Eva is now 12 and has kept every card I have made for her and treasures them, but is not really crafty. Grace is seven, and likes paper crafting and art activities. Rhiannon is five and loves getting her hands on glue and glitter. All my grandchildren (and children too) like getting interactive cards.
This is a shaker card, the stars and punched out monster shake around inside the window.
A double fold cascade is easy and gives lots of scope for decorating. Grace's name is inside one of the folds for her to discover. She is a butterfly addict.
I found kids love to have their name on their card.
This one is a pull-fold with a pop-up ball. We gave Eva a basketball for her last birthday which had been on her wish list for a while, so what better inspiration? The sentiment says "It's your special day ... have a ball!"
For Finn, I did one with pockets, hiding tags and pull-outs with messages. He hung the front tag onto his door handle after his birthday. The insert inside I used a punch to 'eat' some of the page - like teethmarks of the monster.
This one was a put-it-together-yourself aquarium shaped as a pyramid card for Jackson, except he didn't want to put it together and wanted it flat! He says that way he can see all of it at once (no accounting for taste). You can see the joining tab at the side. Well, I guess his card, his choice. This can also have a string at the top to hang from and then it spins around. The sentiment and messages are inside. The stickers are like jelly.
These ones are called bendi-cards, and they are quite tricky. This is the only one I have made (and quite probably the only one I will ever make), but the kids played with it for ages, telling stories around the theme. The children inside the fence are making a garden, and down by the tree are other animals.
A handbag card with a gift card/voucher inside. Very girly and what girl wouldn't want one?
This was one for Lauren, our 32 year old daughter. I took a photo and photoshopped the same photo in different ways with special effects. The I made labels on the computer with her special qualities and sprinkled them throughout the card. Both sides have photos and qualities. It also had a pull out tag in a front pocket. She loved it.
A double diamond fold card for August, who is blind, so lots of folds, textured stickers, scratch n sniff etc.
It sure is a challenge to think about something new for each person and it is so great to have YouTube and Pintrest and all those tutorials available for our inspiration and education. What did we do before all this technology?
Anyway, the important thing is - it's fun to make them and gives a lot of pleasure to the recipient. Give it a go, why don't you?