Cardmaking: How to Make a Card Without Fancy Tools

 

My first crafting love is paper, specifically Card Making. Since childhood, I've loved pretty papers and my mom always made sure I had my own stationery, thank you notes etc. I still love "snail mail" and making and sending my own cards. And yes, I have all the "fancy tools" which I've accumulated over the years. But every so often it's just as much fun to use no tools and still make something pretty. This post is perfect for you if you've ever wanted to try making cards but don't want to invest in a lot of supplies. 

First and foremost is your paper! Whether you buy scrapbook paper by the individual sheet or like me, tend towards "stacks" with just a few pretty papers, you can make a handmade card!

Supplies: 

• Coordinating Papers. I used a Craftsmart stack from Michaels
• Cardstock. I prefer 110lb weight
• Adhesive. Tape runner or if all you have is a glue stick, that'll work. 
• Paper Trimmer. If you don't have one, no problem. Craft knife or scissors will work. You'll just need a ruler. 

A lot of my paper stash consists of "Hot Buy" stacks from Michaels. They often have them either 70% off or buy one get two free with the one being $19.99 so it averages out to less than $7 per stack and you can get anywhere from 48-60 pieces in each stack, some of which are double sided. But what I really love is, many of the stacks come with pages of sentiments that can be used as a focal for a card. 

NOTE: These are a special category so not all of their paper pads qualify. Only those they usually have in their own section entitled "Hot Buy". 

Each of these sentiments shown here is its own panel so you have multiple pieces you can use. I start by cutting these types of pages apart and choosing the panels I want to use as my card focal. Since all of the papers in the same stack coordinate, you can then choose other papers for your card knowing they'll all work together. For those without words you can either layer with pieces that have them or use stamps or stickers. Out of the panels from this sheet, I have enough to make 10 cards! 

Card Base: You can cut your own ( I tend to ) or you can buy blank pre-cut cards usually either 5x7 or 4.25 x5.25. These may also be called A7 or A4 and can be found everywhere from office supply stores, craft stores, or specialty stores like Paper Source. If you're cutting your own, you will need to cut to desired size and score down the middle. I have a scoring board but you can easily do this by measuring to the center of your paper and using an embossing tool, or an empty ballpoint pen and a ruler to make the scoring line. Score, fold, burnish with a bone folder or scissor handle to give it a strong crease.

I usually cut my card(s) first and set aside, then work on the layers that will become the focal of the card. 

Trim Sentiment Panel: Once you've cut your sentiment panel sheet apart, trim each piece as desired. This is why I don't worry about getting them cut perfectly from the main sheet. 

Then using coordinating papers ( I have tons of scraps on hand so if you are starting from nothing, you may want a couple of additional papers for this part). I chose mirror gold and silver glitter scraps and used these to mat the sentiment focal. 

Then I cut my coordinating papers to fit my card base...in this case I cut one 4.75x6.75 for a 5x7 card and then one 3.75x5.75 for the next coordinating layer. 

So here you can see (left to right): Card base, first panel, second panel, matted focal

Center your focal piece on the second panel, attach with foam dots or squares to give your card some dimension. I get a lot of my basic supplies like foam dots from Dollar Tree. They also sell one time use tape runners and double sided foam tape. 

I have this monster ATG Tape Gun that I've had for something like 20 years and if you find yourself really doing a lot of paper crafting, it is well worth the investment! 

You'll layer your second panel to the first with your focal panel already applied and then the whole thing to your card base and you're done! 

I used the same process for this second card and reversed the papers. In total I used three sheets from this pack with 45 remaining ! 

And since "sharing is caring" did I mention that Michaels has their Hot Buy Buy One Get Two Free deal going on this week?!  They don't even pay me to say that! 

If you've ever wanted to try to make a card, I hope this is helpful! 

First Post-Christmas Cards: Cream Gray and Turquoise

 

I hope everyone who celebrated had a wonderful Christmas celebration.We Zoomed with our son on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and fingers crossed, his packages will arrive today. Grrr. He took that in better stride than we have! 

