I used to buy birthday and all occasion cards from bookshops and used to always be so horrified at how much a simple card could cost. A plain card with some funny or meaningful sayings without any extra embellishments like pop-ups, lace or music would set me back more than RM10! Why? Simply because these cards came from Hallmark or American Greeting which were priced in USD! That made me stop buying cards for a while as I simply couldn’t see the point in paying so much for them.

Recently, however, I chanced upon The Paper Boutique in the mall. Out of curiosity, I walked in and was pleasantly surprised to see all kinds of pretty paper to be used as wrappers and for crafts such as making cards or invitations. They had a huge range of paper quality and designs, ranging from the really simple to the really elaborate. Some paper they had were really pretty with actual pressed flowers embedded into the tissue-like paper while others were beautifully sequined and glittery paper which would look wonderful for a wedding invite. They even had cute little 3-D cardboard themed designs you could stick onto your card to make it extra-special and professional, just like those exorbitant cards out there.

The paper is a little expensive for the elaborate and special ones but think of how many creative cards you could make from just one sheet of paper!