By Elaine Heys

Have you seen those cards with beautiful quotes or poetry on the front?

Perhaps you've longed to make something similar yourself, but you either don't own a suitable word stamp, or can't afford to buy one.

Writing your own quotes and poetry may not be as hard as you think. Let me show you how.

 

1. Choose an object to write about. Make sure you have a rubber stamp, punch, cut-out, sticker or picture of the item. If, for example, you have a picture of a cat sitting amongst flowers, choose the cat as your main focus.

2. Write down three adjectives (descriptive words) you associate with that object. As an example, I shall use a cut-out of a star.

Example:
Three adjectives: piercing, silver, midnight-blue

3. Play around with those three words, perhaps adding a few more to make a quote about your object.

Example:
Star - piercing silver in midnight-blue.
Midnight-blue, pierced with silver stars.

4. Alternatively, liken your object to something else that you could describe with those same words. When I thought about the words piercing, silver and midnight-blue, I imagined a silver brooch with a pin piercing a midnight-blue velvet dress. Now I have a different quote.

Example:
A star is a silver brooch pinned on the midnight-blue of the sky.

You can use these words on the outside or inside of your card.
Thinking up prose provides good practice to write short poems. Try this:

1. Write down half-a-dozen or more verbs (action words) ending in "ing" that
describe your chosen object.

Example:
Shining, hanging, orbiting, spinning, revealing, waiting.

2. Write short sentences, each starting with one of the verbs you chose that describes what your object does.

Example:
Shining so brightly
Hanging in the sky
Orbiting the sun
Spinning like a gyroscope in the universe
Revealing possibilities further than the eye can see
Waiting for me to make a wish
Opening my mind to worlds beyond my own

If you write the sentences beneath one another you can almost see a poem taking form.

3. Choose two or three of your sentences, and use them to make a poem like the following examples.

Star
Hanging in the sky
Opening my mind to worlds beyond my own
Revealing possibilities further than the eye can see.

or

Stars
Shining so brightly
Waiting for me to make a wish

or

Star
Spinning like a gyroscope in the universe
Orbiting the sun

You may want to use most of your sentences, changing their order to make a pleasing arrangement.

Example:
A star
Shining so brightly
Waiting for me to make a wish
Spinning like a gyroscope in the universe
Revealing possibilities further than the eye can see
Opening my mind to worlds beyond my own

If you chose a flower, your exercise might have gone something like this:

Adjectives:
delicate, fluttering, bright

Quotes:
Flower - bright fluttering of delicate petals
Delicate flowers, their bright heads fluttering in the breeze

What else is delicate, fluttering and bright? A butterfly wing? Yes, that would work: "Flowers like butterfly wings."

Verbs:
smelling, turning, nodding, opening, showing, colouring

Sentences:
Smelling sweetly
Turning its face to the sun
Nodding gently in the breeze
Opening its petals to the day
Showing everyone its beauty
Colouring the meadow with splashes of red

Poems:

Flower
Colouring the meadow with splashes of red
Showing everyone its beauty.

or

Flowers like butterfly wings
Opening their petals to the day
Nodding in the breeze
Turning their faces to the sun.

Now you have your quote or poem. Treat it with the respect it deserves and make it into a beautiful card.

1. Decide how you want to use your quote or poem. Will the poem be the main focus? In which case it should go on the front of the card.
Will you have the quote at an angle across your picture? Do you want to use it on the inside of the card?

2. Type your quote or poem in an appropriate font.

3. Allow space around your writing according to how you will use it. Then print it on a piece of vellum.

4. Trim to size with fancy scissors, a paper trimmer or just tearing.

5. For a short piece of poetry or prose, cut the vellum into a long strip and lay it at an angle across a background or picture, securing the ends at the back. Then attach it to your card as a layer.

6. For a long poem, cut the vellum around the writing and leave enough space to fix it to the card. Place it over the picture or background and attach with brads, eyelets or a ribbon.