Whenever it is someone’s birthday, an anniversary or a special occasion, there are hundreds of greeting cards that you can buy for them.
However, even the most beautiful cards from Hallmarks or American Greetings cannot compare if they are handmade by you.
There’s something unique and beautiful about homemade cards that you won’t get even from the most expensive greeting cards in the world.
The best paper is essential for card making more than any other tools, devices or instruments. You can make any kind of cards if you have the right paper to work with: greeting cards, calling cards, visiting cards, name cards, invitation cards or more.
Your designs, your ideas and your hard work will all be reflected perfectly in your work only if you have the best paper for card making.
6 Best Paper for Card Making
There are dozens of different types of paper that you can find everywhere around you, but not all of them are suitable for card making purposes. For making any kinds of cards, you need a special kind of paper, mainly known as cardstock or card paper.
Here are the 6 best paper for card making that you can use for making any kind of cards:
1. Pacon Card Stock, Colorful Assortment of 100 Sheets
This is a set of 100 cardstock in 10 assorted colors, each 11” in height and 8½” in width. The pieces of cardstock paper, instead of being plain white in color, come in 10 different colors which include pumpkin color, rojo red, gold, hyper yellow, emerald green, violet, hyper pink, marine blue, cobalt blue, hyper pink and hyper lime.
With such a dazzling array of colors, you can make exciting and fabulous cards for a number of purposes.
In this set, you get 10 sheets of cardstock of the same color. The cardstocks are made from heavyweight 65 lbs. paper and compatible with both laser and inkjet printers. The cardstocks are acid-free and safe for anyone to use, even children.
You can easily use these durable and thicker-than-regular-paper cardstocks to not just make greeting cards, but also use them to make postcards, for rubber stamping, for report covers, announcements, name cards, memory books, flyers and posters.
These cardstock papers are both lignin free and buffered, and come with a cover that’s acid-free.
Key Features:
- Set of 100 sheets of cardstock
- 10 different colors
- 10 cards of each color in the set
- Includes pumpkin color, rojo red, gold, hyper yellow, emerald green, violet, hyper pink, marine blue, cobalt blue, hyper pink and hyper lime
- Each sheet is 11” in height and 8½” in width
- Made from heavyweight 65 lbs paper
- Acid-free and safe for anyone to use
- Perfect for postcards, for rubber stamping, for report covers, announcements, name cards, memory books, flyers and posters
- Compatible with both laser and inkjet printers
2. Wausau Creative Collection Classics Starter Kit
This is a complete starter pack for making all kinds of cards – a set of 72 sheets in which you get a total of 18 colors. You get 4 cards of each color in this one set, and the colors themselves are vivid and bright in color.
The different colors in this set include Royal Blue, Eclipse Black, Colonial Blue, Concord Grape, Lilac, Wisteria, Old Town Red, Bubble Gum, Re-Entry Red, Galaxy Gold, Orbit Orange, Martian Green, Goldenrod, Gamma Green, Natural, Kraft, Clove and white.
If you are making presentations, posters or greeting cards for a lot of people, all these colors would certainly be a big help.
These sheets of paper are compatible with inkjet and laser printers; they are acid-free and safe for everyone to use. Even children can use them in their play or assignments without any worries. The sheets are easy to fold, cut and score, and completely lignin free.
Key Features:
- Set of 72 sheets of cardstock
- 18 different colors
- 4 cards of each color in the set
- Includes Royal Blue, Eclipse Black, Colonial Blue, Concord Grape, Lilac, Wisteria, Old Town Red, Bubble Gum, Re-Entry Red, Galaxy Gold, Orbit Orange, Martian Green, Goldenrod, Gamma Green, Natural, Kraft, Clove and White
- Each sheet is 11” x 8½” in size
- Acid-free and safe for anyone to use
- Perfect for all kinds of work and projects
- Compatible with both laser and inkjet printers
- Lignin free
- Quality doesn’t deteriorate over time
- Perfect for non-yellowing and archival-quality projects
- Designed to handle embossing, stamping, folding, hole punching and printing
3. Accent Opaque White Cardstock Paper
In this massive set of cardstock, you get a total of 200 sheets of paper, each of 271 gsm weight and quality. Each of the cardstock papers are 8.5” x 11” in size and weighs 110 lbs. together.
Thick and bright white, the cardstocks have a smooth finish and a bright-white shade that gives the perfect quality output in whatever you make. The cardstock papers can hold all the ink you use on these papers with minimum show-through.
These cardstock papers can be used in schools, colleges, offices and homes for making not just greeting cards, but presentations, project boards, name cards, calling cards, menu cards, and more.
The cardstock are of high-quality paper, and will make any design, text, design or color you use on them bright and vivid. You can even use these card papers in any personal or professional-grade copiers, and both in inkjet and laser printers.
