Greeting Cards

What greeting cards are, and what they are made of

A greeting card is usually a sheet of card folded in half, with a design on the front, room inside for your own words and enough stiffness to stand up on a shelf. Greetings cards, the name you will often hear in the UK, are the same thing. Card itself is simply a heavier, stiffer paper, measured in grams per square metre: the higher the figure, the firmer it feels. Every piece in our range is made from paper, which takes colour and fine detail well and holds a crisp fold.

Matching a card to the person and the occasion

Start with the day you are marking and the person who will open the card. A birthday or Christmas card can be as bright as you like, while a few lines for a neighbour or a colleague often sit best on a simple front. A few of our designs show flowers or birds, a gentle choice for anyone who loves their garden, and a few have babies and toddlers in mind. A card for a little one is read and kept by the grown-ups, so a line for them too is a kind touch.

Then picture where the card will end up. A larger card holds its own on a crowded mantelpiece, while a smaller one tucks neatly into a bunch of flowers or sits on top of a wrapped present. If it will live on a desk at work, a heavier card stands up more firmly on its own.

Blank cards, birthday cards and the words inside

Inside, a card either carries a printed line or is left blank. Blank cards give you the whole space, which suits any moment where no ready-made line quite fits, while a printed greeting gives you a start if words do not come easily. Birthday cards often say happy birthday on the front, which leaves the inside free for something more personal.

Write on the right-hand page first and carry on to the left if you need more room. Name the person, add a line that could only be about them, and sign off with the name they know you by. A ballpoint or a fine felt tip writes cleanly on card; gel and fountain pen inks can take longer to dry on a smooth surface, so leave the card open for a minute before you close it.

Wrapping the present to go with it

You will also find some gift wrap in the range, so the card and the wrapping can be sorted in one go. Choose a wrap that echoes a colour from the front of the card, or keep one of the two plain and let the other do the talking.

Before you cut, wrap the paper loosely round the present to check the length: you want enough to go round with a little overlap, and enough left at either end to fold neatly in. Fold the cut edge under for a clean seam, and use double-sided tape if you would rather the join did not show.

Looking after cards and wrap at home

Paper is easy to look after if you keep three things away from it: damp, strong sunlight and dry heat. Damp makes paper ripple, direct sun fades colours over time, and the heat from a radiator can make a card curl. Until you give a card, keep it flat in a drawer rather than loose in a bag, and store gift wrap flat or loosely rolled so it stays free of creases.

When the cards come in for a birthday or at Christmas, we like them on a mantelpiece, a shelf or a length of string with pegs, away from the full glare of a sunny window. Afterwards, the ones worth keeping are happiest flat in a keepsake box or behind glass in a photo frame.