A Clean and Simple Card for Beginners

If you are new to card-making you may wonder if its worthwhile in this digital age to expend the cost and effort to create a paper greeting card. I believe it is because a physical card can grab your attention and really make your day special, even more so then a nice text message. Even the professional world has not relinquished snail mail totally for maintaining relationships with customers and employees. Its not practical for all communication obviously but a hand made card can lift the spirits and bring a smile to the face of your most tech savy friend.

So, if you are still reading and think it’s worth the effort to craft a smile in an envelope you will need a paper cutter, cardstock, bone folder, glue, and images (either from digital content or stamps and dies). Now if you are new to this hobby please know it is not as violent as you may imagIne, the bone folder is totally mis-named, no bone folding involved ( just a little Halloween humor).

Here are the details for a clean and simple card I put together quickly using Stampin Up papers for the Craft Faire to benefit World Trust (see last week’s blog for more information). If you are just starting this hobby buying coordinating cardstock, ink and stamp bundles will save you money in the long run because the pieces go together in multiple ways similar to how 10 pieces of a capsule wardrobe make a month’s worth of outfits. For your information some of the attached pictures are linked to products for sale.

To start first cut a sheet of 81/2″x 11″ pink cardstock in half lengthwise at the 51/2″ mark to yield two cards once folded and scored with a bonefolder at 4 1/4″ . Use heavier weight cardstock for the base to make a more substantial card and crisp the fold with a bonefolder for a sharp edge.

This next step is optional, you can highlight the lighter pink flowers on the “Happiness Blooms” decorative paper by brushing them with glitter glue (this takes a while but it is a good craft while watching tv ) . I do like the extra glamour but the paper is very pretty left just as is.

Here’s a hint, there are many types of glue for paper projects but when you are beginning to layout a design the liquid glue will allow for adjustments after placement. Be careful though, using too much glue can leave the cardstock wavy inside the card showing the glue line. Here is a liquid Tombow glue from Amazon which I used to put a thin line of glue on all four edges of the card only.

The decorative elements are where coordinating paper and cardstock really makes your life easier. The lighter weight decorative paper “Happiness Blooms” was offered with the cardstock, ribbon, and ink colors of “call me clover” and “calypso coral” . These colors can be mixed and matched to create many different looks.

For this card cut a 3/4″ strip from the short side of the “call me clover” cardstock and then notch it using the banner punch on both ends to create a ribbon alternative. The banner punch is doing double duty here, the punched triangle leftovers could become part of a birthday or welcome banner card.

Then lay the “thank you” messages from the “All That You Are” cling stamp set on a hard surface face down and push a clear stamp block on top. This avoids the message getting distorted by placing it on the block. To ink the stamp I find it helpful to tap three times on the ink pad with average pressure, then you will stamp off on “whisper white” cardstock for the card’s sentiment. I used an oval cutting trace from my Creative Memory scrapbooking days, however If you don’t have an oval or round cutting tool you can use your paper cutter to make a rectangle message instead.

Here’s the final cards, you may notice one has an extra dot embellishment on the sentiment to cover a smidge of ink, I like it and may have to add some to the other two. Below the cards made today is a visual thought board for the next round of cards from Stampin Up’s current catalog. If you enjoyed this tutorial for a clean and simple card that goes together quickly please check back for the next design.