue did NOT grab immediately, giving me some leeway in ooching the design into place. I had thought of using spray-on adhesive, but with that type of glue, once you drop the picture in place, that is where it STAYS! No room for error with most of it. Glad you liked the card. I hope it inspires you to look at your stash of pretty napkins and make a card, too!

Stephenei: What got me hooked was a section on home made cards in a Feb issue of either MM or CK magazine. And I REALLY got hooked! Card making has replaced (for the time being) scraping. As for ideas, I got some from the aforementioned magazine, some from looking at cards in card shops, and some from my own imagination. ItÂs amazing what creative creatures we can be when doing something we enjoy! One idea for an Easter card came from a quote I found onlineÂÂGive hugs, if you carrot at all! My sonÂs best friend calls me ÂAunt Carront, so I made a little card out of lime green card stock. I made three little carrots out of orange and brown card stock and cut thin strips of dark green card stock for grass. I attached the grass and the carrots to the front of the card with pop dots (for the 3D effect) and outlined the edges of the front of the card with thin strips of orange card stock. I made one large carrot for the inside to hold the latter part of the quote. It turned out to be a cute card and the idea came after seeing the quote. Other ideas come from looking through my materials and Âplaying with them,Âi.e., seeing what goes together. IÂve never scanned anything for use on the computer, but if you like, IÂd be happy to try and scan and post-to-you some of the cards I made to help you get started with ideas. I know what itÂs like to feel like...where do the ideas come from?! And once you get started, believe me, thereÂs no stopping!!!!!!! Also, some others have posted about tea-bag/paper folding which I have tried yet. As Sally said, when your scraping and stamping, the ideas just seem to flow. p.s. there are also books on card making and paper projects. My husband gave me one for a present and one was referenced in the magazine that I have been looking for but have yet to find. Hope this helps. karen

I went to an estate sale recently and out in a dusty, forgotten corner of the garage found a large JC Penney box FILLED with very carefully kept greeting cards dating from the 1930's to the 1980's. Every card that this couple had exchanged--and they had celebrated every holiday you can think of with very nice, expensive cards--had been lovingly saved. I absolutely could not bear the thought of just tossing the record of a 50 year love affair into the garbage, so I bought them. I had no idea what I would every do with them. I find myself going through them once in a while, reading their little notes to each other and later, the long, chatty notes from their son and daughter after they had married and moved away. The cards mark the time span from their engagement right through their marriage, into the later years and failing health and hospital stays. I finally took several of the more stunning cards and decoupaged them onto glass blocks and lit the inside of the block with clear mini lights. They look great decorated with ribbon and other vintage trim, and now these great cards can be enjoyed for a long time to come. :) This might be an idea for some of the cards you want to display all the time or use as holiday decorations.