My friends in Japan always loved to surprise my other friends on their birthdays with a bit of cake or a bit of treat, and of course, the ever present happy birthday card. What is a birthday without a lifelong keepsake? I've kept all my cards in a stash and even brought it with me when I came back to my home country. My friends' greetings will always be in my heart.

So if you're looking for ideas how to make a card that is unique and personal, I've made one that you can follow without much difficulty. All you need are a pair of scissors, some deco tape, cardstock, and printables from the Happy Birthday Kit here.

Click here to go to the Happy Birthday Printable Kit # 1.

Click here to go to the Happy Birthday Printable Kit # 2.

Click here to check out the other printable kits like this that you can explore.

The Card

To start off, we will be creating a Happy Birthday Comic Card Booklet.

Why a booklet?

Well, of all the cards I've signed, made, and received, sometimes a lot of people want to sign the card and a folded card just doesn't cut it. Many people really take the time and effort to make those cute witty messages and I want to do them justice. Also, making it into a booklet is perfect for the comic theme because it feels like you're reading a comic book! And its easy to carry around just in case you want to bring it with you to the next country you want to explore your next adventure. I know I did!

Delight with a comic!

The basic idea of this card is that it is like reading through a comic made up of different people's messages. As with a comic, there are characters with faces and bodies and speech bubbles! The heart touching message go in the speech bubbles. The friends that are closest to the celebrant get a face and body and dedicated speech bubble. And perhaps for the rest who sign at the last minute, you can allocate a page spread full of only speech bubbles for them to write in. People can also write anywhere they want! They don't have to write them in the speech bubbles. As long as there is space, why not right?

Finally, here are the materials and steps that I've broken down so it is easier for you to follow.

Before Coloring

Here is the card after sticking the printable face, body, and decos and layouting.

After Coloring

Here is the card after coloring.

Materials

• Scissors or cutter or cutting machine
• Cardstock (kraft)
• Deco tape (washi tape)
• Coloring materials
• Sticker paper or plain A4 paper + glue
• Printables (or stickers) from the Happy Birthday Kits

For the cardstock, any paper thicker that feels like a card will do, it doesn't have to be kraft. I've tried it on plain white board paper and it looks great.

For the deco tape, in Japan, they are also known as "masking tape". If you don't have that, any colored paper cut and glued will do the trick.

I've offered the drawings as printables so you don't have to keep buying them again and again. Just buy them once and print as much as you like for the next happy birthday cards you want to make. Of course, if you don't like cutting out the printables, there are stickers in the shop too. Currently, I'm working on making sticker versions of the printables. If you don't find what you want, please let me know here. The Happy Birthday Kit is below.

Steps

1. Cut the cardstock into 4 equal pieces.
2. Tape the 4 pieces together with the washi tape so you end up with a booklet. I chose to do this landscape but you can do a portrait oriented one too so it really looks more like a book.
3. Print the chosen printable from Lines and Grace on sticker paper. Alternatively, you can print it on any ordinary bond or copy paper.
4. Cut the characters, speech bubbles, and other elements you want to include with a pair of scissors or a cutting machine. 
5. Stick the characters and speech bubbles as nice as your heart desires anywhere in the pages. Mix and match faces and bodies. Use glue to stick if you didn't print the printable on sticker paper.
6. Decorate the cover with other elements.
7. Color all the characters and elements and you're done!

I've included videos step by step below for you to visualize these steps.

Step 1 - Step 2

Step 3 - Step 6

Step 7

Bonus Tips

• I have included a Silhouette Cameo cut file in the ZIP file that you instantly download after purchasing the kit.
• Of course, people can write their messages anywhere, but from my experience people love to write on the speech bubbles! So make sure you stick enough speech bubbles in there. I also found it felt more personal when you choose characters that look like you to say your messages on their speech bubbles.
• When you are binding the booklet, stick the washi tapes between each page first before you stick the last washi tape on the spine of the booklet on the outer side.
• If your pages don't align on one side, don't worry. Just make sure the side where the binding is aligns first. You can always cut off the excess parts with a cutter later. But personally, I like the not-too-straight-not-too perfect edges. It gives it a very nice DIY feel to it. You know, like someone went out of their way to make you something kind of a feeling.

Below are the links to the printables just in case you missed them above.

Click here to go to the Printable Kit Collections.

Click here to go to the Happy Birthday Printable Kit # 1.

Click here to go to the Happy Birthday Printable Kit # 2.

Hope you enjoyed making the card and your friend gets the best surprise of all with this card! See you in the next project!