5 Things You Should Do BEFORE You Begin Making A Card!

Hi there crafters! Thanks so much for visiting my blog.

Todays post is slightly different from what I have been doing so far but I thought I would give it a go so let me know what you think!

Recently I was on working a few different projects and cards when one of my daughters came over for a visit. I was showing her some of things I had made and she asked me some questions which inspired me to make this post. She asked if I every felt overwhelmed when making someone a card and how I go about beginning making one when they are so many possible designs.

I've been making cards for a little over a year now and I absolutely love doing it. When I thought about what she said I realised that I had this little process before I even began making my cards to help me.

Whether you are a beginner or even a crafting expert I feel these tips will be useful. Some may seen like common sense but we all get a little overwhelmed every now and again. With crafting there are so many different ways of doing things you sometimes need to take everything one step at time. We all have that one month where it feels like everyone in the family is having a birthday, anniversary or a card giving event. Trying to make muiltple different and unique cards can be stressful.

So next time you're feeling a bit stuck, try these small tips to help you out!





1) The first thing I feel you should do before making a card is think about who its for and what the occasion is. Is it male or female? Birthday or valentines day? When you have established that you can think of your colour scheme, stamps and what you might put on the card. Have everything out that coincides with your idea so you can vision certain things together.

Here are some examples;

This is a valentines day card my husband made for me. Being valentines day he icorporated hearts and a red colour scheme.

I made this card for one of my granddaughters to her grandad. In this case I used neutral colours and a stamp with clock faces on it. 

For my young granddaughters birthday I made a card which had pink and purples with balloons on it.

Now these aren't rules you have to absolutely stick by but you need to think of the individual you are giving the card to and what would they would like. 

2) Now you have chosen your design and colour scheme I would recommend you check your scrap box. If you only need a small piece of card or you are punching out something small then why waste a whole piece of paper or card when you could be using that for your next project? I also make sure to check my scraps when beginning a new project and 9/10 I always find something I can use. You may even find something else that fits with your design that you could use!

3) Once you have established who the card is for and you have chosen your general design you need to decide what kind of card you are making them. A small one or big one? Will it open at the top or at the side? Or are you making a a bit more an unusual card like a shaker or a screen card? Youtube is amazing to do some research on different types of cards and there are so many great tutorials. Also consider where you are placing everything you want on your card.

Once you have decided on your card type I would highly recommend you write down all your measurements that you will be cutting your card to. There is nothing worse than cutting your paper completely wrong and then having to start all over again. 

4) This bring me onto my next point, when you have chosen you paper and/or card stock, make sure you have extra pieces incase anything goes wrong. There have been times when I have stamped something and it has smudged or punched something out and its ripped. It's extremely frustrating when you have chosen your design and what you will be using and then you can't even end up using you. Making sure you have a spare piece of paper will help not only keep your mind at peace but save you from mistakes.

5) My final tip is to have a few alternatives incase things go wrong. One thing I love about crafting is the freedom to experiment however sometimes this can go wrong. You may use a certain colour card stock with designer paper that you initially think will go but when it's all together it can look odd. Be sure to have white or another colour choice. Sometimes stamps don't look right with certain patterns on paper so I normally have different stamps to chose from incase I have to change my mind.

In one of my recent tutorials, click here, I initially had decided to use a certain size ribbon when I was making a gift box. Last minute I decided to go with a smaller ribbon as I felt the bigger one didn't look right. I already had in mind this may happen when I begun so I had to small ribbon out ready incase I came across this problem!

There you have it! My five quick tips you should be before you begin making a card. I can assure you doing these things before you begin will make the process so much more fun! This can also apply to making so many different things as well. I take these tips into account whenever I'm starting a new project.

Don't let yourself get down if a project doesn't come out as you expected. Think of everything as a learning curve and you will know what to do next time. I will do a post in the next few showing a card I had done that went slightly wrong. I kept it and just changed it up until I was happy with it. Just experiment, experiment and experiment.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. If you have any additional tips please comment down below so people can see. Also let me know what you think of this post.

I will have another step-by-step tutorial on sunday! 

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Have fun crafting!

Susan x