ENVELOPES There are many things you need to consider when choosing envelopes for your card. In the greeting card business, here are some basic standards that are used in the industry.
Card and Envelope Sizes
The most common sizes for handmade cards are:
• 5 by 7 goes with an A7 envelope.
• 4 1/2 by 6 1/8 goes with an A6 envelope.
• 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 goes with an A2 envelope.
I've seen many hand-crafted cards that use other sizes, but be careful. Sometimes you may not be able to find envelopes for unusual sizes and you might have to special order them. One sales representative for northern California says that one of the biggest mistakes new card artists make is to create oversized cards that won't fit in a standard card rack.
Retail store managers have told me that that it's hard to sell handmade cards that are 4 1/4 by 5 1/2, because the they are so small. The only advantage of this size is that you can get two cards out of a standard 81/2 by 11 piece of paper. Compared to other cards on a card shelf though, your card is going to look quite small.
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More Articles on the Handmade Card Business
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The Greeting Card Business
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Get Your Greeting Cards Into Stores: How to Find and Work With Sales Reps (Updated 2017 paperback) If you like to make greeting cards, this book explains how to get your cards into stores and sell them nationwide. Learn about changing trends in the indie card market and niche opportunities available for artists. Book includes detailed guidelines on pricing cards for a profit, getting professional feedback on your designs, finding sales representatives, pitching your card line to them, approaching stores, and the industry standards you should follow. Information is also applicable to gift items, such as magnets, journals and calendars.
Start and Run a Greeting Card Business From a British author, whose country has a long history of greeting card design, she takes you step-by-step through the process of starting and running your business with lots of useful practical advice to help you, including: - Deciding what type of cards to produce - Finding your market - Dealing with printers - Copyright and licensing - Pricing and profit. Kate's note: Some specs are different (card sizes) since it is UK standards.
Greeting Card Design This volume features a vast array of fun, elegant, simple and imaginative greeting cards designed by internationally-known artists, illustrators and calligraphers. With over 300 full-color photographs of creative, popular, and inspiring greeting card designs, this invaluable sourcebook showcases the very best of what is happening in the industry today. Accompanying text explores the history of the greeting card industry and examines the major contributions from the leading innovative companies.