- 1 - INSPIRED CARD MAKING By Jennifer Gormly Brought to you by: 50CardMakingSketches.com All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic. Any unauthorised use, commercial use, sharing, reproduction or distribution is strictly prohibited without express written permission from the author. The information contained within this guide represents the views of the author at the date it was published. The author retains the right to alter and update this guide at any time. This guide is for informational purposes only and the author does not accept any responsibilities for any liabilities resulting from the use of this information. The purchaser or reader assumes all responsibility for the use of these materials and information.
- 2 - Table Of Contents 1. Inspired Card Making Pg 3 2. The Fear Monster Pg 4 3. Aren t Plans Just Ideas?. Pg 6 4. Card Sketches.. Pg 8 5. Card Sketches An Example Pg 9 6. Creating A Card From A Sketch Pg 10 7. One Sketch Many Variations. Pg 13 8. Now It s Your Turn To Get Creating.. Pg 20
- 3 - INSPIRED CARD MAKING As card makers, we seem to be in a constant battle to come up with new and fresh ideas. We want our cards to look simply stunning and we want the recipients of our creations to be absolutely stunned by how talented we are. But unfortunately, it s not always that easy! There are literally thousands and thousands of designs out there to inspire us and yet we are often short of ideas when we actually sit down to make a card. Not good when the birthday party is an hour away, right? But why do we have so much trouble? We are creative people, right? And we love our craft. So why is it so hard to stay inspired? What is stopping us from creating new design after new design and masterpiece after masterpiece?
- 4 - THE FEAR MONSTER A big problem many of us face when trying to design our own cards is just plain fear. Our lack of confidence in ourselves and our own creative abilities stops us dead in our tracks. I know because I have absolutely been there! When I first started making cards, I was terrified just to cut up my beautiful patterned papers in case I made a mistake and ruined them (and my cards). I would have considered that a complete disaster! That might sound a little silly but it is a common problem and happens to so many of us because we do not want to fail. We doubt that we can create something spectacular so we question every little decision we make along the way. I also used to take ages (sometimes hours) to actually stick anything together. I would agonise over my designs. I d keep shuffling things around, trying different arrangements, taking things away, adding extra things in all in an attempt to make things just right. I doubted that I was capable of coming up with a wow design and as a result, I wasted a lot of time and energy stressing myself out over nothing. Usually my original designs were great, but it took me a long time to believe they were good enough to share with others. The truth is, there is no right and wrong when it comes to making cards. Each card we make is an expression of ourselves. After all, making cards is supposed to be fun! Sure, we can learn how to better co-ordinate colours, how to arrange things so they work well together, how to use different techniques and everything else involved in making a card. But in the end, every card is an individual creation and something to be proud of. But knowing that doesn t automatically make the fear and doubt go away.
- 5 - I have come a long way since my days of being afraid to cut up a piece of paper. It took me a while to find the solution to overcoming my fear, but once I did, my cards became so much better AND I am having so much more fun. The answer is really very simple. All you need is a plan! Before you start pulling out all your supplies, cutting up papers, playing around with embellishments and sticking things together, you need a plan. You ll be amazed at how much easier it is to create unique and dazzling designs when you start with a plan. A plan is simply a method thought out before you start. Every professional sports person in the world goes into their match with a plan. They know what their goal or desired result is and how they are going to try to achieve it. Of course, throughout the match unexpected things come up. But by starting with a plan, they have a strong foundation on which to build a foundation which can easily handle any adjustments and changes they need to make along the way while still moving them towards their goal. Card making isn t really all that different. It might not be on the same scale as a professional sports match, but the same principles apply. When you start out already knowing what it is you want to create, then you can see what you need to do in order to create it. Not only that, but you can be confident in all the steps you are taking as all the hard decisions have already been taken care of. All you have to worry about is having a fabulous time creating cards you already know will impress the socks off your friends and family!
- 6 - AREN T PLANS JUST IDEAS? Before we look at how to use plans to come up with an endless stream of ideas, it is important to understand how a plan differs from an idea. An idea is just a concept or vague thoughts of something we would like to make. There are no step by step instructions and certainly no suggestions on how to adapt the concept to your own projects. There are literally thousands and thousands of concepts out there in books, magazines and online. I have spent many hours pouring over magazines and surfing the internet looking at many of them, searching for something I like and could actually recreate. I m sure you have too. And I m sure you have found many absolutely beautiful and truly inspiring designs. But how many of them have you actually been able to reconstruct yourself? It s not easy. A vast majority of the concepts out there do not come with instructions. This is often because they are online inside people s personal galleries or on their blogs. They are only there so that the creators can share their creations with their friends and loved ones. Of course everyone wants to inspire others, but they aren t there to teach you step-by-step how to make them. What would give you more confidence? A vague hint of what to do or a very specific and clear direction?
