Welcome to Card Mine

Card making is a hobby enjoyed by many. For many people, finding a hobby is great way to enjoy yourself outside of work or education or even in retirement. People take up all sorts of sports – football, hockey, cricket, rugby, tennis etc.

There are many creative hobbies to take up, such as drawing, painting, papier mache, writing and photography which are very popular for all ages. Photography is a fantastic skill that some people have. There are so many high-tech cameras you can buy with all sorts of settings to suit every kind of photographer, from the amateur to the pro.

However, some of these hobbies are expensive and require lots of money. There’s no reason why you need to spend loads if you are not able to but still want to become a creative person. Card making is perfect and you can make so many designs, including birds, nature, trees, people, sunsets, beaches, landscapes. These can all be drawn or crafted with basic implements which are absolutely perfect for honing your skills with.

You can send in pictures of your cards – the very best we can publish on the website. We’re always interested to see what our readers have done.

As well as being a hobby, there are loads of jobs you can get using card designing skills! It can lead to other design and art based occupations. But it’s also a great way of saving money at Christmas and birthdays when you need to give someone a card – much better than forking out the £3.50 for something generic from Tesco!

Here at Card Mine we are interested in a range of cards – not just celebration cards, but historic ones which mark British history. We are the number one site for European trade and tobacco cards, poster stamps, cigar bands, postcards and all types of printed ephemera and collectables such as menus, calendars, matchbox labels, bookmarks et cetera from the mid-nineteenth century to date.

Cigarette and tobacco cards are a fascinating marker of British history and the development of art over the centuries. We wonder if this tradition will continue with the advent of electronic cigarettes. The process of “smoking” an electronic cigarette is just like when a person uses a regular cigarette so in some ways it is very similar. They inhale and then exhale exactly the same. When the vaper exhales the smoke the vapour then appears to be like smoke, but then dissolves very quickly. This leaves no leftover smell and no chance of second hand smoke. It is a great way for anyone to quit smoking.

Cigarette cards were particularly popular during the First World War where they often promoted the national cause within the general effort to create a sense of patriotism. However, they existed all the way back to George II who was the first monarch to appear on one.

For some people they have become collectibles; cigarette cards are able to be seen in museums and galleries.