Supplies needed:

• Scissors and/or boxcutter knife
• Colored/patterned construction paper or cardstock (bright colors!)
• Gluestick (dries faster than white glue so you can work faster)
• Markers, Sharpies, pencil, eraser
• Optional: Stencils, pictures, stickers

Preparation:

• Make sure you have a clean, flat working surface (i.e. a desk…or the ground)
• Have everything spread out in a neat way so you can find things fast
• Find a theme you want (boats, Hawaii, flowers, ducks, ice cream, etc.). Choose something that has something to do with the stuff you want to thank the person for. Pick out colors that would match this theme and lay the rest of the paper aside

Image via Wikipedia

Steps:

1. Cut a rectangle out of a piece of paper. Make sure the rectangle is big enough for you to fold in half (hamburger style) and still be able to decorate three of the four sides (front, inner left, inner right). Choose a good “general” color for your theme; this is the color that will appear the most in the card. For a tropical theme, light blue works. For flowers, purple, pink, a happy green, or a nice orange will work. Find a color that works for you. Fold the paper in half.
2. Cut out shapes that have something to do with your theme with the colors that you picked out during the preparation stage. Palm trees for Hawaii, ice cream cones for ice cream, flowers for flowers, etc. Take your gluestick and apply the glue (be generous, but don’t have chunks of gluestick on the paper–it will make it all funny), then stick it to the desired area on your card. Then, choose a nice color that will stand out against your card, and take a black marker or Sharpie and write a message on the paper (make sure that it fits on the front of the card!) such as “Thank you!” or “Happy 121st Birthday!” or something along those lines. Think short and sweet and to the point. Cut it out and glue it on the front of the card.
3. After decorating the front, open the card to the inside and think of a good note to write to the person. “Thanks for the ice cream, it tasted good…to my dog.” or “Happy 121st Great-Grammy! We hope you keep living!” Anything kind, witty, or both is good. This step may take a while. After deciding on what to write inside the card, write it first with pencil to test the spacing (or if you’re real skilled, just go ahead and write it in Sharpie or marker). Then, cut out little things to decorate the inside (coconuts for Hawaii, flower petals and bees for flowers, etc.) and glue them in artistically. Be sure to cover both of the inside pages.
4. Last but not least, sign the card, kiss it, stick it in an envelope, and you’re ready to go!

Happy card-making!