Welcome back
I apologise for being tardy with this blog post but Make Shift is now open and looking fabulous, even better than I had imagined.
As promised today’s post is cardmaking 101. While I have been making paper crafting for many years using a lot of different techniques, including stamping, I have become aware that a lot of the new Close to My Heart Consultants in New Zealand are more familiar with scrapbooking and have never done any cards or stamping. So after talking to a fellow CTMH consultant I decided to do this basic cardmaking tutorial for her and them. This is a really basic card layout that I tend to go back to when I need a card in a hurry, or I am lacking some imagination that day to make something different. I also love mixing and matching coloured paper and cardstock and of course CTMH make it so easy.
Here is the finished card we will be making:
The basic materials required for cardmaking are:
A good cutting trimmer – I have now got the new Fiskars Surecut Paper Trimmer and I have found it to be really good. The markings are very clear and the wire line is great for lining up for accurate cuts. It is also much easier using inches rather than centimetres as it is easier using 1/8’s of inches instead of 10 mms or 20 mms. Plus most of the materials we use are in inches.
Adhesive – I love using tape runners as they are so easy to use and have less mess. Sometimes my hands are very sore and the tape runners mean I can still make at least one card. I am loving the Tombow adhesives from CTMH as you can still reposition if you are quick but it gives a good ‘fix’ as well. The Memory Book Glue Dots are also great to use to place your embellishments on your card – they come in two sizes to suit the size of the embellishments. And the Liquid Glass is excellent for gluing things really quickly – it was excellent for rolling up flowers and giving a lovely finish.
A sharp pair of scissors. Sometimes you need to trim or fussy cut (by fussy cutting I mean to trim close to the edge of an image) and a good sharp pair of scissors means you end up with a nice clean cut. The Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors from CTMH are excellent and I don’t get sticky ends of tape etc on the ends which makes it so much easier to cut.
Inks – I love the CTMH ink pads as they do not go dry very quickly and give a great impression.
Stamp scrubber and spritz cleaner – I use this after every stamping. A quick spray of the spritz on the scrubber is all you need to keep your stamps clean and at the end of the day I rinse with warm water to keep the scrubber clean for the next session. Always clean your stamps after each use.
Stamps – I have said this before but I am loving the My Acrylix stamps as they are so great and easy to use. I have always preferred clear stamps as I can see where I am going and I find that I am not making so many mistakes that I have to cover up.
Anyway lets start making a card!
1) Cut a piece of 6 x 12 cardstock out of a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock.
2) Then on the long side of the cut piece cut at 8 inches
3) Score this piece at 4 inches to give you a 6 x 4 card base.
You will end up with 2 cards out of the one 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock with some card left over to stamp images on. We now have base cards and envelopes available through CTMH but this is still useful if you want a coloured base card. You can also get 3 cards out of one 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock and the instructions are on this blog: http://scraphappywithbrenda.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/3-cards-from-12×12-base.html
It is really important to remember the dimensions of your card base as it make it a lot easier to trim down other papers and cardstock and keep the matting even. I used to use a pencil and my eye but using a good trimmer like the Fiskars one makes it quicker and easier – especially when I don’t have to keep searching for my pencil.
Place the card to one side to keep it clean while you work on the decoration of the card – especially keep it away from ink pads and other dirty items. (I am just saying this out of experience – lol).
3) Trim a piece of coloured cardstock to 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 – this will give you a 1/4 inch margin on the base card.
3) Trim a piece of patterned paper to 3 inches x 5 inches – once again leaving a 1/2 inch margin for your matting. Here I have cut the patterned paper in half prior to putting on the coloured cardstock.
4) Adhere the patterned paper on the coloured cardstock. You can use a mat with lines on it to help you line up your paper and get it straight. 
5) Cut a strip of the patterned paper to 1/2 inch by 3 1/2 inches (here I have used a piece of scrap paper to get this strip – I never throw out useful pieces of paper.
6) Cut a strip of coloured cardstock 1 x 3 1/3 to mat the patterned paper on.
7) Adhere the patterned paper onto the coloured cardstock and then adhere this strip over the join in the paper. I have placed the strip lower down so I have space for my stamped sentiment on the top of the card.
8) Cut a small piece of the base cardstock to 2 inches x 1 1/2 inches. Here I have used the stamp to help measure up exactly how much I need.
9) Stamp your image onto the piece of card.
10) Cut a mat 1 3/4 x 2 1/4 for this stamped image out of the coloured cardstock. For this matting there is only 1/8 inch trim. Adhere the stamped image on the coloured mat.
11) Adhere the matted sentiment on the top half of the card.
12) Finally finish off the card with any embellishment that you think is suitable. Remember though that less is more. Once again here is the finished card.
I hope that this tutorial is useful for you and that it gives you some inspiration to make your own cards with your own twists. I look forward to seeing some of them on Facebook.
Materials I have used are:
CTMH Chantilly paper
CTMH Chantilly complements
CTMH You are My Happy Stamp set
CTMH Cranberry ink
CTMH Daisy White Cardstock
CTMH Sunset Cardstock
Fiskers Surecut Personal Trimmer
Tombow adhesive
Memory Book Glue Dots
I am going to look at doing another type of architectural card (probably a Christmas one – eek Christmas is not far away!) for my next post so watch this space… Always good to challenge myself further.
Happy Crafting
Patricia
