This week I’m sharing how to use your most beautiful photos and post cards – instead of design paper – to mat your cards! It’s not only lovely, but also very quick & easy. Think last-minute birthday cards, Christmas cards, etc.
Check out the video below and share your thoughts with me in the comments! ☕️
There have been years that I’d finished all of my Christmas cards by September – having started as early as July – and heaps of them at that. (You can check them out here.)
But not this year. This year I’ve only just finished my very first Christmas card last week. What can I say, I’m not crafting as much as I used to – though one of my new year’s resolutions is More Crafting, so I remain hopeful. 😇
I have to say it was fun to create again, after many moons with hardly any papercrafting at all (except for the occasional card here & there, which I posted here, on my blog).
Here are my design steps:
1. I started by shopping my stash and I found this fresh & modern looking design paper by S.E.I., called Kris Kringle. It is no longer available, however I’m hoping it will inspire you – either to shop your own stash for some great finds, or to shop for similar design papers that evoke the same atmosphere if you like these specific papers.
2. Some baby blue cardstock became a nice base for the card, echoing the occasional light blue the design papers offered and off-setting the rest of the colors nicely.
3. I wanted a special card design so I decided on this slanted tri-fold shape and folded it ‘zigzaggingly’ (I don’t know the official term but I think you’ll catch my drift 😉 ).
4. One of my label dies came in handy to add a stamped sentiment to the front of the card.
5. Tri-fold shapes are always fun because they give you six panels to mat and play with your design papers! You’ll have to keep your embellishments flat however, otherwise your card won’t fit into its envelope. Stamping is a good option of course, as would be (heat) embossing or adding some ink sprays.
In conclusion
All in all I had fun, maybe even more than I expected. It was nice to think about a specific friend and design a card with them in mind. What shape hadn’t they seen from me yet, what colors would they like and what kind of sentiment would they appreciate. Happy thoughts to be pondering.
I’ve found again and again that tailor-making a craft project for a specific person adds an extra dimension of inspiration and fun to my craft projects. Maybe this can be the way forward for me – and who knows, perhaps for you too! – for the foreseeable future, to find some much needed inspiration again!
I might even do some video tutorials again on my Youtube channel (which I always embed on the blog too), so let me know if you’d like one for this type of card – or mini album insert of course, whichever might fit your needs best!
A relatively quick and easy way to create Christmas cards is using mixed media techniques. For this week’s card I first created an inked background, then I die-cut from other pieces of inked paper. This week I’m sharing step by step how to do it.
Keep in mind that although there are quite a few steps, it all takes very little time. For instance, to create the background, you simply spray some ink and let it dry. If you use a drying tool like Ranger’s heat tool, this will take you about 10 minutes. And so on, and so forth. So enjoy!
Step by step
The technique I use for this is: I spray one piece of cardstock, then press it onto a second piece of cardstock of the same size. You now get a nice blend, get the most out of your inks (it’s used for double the surface area) and a fun bonus is that they are eachother’s mirror images.
Intermezzo: You can now either go on with the step by step below, or you can layer the smaller cards on top of the larger ones and decorate:
2. Die-cut an image or a large sentiment from one of your inked backgrounds. I used the Layered Pine Trees by Tim Holtz. Play around with the placement of the dies, to get a nice colorplay.
3. Fussy-cut around the edges of one of the holes your die left, to get a bonus decoration.
4. Glue the first die-cut to one of your larger backgrounds to get the placement you like. Then die-cut a sentiment from the same piece of inked background, place it below the decoration (or wherever you like basically 😉 ).
The way I placed the elements, on the right, offers the possibility to now fold my card in half and have a beautifully inked double card.
5. In the end however I decided to simply cut it in half, doubling the number of inked backgrounds I had (I did the same with the other large background).
6. If applicable: layer your elements. Then add glitter to your liking.
7. Glue all elements to your background. You have now created a nice piece to mat onto any cardstock you like.
Done!
If you want to see how I used the other Christmas-colored backgrounds I showed above, check out my next post! 🙂
It’s that time of the year again, time flies even if you’re not having as much fun as you hoped for… It has been a bizarre year indeed, so we have perhaps even more reason to spread some color and joy by sending out beautiful handmade Christmas cards 🎄
To help you kick off you holiday crafting, let’s start with a lovely yet easy card design. You only need 2 pieces of cardstock (each a different color) and 1 sheet of 12×12 inch design paper.
One of the cardstock pieces will be your card base: cut to 6×12″ and fold in half. I chose a bright yellow. Use the other cardstock piece to be the first layer to mat on the front, back and inside; for this I chose green.
