Cardmaking is the craft of handmaking greeting cards. Many people with interests in allied crafts such as scrapbooking and stamping have begun to use their skills to start making handmade cards. This has contributed to cardmaking becoming a popular hobby. A craft is a skill, especially involving practical arts. ... Greeting cards on display at retail. ... Scrapbooking is a hobby where people compile newspaper clippings, magazine articles, photos, or other memorabilia into decorated albums, or scrapbooks. ... Stamping may refer to more than one thing: The craft of applying ink or dyes to a product with a Rubber stamp. ...

Publishers have also been quick to cash in on the popularity of cardmaking, with several monthly magazines in the US and UK devoted to the topic. There have also been over 150 books on handmade cards published (source: Amazon.com).

Traditional high street stores have begun to devote an increasing amount of their floorspace to handmade cards. Handmade products have always been seen by retailers as a way to increase margins, and handmade cards are no exception. This is particularly the case as traditional greeting cards have been faced with competition from electronic greeting cards. Over seven billion greeting cards were sent in the US alone last year; greeting cards are a multi-billion dollor business. An E-card is a postcard, sent by means of the Internet, usually through email. ...

In contrast, hundreds of small businesses have been setup by avid crafters keen to make a return on their cardmaking efforts. Many of these are taking advantages of the low setup costs of web-based selling and the wide customer-base of auction sites like eBay. Many others continue to sell their creations at craft fairs, markets and fêtes. eBay Inc. ...

History of Cardmaking

The custom of sending greeting cards can be traced back to the ancient Chinese, who exchanged messages of good will to celebrate the New Year, and to the early Egyptians, who conveyed their greetings on papyrus scrolls. Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that grows to 5 meters (15 ft) in height and was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ...

By the early 1400s, handmade paper greeting cards were being exchanged in Europe. The Germans are known to have printed New Year's greetings from woodcuts as early as 1400, and handmade paper Valentines were being exchanged in various parts of Europe in the early to mid-1400s.

However, by the 1850s, the greeting card had been transformed from a relatively expensive, handmade and hand-delivered gift to a popular and affordable means of personal communication, due largely to advances in printing and mechanization.

This trend continued, fuelled by new trends like Christmas cards, the first of which appeared in published form in London in 1843 when Sir Henry Cole hired artist John Calcott Horsley to design a holiday card that he could send to his friends and acquaintances. Technical developments like color lithography in 1930 propelled the manufactured greeting card industry forward. Christmas Card is a vinyl album of Christmas music the case of which contained a reproduction of a Christmas card that was signed by the whole Partridge Family, the stars of a 1970s sitcom. ... Sir Henry Cole (15 July 1808 (Bath) - 18 April 1882 (London)) was a civil servant who facilitated many innovations in commerce and education in 19th century Britain. ... John Calcott Horsley (1817-1903) invented and designed the first Christmas card in 1843 as a favour for his friend Henry Cole. ... Lithography is a method for printing on a smooth surface. ...

During the 1980s the trend began to turn, with consumers increasing looking for greeting cards that were differentiated from the standard offering. In the late 1990s the market was clearly beginning to separate in to three different segments:

• handmade and premium cards
• mass-manufactured cards
• e-cards

See also

Arts and crafts involving paper or canvas It has been suggested that Handicraft be merged into this article or section. ...

Greeting cards Greeting cards on display at retail. ...

External links

• Ink Artist
• Cardmaking project ideas
• Card Making craft projects
• declarations

References

Greeting Card Association Facts and Figures Retrieved Aug. 19, 2004