Following the idea I saw on a card the other day, I decided to try my hand at making wrapped postcards, using some patterned scrapbook paper and cardboard that a local scrapbook shop offered (for free!) in place of the chipboard they didn’t have in stock. It took a few tries, including some failed pieces that curled and wrinkled, but here are the results:

Originally, I thought I’d just wrap the paper around the cardboard and see how they looked plain, but after seeing stamped images on patterned backgrounds (in this Japanese craft book), I added the bird and hamsters. I especially like how the bird ones turned out, mainly for the cheery, spring colors of the papers.

I actually tried a few different glues and other adhesives as I worked on these, and I definitely like dry adhesives a lot better than wet ones. They’re just a lot quicker and easier to apply, especially if you have a Xyron machine to run a full sheet of paper through.

I haven’t tried mailing one of these yet, but I figure they’d work well as postcards — with extra postage — or as flat greeting cards, should the post office have a problem with them outside of an envelope.