Card Making Techniques For Beginners

It's best to stick with the simpler card making techniques if you're a beginner. There are plenty to choose from and all will give you a unique and elegant finish to your wedding invitations.

The techniques below are all used frequently in the card projects in this site. They're all easy techniques to master and perfect for creating dozens of wedding invitations.

Layers of papers to create effects

Different patterned paper or scrapbooking paper offers hundreds of beautiful designs to choose from. Layering the paper up can create great effects and is a simple card making technique to master - ideal for creating numerous wedding invitations.

Card toppers and embellishments

One of the easiest card making techniques around is to use a simple card topper. These are pre-made decorations which can be bought from any art or craft shop. They come with an adhesive backing so there’s no need for extra fiddly glue – you can fix it straight onto the front of the card. They often come in foam, wood or metal.

For wedding invitations, there are literally hundreds of different card toppers from bride and grooms to wedding rings. Often you only need one card topper to make your wedding invitations look stylish – so don’t go too crazy!

Embellishments are similar to card toppers but you need to glue them on yourself. They’ll often enhance the design, rather than being the design in their own right (like card toppers). Frequently used embellishments for wedding invitations include ribbons, bows, stickers, beads, rhinestone, feathers, foam shapes, plus many more!

Using aperture cards

Aperture cards have a window (or aperture) in the middle of them. They allow the card maker to create layers or transparent views through to the inside of the card. By layering transparent paper or vellum paper across the back of the window, you can create intrigue and mystery with your design.

An alternative to this, is to create a ‘shaker’ card by gluing together two pieces of transparent thin card or vellum. Before you seal up the final side, insert some glitter, confetti or punched paper for a really fun card.

Outline stickers

Outline stickers are self adhesive stickers that can be used as greetings, shapes and letters to personalise your cards. There are hundreds of different wedding stickers around and they’re really easy to use on your wedding invitations. Cakes, brides and grooms, doves and rings all designs frequently used on wedding invitations.

Rub on transfers

Similar to stickers, these can be used as lettering, greetings or shapes on your wedding invitations. In comparison to stickers, they take a little more care when applying them, but are generally easy to use and fairly cheap. These generally only come in black.

Punching and stamping

There are dozens of different hole punches that can create lovely little effects to add to cards. From love hearts to flowers, there are plenty of shapes that can be used on wedding invitations. The punches are cheap and make creating your wedding invitations easy.

You can also buy stamps and ink that can be used on the front (or backs) of your invitations. You’ll be able to choose from a seasonal selection in your arts and crafts store. They’re easy to use as well and if you’re feeling creative, you could get a bespoke design made up.

More advanced card making techniques

There are plenty of other techniques for card making too, however they become a little more advanced and take a little more time – so not ideal when you’ve got 50 or so wedding invitations to make! I’ve not covered them here, but here’s a list of them below:

• Embossing (raised areas within the paper, card or foil on cards)
• Iris folding (folded strips of patterned paper that create a spiral pattern behind an aperture window)
• Lacé Coluzzle (templates made from intricate patterns and folds of coloured paper)
• Parchment craft (embossing and piercing vellum paper to give the appearance of lace)
• Quilling (rolling strips of paper into different shapes to create a pattern
• Decoupage (cut out sections of paper, sealed to give the appearance of a delicate inlay)

Related articles:

Card Making Equipment
Tips & Advice For Making Your Own Wedding Invitations