A SUPER EASY CARD LAYOUT THAT HELPS YOU HONE YOUR SKILLS

Hi Stampers!

Do you have areas of card making you struggle with? I sure do! For example, I am not fond of using white cards bases, I avoid red and green color schemes (except for Christmas cards), and guy cards do not come easy for me. I am not saying I do not use white card bases, or that I don’t use red and green on non- Holiday cards, or that I don’t make guy cards. I just struggle with these things. 

So, how can these struggles be overcome? Practice, of course, but practice with structure. In this case the structure is a card layout. Using a card layout means the designing is done, and we just need to concentrate on filling in the blanks, so to speak. This allow more time to focus on overcoming the struggle. So let’s discover how a simple layout can help us hone our skills and overcome our card making struggles. Let’s take a look at some sample cards:

VIDEO

CARD LAYOUT # 2604

WHAT YOU NEED 

* Cardstock - A-2 cardbase: cut cardstock at 8 1/2” x 5 1/2” scored and folded at 4 1/4” or 11” x 4 1/4” scored and folded at 5 1/2”; Inside panel (optional) -white to light colored cardstock cut at 51/4” x 4”.

* Patterned Paper - Two designs; cut one at 4” x 2 1/4” and cut the second one at 4” x 3 1/4”. Score the 4” x 3 1/4” piece along the 3 1/4” side at 3”. 

* Seam - cardstock strip (4” x 1/4” or 4”x 1/8”), ribbon, twine, etc to cover seam between the two pieces of patterned paper. This is optional.

* Greeting and / or Focal Image

* Stamps, inks, adhesive, and other supplies needed to finish the card.

WHAT TO DO

* Cut, score and fold card base.

* Cut patterned paper and score

* Cut inside panel

* Stamp and prepare greeting, stamp inside panel.

* Adhere inside panel to card.

* Assemble the background panel (the two pieces of patterned paper)Adhere the shorter piece to the longer piece along the score line on the 4” x 3 1/4” piece. The completed piece should measure 4’ x  5” x 4 1/4”. Adhere this piece centered on the card front. If adding ribbon or twine, adhere it to the patterned paper piece prior to adhering to the card base.

* Add greeting, focal image, etc. 

* Add embellishments

HONING MY SKILLS

Below are cards I created using today’s card layout, and focusing on honing my card making skills to overcome my “struggles.” I think I did okay. As they say, “practice makes perfect.” Not sure who “they” are, but in this case I know “they” are correct. If I continue challenging myself in these troublesome areas, before too long they won’t seem like such a struggle.  Tackling something head on feels a lot better than avoiding it, and I like the results.

WHITE CARD BASE

I paired the layout with a my nemesis (AKA - white card base). Both patterned papers feature white as a supporting color. I was happy with the look. I thought about using a white ribbon to conceal the seam, but it was just not working for me. The peach color looks so much better! The greeting on white cardstock ties everything together. I usually mat my greetings, but skipping the mat really helped the white card base not look so stark to me. 

(Enamel Dots - Simple Stories; All other supplies - Stampin’ Up!)

RED & GREEN (NON-HOLIDAY) COLOR SCHEME

I am so happy with this card. I do struggle with red and green when the card is not for Christmas. The red poppy pattern is so bright and cheery and screams summer, so all I needed to do was select a paper with green. I found this checked pattern. To me it is sort of a neutral design and compliments the busyness of floral pattern. I was happy with the results. The card layout really helped me to balance the red and the green. I love it. 

( Enamel Dots - Simple Stories; All other supplies - Stampin’ Up!)

GUY CARDS

When it comes to creating guy cards it is a hit and miss proposition for me. I have plenty of “guy” themed patterned paper, plenty of “guy” stamps, plenty of everything, but I still struggle to come up with guy cards I truly like. With the layout it is just a matter of filling in the blanks with paper, add a greeting and a few embellishments, and suddenly you have a great card! I really like how the airplanes are going in all different directions, and how the sentiment reflects that as the letters are arranged in different directions. I was so happy with this card. 

 

(Enamel Dots - Simple Stories; All other supplies - Stampin’ Up!)

TWO FOR ONE

I liked this card so much, I made two. Here is a tip for how to make two cards a little quicker.

* TIP - 9Cut two pieces of patterned paper at 4” x 5 1/2” . Along the 5 1/2” side cut at 2 1/4”. You now have two pieces of paper that measure 4” x 2 1/4” and two that measure 4” x 3 1/4”. You can create two cards that are opposites!

VIDEO CARD

Wasn’t this card so quick and easy to create?  I really like it. 

(All supplies from Stampin’ Up!)

CARD ORIENTATIONS

PORTRAIT

This card layout looks great in portrait landscape and you can place the smaller piece of paper at the top of the card or at the bottom of the card. Both look great!

(All supplies from Stampin’ Up!)

LANDSCAPE

And, yesterday the layout looks great in landscape orientation! As with the portrait orientation the smaller piece of paper can be placed on the left side or right side of the card. 

(Ribbon on Happy Birthday card Offray; All other supplies from Stampin’ Up!)

HONING CARD MAKING SKILLS WITH LAYOUT #2604

What card making struggles do you have? Why not try using a card layout to help hone your skills? It really does help you focus on overcoming the struggle as you just have to “fill in the blanks” with papers, a sentiment, and embellishments (if you like). It is a strategy that works for me. Maybe it will work for you too. 

That is all for today. Thank you for checking in. Until next time …

Stamp Happy!

Kim