Barbara finds joy with 3D cards

DANIEL BATEMAN THIRTEEN years ago, Barbara Vinecombe was in a dark place.

Suffering from severe mental health issues, the Cairns resident found herself struggling to keep going.

She dreamt that one day she would be able to spread joy to others, an idea she tried to develop while sitting in a cor- ner of the Cairns City Library. “I thought I needed to do something different, to occupy my mind,” she said.

“The first thing that popped into my head was to do a card.”

Now, her vision has nearly become a reality, in the form of foldable greeting cards, called Instagami – a product she has started crowd-funding for commercial production.

Ms Vinecombe’s range of cards are themed with all manner of greetings, ranging from birthdays through to Halloween.

She believes the 3D pop-up style of the cards, made entirely from a single piece of recyclable paper, gives them much more permanency that traditional cards.

“I want to be a disrupter to the greeting card industry,” she said.