Blimey I’ve been a busy bee creating all manner of loveliness for the School Fair tomorrow!

Earlier in the week I made some fudge and then I designed a summer fête inspired box in which to display them.  I was trying to think of some quick, easy and cheap ideas for making something which would sell at the fair, when I remembered the forty-or-so sheets of recycled brown card left over from making our wedding invitations last year.  Bingo!  Greetings Cards would be all those things and should make a good profit for the school.

I sketched and cut out some card templates of several different designs, then cut the shapes out of scraps of wrapping paper.  Keeping in mind the necessity to appeal to all ages and both sexes, I chose a mixture of colours and cut out the following; bunting, balloons, kites and ties.

I stitched the shapes with a basic straight stitch on the sewing machine and embellished some of them with glued-on paper clouds.  The cards were left blank to make them suitable for any occasion, apart from a few that were printed with ‘Father’s Day’ as it is the day after the fair.  I wrote my website on the reverse so that, if they don’t sell, I can put them in my shop for sale:)

So far forty cards have cost nothing, so I bought 50 manilla envelopes for £1.29 and 50 see-through bags for £2.75.  They look MUCH more professional presented this way and each card has still only cost 8p! (Not including my time, obviously).  This serves another purpose though, as it protects the cards from damage and dirt as they get handled.

Now, what to do about a box?

Knowing that people like to rummage through everything easily, I decided to customize a shoe box to make a long, thin “shelf” type display box.  This is what they look like….

I’m secretly quite chuffed with the whole thing!  Hopefully that’s given you an idea of a quick and easy craft make for your school fair or summer fête – handmade greetings cards for just a few pence each.