Selling handmade greetings cards has become a competitive business over the last few years. When I first started making cards, I remember going to a craft fair and being delighted that no-one there was selling just cards. There were a couple of stalls that a had few cards that were an extension of their craft (there was a cross stitcher who had mainly pictures and a couple of cards as well) but no-one had cards alone. I immediately started planning my card making career and looked for more craft fairs at which to sell my wares. How quickly things changed.....
Over the coming months I found that there were more and more stall holders who had just cards, so much so that one of the professional craft fair organisers put a stop on new exhibitors with handmade cards.
And what's the moral of this story? Do you give up now and resign your pile of cards to the bottom drawer? No, of course not. You probably started making cards in the first place because you enjoyed it so don't be disillusioned. Carry on with the pastime you enjoy but think about a few things first if you want to sell the fruits of your labour.
Take a long hard look at your cards. If you're brave enough, ask your dearly beloved what he/she thinks about them - honestly! If your not-so-better half doesn't know the difference between a card and a potato, you'll probably have to ask your mum, sister, neighbour and/or your best friend for her opinion. Try not to be upset if you get negative feedback - use it constructively. The first cards I made mainly consisted of a square or two of torn mulberry paper/printed paper with an embellishment in the middle. My dearly beloved (Andy) said I had to try and get away from that same kind of design all the time. My sister said she'd seen a lot of torn mulberry paper cards and perhaps it was best to do something different.
I don't know if I took either comment too well at the time but I certainly agree with them now and appreciate their honesty!
When reviewing your designs, keep it in the back of your mind that selling handmade cards is growing increasing competitive. Have your cards got what it takes? If not, what can you do to make them better?
A very important element in making your cards is that they're made perfectly. If you make your own card blanks, the crease and cut should be perfect. Always use a decent weight card or card blank (see our Guide to Card and paper). There shouldn't be glue showing, cards shouldn't have any marks on them and backgrounds and embellishments should be straight where they're meant to be. If, like me, you have trouble with this one, try designs using backgrounds that are at an angle in any case so you can't be accused of getting it wrong!
I would usually produce any wording on the computer but if you use peel-off sticker wording, the words should be perfectly aligned with no little twists. Use the sellotape technique for this - use a bit of Magic tape or sellotape that's been stuck on your clothes a few times to take away some of the tackiness. Press down the tape on the wording and pick up the
word(s) with the tape (you may need to start it off with a craft knife if the words don't stick on the tape straight away). You can then position the wording exactly where you want it and it will be perfectly aligned.
If you're not a perfectionist already, become one. Look at things from the customer's point of view. If you present your portfolio of wedding designs to the bride to be and there are faults, such as wonky wording, in the samples that she sees, she will most likely worry that anything she picks will have the same faults. What would you do? I know that I would pick the designer with the perfectly made cards, even if I don't like the designs quite as much. The same is true for a retailer - if they see imperfections in your samples, they may not buy your cards because of them, however good the designs are.
Experiment with card designs. You don't always have to put things in the middle of the card - it may be more pleasing to the eye to offset your design, perhaps by having a strip of card/background paper running down the left or the right of the card and the greeting on the other side.
As I mentioned above, it could be good to angle your backgrounds - perhaps a couple of die cut squares, rectangles or tags at an angle, one top left and the other bottom right. This could produce a more interesting design than having two centralised squares.
If you're still convinced that the design should be central, take a look at our 'Card Ideas' page. There are several designs there that are not centralised - study them and see if you think they look strange.
Do your research - take a look at other 'handcrafted' cards (seems to be the expression for apparent handmade cards that are mass produced in China!) I like to look at the cards in WH Smith and Marks and Spencer for inspiration. Decide what it is that you like or don't like about the designs that you see. Deciding what you don't like is just as important, as what you don't like may also be what other people don't like as well. It's only then that you will start to develop your own ideas and your own style.
