A few years ago, I promised to make EVERY card I sent. And pretty much, I've stuck to that commitment. With all of the fabulous paper and stickers and tools every scrapbooker has in their cache, there's no reason to do otherwise.
Card making is a great way to use up the last bits of a paper or additions pack once all the scrapbook pages have been made. It's also a way to create something handmade, and special for the folks who receive the handmade cards. Over the past couple of years, I've been developing some card concepts and formulas that help simplify the process.
Here are the cards I will show you today.
First - just like with scrapbook pages, card templates, formulas or blueprints are super time savers. Know or learn a few good formulas and repeat them over and over again with small variations like different papers or a mirrored arrangement.
Second - it doesn't take many supplies to make a card and you can whip up a card really really fast and it still looks great so you definitely do NOT have the excuse of it taking too much time. Besides, the cost savings is clearly evident. Even an ugly store bought card can cost nearly $3.99 these days - insane!
Third - if I make a card just to use up supplies or to teach a new card design or formula, I make "flat cards." Flat cards are great because they are easier to store and you can always mount a flat card to the front of a folded card in the future. Sometimes I even use JUST the flat card and I add a journaling area to the back of the card.
Fourth - Envelopes are easy to make also - any custom size. I will do a post about DIY envelopes in the near future so look for that sometime soon.
Today, I want to give you the formula to make two super easy cards. My samples use the Seasons paper pack. How beautiful either of these cards would be for Mother's Day. Didn't get a card yet - there's still time to make one of these (if you don't need to mail it that is).
Here are the instructions for the first card.
Remember, as with all of my designs... you DON'T have to copy my papers, colors and patterns. If you don't like to use a lot of patterns together, well, make your cards with fewer patterns and more solids - that's the beauty. Use the card formula and make the card your own.
Here are the instructions for the second card.
A note about the second card. It is typically my policy to post designs that only use the current tools and products in the Creative Memories product line. With this card I have broken that rule and I've used the butterfly pocket punch. This punch was one of my favorites. However, it was a limited release product and is no longer available. You can opt for a different punch, hunt down a butterfly punch tool from another source or add a butterfly sticker to the front of the white circles. You could also create a butterfly using the Cricut System (I don't own or use that, so you're on your own in that direction).
I hope these card designs find you leisurely sipping on a mimosa or drinking a very late morning cuppa coffee or tea. I hope you can enjoy some beautiful weather where you live (picture perfect weather here where I am; sunny, breezy, cool, NOT HUMID -yay) and begging me to head outside to read and crochet while my family cleans up the yard a bit so we can enjoy our "red neck fire pit" (aka weber grill set up on a big log and filled with small pieces of firewood) and my hubby and I can have a bottle of champagne outside later this evening. Yes, that was a serious run-on sentence, but I claim poetic license today to be grammatically absurd!
Happy Scrappy, Happy Mother's Day!
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