Now cut three mats from the design paper, and mat on top of the cardstock mats – so we’re double-matting. I worked with a sheet from the red, yellow & green Christmas Treats collection by Piatek.
Decorate the front any way you please and go as dimensional as you like; me, I was contented with simply showcasing this beautiful paper. I only added to things: a die-cut Christmas wish (for which I used the B-side of my double-sided design paper); and I went around the edges with glitter glue. I always use Ranger’s Stickles for that, these are simply the best I’ve encountered on the market.
You can decorate on the inside as well of course, but keep two things in mind: don’t go bulky, for otherwise your card won’t close anymore; and leave at least some room to write your Christmas wishes 🙂
I never decorate the back of my cards, but I always mat them, and often with lovely papers that could easily have gone on the front too!
So, I hope you feel inspired to start making your Christmas cards as well! Next time I’ll show you how to easily use up an entire 6×6″ paper pad to create a bunch of them (with a video!). 🧑🏼🎄
Christmas is nearing ever more, so this week I’m sharing two great interactive wallet cards decorated in a truly Woodland Winter atmosphere. You can find the tutorial here.
You can of course use embellishments as elaborate as you like with these cards, as I did with previous iterations of this design, like the Time Machine version:
This time I used only paper decorations, some came with the collection and others I added myself, by way of decorative borders and die-cuts.
This is a pretty elaborate design, which makes it a great group gift or group card (to give as a group, with each individual adding their own wishes). It can also hold at least 5 pictures, which makes it kind of a mini album card 🙂
Have a great December month!
Have the Merriest of Christmases you all! 🎉 For that occasion I am giving you, if not a Christmas present, then at least a First: you get to see me in the video, not just my hands! 😃
Another extra is that you’re getting not one but two videos this week! For I’m also sharing a project with you. It’s a new design, and I’m calling it a Tag Wallet Card – for it’s a wallet, holding tags, that you can put into an envelope and send out as a card. And of course I’ve also written an easy to follow – and very affordable – tutorial for you, loaded with very clear step-by-step pictures. It’s already waiting for you in my webshop.
The thing is that I already uploaded the project share video a couple of months ago, in the beginning of October, so my Youtube subscribers have probably already seen it. But I couldn’t share it on my blog back then, since my mom is following this blog – Hi mom! 🙋🏻 – and this particular tag wallet was meant for her as the most elaborate Christmas card I have ever made 🙂
This project was also featured as a Guest Designer project for Crealies.
The beautiful papers I used are by Graphic 45, from the Winter Wonderland collection plus one sheet from the Time to Flourish collection. If you purchase my tutorial you’ll also get a supply list with the names of each individual design paper sheet.
So, enjoy at least one and perhaps even both videos, and especially your holidays! 🤶
On this last day of my Five Days of Christmas Card Styles, I’m sharing the shutter card. This is a simpler variation of the tri-shutter card, of which I’ve made several variations in previous blog posts, here, here, here and here.
I always find any iteration of this shutter type card fun to make, because you can use your 6×6″ papers in endless variations, cutting them to size and combining them continuingly.
For this stack, I used the following materials:
The fourth of my five Christmas card styles concerns Cards with Flaps. This is one of the easiest cards to make while still adding some sophistication and uniqueness in comparison to regular cards.
All flaps are based on ATC card measurements (3×4″ and 4×6″), so they are perfect if you have a lot of pocket journalling cards to use up!
I used the same materials as I did with the Luxurious style (#1), a couple of blog posts ago:
Today it’s time for my Christmas card style #3: Multiple Collections, Small Labels & Cutting Corners!
Materials used:
Today I’m sharing the second of my Christmas card styles: Shabby Chic Layering!
Materials used:
Btw, the title in the video states it’s #3, but it’s not of course. My bad. Just ignore it and blame the Christmas spirit (or something).
The coming week I’m sharing five days of Christmas cards with you all! 🙂 Starting today, with style #1: Luxurious.
Materials used:
Now that Christmas is only three weeks away (can you even believe how time flies?!) I thought I’d share a nice Christmas card tutorial with you all. This time it’s a card of which one of its border follows the shape of your paper pattern.
I’ll teach you how to set it up, how to back it up with cardstock, and also how to mat it on the inside. And I’ll show it all to you in under 9 minutes! – though it will probably take you a couple of hours to actually create it 🙂
And the great thing is, you don’t even have to use Christmas papers, look at how gorgeous this wintery Unicorn paper by Stamperia is! 🙂
Enjoy this free video tutorial, and feel free to send me the links to yours!
