An introduction to card making

Well I've been card making for several months now and it occurred to me that when I first started, I used a multitude of websites, blogs, books and magazines to learn about the craft. I had to learn about one aspect of card making from one source, another aspect from a different source and so on. It would have been handy if I could have gotten all the information I needed from one place. So I've decided that over the next few weeks I will attempt to blog about different aspects of card making, I kind of go-to guide. I'm not for one minute saying that I'm an expert because I'm not, but I hope that sharing what I have learnt about card making over the last 8 months will help someone else who is interested in taking it up. So here goes...

Essential tools

• Scissors
• Paper trimmer
• Ruler
• Craft Knife
• Pens, markers or paints

Not essential but very handy

• Hot glue gun
• Bone folder
• Paper punches
• Diecutter 

Card blanks and envelopes
  
There is a huge range of pre-cut card blanks and envelopes that you can buy from craft shops and larger department stores, that come in just about every size shape and colour you can think of. Alternatively, if you want to make your own card blanks, you can buy packs of envelopes, unless your card is an unusual shape then you may have to make your own envelope too.

Tape and Glue

When it comes to finding the right kind of glue or tape, you are spoiled for choice. Personally I find that double sided tape is essential for sticking down card, paper and sentiments. Double sided foam is extremely useful for giving a 3D effect to sentiments and card toppers. Glue pens or sticky dots are great for sticking small embellishments, while silicon glue or my personal favourite, a hot glue gun, are used to secure bulkier embellishments. A glue stick is also useful to stick lightweight objects and paper or card.

Paper

Craft shops, stationery shops and department stores offer a massive range of plain and patterned paper and card. Below is my list of different types of paper and their uses.

• Patterned paper- Comes in all colours and patterns, used to create a background on your card blank.
• Textured paper- Either handmade or embossed with a pattern. Adds texture and dimension to cards.
• Glittered paper- Popular on female and childrens cards.
• Holographic/mirror card- Popular on childrens cards. (Bare in mind that if you need to photograph your cards, holographic card shines and can make it difficult to take a clear photo)
• Accetate- Not really a paper but is transparent and used to create windows or is stamped on to give a "floating" effect.

 Embellishments

An embellishment is an item that you attach to your card and there is a vast amount to choose from. For example:

• Card toppers
• Paper/card flowers
• Ribbon
• Stick on gems
• Chipboard shapes or characters
• Sequins

Stamping and decoupage

Stamping and decoupage are both very popular techniques for decorating cards. Stamping requires ink, some stamps and a medium such as markers, pencils or watercolours to colour them in (I use Promarkers). Decoupage is the technique of layering numbered pictures on top of each other with foam pads or hot glue to give a 3D effect. Decoupage sheets are used for this technique and can be found at your local craft shop.

Well I think thats the basics covered! Hopefully it makes sense and I haven't missed out something important. Feel free to leave a comment, letting me know what you think! Also check back in a few days for the next installment =)

Thanks for dropping by!
Hayley x

Life's a picnic!

I've made another summery card today, it must be the sunny weather we have had the last few days, it's getting to my head! Although there has been a lot of thunder too. On monday I burnt my neck and shoulders while sitting in the garden, then on the night we had thunder and torrential rain. There was something ironic about watching the rain pelt down, while applying aftersun to my sunburn! So here's my card:

 Yes I got another Molly Blooms stamp! (Two more actually but youll see the other one later.) This one is Molly with Catapillar and I coloured her in with Promarkers. Everything else on the card is from my stash.

Bye for now =)
Hayley x

Playing with Molly Bloom stamps

Yesterday I found this adorable Molly Bloom stamp in my local craft shop and I couldn't wait to ink it up and start crafting! I loved it so much I made two cards straightaway!

So I made this one first in sweet pastel colours, I coloured and shaded with promarkers (sorry I forgot to list exactly which colours I used). Then I decided to make another one in brighter colours.

