creating a card business

[suzie1]

i want to design and make my own cards to sell i.e xmas, birthday and valentines. eid cards, get well soon...u know what i mean. But how do i start off, whats the best equipment to buy and if i use my laptop, do i need a certain software....i realyy want to start this off and start selling at work..the expand further afield...is this a good idea and is it hard work, i would need to buy some good quality materials, where would be the best place to go for these and also is it ok to to use card in my epson colour printer. thank you darlings.

[suzie1]

come on people help me out here

[boxtops]

I have a friend who makes beautiful hand made cards, she doesn't do anything on the computer, she buys good quality cards and envelopes, and acquires all sorts of transfers and beads and accessories from craft or haberdashery shops and makes everything by hand. It's hard work, there is a lot of competition out there. I used to sell photocards and I had to buy cellophane sleeves too, in order to keep the cards really clean when I took them to craft fairs etc.

[joko]

viking direct are good for supplies, printers, bags, envelopes etc

you would also be wise to have a website made, or make your own...try serif webplus for web software...its pretty simply to use, and can give you a shop facility too, and its fairly cheap too

buy a domain name etc - i use hearts

software wise, check again with serif, they have a lot of easy to use stuff...but depending on your skills, you could just use a normal paint package, though you can buy card making ones that will help with sizes etc