All papers from Accent, the manufacturer of these high-quality cardstock paper, are environment-friendly. If you are buying Accent papers, you are helping in replanting trees in the forests at the same time, and creating sustainable jobs for landowners all over the USA.
All Accent papers can always be used with each other; they are highly compatible with other kinds of papers made from the same or another manufacturer.
Key Features:
- Set of 200 sheets of cardstock
- Each sheet has 271 gsm thickness
- Bright-white in color
- Each sheet is 11” x 8½” in size
- Weighs 110 lbs together
- Perfect quality output in however you use them for
- Can hold a lot of ink with minimum show-through
- Can be used in schools, colleges, offices and homes
- Can be used to make greeting cards, presentations, project boards, name cards, calling cards and menu cards
- Can be used in any personal or professional-grade copiers
- Compatible with both inkjet and laser printers
- Environment-friendly manufacturer
- Made in USA
4. Hamilco White Cardstock Thick Paper
Thicker than regular cardstock, this is a pack of 50 individual sheets from the Hamilco store. Each sheet is 11” x 8.5” in size, heavy weight 80 lbs cover card with a 96.00 brightness.
Bright white in color, these cardstock papers are extremely durable, acid-free, affordable and made in the USA.
These high-quality best cardstock papers from Hamilco are compatible for any kind of copiers, and both laser and inkjet printers. They are thick enough to hold any amount and type of ink and look professionally printed as a final output.
With a 96.000 brightness and 216 gsm, these heavyweight cardstock papers are perfect for making restaurant menus, brochures, awards and certificates, name cards and calling cards beside just greeting cards.
You’ll get all the paper sheets together in an elite packaging box, as opposed to the regular packets you get with other papers.
The sheets are securely packed inside the box to keep the paper inside as safe as possible. The packaging can also be used for storing the sheets for as long as you have them with you.
Key Features:
- Set of 50 sheets of cardstock
- Each sheet has 216 gsm thickness
- Bright-white in color
- Each sheet is 11” x 8.5” in size
- Weighs 80 lbs together
- Perfect printing quality output
- Can hold a lot of ink
- Perfect for making greeting cards, personal stationary, name cards, calling cards and menu cards
- Can be used in any personal or professional-grade copiers
- Compatible with both inkjet and laser printers
- Made in USA
- Acid free
- Thicker than regular cardstock sheets
- Heavyweight, durable paper
- Comes in storable box
5. Shimmer Pearlescent Paper in 6 Colors
Instead of the bright-white color or the different vivid colors, you are getting 6 shimmering colors in this set of paper from Bargain Paradise.
This is a set of 120 metallic-colored and shimmering paper sheets with 20 sheets in each color. The colors are all fabulous and bright, with an eye-catching shimmer that you would simply love!
The shimmering colors in this set include gold, silver, aquamarine, copper, rose and amethyst. These are not cardstock paper, but resemble regular paper with a 100 gsm thickness with colors on both sides.
At a great value, the paper sheets are durable and long lasting, and won’t yellow or fade over time.
Shimmering and almost pearlescent, these colorful papers are perfect for bridal shower decorations, making paper flowers and crafts, baby shower and birthday decorations, graduation parties, weddings and anniversaries, and any events and party decorations, and gift wrapping designs.
Each sheet is 11” x 8.5” in size, and compatible only with laser printers. Only special pens are needed for writing on these papers, as not any regular pen can be used to write on these shimmering paper sheets.
Key Features:
- Set of 120 sheets of cardstock
- Each sheet has 100 gsm thickness
- Each sheet is 11” x 8.5” in size
- Comes in 6 shimmering sides
- Only compatible with laser printers
- Requires special pens to write on them.
- Perfect for decorating and gift wrapping purposes
- Great value for price
- Attractive, pearlescent colors
- Not cardstock, but regular colored paper
6. Paper Junkie 50-sheet Gold Vellum Paper
Ideal for all kinds of card making, tracing, scrapbooking, crafting and making greeting cards and invitations, this is a pack of 50 sheets of vellum paper.
The sheets are all gold in color, perfectly vivid and bright sheets of paper that are going to look brilliant however you use them. These sheets of paper dry almost instantly and are compatible with both laser and inkjet printers.
Each sheet has a 100 gsm thickness and they are 8.5” x 11” in size. They are acid-free and safe to use, as thin as regular paper but with a beautiful finish.
Key Features:
- Set of 50 sheets of paper
- Each sheet has 100 gsm thickness
- Each sheet is 11” x 8.5” in size
- Comes in a beautiful gold color
- Perfect for making cards, tracing, scrapbooking and crafting
- Compatible with both inkjet and laser printers
- Thin as regular paper but with a beautiful finish
- Instantly dries
- Acid free and safe to use
Things to Consider Before Buying Paper for Card Making
When you are making greeting cards, or your own personal stationary, name cards, calling cards, the menu for your restaurant, or even decorations for a party, you’d want the paper you use to be absolutely perfect.