Its such a sweet stamp, I'm half way through colouring another one in, think I'll try blonde hair this time =D
Hugs,
Hayley

Polka Doodles challenge- Things with wings

Hi hope everyone is having a good weekend! I'm having a very lazy one up to now, I've got tonsilitus so I have to stay at home and take lots of tablets *sigh*. I'm feeling much more cheerful now though because staying at home has given me loads of spare time to be crafty and I found out this morning that I am one of the lucky blog candy winners from the Polka Doodles blog hop. Yay!

So while I'm still on the subject of Polka Doodles, here is my entry for this weeks challenge- Things with wings

The stamp is a freebie off this months issue of Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine, which I coloured with my promarkers, I found the papers at my local market, flowers, ribbon and sentiment are all from my stash. I added waterfall stickles to the fur trim on the fairy's dress and hat to make it sparkle, don't know if you can it on the photo (I can but I know its there =D)

Enjoy whats left of your weekend!
Hugs,
Hayley

Using promarkers

When stamping in cardmaking there are a few options for colouring in your image. The first stamps I used were quite small and I used ordinary colouring pencils to colour them in. This worked quite well but I was curious about Promarkers and Copics and when I got some slightly larger stamps the colouring pencils didn't look very professional. I bought a few Promarkers from my local craft stop and started experimenting, I bought singles, not a packet of markers so I didn't have any instructions to follow. I decided to make a quick tutorial for anyone who is interested in using Promarkers but wasn't sure where to start. This is my first tutorial so please let me know what you think and tell me if its hard to follow or doesn't make sense!

1. Equipment

You will need a stamp, an ink pad, some card to stamp onto and a few promarkers. I bought 10 markers to start with in colours that I thought I would need the most. Theres a huge range of colours to choose from.

The type of card you choose to stamp onto is really important, anything shiny or glossy and the ink will rub off. At the same time some card/paper is too absorbent- I tried to use promarkers on a sheet of handmade paper from a craft shop and the ink spread outside of the lines of the stamp and went really blotchy. Normal paper and card without a glossy finish work fine but I like using scraps of linen card- it stamps and colours really easily and looks professional.



The stamp I'm using was a freebie from Quick Cards magazine

2. Stamping

Peel your stamp off the protective backing that it comes with and attach to a clear acrylic block - Note- This is what the instructions on packets of stamps tell you to do, I didn't have any acrylic block so for small stamps, I place them on the lid from my ink pad, they usually stick to it naturally and this works just as well as a clear block. For larger stamps you can use a clear CD or DVD cover.

Ink up your stamp and press firmly onto your card or paper then lift it off carefully so you don't smudge the ink.

3. Colouring

Finally, the fun bit! :) Promarkers have 2 ends, the fat end for colouring larger areas and the pointy end for smaller areas and detailed bits. Colour your stamp in small strokes, always going in the same direction or your stamp ends up with streaks like a bad fake tan! Colour in the sections that use lighter colours first- if you go over the lines into another section no one will notice if you put a darker colour over the top. If you do this the other way round its very noticible... Trust me on that one lol.

Lightest colours first, that way its much easier to fix mistakes

And there you have it! All done =) If you go over the lines of the stamp- very easily done until you have had some practise- like I have on the bottom present (on purpose to demonstrate... *ahem*) you can cut out the stamp and no one will ever know.

I hope this has been helpful and actually made sense. I haven't decided what to do with my newly coloured in koala yet but he will probably feature on a card very soon!

Bye for now
Hayley x

Just gone fishing...

Men are famously difficult to make cards for, so I was a bit stumped when it came to making my Dad's Fathers Day card (I know I'm a little early lol). I was in my local crafty shop when I found the perfect stamp by Daisy and Dandelion, my Dad likes fishing although he doesn't do it often. So without further ado here is what I came up with:

Papers are from stash, stamp is coloured with promarkers, sorry forgot to note which markers I used. I would like to enter this card for the Charisma Cards challenge which this week is Boy oh boy (cards for boys/men)
Hope everyone has a great bank holiday weekend!
Hayley x