Review: Handmade Hellos

Oh, I adore this one. Handmade Hellos is the prettiest and most diverse collection of greeting card projects I’ve seen. So much talent, and so many different techniques here! (I’m a sucker for variety.)

To give you an idea of the crafty goodness, let’s look at a few of my favorite projects from the book.

This self-mailer from Darling Clementine starts with a sheet of pretty paper, and then goes through a pretty genius folding process to become a mailable greeting. Simple and lovely.

Petra Boase‘s owl card is so freakin’ cute! It’s assembled collage-style from patterned papers and fabrics (and the book has templates for all these shapes). Love the addition of buttons and googly eyes.

I LOVE these wood cards from Two Trick Pony! Not only is the project cute, but it offers a dead-simple way to make a silkscreen using readily-available and cheap materials. Right now, I’m envisioning these imprinted with fir trees, snowflakes, and deer…

Speaking of dead simple, this embossed card by Cielo Blu Studios looks so professional, but can be put together with fairly basic materials, used cleverly. (And would ya look at that – they’re here in Portland!)

. . . Speaking of clever, check out this card by Amy Karol. There’s a little photo ornament tied to the front – just slip it off, and hang it on your tree.

And finally, these big number cards from Binth are stenciled. I like the big, graphic look. I’m also envisioning cards with big letters.

So – I could go on showing you pretties all day, but instead I’ll recommend you give it a leaf-though. There are cards for all occasions, stuff that’s kid-oriented and stuff that’s elegant, and very clear instructions and technique illustrations. Authors Eunice and Sabrina Moyle have done a wonderful job!