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Card giving is an age-old custom that dates back to the ancient Chinese and Egyptians. Europeans were exchanging valentines by the mid 1400s. Londoner Henry Cole created the first Christmas card in 1843 when he hired artist John Callcott Horsley to design a holiday greeting to send to his friends. In 1923 in America, Joyce C. Hall founded Hall Brothers, the predecessor to the Hallmark company, and the modern-day greeting card industry was born. Insert yourself into the long tradition of card making with your own creations. Not sure where to start? A card-making kit has all the materials you need to properly commemorate birthdays, holidays, and other life events while making sure you still have a hand in the end result. Plus, it’s typically more economical to purchase a comprehensive kit. To find the kit that suits you—and the taste of your recipient—most, browse our selection of the best picks, below.
1. CC International LLC Craft Box Kit
Designed for crafters of all levels, this kit offers an enjoyable card-making process that results in highly attractive cards. While many kits feature paper and embellishments with tacky or cheaply printed designs, this one is actually thoughtfully made, with ornate patterns chosen by Sara Davies, founder of the popular Crafter’s Companion crafts store. In addition to 33 blank cards, you get 18 envelopes, clear stamps, well-constructed metal dies, three acetate sheets, and 100 pearls. The materials are of high quality and are complementary in color so you can easily combine them and make one-of-a-kind multimedia gifts your recipient will be proud to show off on their desk or mantel.
2. Faber-Castell Card-Making for Beginners
Explore the world of watercolor paints while making cards! This kit comes with student-grade tools for painting—paper, five watercolor pencils, and a paintbrush—as well as stencils such as floral designs or messages like “thanks a bunch,” plus envelopes. Simply trace your favorite motifs onto the paper and color them in as you like; you’ll have a finished, polished card in about 20 minutes. This kit is designed for beginning watercolorists, so don’t feel intimidated if you’ve never worked with the medium before.
3. Qiaoniuniu Card Making Kit
There’s no need for glue or scissors with this kit. Self-adhesive decals and pop-out die-cut shapes make it easy to create compositions that subtly rise off the page. You get more than 500 pop-out decorations—more than enough to embellish the included four blank cards and envelopes. The cards come in beautiful shades, and the decorations are vibrant and designed to form layered motifs such as flowers and butterflies that can be used to convey virtually any message, from a birthday wish to a simple greeting. This set includes four blank cards and envelopes as well as more than 500 pop-out decorations.
4. FaCraft Scrapbooking Supplies Kit
Educators looking for a fun crafting activity for the classroom should consider this option. High in quality and low in price, this kit features eight mini cards and a dozen sheets of colorful paper, tons of stickers in diverse designs, gel markers, stencils, washi tape, paper punches, three pairs of scissors with different cutting designs, and more. Let young ones exercise their creativity as they explore various media to create personalized messages. With so many colors and shapes included, they’ll be sure to make cards that pop.
5. PICKME Greeting Card Making Kit
This 50-piece set includes enough to make 12 cards for any occasion, including envelopes to customize. It features floral-patterned paper materials in shades of gray, green, pink, and blue and a variety of precut patches in the shapes of birds, flowers, and hearts. You also get alphabet stickers, gem embellishments, ribbons, and text banners, to create eye-catching designs. The paper is made of good-quality cardstock, and the cutout accessories are easy to pop out—no scissors needed—and showcase crisp, even edges. Just provide your own glue to begin composing your unique card.