- 7 - Another problem is that many of the designs and classes out there that do come with instructions are often designed to sell you something. It makes sense. Manufacturers and stores want to sell you their goods and they hope that by showing you how to use them to make your own special creations that you will want to buy them. It s a very sound business practice, BUT you don t want to have to buy every single thing that comes out and quite often even if you do, you can t find it to buy anyway. What you really need is a way to take other people s concepts and lessons and fashion them into your own projects so you always have a constant stream of designs that are easy to make and will have your loved ones thinking you are a super-creative genius! Sound hard? I m here to tell you it s dead easy
- 8 - CARD SKETCHES Card Sketches are my secret to success. As soon as I started using them, the originality and wow factor of my designs went through the roof. And they are so easy to use because they allow me to start every new card with a plan. Which means I never feel lost or confused trying to come up with a new idea. What exactly are sketches? Sketches are diagrams that show you what elements you will need to make your card and how to arrange them so that they look fantastic. They are not dependent on having specific supplies, using particular colours or using any special techniques. This means everyone can use them regardless of your level of experience, your style or your preferred techniques. Let s take a look at how sketches work
- 9 - CARD SKETCHES AN EXAMPLE Here is a sketch for a horizontal rectangular card: At a glance you can see exactly what your card is going to look like. You can also see the different elements you will need to make it and how to arrange them so they look incredible. For example, in this case, the card is made up of three main components. The first is the background which is a rectangle that is matted and then glued to the centre of your card. The second is a vertical strip that is also matted and then placed towards the left side of your card. And finally, the main focal point of your card is a circle that is centred towards the top of your vertical strip. Now that you know the three components you need for your card, you can pull out your supplies, choose what you would like to use to create your card and start having some fun. The hard decisions about designing your card have already been taken care of, leaving you free to play.
- 10 - CREATING A CARD FROM A SKETCH Now that you have your design, you know what components you need and you have chosen your supplies, it s time to put your card together. For example, this card was created based on the sketch from the previous page: Materials Used: Purple cardstock, white cardstock, Provo Craft Purple Flowers paper, Creative Imaginations Hydrangea Wash paper, four purple flowers (brand unknown) and one purple brad. Let s look at how I made it: Step 1: Making the Base First you need a plain card. You can use a ready-made card or make your own. I made mine by first cutting a piece of purple cardstock measuring 5 7/8 inches by 8 1/8 inches (15cm by 20.6cm). I then folded in half to create a card and placed it in front of me with the fold along the top edge.
- 11 - Step 2: Component 1 Your Background As mentioned before, the first component is the background a rectangle matted and then placed in the centre of the card. To create mine, I cut a piece of Provo Craft Purple Flowers paper measuring approximately 5.5 inches by a little over 3.5 inches (13.8cm by 9.1cm). I then matted it with white cardstock and centred it on my card. Step 3: Component 2 The Vertical Strip The second component is the vertical strip positioned towards the left side of the card. I cut a piece of Creative Imaginations Hydrangea Wash paper measuring 1.5 inches by 3.75 inches (4cm by 9.6cm). I then matted it with white cardstock to give it a white border along the two long edges (but not the top and bottom edges). I then glued it vertically to the card about 0.75 inches (1.8cm) from the left edge. Step 4: Component 3 The Circle The third and final component of the design is the circle toward the top left corner. To create my circle, I layered several purple blossoms on top of one another and secured them in place with a purple brad. As you can see, to create this card I followed the sketch design exactly. You could create this same design over and over again using different colours, patterns, papers and embellishments and each time you would have a completely new and fresh look without tearing your hair out wondering what to do.
- 12 - It s so simple, even a complete beginner can do it! And for those of you who are more advanced, a sketch opens up a whole world of possibilities to you. Instead of worrying about how to organise everything on your card, you can focus on all the fun techniques you want to try. For example, instead of using a flat piece of patterned paper as your background, maybe you could use a crimped or dry embossed paper. And instead of using a flower for your circle, you could use a stamped image that has been embossed and coloured, or a three-dimensional motif you have made by quilling, anything you like in fact. The possibilities really are endless.
- 13 - ONE SKETCH MANY VARIATIONS Now you have seen how a sketch works and the freedom it gives you to infuse your cards with your own style by your choice of colours and patterns and the techniques you use. But you can also personalise your design by making some small changes to the sketch itself. It s very simple to do. For example, for this card I not only completely changed my colour scheme but I also made one small change to the sketch. Instead of using a circle in the top left corner, I replaced it with a star-like flower. Materials Used: Green cardstock, brown cardstock, khaki paper, Stemma Milestones paper, Scenic Route Newport White Script paper and brown ink. You could use any shape you like to replace the circle a square, a heart, a star, an ice-cream, a pair of flip flops or any other shape you can think of. Just one small change and you end up with a brand new design. Instead of changing an element of the design, you could add something to the sketch.
