types of greeting cards

Greeting cards come in all types and themes.

      A greeting card is an illustrated, folded card featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas or other holidays, they are also sent to convey thanks or express other feeling. Greeting cards, usually packaged with an envelope, come in a variety of styles. There are both mass-produced as well as handmade versions that are distributed by hundreds of companies large and small. While typically inexpensive, more elaborate cards with die-cuts or glued-on decorations may be more expensive.

• Counter cards: Greeting cards that are sold individually. This contrasts with boxed cards.
• Standard Greeting Cards: A standard greeting card is printed on high-quality paper (such as card stock), and is rectangular and folded, with a picture or decorative motif on the front. Inside is a pre-printed message appropriate for the occasion, along with a blank space for the sender to add a signature or handwritten message. A matching envelope is sold with the card. Some cards and envelopes feature fancy materials, such as gold leaf, ribbons or glitter.
• Photo Greeting Cards: In recent years, photo greeting cards have gained widespread popularity and come in two main types. The first type are photo insert cards in which a hole has been cut in the center. Your photo slides in just like a frame. The second type are printed photo cards in which the photo is combined with artwork and printed, usually on a high-end digital press, directly onto the face of the card. Both types are most popular for sending holiday greetings such as Christmas, Hanukkah & for baby showers.
• Personalized Greeting Cards: Websites using special personalization technology allow consumers to personalize a card which is then printed and sent directly to the recipient.
• Reusable Greeting Cards: These are greeting cards for the budget conscious. There are two common formats for reusable cards. Firstly there are cards with slits in them positioned to hold pages. Secondly there notepad style cards where pages stick to the back of the cards. The pages that have been used for reusable cards can be removed after being received and fresh pages can be used to reuse the cards.
• Risqué Greeting Cards: Some companies offer risqué greeting cards, with adult-based humor and cartoons. The humor in these cards can sometimes be offensive to more conservative parts of the population.
• Musical Greeting Cards: Recently greeting cards have been made that play music or sound when they are opened. They are commonly 3D handmade birthday cards which play traditional celebration songs such as Happy Birthday To You.
• Electronic Greeting Cards: (also called E-cards) Greeting cards can also be sent electronically. Flash-based cards can be sent by email, and many sites such as Facebook enable you to send greetings. More recently, services have launched which enable you to send greetings to a mobile phone by text message. Many of these electronic services offer open or anonymous chat, to enable further discussion.
• Pop-Up Cards: Pop-Up Cards are normally cards that, once opened, have a picture coming outward, giving the reader a surprise. Pictures and printed messages in greeting cards come in various styles, from fine art to humorous to profane. Non-specific cards, unrelated to any occasion, might feature a picture (or a pocket to paste in a personal photograph) but no pre-printed message.

"Swing cards are so much fun to make! Follow this step by step tutorial and you will be creating this fancy fold card in no time."

More Examples of Swing Cards:

• Double swing card (praying hands)
• Double swing card featuring Stampin' Up!
  

      "Handmade from elaborately die cut printed paper this unique rubber band activated pop-up Christmas card design is another creation of artist, illustrator and master paper engineer, Lowell Hess, one of the foremost pop-up card designers of the twentieth century. These whimsical pop-up greeting cards are fully assembled, complete with envelopes for Christmas greetings and other occasions. Matching gift tags attached to each card can be personalized by hand or custom imprinted for business. Designed and manufactured in North America for the holidays and sold directly by Graphics3 Inc. of Jupiter, FL. Not sold in stores. http://www.graphics3inc.com"

More Examples of Pop-Up Rocking Cards:

• Rocking Cards by Santoro

      Telescoping in mechanics describes the movement of one part sliding out from another, lengthening an object (such as a telescope or the lift arm of an aerial work platform) from its rest state. In modern equipment this is often done by hydraulics, but pulleys are used for simpler designs such as extendible ladders & amateur radio antennae. When making paper greeting cards you can achieve this action with pull tabs or by inserting brass brads.

More Examples of Telescoping Cards:

• Telescoping Card in Action
• Two Telescope-cards from Molly Scrap
• a snowman telescope card
• telescoping circles card