newbie has ??
 

what is the "average" size card that people make?? And...do you make envelopes or buy them> Thanks

I guess the "usual" size is 4.25" x 5.5" - half of a sheet of 8.5" x 11" cardstock and then scored in half. I personally buy my envelopes. I love Stampin' Up's envelopes - the quality is really really nice. You can buy them other places (like Walmart) as well - they are usually called "Invitation Envelopes" and they work fine, but are definitely not as nice.
I have seen a lot of people branching out though in card size - doing square cards, or longer cards as well.

The majority of the cards I make are 5.5 x 4.25
I also sell sets of 10 5 x 3.5 cards - those are the same size as your basic response card and use those sized envies.

Laura

6x6 cards
 

Hi and Welcome!
I am throwing my 2 cents in about the variety 6X6 cards can make in your collection. You are using 1/2 of a 12x12 sheet and 6x6 (actually SU sells them a bit larger) envelopes. The 6X6 gives you a little more room to play around with techniques and embellishments. They do cost more to mail 63 cents (? unless postage went up again) but they are very cute and can be easily adapted into a scrapbook page if you wanted to do that.
Good luck and remember to have fun!!!

I have the same measurements for the cards.

As for the envelopes, I buy mine. You can 250 envelopes at staples for $20! And you can get the same style, or quality as SU! Thats a great deal, wouldn't you say?

Most of the cards I make are the standard 4.25 X 5.5. That way you can 2 cards from one sheet of cardstock. However, I have been enjoying making unusual sizes of cards lately. My new favorite is 3 X 6. You can still get 2 cards from 1 sheet of cardstock by making the second card a 4.25 square. You could still send that in the envelope for the standard-sized card. The 3 X 6 card fits into a regular envelope like you would mail a check in. I have made one envelope from SU's new template. When you use the envelope glue, it's much easier than you would think! The cool thing about it is you can coordinate the envelope with the card. Sorry this got so long!