Basic Card Making 101 – and A Challenge

I started making my own cards 25+ years ago, and haven’t stopped since!  I love to make one of a kind cards to give to my friends and family, either just because I want to – or for an event like their birthday!  The next few month’s we are going to work on making a stash of cards for you to give out to your friends and family!  I have an upcoming class with Stampin‘ Up that will help you get your stash started, more details to follow!!! 

Along my journey making my own cards, I have learned a few things along the way – including:

• You don’t need to purchase everything you see – learn to refrain from buying everything, but get what you will use for sure!  
• An 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardstock cut in half and then folded in half makes the perfect card bases for your cards!  Simply add a pack of envelopes and you are done! 
• As you make a layout for an event, and you have supplies left over – create a few cards that you can use later on!  This way, when you are told about a birthday or event the night before, you don’t have to rush to make a card when you might not have the time. 
• As you are starting to purchase your stamps – looks for themes you will use a lot, and stamps that can be used in different ways!
• Start with a couple of stamp pads – black and white to start with.  Adding white and colored cardstock – with those stamp pads, you can truly start to create your own one of a kind cards!
• Make sure you organize your supplies with your other paper crafting supplies to make it easier!  I use die cuts, stickers, stamps, eyelets, brads, ribbon, bakers twine – on all of my paper crafting ideas from layouts to cards to altered/gift items that you make.  
• Don‘t be afraid to mix supplies, some of my favorite card ideas have been done using scraps from one project, a stamp, and die cuts left over from another project!  

Each of the cards here – were done with scraps from other projects!  A black stamp pad can go a long way – as well as a white stamp pad on any color of cardstock or paper!  You can add colors of ink pads from there!!!!  Start small, a theme or two that you will send or give out a lot of is great to start with, then adding other themes from there!  

Challenges:

1. Start to make a list of cards you send out most often for the next 6 months and the next year.  
2. Decide which 2 themes of cards from your list that you send out more often than the others, and make 5 cards from each of the 2 themes.
3. Get sketches and ideas put together for all of your list of cards that you want to recreate, using the supplies you have available.
4. Find a place to put all the cards when you are done!  (I have a class coming up, watch here for details – that will be PERFECT for this area!)

Start small, and simply enjoy making cards!  This is what I started out doing – making cards, then put aside when I found out what a scrapbook was!  Now – I do all kinds of paper crafts!!!  I hope you start to make your own cards – your own themes – your own style, and I hope you will join me while I am making some for myself!