Crafts are big business and none more so than the handmade greeting card. Its popularity knows no bounds and many of us head straight for this great way to get started with new ideas.

The true crafter may well reject anything that diminishes original creativity and turn to the craft kit instead. Why? Because they are a great way to introduce new card craft ideas.

Handmade cards have a lot to recommend them to a wide range of people:

1. You may be a crafter for the first time and wonder what to do and how to do it.

2. Maybe you are confident in a trade and are looking for a new project to test your skills.

3. As a seasoned crafter, you may want to ‘take a break’ to try a new product from a new supplier.

4. If you are a teacher, a craft kit can give you an idea to share and a chance to practice first.

5. You might know someone who would love a craft kit as a gift.

There will be many other types of people and reasons for choosing crafts and that may be the problem with professional craft suppliers. It’s because craft kits and handmade greeting cards are so all the rage that there are so many places to buy them. After all, the kit has a lot going for it:

1. All essential specialty materials are ready to go

2. Instructions are included

3. Photos of the finished item are included.

4. There are possibilities to test more ideas

5. Creators are usually experts in their field

Opting for a ready-to-use kit instead of giving in to your own freedom of expression may seem like an easy solution, but 9 times out of 10 it’s not. Why? For the same reason that craft kits are so popular.

The world and his wife can put together a craft kit, but it takes careful thought and practice to find a winning way to present the information.

Just take a moment to think about some of the craft instructions you’ve read lately, or in the past, and ask yourself some important questions:

1. Where are they well written?

2. Was the design pleasing to the eye?

3. Did you receive a photo with the instructions?

4. Was the project easy to scan?

5. Could you have an idea that the project is short on time?

6. Are the instructions short enough to follow?

7. Where did they write ‘from the beginning’ without leaving anything out?

8. Were all materials listed?

9. Was there an idea of ​​what to follow and how to take things further?

You may think I’m picky, but I’ve eaten, read, slept, and taught crafts for many years. With 20 years of experience as a craft teacher, I have read too many craft instructions that have left me baffled. Honestly, some would leave you wondering if they were talking about the same project.

Not all kits come with good instructions. Making a handmade greeting card from printed instructions can be tricky.

If you’re spending some of your money creating cards, then you deserve to find a publisher or vendor that really does what it says on the tin.

One of the joys of finding a greeting card kit that you like, and succeed at, is that the company can usually offer you a range of other projects. That is a real advantage. Once you’ve found a style that you’re now familiar with, feel free to indulge in other ideas.

Kits can be a relatively inexpensive way to get started with a new technique or build on the confidence you already have.

But hesitate and check out the publishing power and writing prowess of a company. Take some time to get comfortable with a style, layout, and vocabulary that you’re happy with. Not all of us want brevity, nor do we need pages of instructions.

The true art is in giving enough information to give you confidence in the project – and the instructions. You want to be able to trust them to get you there without giving up.

Good instructions should give you small steps that you can then apply. Too many new steps in a block can be too much for us to understand, so we overload ourselves. And we often blame ourselves for our shortcomings, rather than the team.

Those who write instructions have many answers and much to accomplish. If they’ve laid their cards on the table, you should be able to, too, with a successfully completed handmade greeting card at the end.