Pick your themes carefully. Most handmade card buyers have probably seen many cards that have paper flowers on them so it's not a new idea. If this is your choice, try doing something new and innovative with your flowers. Wind them round hearts, twist the stems so they look like springs - anything other than sticking a single flower to a card with a bow on - it's been done so many times before!
It's a good idea to think about what makes you buy a particular card for a friend or relative. I would usually go for funny or cute. Whilst it's admirable to try and think up a card for loads of different occupations and situations, thinking of new designs all the time will cut down the time that you have to make repeats of just a few designs that will appeal to more buyers. If you watch the home improvement programmes on TV, it's a bit like painting your house magnolia to appeal to more people. Keeping card designs more general will appeal to more people and therefore sell more cards.
Flowers for ladies cards are nice but what do women like more - chocolate? How about clothes, shoes and handbags? Sexy underwear? Bringing elements like this into your designs is more likely to attract buyers than the flower theme.
If someone likes your designs, they are likely to think ahead to the birthdays that are coming up and buy for as many of them as possible. To have a design that people must have, even if they don't know who they're buying for is what you're looking for. I used to have a card that had fun foam chocolates on (I'll do this one for the card ideas page some time) - whenever I had these I sold out of them all.
Men are always difficult to buy for so it's great to have a good repetoire of mens' cards. Designs that will catch many men are football, golf, handyman theme, shirts/ties, fishing and perhaps cars. I'm sure that many of you will be thinking that the man in your life doesn't like any of these things but think of the magnolia paint thing again. You can't make a card for every man so try and have a few designs that will catch many of them. Men's birthday designs can easily be adapted into Fathers' Day designs by changing the greeting.
Christmas is, of course, the biggest card-giving event of the year. It's also a time where perhaps a little money has to go a long way for your average consumer. This may mean that they will only buy a couple of handmade cards for their nearest and dearest and get a box of 50 for the rest of their friends and relatives. This probably means that you should be aiming most of your card designs at husbands/wives, parents/grandparents and perhaps children. The cute/funny theme works well for these cards.
I used to sell my very simplest designs in packs of 5 quite cheaply to attract the buyers who might want to splash out a bit more rather than buy the box of 50. These always sold very well
The other two big events of the year for cards are Valentine's Day and Mothers' Day. I think the Valentine's market is a bit of a strange one unless you're selling to shops because of the timing of it and the market you would be selling to, especially if you sell at craft fairs. I'll talk more about 'the market' in a future article.
Mothers' Day - traditionally a flower thing but innovation is required here to do something different from the rest. Chocolate may be a good theme for this one too!
It's always wise to have a few baby designs but don't go overboard on it. I think that baby designs are often fairly easy to think up so you may be tempted to spend too much time thinking of more. You should have some unisex baby designs, perhaps using lemon, lilac or white as you may often find that someone will like your design but that the baby hasn't been born yet and they don't know its sex.
Other events include weddings, engagements, Easter, passing driving test, anniversaries, moving house, get well soon, passing exams/graduation. Cute or funny would work well for most of these if you can think up good designs. Christenings are perhaps a bit more serious as would be sympathy cards.
You've probably often found that your creativeness comes to a halt sometimes. Ideas don't come or designs don't work as you thought. It's very easy to get insular when you're creating and not leave the house. When your ideas stop flowing though, don't kick the cat - a breath of fresh air will often work wonders. You'll probably find that a walk in the park, on the beach or to the shops will clear your head and give you more ideas. Look at textures, colours and shapes in nature and work out what appeals to you - you don't have to be on your own. A few hours out with your family will give you time to talk, play and will probably do your creativity the world of good - try it.
When you back to work again, remember the four main things:-
Be a perfectionist.
Be innovative and different.
Get inspiration from different sources, whether it's nature, paintings, household objects or other handmade cards.
Cute or funny where appropriate will usually sell more cards.
© Sandie Goble/Mad about Cards Ltd, December 2004
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