Card Logic

I’m very lucky to have a husband who actually enjoys the fact that I’m crafty (and I don’t mean sly). I’m sure it’s only because he has never totaled up the receipts for my rubber stamping supplies. Shhh, don’t tell him that I craftily hide the receipts in a box labeled “maxi pads” so that he stays far, far away.Well, at least he’ll never have to buy a birthday card ever again.

Speaking of birthday cards, I’ll show you one that I made over the weekend. Hubs liked the card and asked me how I came up with the card layout. I don’t really know, actually. I usually start off with an idea of what I want to make, and then I just work things out as I go along. I’ll try to illustrate the process.

The first thing I do is gather up all the supplies I want to use. I may not end up using all of them, but it helps to have everything out and ready to grab. The stamp set is picked first; then, I decide on my color palette. I chose a shade of baby blue and light yellow for this card.

Shown: Stamps – SU Birthday Whimsy and SU Polka Dot (didn’t use), Ink and Cardstock- PTI Lemon Tart and Aqua Mist, Die – Cuttlebug, Rhinestones – Jewelry Essentials
Not Shown: Ribbon – PTI Lemon Tart and Aqua Mist, Patterned Paper – PTI Everyday Blessings, Dies – Nestabilities rectangles and scalloped rectangles

After I pick my products, I do is cut a blank piece of cardstock in half and score it so that it folds nicely. The scoring is key. It really helps the cards have a finished quality. I use a Fiskar’s paper trimmer with a scoring blade. You can get this at Michael’s for a good price if you use a 40% off coupon.

Then, I ink my main image and stamp.

I like using dies to cut my images out. The one shown is the Nestabilities rectangle die. I love Nestabilities because they come in all shapes and sizes, so there is bound to be one that fits your stamped image. I use a tiny piece of tape so that the die stays in place while running it through my Cuttlebug.

What you see above is actually the second time I’m running the stamped image through the Cuttlebug. The first time cuts the image out. The second time, I use a tan embossing mat to emboss a frame around the image.

Here’s what it looks like when it’s finally finished and run through the machine twice. See the neat embossed frame? That’s what the embossing mat does.

Sometimes an image needs more pop. This is easily fixed by matting it. Here, I took two more dies of slightly larger sizes and ran them through the Bug with colored paper. Then, I just layer them on each other to make a nice, framed image.

Cards usually look better when there are multiple textures and patterns. These give the eye something to explore. Ribbon is an easy way to add some texture.

Above, I’m using my new Fiskars border punch to create a scalloped edge. This was for no logical reason at all, but merely because I wanted to play with it. Stamping isn’t always logical.

The punch makes a pretty lace border decorated with holes. My card already had a lot going on, so I decided that I wanted to hide the holes and only use the very top of the scalloped edge.

Here’s what it looks like from the front. The paper is the same color as the ink and the blue ribbon, so it coordinates, yet the pattern adds interest to the card. I used the yellow twill to hide the harsh line where the two papers meet.