Photo Cards: My Way

Photo Cards: My Way
Darrel L. Hammon

Well, I finally did something I should have done some time ago: make my own cards.

For the past several years, I have wanted to purchase cards without writing or special thought on the inside. For some reason, all of the stores wanted to sell cards--birthday, graduation, marriage, baby birth, get-well-soon, general all-occasion, etc.--with somebody's words on the inside. Bottom line was this: I wanted to write my own words and thoughts on the inside. Periodically, I would find cards with nothing printed on the inside, and I shouted "Hallelujah." But those Hallelujuhs were few and far between.

I searched the web and talked to my brother of the famed "Hammon Photography" who had some photo cards made. But I didn't take action on any of the above.

Finally, we went to Idaho Falls and stopped at Joanne's favorite craft store--Porters. I talked to a young woman there who was extremely helpful. She showed me the card stock and these little glue dot things that are incredibly ingenious (and expensive). I decided I was going to do it--buy my own cards, use the Glue Dots to pin on my own photos, and then write whatever I wanted on the inside.

So, here is the process I used:

I purchased the card stock in a packet made by Paper Accents of 50 cards, 5" x 7" heavy card stock at Porter's in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Paper Accents, 5" x 7" card stock

 Basically, you just slip out the card stock and fold it in half. Amazingly, Paper Accents already had the crease ready and waiting so someone like me could just fold it. Easy. As. Pie.

Actual Paper Accents card stock now turned into a card

 Then I uploaded the photos I wanted on the cards to Costco. When I went to Costco, they had them ready, prior to when they said they would be. They came in this very convenient Costco 1 Hour Photo packet:

Costco 1 Hour Photo

Anna Rose, my also very famous "How-To-Gal" blogger, loaned me her Fiskars cutting board. Wow, Fiskars, you saved my life! With the Fiskars cutting board, even someone like me who can't even cut a straight line with scissors can cut a straight line (Sorry, Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Poole. I didn't do well in Scissor Cutting 101 in first and second Grade). It was incredible! Just one pass and the piece of photo I didn't need was sliced perfectly away. Thanks, Fiskars!
 

Fiskars cutting board

 I did have to measure the picture, a 5" x 7" and then cut it so it would fit onto the card with a just a wee bit of card showing on all sides. Thanks again to Fiskars because this particular cutting board had lines that I could follow, picture after picture to make them all uniform.

Then, Glue Dots came to my rescue, actually "mini" Glue Dots. You just have to peel them from the roll and place them in the corners of the photos. I placed only four, one in each corner. I suspect you could place more, but I didn't think I needed them. I shall find out.

Glue Dots

 After, taking the photo with the well-placed Glue Dots, I carefully placed the photo over the front of the card stock, making sure it was balanced.

One of the first cards

And here are some of the finished ones. I thought they turned out great for someone who had never done this type of free-lancing before.
 

The finished cards. Lovely!

So, I discovered this was a pretty fun project for a guy who is definitely not crafty at all. The first two cards are going to two high school graduates. I hope you like them.