Without the right kind of paper, any design you choose will not look its best. You can have a beautiful design or amazing penmanship, but they would not look good in the final output if you don’t have the right kind of paper for the job.
Therefore, it is very important that you have the right kind of paper with you before making your greeting cards and other decorations and cards. For this, you need to ensure that the paper or the sheets you choose have a few special features present in them.
1. Thickness of Paper
The thickness of paper is measured in gsm, which stands for “Gram per square meter”. This refers to the weight of a specific sheet of paper cut into one square meter piece.
A sheet of paper with the weight 100 gsm means that the particular sheet of paper weighs 100 gram in one square meter area.
The actual size of the paper may be 8.5” x 11” or 25” x 48”, but if they have the same gsm, they have the same quality or thickness. “GSM” isn’t used to measure how much the sheet of paper weighs, but how thick the paper is all through.
A sheet of paper is thick if it has a higher GSM. A paper sheet that has a 50 GSM is much thinner than a sheet of paper with 400 GSM, no matter the actual size of the paper.
For making any kind of cards, the paper that you need should ideally be thick, i.e. have a higher GSM. The Accent Opaque White Cardstock Paper, for example, is a 271 GSM paper and quite thick, perfect for making cards.
The Hamilco White Cardstock Thick Paper, too, has a thickness of 216 GSM which is less thick than the previous brand but still a great paper type for making cards.
On the other hand, the Shimmer Pearlescent Paper in 6 Colors has only 100 GSM thickness and is not very different from regular paper that we use for writing.
The thicker the paper, the more we can experiment on them and the more ink they can hold effectively.
For making cards, the paper we use should be ideally thick and durable, so that we can use a lot of ink on them, print detailed images and pictures on them, and even use special pens that won’t seep through the paper sheets.
For all these reasons, the higher the GSM, the better the brand of paper for card making.
2. Color
Of course, color plays a very important role in the paper needed for card making. We can use white paper or colored paper for the purpose, depending on the kind of design we are working with, or the look we want for our cards.
Most cardstock paper for making cards come in a number of colors, but there are options for bright white paper as well.
The Pacon Card Stock, Colorful Assortment of 100 Sheets is a set that comes in 10 different colors including some exciting ones like pumpkin color, rojo red, hyper yellow, marine blue and hyper pink.
The Wausau Creative Collection Classics Starter Kit, too, comes in 18 exciting colors including Colonial Blue, Lilac, Wisteria, Bubble Gum, Galaxy Gold, Martian Green, Natural and Clove.
The Shimmer Pearlescent Paper in 6 Colors comes in 6 shimmering colors like gold, silver, aquamarine, copper, rose and amethyst which makes them perfect for card making and decorations, although they are 100 GSM sheets.
Besides, there are options for bright-white cardstock with a 96.00 or more brightness.
3. Compatibility
Most paper types are compatible with all kinds of copiers, laser and inkjet printers, making it easy to work with them. However, some special sheets of paper, such as the Shimmer Pearlescent Paper in 6 Colors, is only compatible with a laser printer.
This is because of the color of these sheets that make them incompatible with inkjet printers and copiers, as well as regular pens.
4. Acid- and Lignin-free
Being acid-free is a good way to make sure that the cardstock or the paper you are using will be durable and last a long time.
Using products that are acid-free aren’t safe for our skin to use, but the acid in the paper can react badly when it comes to specific kinds of ink.
If your paper contains acid, they will be prone to decay and damage over time. If you want your greeting cards to last a long time, it is better to choose a brand that is completely acid-free.
Lignin also enhances the acidic properties in a particular brand of paper. Any sheet of paper that has lignin may be prone to the paper becoming brittle and yellowing over time.
If the paper you choose is lignin-free, it will also stay acid-free for a long time and last longer. Therefore, it is also preferable to choose a brand that is also lignin-free as well as acid-free.
5. Other Features
Other important features for cardstock or card making paper might include:
- Size of the paper, which is usually 8.5” x 11”, i.e. A4-sized paper
- Diversity of the paper, i.e. where can the paper be used
- Packaging details
- Heavy-weight or lightweight paper
- Smooth or matte finish
- The brightness of the colors
- How much ink can the paper hold
- Printing output, etc.
All these features are extremely important when it comes to choosing the best card making paper and other similar purposes.
Conclusion
Making a greeting card for someone special, making your own decorations for a party, creating and printing your own name cards and visiting cards – all these can be possible only when you have the right kind of paper with you.
If you have the best paper for card making, you can create anything with the sheets of colorful or bright white paper you have.