Flower Power

With Ramadan being only a week into the course, I've been having a field day with these challenges and putting the blog together. Thank you all for your patience while I fixed links and such. Here is a card I put together delighting in Clean & Simple's easy basic shape layout. This is really something you could do using any embellishment or just coordinating papers. Go have at it! :P

Cuttlebug Challenge #46

Here's a card where I incorporated the basic shapes layout to get into a challenge. All you have to do is use some type of embossing (I used my cuttlebug) and make a card celebrating education. When my three sons were little, scrapbooking hadn't even begun to take off (the first book about it was published in 1981), so this challenge took me back to their days in school! Woo-hoo, glad those days are over! :p Check out The Cuttlebug Spot and celebrate education!

Cuttlebug Challenge

Okay new crafters, I couldn't help but get into the groove with the Cuttlebug challenge. Check out The Cuttlebug Spot and see what's cooking! Here's my entry for the challenge:

$250 Shopping Spree Challenge

Wouldn't you like to win $250 at the Scrapping Cottage? Then follow the link and enter! Also check out their web site for some awesome die cuts! It's a great tool when adding to those basic shaped card layouts!

Layouts

When you're first starting to create a card, it's often difficult to determine where to put this or that. What might help is checking out past challenges from various posts like sketch saturday. Blogs like these have weekly challenges and though you don't have to enter, they often give a layout and show samples of what some of their designers have come up with to help inspire others. I decided to take up one of their challenges (without actually entering the challenge) and create the card below. I used my Cricut (C) image and dressed her up to match the colors of the card. The layout was simple, using basic shapes and instead of circles, I added flowers (Prima Marketing) to complete the design. It was a matter of gluing everything together. How simple is that?

Cricut Makes the Challenge

The thing that's great about crafters' blogs is that you can find so many things to inspire you to go beyond the basics of card making. One of the reasons I love Craftypagan Designs is that she uses different elements to bring out the beauty of her cards. I didn't have an animal stamp for her challenge so I used a Cricut(c) image instead. I scissor distressed the edges of the brown scrap and ink distressed the green scrap. Tying jute around the green paper gives it a bit of a creative edge and keeps "Woof" from howling of boredom. Adding brads help to bring out the green in the card. Notice that I used designer cardstock which made my crafting easier.

Rowena (Craftypagan Designs) encouraged me to enter my card into the Stamp Something Challenge - how awesome was that? Thanks for the encouragement!

Spooky

If you want to become good at something, you have to practice, practice, practice. What better way to do this than with challenges. I followed CraftyPagan Designs to Truly Scrumptious and found a layout with basic shapes to make something spooky "craftastic." I even added the bling for extra bounce. As you can see, with basic shapes and adding different elements, you can take your card from basic to fantastic.

Friday Sketchers Challenge #67

If you're really ready to dig in and start having fun, one way I've just found out is to engage in various challenges that many bloggers have posted. Many have sponsors that donate lovely little prizes so this could certainly be a blast. This is my first challenge and because they are using the basic shapes, it goes along with my blog for new card makers. Try the challenge and see what you can do! There are oodles of inspiring cards to peek at!

Card Happy

I cannot tell you how much pleasure can be obtained from creating a beautiful hand made greeting card. Imagine what it feels like to receive one! That's why I enjoy making cards - the creativity holds no bounds.

I had to start a blog about greeting cards (although there is no shortage of blogs on card making) and focus in on the basics. Some of the cards out there are so magnificent that a beginner might shy away from attempting to get down to the nitty gritty in this paper craft.

Craftypagan Designs inspired me with her blog and beautifully hand crafted cards. I find it useful to find an artist that inspires you to bring your creativity cells to full tilt. I started taking classes at Memories Live On and KT Hom inspired me more than my wildest dreams could imagine. I'd taken classes after taking a break from my "pack up the cart & sell my crafts" stint and sitting at just one of her classes had the creativity bug biting!

There's so much to take in sometimes so I thought this blog would help make things easy - one die-cut at a time, so to speak. So, this will be my first post as I get this blog popping - feel free to share your tips and techniques as well!

The Basic...Revealed

Now, here are the basic layouts...in color.

As you can see, using basic shapes and adding a few embellishments (ribbon, brads, flowers, etc.), you can make simple cards that take a little time to put together.

I used designer specialty paper (e.g. DCWV - Die Cuts With a View) because the design is already present and adds dimension to the card without my having to do so.

The first card, I simply added a complimentary color to the green background card. To keep it from being too bland, I added a computer generated sentiment that was printed on colored paper. The second card had the basic square and I just added flowers to bring out the background print of the paper. The third card is with a bunch of squares that you can cut from complimentary paper. I used squares that were bundled in a plastic container (different cuts but the same size, different colors). Onto those squares, I added buttons. To help the buttons stand out, I tied a few with jute or you could use embroidery floss. The fourth card has the basic shapes added using paper similar in color and I added a matching ribbon to make the bottom shape stand out. The last card was used with paper from a specialty pack. Within that pack was a sheet with designs that I used as a die-cut. It matched the paper perfectly and I used sticky squares to give it a 3-D effect.

In about a half hour, you can have five cards to give to friends and family for those special occasions. Have fun!

Starting Your First Greeting Card

Have you ever gone to a stamp party or scrapbook event and learned that you have a knack for putting things together? After you buy some of the products to get started, you go home and then learn that everything you learned that night seems to have vanished. So, now what? There are oodles of resources available on the internet and you could even take a class but what are you going to do right at that moment?

Don't panic - it's easier than you think. Like scrapbook layouts, cards have a basic form factor that can be used so that you don't have to think about "designing" at this stage . If you have basic white card stock and standard envelopes, you can get started. You could also go to your local craft store and buy cards and envelopes by the bundle.

Here are some basic layouts you could use to get you started. By adding your choice of paper, embellishments and die cuts, your card is done. How easy is that? Not sure what colors to use? Check out other card makers on blogs or scrapbook site galleries - that'll give you an idea to get you started.

Remember to keep in mind of copyright infringements and though some do not mind that you "scrap lift" (copying the design) but you should read the site carefully to see if this is okay.