Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Before & After Card Making Tutorial

Hello card making friends!

I have a tutorial of sorts to share with you today, I'm going to show the process of making a card I saw on Pinterest putting my own spin on it, this would be considered a Copy And Share Everything post too.  
You'll see what I mean when you get to the end.
Let's get started!


This is Laurie's card that I saw on Pinterest, her blog is Soapbox Creations.  
Isn't this a gorgeous and inspiring  clean and simple card?!

I thought Laurie's design would make a really nice card to mass produce for Operation Write Home.  I went to her blog and read about how she'd made her card.  I'm inspired and I'd like to do this in a digital format so I can have any words and font I can create.  Her butterfly is so beautiful and delicate, I was worried about a butterfly like this holding up through all the mailing an Operation Write Home card would require so I made a slight change on my card. 

I went to work in my Microsoft Publisher program to make my text panel.


I also wanted to use my Double Ended Banner die made by Papertrey Ink.  Using the Publisher program I set up a "love you" sentiment so I could easily cut it out with my dies.  The half sheets of card stock you see in the photo are the card bases. 


I next cut the sheet with the text panel into four A2 sized pieces, then trimmed them to layer onto the card bases.  I also cut my sentiment sheet so it would fit through my die cutting machine.


Here they are cut apart ready to be part of  my assembly line.


I also die cut Spellbinders Hearts & Scalloped Hearts for my assembly line.


In the picture above this one you can see the Double Ended banner dies with the sentiment on them.  I thought I'd share with you how I cut them out using a digital sentiment because you can't just stamp them in the center!  I've made myself a template using a piece of clear acrylic report cover.  The die doesn't cut all the way through the report cover but it leaves enough of an impression for what I need.  

You might notice that I've lined the white sheet of paper up with the sentiment on it with the lines on the grid paper, I've also lined up the template with those grid lines.  After I think I have it straight I mark the left edge and bottom with a pencil.


The pencil lines will help me know where to place the die.


I use blue painters tape to hold my dies in place and have had good results.


I'm not using the whole banner so it was ok to cut one of the ends off.


After all the preparation it didn't take very long to make sixteen Love You cards for Operation Write Home.


Here's my version of Laurie's card.


Here's where the before and after come in.  I wondered what the card would look like if I made just one little change, I added some black paper...  


I also wondered what it would look like with an embossed texture.  The additions are:  Sizzix Hearts embossing folder, cutting and matting the text panel in black and using the entire Double Ended Banner die.


The Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder is one of my favorites so I had to see how that would look too.

I'm not sure which one I like the most, the best part is I have eighteen more cards ready for my Operation Write Home box!  One of my friends is getting married and when she saw the cards I was working on the design became her wedding invitations so I have 50 more to make now.

I'm posting my digital files here for you to use if you'd like to use them:

Click on the picture to make it full size, then right click your mouse and "save image" to your computer.

Above is the sentiment sheet, you'll save it the same way as the first one.

I'd love to know what you think so leave me a comment!

Thanks for visiting my blog today -

Link Partys:







Challenges:
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes
Hiding In My Craft Room - Anything Goes
Make It Monday - Anything Goes
Digital Tuesday Challenge - Text Me
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Tuesday's Testimonial #9 - Scripture Cards
Word Art Wednesday - Love

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a beautiful card! How generous of you to share with us.

Linda said...

Great idea...I actually like all the versions about the same...I think because you used black for the font it has a certain amount of pop already built in. Thanks for the share!

Kathy Shea Mormino, The Chicken Chick said...

Thank you for linking up at the Clever Chicks Blog Hop! I love these cards!

We hope to see you back again next week with another clever post!

Cheers,
Kathy Shea Mormino
The Chicken Chick

Jen M said...

I love this, Jan! I love the hearts background the best, but the dots are great too. if I had a better printer I would totally take advantage of your files, but I think I can recreate something similar with stamps! :)

jimlynn said...

Jan, these are WOW!!!! Great tutorial and beautiful cards! Love the way you embossed the white too.
Outstanding!
Lynn

Beth L. said...

Beautiful cards, Jan! Thanks for the tutorial and for making the files available to us.

Jules said...

Jan U R 1 really creative lady - love these cards & all the variations you made of it. Simply, classic, beautiful! TFS!

Carolina Girl (Cely) said...

Thank you Jan for the free background love definition and all the step by step instructions. A labor of love.

Laura said...

Thanks Jan for the tutorial and the fonts. Im totally going to save and hopefully come up with some awesome ideas like you did!

Sandy Allnock said...

Super post, Jan!! LOVE it!

Donna Nuce said...

Your CASE was better than the original. Love the Bible quote you used.

Ribbon Girl said...

A beautiful card in all the styles you made - but the most beautiful part is the passage from 1 Corinthians! Thanks for joining in with Papertake Weekly, Mary G x

Amber said...

I absolutely LOVE this! It is simply beautiful! Thanks for playing with us at Hiding in my Craft Room! ~Amber

Karen Letchworth said...

Jan: Your work area looks super organized compared to my messy space. This is a great project, and I just LOVE it. Thanks so much for sharing with us againt this week at Word Art Wednesday. It always blesses us to see your beautiful art.
Karen L
Word Art Wednesday

Lisa Minckler said...

Love, love, LOVE this Jan!! I am so impressed with your inspiration and where you took it. These are so perfect for OWH. Thank you so much for sharing a fabulous tutorial too. :)

Thank you so much for taking the time to link up your talent and creative ideas with us at Make It Monday!
Happy Crafting...
Lisa xx

Vicky said...

lovely creations Thanks for joining us on challenges 4 everybody, Hugs Vicky

Jennipher said...

Absolutely lovely! Thanks for sharing.

Waseem said...

Great idea...I actually like all the versions about the same...I think because you used black for the font it has a certain amount of pop already built in.thanks for sharing it.Gift Card envelopes.