Papercrafting: A Simple Birthday Card

Several family birthdays are coming up.  Dear One brought up the subject last week.  He wondered what I was going to do for birthday cards. 

This is what I did:  I got out my "punch around the page" punches.  We have two different sets.  They require specific sized squares.  I cut two different 12" by 12" sheets of paper into four 6" by 6" pieces, then cut down one of each pattern into 5" by 5" squares.  Save the 1" strips you cut off.  You will use them in a moment.

To punch around the page you start by punching the corners.  After that then you will insert the paper into the other punch and line up one corner design with the little silver design just to the right of the punch.  Give it a good punch.

Next you slide the paper to the right and line up with the silver design at the end of the punch.  Punch it out.  With a 5" square you have now completed one of the four sides of the paper.  Complete the other three sides.  If you are very precise, the edge design will be just perfect.  If not exactly precise, you might have a tiny sliver of paper sticking up between motifs which you will need to very carefully cut off.

Front of a recent card

When creating the inside of this card, I used the strip of leftover paper.  Cut a small heart out of one end, clip off the curved excess, then glue down the plain strip at the right side of the card then add the heart below the strip.  Add a little note, and mail off the card.