Mom Card

I made this card for my most recent card swap - theme=Mother's Day.

I had some new button brads burning a hole in my pocket, and decided I'd use them for flower centers.



The paper was mostly "Lasting Impressions" brand.

Some tips on making the card:

1- To save money, make a white card out of cardstock. Use patterned paper for the FRONT ONLY of the card by cutting it to 5.5" x 4.25" and gluing it to the front of your card. If you are using a glue-stick, put the glue on both the card surface and patterned paper surface (this creates a stronger hold so the card won't fall apart when it dries).

2- The light-green side strip of the card is 1.75" x 4.25". Attach the flowers to the strip before gluing it down on the card (see below).



3- Use a glue-runner to attach the ribbon to the card. Since it is hard to run a perfectly straight line of glue-runner on the card where you'd like it, I've found that the following method works the best:

First, run about 2 inches of glue along the ribbon, starting from the position you see in the picture below. (Don't cut the ribbon to the correct size until it is glued onto the card).

Position the ribbon on the card, leaving the ends unglued.
Put some glue runner on the card at the edges (where the ribbon will meet the edge - see below), and then press the remaining ribbon onto the card. Trim the ribbon after it is completely fastened to the card.


4- I used the free "Candy Randy" Font from dafont.com. This card would also work for a baby girl "BABY" or for a generic card. "For You"

Hearts!

Most of these are self-explanatory. They all use a heart-punch of one type or another

Large Heart Punch:

OK- I totally can't take credit for this idea. I stole it (and slightly altered) from a friend who stole it from a magazine. The music paper is actually torn out of an old discarded piano book. (I hope that doesn't offend anyone) I just LOVE the heart behind the vellum- I never would have thought of it on my own.
I made this for a baby shower invite.


Small Heart punch:




This was made using a heart punch I borrowed from my friend before I owned one of my own.

Vellum Flowers

To make the flower on this card, I punched 3 vellum daisies, punched a small hole in the middle of all three and inserted a yellow brad. I'm sure it would be cute to try the same concept with other vellum colors and other flower shapes.

I was lucky to find this perfect flower-print paper. Vellum changed my dark pink cardstock to the perfect shade of light pink. It was like this card was just "meant to be." Oh- and glue runner is the best thing for attaching a strip of ribbon. I didn't know this and used tacky glue. (I doesn't look as good as it could)

Tags on Cards

This is just the beginning of my posts containing cards with tags on them. (I have at least 3 other ideas sitting on my backburner)

I found a similar card to the one (below) on the Papercrafts Gallery, and copied it using different paper/colors. I like the tags -- you don't need a punch -- just a stapler, ribbon, and a paper-cutter.

I have a post coming up soon that will talk about using multiple fonts on a card. Watch for it -- it will help explain why the different fonts on this card "work together" so nicely.


I have already posted this one in the past. I'm posting it because I like the tag placement.


I have posted this one before too. This idea can be adapted for all sorts of occasions.
Tag with a hole in it. I like it because the background can show through behind the words.The big tag punch I used for the above and below card was kind of expensive (I want to say it was like $13 after a really good coupon), but it has been really fun and useful. I also make gift tags out of it. I'm sure it has paid itself off by now.

Birthday Gift Cards

These Birthday cards would be a good start for someone just barely getting into card-making. They cost nearly nothing to make and the only tool you really need is the flower/bow punch for doing the bows on top. Just choose a fun paper pattern with tiny stripes or dots (I'm serious about that being the easiest paper to work with), and find the coordinating cardstock and you can't go wrong. I'm sure there are thousands of cute variations on the idea.

I love the "Candy Randy" font that I got free from Dafont.com (if you'd like me to email it to you, I can). The first, third, and fourth card use that font.

OK - so this card is a little different from the others. This one was an attempt to make a gift on a card using ribbon instead of the punch. I'm sure there are other options

LDS Cards

Here are two LDS card ideas. (Temple wedding and mission)

I used a 1 3/4 inch tag punch for this one.


I like this one because it is simple (you never want to give a guy -- especially a teenage boy-- a handmade card because it will be in the trash the next day). The beauty comes in the poem that my genius husband came up with in about 20 seconds. I sure wish I was that clever!

Birthday balloons

I made these cards a LONG time ago - hence the lousy pictures. I made some more updated cards and gave them away before I took pics of them. :( Oh well. When I make some more I'll post them...

Since I made these cards, it has become difficult to find the colored craft wire. (You want wire that is very pliable, by the way) I have found some silver wire (coated with plastic) that works pretty well in the jewelry section of craft stores. I'd love to find other colors besides silver and gold, so if anyone has any luck somewhere else, let me know.

To curl the wire, I use a small bamboo skewer stick.
The balloon and wire stay secure on the card with a large glue dot. A mini glue dot holds the ribbon down on the first two cards. Glue dots are the only thing I use for attaching wire since they are so strong and permanent.
I used the "Penguin Attack" font that was free on dafont.com (I can get it for you if you ask)

My favorite punch

The 1 1/2 inch circle punch was the first punch I ever bought. I have used the punch for a million things including school projects for the kids. It has been one of my best investments. Highly recommended!

A lot of these cards that I'm posting use the circle punch along with another punch, but my point is that it is very versatile.

This was an invitation for a pumpkin carving contest. I stole the saying/poem from somewhere online. I also have to admit that I didn't come up with the idea of using 3 circles to make a pumpkin on my own -- but the face and stem idea was original. The shading on the edges was done with one of those little cats-eye ink pads.


I wish I could claim the idea of making a baby buggy from a circle. I saw a similar one in the Paper Crafts Gallery and fell in love with it. It is the most adorable thing ever! The wire can be found in the jewelry section of a craft store (make sure it is the very pliable kind). Stick the wire to the buggy and card with Glue Dots.


This was one of my first cards I made when I gave up on stamping (not really my thing). I'm almost positive I stole the baby idea from a post online or from a card in a magazine. The ears are done with just a regular hole-punch, and the hair with a swirl punch. The baby also looks cute if you use thick brown string (like quilting thread), thin hemp, or thin marker to make spikey hair.

This one is not really one of my favorites because my paper-cutter was dull and the edges are sloppy - but I'm posting this because I liked the idea of punching a circle in another shape, and then using vellum for the words.

My little heart punch always seems to work perfect with a circle, as you can see in the next two cards. I also LOVE LOVE pin-stripes. The red/white striped paper by Lasting Impressions has coordinated with so many cards I have made.