I started on my "catch up" New Year's cards ( a couple people I inadvertently missed with Christmas cards) and January birthdays. After making the snowflake card using some Christmas papers, I really liked the color combination so I used it to make the first of my January birthday cards. 

For this one, I used a snowflake patterned paper from Recollections "White Christmas" stack and then an icy bluish / light turquoise Craftsmart glitter paper. I cut snowflakes using my Cricut Explore Air2 from cream glitter paper, and layered using foam dots as shown. To finish, I added an iridescent snowflake sequin and light turquoise snowflake sequin. Simple but fresh and clean for a new year!

I liked the color combination so much I went with it for the first 2021 birthday card I needed. I used the same glitter papers to make the party hats. I'm an "ecumenical" crafter so for this one I used my Silhouette Cameo and an image from the Silhouette online store. It's a layered image so I cut out of three different glitter scraps and then layered to make the hats. I think I'm going to do more of these in other color combos so I have party hats at the ready for future cards. I mounted these on a gray Echo Park Paper and used the Craftsmart light turquoise glitter papers. The sentiment is also from the Silhouette online store, and I cut it using Cricut silver adhesive foil, applied it to a cream cardstock scrap, then a light turquoise glitter scrap, and finished with some silver star sequins. 

Happy last days of 2020. I don't think any of us will be sad to see you go! 

 

Holiday 2020: Gifted Cards

Like most Makers, I have a stash of supplies. Mr. Chocolate lovingly teases me about my paper addiction  which, as a result of its existence, has produced cards he's asked for "like that" ! And you know what? I make no apology! Because what it enables me to do is combine my love of making things with giving back. I wasn't even going to post these because I wasn't happy with the pics and I don't like to come off "look at me", but then I thought others might relate so here we go. 

Also like many Makers, I have moments of self doubt. "Do people really like what I make or are they just being polite?" Be honest. Have you felt like that?  Nonetheless, given the Pandemic That Stole 2020, my love of making things, and my paper stash, I risked the self doubt and decided to make some cards for my health care provider, The Mayo Clinic. 

No one has worked harder this year than Healthcare Workers. Doctors, nurses, admin staff, cleaning staff. EVERYONE! So I thought I'd make some cards to show my appreciation. Literally, beyond masking up and distancing, the least I could do. I made three dozen, packaged them up, and dropped them off, letting them decide whether to use them for patients, staff, volunteers...or at all! 

Last night, I got the nicest email validating I'd made the right decision not listening to that little voice that sometimes makes me doubt myself. The point of all of this? Trust your instincts. Have confidence in yourself. Know that doing something for others may be the one thing that day that helps them. 

I made sets based on white, green, and red cardstocks and coordinating papers: 

These pics don't do justice to the foiled goodness on some of the papers! 

 

I wish I'd bought more of these little wooden stickers I found at Dollar Tree!

Packaged them up with envelopes and put them in sealed bags. 

The email said they will be used for the staff which I absolutely love! 

Quilled Cupcake Birthday Card Tutorial

One thing I was excited about when I started my Quilling journey was the ability to incorporate it into my cardmaking. I'm so happy with how this card came out, inspired by some fabulous papers I found at JoAnn. 

Supplies: 

• Pebbles Double Sided Scrapbooking Paper (JoAnn)
• Cardstock ( 110 lb)
• Coredinations Glitter Scrapbook Paper (JoAnn)
• Juya Quilling Paper Strips
• Quilling Tool
• Glue (Aleene's Turbo Tacky, Elmer's)
• Paper Trimmer
• Tape Gun

JoAnn recently had a mega sale on scrapbook paper. I couldn't resist these at $.19 each!! Hello my name is Carol and I have a paper problem. 

They're double sided so it's like two, two, two papers in one. My older followers will get that joke. 

TIP: 

In learning Quilling, I've watched different videos on how to outline an image but the thing that works the easiest and best for me is to cut the image I want to outline using my Cricut Explore Air 2. My trick that I think I invented but who knows, is to cut two of the image, layer on top of each other with a thin foam tape, which gives some depth to make it easier to go around it with the Quilling paper. 

I went around the image with the light acqua strip, then made a cupcake liner design with pink. Another TIP: I do these atop wax paper since the glue doesn't stick. Wax paper is inexpensive ( OK cheap!) and a little will go a long way. 