- 14 - For example, in this card, I made one very subtle change. Can you spot it? Materials Used: Blue cardstock (two shades), yellow Bazzill cardstock, Daisy D s Sail Away Stripe paper, KI Blue Plaid paper and Suzy s Zoo stickers. I matted my circle with blue cardstock and instead of placing another small circle in the middle, I added two very cute Suzy s Zoo stickers to create the perfect baby boy card. And of course, instead of stickers, I could have very easily used stamps.
- 15 - But additions don t have to be that subtle they can be much more obvious and have a much bigger impact on the overall design! Materials Used: Dark green cardstock, white cardstock, Bo Bunny Christmas Stripes paper, Bo Bunny Christmas Dots paper, red cardstock and Heartwarming Christmas Messages stickers. In this card I not only matted my circle (this time with white cardstock) to help it stand out but I also added a rectangle in the bottom right corner of my card to feature my Christmas sentiment. It s a very simple change but makes a remarkable difference to my design.
- 16 - Of course, if you can add elements to your design, you can take them away as well! Materials Used: Khaki green cardstock, Kaisercraft Rough & Tough Awesome paper, Kaisercraft Rough & Tough Action paper, Wild circle cut out from Kaisercraft Rough & Tough Action paper, a brown pen and brown ink. I wanted this card to feel less formal and have a bit of a grunge feel, so I removed all the matting then inked the edges of everything with brown ink. Finally, using a brown pen I drew a dashed border around my rectangle and vertical strip. It is a small change to the original idea and yet it creates a completely different feel for my card. Of course, there are an endless number of changes that can be made to the original sketch to create totally new and original designs. Let s look at some more dramatic changes.
- 17 - For example, you could try rotating the design or even mirroring it, as I have done in this card: Materials Used: Yellow cardstock, red cardstock, Doodlebug Bright Wildflowers paper, Doodlebug Tangerine Stripe paper, a red pen and a red flower sticker from American Traditional Designs. This is really the same card as the first card I showed you only I have changed the orientation and the colours. Unless you were aware that I use sketches and you put the two cards right next to each other, you may not pick that they were the same design. And that s the beauty of sketches unless you are in the know, every card appears unique.
- 18 - If you want your design to look completely different, try changing the shape of the design! Materials Used: Black cardstock, white cardstock, Kaisercraft To Have & To Hold Everlasting paper, a heart stamp (brand unknown) and black ink. For this card, I stretched the design and turned it into a square. The different dimensions give a new perspective on the design while still keeping the fundamental elements of my original sketch.
- 19 - Once you ve tried a sketch a couple of times, why not try to really change it up like I did with this card: Materials Used: White cardstock, pink Bazzill cardstock, Bo Bunny Summer Picnic Punch Dots paper, Bo Bunny Summer Picnic Blossom paper and a flower cut-out from Sassafras Lass. Because you are familiar with the original sketch, you can see it coming through in this card. But for someone not in the know, the changes make it look like a fresh idea. As you can see, for this card I did not mat by background rectangle. In fact, I didn t just use a single rectangle for my background. Instead, I used one patterned paper to the left of my vertical strip and a different patterned paper to the right of it. This made my background more interesting and more of a focal point. I also took the emphasis off the wide vertical strip to focus the attention on my background and my embellishment by replacing it with a narrow piece of pink Bazzill cardstock which just covers the joins between the two patterned papers.
- 20 - Finally, I matted my circle with white cardstock to make it stand out from the busy background and placed a flower in the middle of it. NOW IT S YOUR TURN TO GET CREATING As you can see, when you have a sketch to guide you, that is, a plan, making eye-catching cards is easy. At the same time any given sketch is versatile; even small changes can make a big difference. Just change your patterned papers, cardstock, colours and embellishments and the possibilities are infinite and limited only by your own imagination. You can even create a different effect by changing the orientation of the sketch e.g. by turning it upside down. The great thing is, the thinking and designing have been done for you saving you time and worry and making everything very clear for you. Sketches make card making so simple and straight forward that everyone, even beginners, can do it. Now it s up to you! Take a sketch, choose your components and start making cards. And have fun! I am confident that with this sketch and a little enthusiasm you will have a creative and fun time, and will be rewarded even further by gasps of admiration for your creations. If you would like more sketches to play with and to help you create your own amazing designs, please check out my book at: