Annie (aka freezeframe03) is back with another great DIY tutorial, this time featuring paper postcards! She’s made dozens of beautiful papercrafted postcards over the years, and is here to guide you on how to make the postcard below. Enjoy!
The most important thing in making a papercrafted postcard is to make sure it is sturdy and nothing added to it will come loose in the mail.
I began with a 4”×6” (10×15cm) piece of 70lb (114 g/m2) sketch/drawing papers. I sprayed them with Distress Oxide Spray then sprayed one of them again through a stencil. I chose the one on the right to work with this time.
Next, I’ve rubber stamped the words with a waterproof archival ink, and toned down the brightness of the background paint by rubbing the ink over it lightly and darkened the edges.
I’ve used cutting dies to cut flowers and leaves from the same 70lb sketch/drawing paper. You can also cut these by hand, if you’d like, using your drawings or a template you’ve downloaded.
I’ve painted them with watercolors. (Sometimes you just have to hope your mail won’t get rained on.)
Before gluing the flowers to the postcard, I splattered thinned black acrylic paint to the background. I use a spray glue to adhere the flowers and leaves to the background. I then press them down firmly with a brayer. When dry, if there are any loose edges, I use a fine tip glue to get underneath the loose area and glue it down firmly.
When my postcard front is finished, I glue it to a heavier paper (this Canson XL paper is 98lb, or 160 g/m2). I glue it to a piece larger than my postcard then trim around the postcard. Set the postcard under a flat weight so that it dries flat. Check the edges to make sure they are one. Any loose edges can be glued with a fine tip glue. If you don’t have a fine tip for your glue, put some on a toothpick to smear where needed.
It is now a sturdy piece of art that will travel through the mail easily and not get caught in any of the postal machines.
Art can sometimes leave the finished piece warped and even messy on the back. Working on one paper to create your art then adhering it to a clean paper will help to flatten the piece and you don’t have to worry about a messy backside.
The back can be decorated also, just like any other postcard.
Within the United States, a papercrafted postcard can be mailed at the regular postcard rate (unless you’ve added something that will make in non-machinable — in that case, extra postage is needed.
There are so many different ways to make a papercraft art postcard. But as I mentioned previously, make sure it is glued and put together well and that it is sturdy enough to withstand the traveling it will do. Most of my handmade postcards arrive at their destinations as if they were hand delivered.
If you have any questions at all or need some further detailed info, I am more than happy to help out with both.
Thank you Annie, that was brilliant! Check out Annie’s blog for inspiration in all kinds of crafts and art projects, and also this great topic on the forum where postcrossers post their creations.
60 comments so far
Beautiful handmade postcard. ♥
Really beautiful!
I do not like handmade postcards, but I would not refuse such
Beautiful handmade card <3 I like it very much.
Fabulous
Love it! Thank you for sharing this with us!
Wow. Thank you for sharing! I´d love to make one handmade following this tutorial.
awesome!!
Annie,
Thank you so much! Beautiful card & I love the depth. I have to try this, looks so fun! And thanks for the pics of your glue choices, that really helps.
d
Thank you Annie for your DIY tutorial on the handmade card. It is beautiful. Personally, half of my postcards are DIY watercolour cards and my recipients truly appreciate it. Thank you for sharing.
Gorgeous, hope you get my name one day. If I get yours I will have to step it up!
Oooh waaw really nice ! 👍
Such a beautiful card! I need to get out my dies...
When using watercolours it can be useful to use a fixative spray afterwards so the card is a little more waterproof (clear nailpolish also works in a pinch!).
I love postcrossers who make such an effort on sending cards to their recipients~ I wonder if you spent hours on these.
Great tutorial!
Annie is the reason I joined Postcrossing! Many years ago, I read one of her calendar pages on Flickr that mentioned she had mailed a card to Russia through Postcrossing. Not knowing what that was, I did some research and joined in the fun!
Love this!!
Aw, that's a nice piece of postcard art! Would love to receive something similar to this.
These are the kinds of handmade postcards that are the best!
Your tutorial was very clea. I have read others and couldn’t figure out what was going on. I appreciate you taking the time to do this.
That is very beautiful. I enjoy making my homemade postcards!
Beautiful!
Bravo! how many amazing talented people are around, 💫thank you very much for the story about it !!!🥰
Wauhh, really lovely card!
Thank you for sharing, i like how it turned out- quite pretty- I make mine all the time, and always wondered if others did too! I use all sorts of stuff gluing them down and when isee they made it across the world its reassuring and satisfying to know someone got it and appreciates it. Make sure you hand it to a postal worker if it is embellsihed!
Thank you for sharing your process. I love your card!
Thank you all for your kind comments. I love sharing ideas and hope this encourages other artists and crafters to make more art and send it out into the world.
Thank you for this! Just beautiful work!
Wonderful artwork
wow，that's amazing！must be a person who really love life.
Annie you are an amazing artist. I like your ideas but talent has its say. I like the modern and the ancient combined perfectly.
Congratulations!
Thanks a lot for share with us your beautiful work *_*
You make it look so easy that I want to attempt it! Your work looks great!
What a lovely handmade card! :-D
Great postcard! I haven't tried the distress ink sprays but I love the stamp pads in distress oxide!!
wow that is stunning!
What a beautiful card! Breaking down the steps really showcases the time and effort that goes into these handmade cards - at all skill levels. I haven't tried my hand yet, but as a papercrafter this is right down my alley. I do hope post this sways more people to not 'dislike' handmade cards as much as I've seen.
So beautifuland keep it up the great art postcards and I would like to have more handmade postcards but anything will do good as long isn't repeating and beautiful as always happy postcrossing! Everybody in the world :)
Hi Annie, amazing! Am going to try to replicate but I suspect my best effort will look like three blobs on a background of blob.
Unique postcard, very beautiful
Lovely!!!
Beautiful!
Thank you for all these kind comments! I hope more postcrossers will become open to receiving handmade postcards.
Simply artsy!
Thank you Annie for sharing your very clear instructions for making those great hand made cards.
I hope to find one, one day in my mailbox from you.
So beautiful!
Thank you again for sharing. So generous. And, so beautiful!
Wow! That’s beautiful.
Wow, beautiful! :)
First, I was drawn to your beautiful homemade card because I really adore daisies. I've received some wonderful homemade cards over the years (most prior to joining Postcrossing) and I've really appreciated the time and love that went into them. I think one reason some people say they prefer not getting "homemade" postcards is probably due to some very poor examples of sincere effort made on ones they might have received. All cards can be special.
Wonderful postcard. Thank you for the tutorial
Congrats for your skills, and thanks for your sharing. really nice.
So beautiful!
Lovely! In the USA it costs the same to send a postcard or an envelope internationally. I broke down and bought some envelopes for my homemade cards.
So beautiful ！I also want to make handmade postcards and send them to my friends!
That postcard is beautiful! I have made tons of homemade collaged postcards for family. I make sure there is at least 1/2 inch of "empty" card stock around the edges, like a frame, and then I run them through a heat laminating machine but only add laminate to the front, then trim the excess off the sides. They have consistently arrived in perfect shiny condition.
Thank you for sharing! In Chinese,we called it“心灵手巧”.It means "have clever hands and good sense".
I like this handmade postcard a lot, but I must first check the cost of these materials.
I will never understand how a postcrosser would NOT want a hand made card.I see that often in profiles.I am time poor and not terribly crafty but I have received some beautiful cards in my time.I appreciate the effort and love that goes in to them.
It's just magic!
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