Once my image was outlined, I did a bunch ( technical term) of brown open coils and some darker pink tight coils for the "frosting", and then yellow, acqua, and cream to fill in the wrapper. 

As the focal image was drying, I made the actual card. Simple 5x7 card, and alternating layered panels of the acqua glitter paper and the cupcake paper. 

I use the Aleene's Turbo Tacky Glue for the outline and to fill large spaces and the Elmer's in the fine tipped bottle for detail, small spaces. 

To finish, I made a small coil of red for the cherry on top !

Since the friend this is for lives in another state and we can't enjoy a real cupcake, this will have to do! 

Quilled Butterfly Card

My adventures in my new obsession continue so expect to see a few posts. I wanted to incorporate quilling into my card making so played around and made this butterfly for a Thank You card I needed to make. 

Supplies: 

• Cardstock and Scrapbook Papers for Card
• Quilling Paper and Tool
• Glue
• Quilling Board

The quilling board came in the kit my girlfriend gave me and it really helpful for ensuring consistent shapes and sizes. You make your coils and then drop inside the shape and use your fingers to help form the shape,  I chose paper strips that coordinated with the colors of the polka dot paper I used. 

To make the Butterfly Wings, I started with the orange and yellow papers shown inside, former the teardrop shapes and then just went around them with the other colors to build up the shapes. 

To make the antennae and the middle ( I have no idea what this part of a butterfly is called) I folder two black strips in half, then curled the tops to make antennae. Tightly coiled the green coils and wrapped the black strips around and glued down to the card. 

Once all my wing pieces were assembled, I glued to the front of the card as shown. Paractice makes perfect and this isn't 100% but I'm pleased with it for a first try. 

I had a question on my last Quilling post about how to actually make the coils and shapes. I think this video is really helpful :

First Cards of 2020

I have several friends and relatives having birthdays in January so here are the first cards I've made in the New Year. 

Supplies : 

• Cricut Explore 2
• Copyright Free Image
• Aqua Glitter Paper ( Michaels)
• Foiled Vellum Paper (Michaels)
• CraftSmart Classic Chic Paper Stack ( Michaels)
• 110 lb Cardstock ( Michaels)
• Rhinestones (Stash)
• Foam Squares

For this card, I found the birthday cake image online and uploaded in Cricut Design Space. Cut two images and layered them using foam tape to give dimension.

Card is sized 5x7. Cut vellum paper panel 5x7 ; aqua glitter paper to 4.25x6.25 ; polka dot paper ( CraftSmart stack) to 4x6 and layer as shown. Finish by mounting the layered birthday cake. 

I tend to leave the inside of my cards blank more often than not but I haven't been doodling / lettering much so I used the negative from the cake image I cut and traced it on a panel of paper which I think doodled / hand lettered: 

For the next card, I used: 

• Whisky Barrel "Hot Buy" Paper stack (Michaels)
• 110 lb Cardstock ( Michaels)

I have a little bit of a paper addiction ( OK I have a HUGE paper addiction) and when Michaels has their "Hot Buy" stacks either 70% off / Buy 1 Get 2 Free, I'm there. That's where I found this Whisky Barrel stack which is great for "man cards". 

For this card, used only the stack, selecting two coordinating sheets of paper and one panel from a sentiments sheet in the stack. Same process and dimensions for the basic card, trimmed the sentiment with a black panel and layered all as shown. 

For the interior, I drew a double banner ( thank you You Tube!) and then lettered the sentiment inside. 

For the last card:

• Silhouette Design Store Image
• Silhouette Cameo 3
• Antique Gold Glitter Paper ( Michaels)
• Cardstock 110 lb (Michaels)
• Music Themed Vellum ( Stash) 
• Cricut Brushed Gold Adhesive Foil ( Michaels or JoAnn's one of the two!)

Card is also 5x7. Layered vellum panel, then alternated gold glitter and white cardstock cutting the image on my Cameo and layering on a white panel. I like the simplicity of this one. I used the "stencil" from the first card for the interior and forgot to take pictures but did it in gold gel pen instead of black ink.