When I was in sixth grade, I was the Michigan finalist in a nation-wide Mother's Day card contest. Since I wasn't the national winner, my design wasn't made into a card sold in stores, but I still won a gift certificate to KFC and a set of Encarta CDs which included a digital atlas and an encyclopedia (which would have been a much cooler prize had the internet not already been around for a few years). On top of those prizes, I was also featured in our local newspaper and the Detroit Free Press, and I was interviewed on our local Fox news channel.
Since then, I've created several other greeting card designs. I made personal cards for my friends and family's birthdays all through middle school and high school, which I designed on the computer using Publisher. More recently, I've designed cards in Illustrator - here are a few birthday, anniversary, and Hanukkah designs from last year - or made them by hand, using leftover pieces of scrapbook paper to cut out and glue designs onto cardstock, handwriting the message on the inside of the card.
In my experience, card-receivers always enjoy a handmade or personally designed card over a store-bought option. Even if you aren't very artistic, chances are you can make some kind of design - either by hand or on the computer - that means something special to the person you're making it for. Even if it doesn't look perfect, the fact that you took the time to make it warms their hearts. And here's the real secret - it doesn't really take more time to hand-make a card than it does to drive to a card store, go through all the options, try to find the best card, pay for it, and drive home. It just looks like it did. :)
So this Mother's Day, get in touch with your inner child and make your mom a card like you used to in elementary school. She'll like it, I promise. ;)
Since then, I've created several other greeting card designs. I made personal cards for my friends and family's birthdays all through middle school and high school, which I designed on the computer using Publisher. More recently, I've designed cards in Illustrator - here are a few birthday, anniversary, and Hanukkah designs from last year - or made them by hand, using leftover pieces of scrapbook paper to cut out and glue designs onto cardstock, handwriting the message on the inside of the card.
In my experience, card-receivers always enjoy a handmade or personally designed card over a store-bought option. Even if you aren't very artistic, chances are you can make some kind of design - either by hand or on the computer - that means something special to the person you're making it for. Even if it doesn't look perfect, the fact that you took the time to make it warms their hearts. And here's the real secret - it doesn't really take more time to hand-make a card than it does to drive to a card store, go through all the options, try to find the best card, pay for it, and drive home. It just looks like it did. :)
So this Mother's Day, get in touch with your inner child and make your mom a card like you used to in elementary school. She'll like it, I promise. ;)
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