Party Perfect - DIY Birthday Cards

If you're a regular reader of the blog then you know I'm a big fan of DIY cards. By making your own cards you can get exactly the sentiment you want while saving a lot of money. I can't believe it when I turn a card over in a store to see that it costs almost $5! The other benefit of making my own cards is that the recipients really seem to appreciate that effort and thought that went into creating something just for them.

We had two birthdays in the family last week and, of course, I made cards. The first was for a girl so I went for cute with the smile card and the sun sticker with the birthday hat added on. I really love the striped paper on this one - it's the last scrap of a 12x12 piece that I've been rationing out about two years because I like it so much!

The second card was for a guy. I always find cards for men harder to make because you can't do cute and you can't do pretty. I went for vintage elements on green graph paper. I cut the Happy Birthday tag out with my Silhouette and then outlined the whole thing in black marker to make it stand out. The final touch was the arrive definition sticker. I underlined "The day of victory has arrived" because I thought it made a nice birthday sentiment.

I've been singing the praises of homemade cards for a while but I'd like to know - do you make your own too?