Basic Cardmaking 101 Part One
Paper crafts such as scrapbooking, cardmaking and even making own photo albums is catching on in terms of popularity because they're so beautiful once done even if you have the least amount of creativity. There are a lot of embellishments that can help make a card looks beautiful and well made. Best of all, yes it is also handmade.
For me, I like cardmaking and used to do them since secondary school but stopped for a long while and occasionally scrapbooking usually for special occasions. I used to do what I call as photo montages just to add some zest to the photos especially for friends on birthdays for example as a little handmade memento for them. Last time, there were very few places that offer cardmaking supplies. Now there are quite a lot although honestly they can be pretty pricey :( so it's best to join their facebook or twitter so you will know when they will throw some discounts for their older stocks to make way for new stocks. At least can save some munneh, you know? Or you can be like me, go to you tube and learn how to make some simple embellishments using patterned papers or even ribbons.
Best to make your own cards rather than the premade cards. Even those handmade cards can be pretty expensive unless *ahem* you go to My Little Card Shop for premade cards and coming very soon customizable A2 and A5 cards where you can add own picture, messages and greeting on the cover. An idea I got when a colleague asked me to make one for her using the cards that I already have which honestly I don't initially in A5 cards which is about half an A4 size paper. So I had to stay up late at night to produce at least 4 for her to choose because I didn't have any stock in that size.
So I think when you want to run such business involving creatives like this, you gotta also find tune to your customer's taste. I mean they can have a say but not so much as in stifling your creativity.
Enough talk about that. actually I want to teach you basic steps of making a card :) so you can make one on your own rather than joining a workshop. Cool, eh? It's free workshop! But forgive the camera quality coz I was using an old phone..hrm. Once my online venture takes off, I'll buy a new one..haha.
Materials you will need is an A4 size card stock. A corner puncher. Brown stamp pad for inking the edges of the patterned papers. A double sided tape, preferably the one with a thinner width. Scissors and optional a patterned shearing scissors. Ribbons for decorating.
.jpg)
Rule of thumb of using patterned papers. You can use two pattered papers with coordinating patterns or colour and one solid colour just like the above. However, this is not a hard and fast rule. Sometimes two different patterns can complement one another.
Arrange the papers and trim accordingly. Before you stick them down, use the brown stamp pad to ink the edges for a bit of distressed look so that they don't look so flat. Once u are satisfied, use double sided tape or running tape to stick down the main paper (e.g. the red patterned paper). You can either fully cover the whole of the page or leave about half an inch all around the edges.
Tip: When using double sided tape, try to line the edge of the tape as close to the edge of the patterned papers as possible to minimize gaps. However, if you would like to insert some other patterned papers or die cuts then leave some space but not too much until there's like an obvious gap.
.jpg)
Before we use the ribbon, stick down some double sided tape like the above. If the width is quite narrow, then cut the tape to size to minimize the extra bits of the tape sticking out from the edge of the ribbons.
Leave a bit of gap like the above picture.
.jpg)
To save ribbons if you don't have a huge stash lying around, cut the ribbon according to the length of the patterned paper instead of tying it all around the paper. The reason why you leave a gap is that you will insert a second piece of a shorter length of the ribbon through it before tying a double knot and cut the edges with a v shape.
If you have trouble inserting the second piece and risking pulling the main ribbon, fold the ribbon a bit at the edge and insert again slowly.
Once you get the knot down, insert a small piece of double sided tape beneath the knot to secure it.
Then I changed a bit from the original planned layout. The border edge trim, I used it to line below the ribbon instead of below the edge of the patterned paper.
Voila! Easy much? You can later add on further embellishments such as paper flowers, patterned die cuts, stamps etc etc.
I will show you that in part two.
Meanwhile here's another which I have done earlier.
.jpg)
Tip: Try not to waste the patterned papers as far as possible. Actually if you go to the right shops, you can get a basic patterned paper, which in this case I used a 12 X 12 scrapbook paper and cut it to size, it will be around SGD 1.30 to 1.70 depending on the pattern and if there are further embellishments on the paper itself like glitter, it will cost a bit more. So before buying, you can ask the shop assistants to check out the price first if you are unsure because sometimes it's not possible for them to put a price tag on all their patterned papers.
Another reason for not wasting it is because you can actually keep the scraps and use it for a later project. Example for the above, if you can see that is, the pink polka dot is from an earlier project.
You can go to youtube and there are numerous projects on scrapbooking and cardmaking. Once you get the basic layout, you can play around and get more interesting layouts.
Happy cardmaking!
follow me at http://twitter.com/rahayupopz
For me, I like cardmaking and used to do them since secondary school but stopped for a long while and occasionally scrapbooking usually for special occasions. I used to do what I call as photo montages just to add some zest to the photos especially for friends on birthdays for example as a little handmade memento for them. Last time, there were very few places that offer cardmaking supplies. Now there are quite a lot although honestly they can be pretty pricey :( so it's best to join their facebook or twitter so you will know when they will throw some discounts for their older stocks to make way for new stocks. At least can save some munneh, you know? Or you can be like me, go to you tube and learn how to make some simple embellishments using patterned papers or even ribbons.
Best to make your own cards rather than the premade cards. Even those handmade cards can be pretty expensive unless *ahem* you go to My Little Card Shop for premade cards and coming very soon customizable A2 and A5 cards where you can add own picture, messages and greeting on the cover. An idea I got when a colleague asked me to make one for her using the cards that I already have which honestly I don't initially in A5 cards which is about half an A4 size paper. So I had to stay up late at night to produce at least 4 for her to choose because I didn't have any stock in that size.
So I think when you want to run such business involving creatives like this, you gotta also find tune to your customer's taste. I mean they can have a say but not so much as in stifling your creativity.
Enough talk about that. actually I want to teach you basic steps of making a card :) so you can make one on your own rather than joining a workshop. Cool, eh? It's free workshop! But forgive the camera quality coz I was using an old phone..hrm. Once my online venture takes off, I'll buy a new one..haha.
Materials you will need is an A4 size card stock. A corner puncher. Brown stamp pad for inking the edges of the patterned papers. A double sided tape, preferably the one with a thinner width. Scissors and optional a patterned shearing scissors. Ribbons for decorating.
.jpg)
Rule of thumb of using patterned papers. You can use two pattered papers with coordinating patterns or colour and one solid colour just like the above. However, this is not a hard and fast rule. Sometimes two different patterns can complement one another.
Arrange the papers and trim accordingly. Before you stick them down, use the brown stamp pad to ink the edges for a bit of distressed look so that they don't look so flat. Once u are satisfied, use double sided tape or running tape to stick down the main paper (e.g. the red patterned paper). You can either fully cover the whole of the page or leave about half an inch all around the edges.
Tip: When using double sided tape, try to line the edge of the tape as close to the edge of the patterned papers as possible to minimize gaps. However, if you would like to insert some other patterned papers or die cuts then leave some space but not too much until there's like an obvious gap.
.jpg)
Before we use the ribbon, stick down some double sided tape like the above. If the width is quite narrow, then cut the tape to size to minimize the extra bits of the tape sticking out from the edge of the ribbons.
Leave a bit of gap like the above picture.
.jpg)
To save ribbons if you don't have a huge stash lying around, cut the ribbon according to the length of the patterned paper instead of tying it all around the paper. The reason why you leave a gap is that you will insert a second piece of a shorter length of the ribbon through it before tying a double knot and cut the edges with a v shape.
If you have trouble inserting the second piece and risking pulling the main ribbon, fold the ribbon a bit at the edge and insert again slowly.
Once you get the knot down, insert a small piece of double sided tape beneath the knot to secure it.
Then I changed a bit from the original planned layout. The border edge trim, I used it to line below the ribbon instead of below the edge of the patterned paper.
Voila! Easy much? You can later add on further embellishments such as paper flowers, patterned die cuts, stamps etc etc.
I will show you that in part two.
Meanwhile here's another which I have done earlier.
.jpg)
Tip: Try not to waste the patterned papers as far as possible. Actually if you go to the right shops, you can get a basic patterned paper, which in this case I used a 12 X 12 scrapbook paper and cut it to size, it will be around SGD 1.30 to 1.70 depending on the pattern and if there are further embellishments on the paper itself like glitter, it will cost a bit more. So before buying, you can ask the shop assistants to check out the price first if you are unsure because sometimes it's not possible for them to put a price tag on all their patterned papers.
Another reason for not wasting it is because you can actually keep the scraps and use it for a later project. Example for the above, if you can see that is, the pink polka dot is from an earlier project.
You can go to youtube and there are numerous projects on scrapbooking and cardmaking. Once you get the basic layout, you can play around and get more interesting layouts.
Happy cardmaking!
follow me at http://twitter.com/rahayupopz
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