How I make
my scented cards
Above The uniqueness of these cards is in part due to the watercolours I paint, which start out with a random application of colour copied from my rough ideas and then a few pencil lines create the overall flow of the design. I start in the top left corner using a 3 mm black ink pen, drawing in all the fauna and flora (right)
Welcome to a sneaky peek into how I make my scented cards. I've kept a few secrets to myself but I hope you enjoy reading this piece. I buy my raw materials in bulk, enough to make 800 cards at a time which reduces the construction costs. If I were to factor in all of my time you could treble the cost of the card, but luckily IÂ make these for the love of making them!
Preparing the fabric is not my favourite past time
as it comes in an 8 metre bundle. It takes me 5 days to tear it into 700 individual 12 cm squares.
They then need pulling back into a square as the tearing distorts the fabric and I fray the edges to give a feathery look, They then all need ironing so they're perfectly smooth
They are stored in the same box as my dried lavender and I set to work deciding what colours to sew them. It takes me a day to sew about 30 so this part of the process is very slow. Not only are the threads aesthetic, they also have a purpose. I found by gluing the fabric to the card using the thread line the fluffy edges fluffed up even more!
There is a lot of Photoshop work needed to prepare the watercolour. The drawing has to cleaned up, resized and the colour enhanced before it can be printed onto transfer paper. I always use Epsom paper as it retains the true colours and although its expensive there are never any faulty transfers.
Sheets of transfers are cut and then ironed onto the sewn squares and ironed again to fix the transfer. I cut my transfers very close to the design to prevent a shiny border around the edge. The fun part is then sewing bows and charms to the embroidered, transferred squares.
The squares are stored in organza bags which go back in the lavender box. I always beep a stash of squares spare in case someone wants the inside of the card printed. With the saturnalia cards I make loads in August as I worry I might not make them quickly enough during 'Peak'!
I use heavy duty 280 gsm brown craft card which is much tougher than the 220 gsm shop bought. The weight of the fabric, bow, threads, glue and charm could easily buckle cheap card and I'm so fortunate to have sourced a company that does tough cards up to the task.
I order 800 blank cards and run them all through the printer to add the info on the back. The centres are printed as and when I make the cards as they are all different. I print the scent inside as a recipient wouldn't know to give it a sniff and on the back that they're 'Handmade in England'
The front of the card is quite bulky and lumpy so I was concerned sealing the envelope would be a problem. I added cute stickers which can be peeled then sealed. I make cardboard envelopes out of recycled boxes which keep them very secure and I've never had a damaged one in the post. These cards also come with the option of a hot wax seal. I make the seals on the point of the envelope and add double sided tape to the edge
for extra stickiness. I have printed a little note to include with the wax seal explaining the best way to use it. These cards take 40 minutes each to make, and I LOVEÂ making them!
