As you know I love pressing flowers from my garden and making designs since Aug of 1995, and have also loved learning how to Watercolor since Oct 2015. I also want to share my love of paper crafting. I have made cards, all different kinds of cards, for a little over twenty years. From time to time I will share what kind of cards I am making. It’s something I do when my stash of cards that I send to people runs low or when I want to make cards for someone as a gift, or when I want to develop my cards for sale in my business, Nature’s Best.
I am a serious card sender and love uplifting someone. I send Birthday Wishes, Get Well Wishes, Thinking of You cards, Baby Wishes, Holiday cards and many more throughout the year. I think it’s one of the best ways to let others know I am thinking of them, to let them know I care, and to cheer them on.
These are a few of the cards I recently made and gave to someone that also enjoys enlightening someone’s day with cards. They developed because I made 50 small 3 x 5 (or around that size) cards for a couple in our church. We asked everyone who wanted to write a note to them to please do so. They were moving away from the area for awhile. Some were made from my stamps and stamp pads. Tom helped make the cover for a binder, it had the Michigan map on it and our church name. He also helped me gather the small cards after worship & use our ATG Gun to tape the cards to colored paper which we inserted in the binder. It was one of their gifts from the church. They really appreciated it and enjoyed everyone’s well wishes. Our minister, who is also a photographer made up an awesome picture which was also very meaningful for them. Everyone had fun that Sunday signing all the cards. A couple of the ladies really loved the 3 x 5 cards, so I thought I would make the left over cards into 4 x 5¼” small greeting cards to give them a gift of cards. Here are a few of the cards I gave to one of the ladies:
All these cards were made from my collection of stamps, stamp pads, one of my Nature’s Best designs and a few embellishments.
For these cards I used Recollections 65 lb. black and brown card stock from Michael’s. I cut the paper to 5½ x 8½” and scored the long edge at 4¼” to make a 4¼ x 5½” card. I used my Boston 2612 paper cutter to cut the paper. I also sometimes use a Fiskars paper cutter.
White paper was cut to place in the inside of the cards
I signed the back of the cards with a gel pen & let them dry overnight. Gel pens are nice, but the ink takes awhile to dry
Tools I used to make these cards:
ATG Gun to tape the pieces of the card together. I love this tool
Tim Holtz scissors to cut ends of paper to line up with card and also my ribbon. These are awesome scissors. I bought them from Michaels. They are sharp, precise, and cut ribbon well
Other stuff I used to embellish cards
When I use ribbon for card making or other craft projects, I usually have small left over ribbon. I save and make small bows to adhere to my cards as embellishments. I use small permanent zots to adhere them to the paper. I just put one zot in the middle of the ribbon.
My “go to” drawers when I am making cards
These are what I call my recycled stash. I sometimes use them for my handmade cards. For example the card made with the small heart design was in the drawer labeled “Nature’s Best”. Most of the papers I have in this drawer are small designs that were printed but, for some reason or other, were not used to sell. I labeled the drawers so I have everything separated and can easily pull from. For example, other drawers that are full of stuff are; Baby Stuff, Get Well Wishes, Birthday Wishes, Anniversary Wishes, Wedding Wishes, and more. I bought these drawers at a garage sale about eight years ago and love them.
Some day, I will show you more papers in my craft room saved to make cards. I will also show you the card ribbon boards made by my daughter as a gift for me. These boards are in my craft room so that I can look at them daily and enjoy the cards that I have kept – mostly from my children. I love the ribbon boards, and I love the cards; they make me so happy when I look at them.
My basket of papers I cut and made messages for cards, papers cut from paper punches, or papers I stamped messages on.
I still have a few papers ready to use that I bought – probably on sale. I basically stopped buying pre-made papers to use on cards since I have accumulated so many papers, stamps, etc. to make my own. It’s less costly that way.
Some of my stamps
I love these drawers for my stamps. I have another photo box filled with rubber stamps not mounted on wood.
My drawer papers filed by color
I keep left over pieces of paper for stamping or putting on my cards. I love the way I arranged them by color – they are easily accessible. I can easily spot what papers I want to use on cards; for decorating the card, for stamping on, or for other craft projects.
Hope this has helped anyone who is thinking of making cards. I have found that having the right tools makes it more pleasant to create. I also like my tools and papers to be organized and easily accessible. Our Art Studio is so organized, but my craft room/gift room needs to be, shall we say, “thinned out” – or shall I say, I need to do some purging. Maybe I will get to that by summer’s end. The room really needs to be painted too. Doesn’t all that sound exciting? We are talking about redoing our kitchen so maybe my craft room has to wait until next year. We will see.
These are some of my newest 5 x 7 cards made from my original watercolors. In a near future blog I will tell you why I painted these.
Cards can be sold individually, in 3’s, or boxes of 10 cards – see our Artistic Accessories page. I absolutely love sending our Watercolor cards, they are among my favorite cards that Tom and I have made in the last 23 years. All my designs are printed “in house.” Tom does an awesome job and I am so grateful for all his work.
Happy Creating!
Vicki
