Custom Folded Greeting Cards With Envelopes

Board Weight, Texture and the Crease

A greeting card is judged the moment it is picked up, so the board matters more than anything else. Heavier boards feel substantial and stand up on a mantelpiece without bowing. Uncoated boards have a natural, slightly toothy surface that takes pen and pencil well, which suits cards people will sign and fill with a message. Silk boards show photographs and bright illustration with more punch while still accepting a ballpoint.

Every card is creased before folding. On heavy board this is what stops the surface from cracking along the spine, especially where dark ink covers the fold. Textured stocks such as hammered or linen finishes add character for formal cards, though they soften very fine linework. If your artwork has a dark background running across the fold, tell us and we will recommend a board that folds without white showing through. The boards are shown with their crease behaviour in our guide to card and board types.

Laying Out Front, Inside and Back

A folded card has four panels, and each one does a job. The front carries the artwork or message. The inside right is where the sender writes, so most publishers leave it blank or add a short line of greeting near the top. The inside left is often left plain, though a soft pattern or a small logo can work for business cards. The back is the quiet panel: credit line, website, barcode for retail and a short description of the design.

Supply your artwork as a flat sheet with 3 mm bleed on every outer edge and keep text at least 5 mm inside the trim and away from the fold. The free design proof shows all four panels in position so you can check orientation, which is where most card mistakes happen.

Business senders often forget the inside left panel, which is the first thing seen when the card opens. A short printed line there, such as a thank-you from the whole team, means a busy manager only has to sign rather than write a paragraph in every card. The free proof laid out as the flat sheet shows which panel is the front and which is upside down before printing.

Finishes Worth Using Sparingly

Most cards look their best with no coating at all, because the natural board is pleasant to hold and easy to write on. When you want a little more, a few finishes are worth considering. Hot foil in gold, silver, copper or a coloured foil picks out lettering and small motifs beautifully. Blind embossing raises a pattern with no ink, which suits wedding and sympathy designs where restraint matters. A matt or soft-touch lamination on the outside adds protection for cards sold loose in shops.

Spot UV is effective on silk boards for adding a gloss layer to a single element, such as a balloon or a name. Use one special finish per design rather than stacking them; a card with foil, emboss and spot UV together usually looks busy rather than luxurious. Foil and spot UV are compared on card in our print and finish comparison.

Envelopes and Retail Packing

Every folded card is supplied with an envelope sized to it, in white, kraft or a colour that complements the design. Coloured envelopes lift a range on a shop spinner and make a card feel complete. Printed envelopes, with a small logo on the back flap, are a neat touch for businesses sending cards to clients.

For retail, cards can be packed individually in clear cello bags with the envelope behind, which keeps them clean on the shelf. Multipacks of a single design are popular for thank-you cards, and we can supply a printed band or box to hold them; see our greeting card boxes if you want a rigid presentation pack.

Decide the Fold Direction Before the Artwork Is Set Up

The detail that most often sends a greeting card back to the designer is the fold. A portrait fold puts the spine on the left and the card opens like a book; a landscape fold puts the spine along the top and the card opens upward, and the inside panels are laid out differently for each. Settle that, then the closed size, then the board, and only then set up the flat sheet. Publishers should supply every design as its own flat file named with the format, since mixed formats in one order are quoted per size. Decide whether cards are bagged for retail, which affects how they are counted and packed. Cards that will be posted without an envelope are better set up as flat greeting cards printed both sides.

Email the format, fold, board, finish, envelope colour, number of designs and quantity per design, and a custom quote comes back within one working day, followed by a free design proof showing the panels. Cards are printed in 4 to 7 working days once approved and delivered free and tracked on the UK mainland in 2 to 3 days. Cards that crack on the fold or arrive misprinted are reprinted or refunded when reported within 10 days.