About making cards - DIY tutorial

Well, my dear friends, this time I'm talking about an unexpected project. A friend of mine asked me to design a couple of cards. And man, do I LOVE everything about cards - no need to ask me twice - I have a small collection of them, and occasionally buy them here and there, not caring that much for a theme or technique - sometimes they are cute commercial illustrations, sometimes quirky and edgy, sometimes letter printed on heavy paper, sometimes colorful and sometimes not, sometimes hand screen printed, and sometimes hand drawn, sometimes old, with notes from the past time - I can go on and on. 

There're so many great cards out there, made by highly talented illustrators, and even more options to create your own cards. So that's the point - card making can be overwhelming. I do not know how you guys are feeling finding yourself at a scrapbooking supply department store, but me personally I just want to buy EVERYTHING I see and at the second moment I'm next to breaking down in tears because I'm obviously getting an overdose of visual stimulation, and all the endless possibilities of what can be made are simply driving me crazy. And I leave. And I say to myself I would never be able to make my own cards. Too many options. That's my long story short.

But I still love cards. And that's the way I've found to make them with, yes, some essential supplies, but without feeling frantic urge to constantly go get more and more fancy papers, dozens of stamps, ink bottles, stickers, embellishments and so on. There're seasonal collections, theme collections, there's always some great stuff at discount, inspiring magazines, craft fairs and it's simply crushing you right down and pulling apart. Learn to make with less and you'll see how many possibilities you'll find within a small amount of supplies. That's challenging, but gratifying and calming. My way is to keep it simple, streamlined and use what I have on hands.

So what I have on hands, and they are pretty useful things if you're addicted to working with paper and obsessed with details, perfect execution like I think I might be. Lets' start with nice heavy paper that I buy large scale in bulks (like 100 sheets 50 x 70 cm, 220 gm/m2) and that I use everywhere - cards, album pages, sheets for drawings with my little girl, to trace the patterns and so on. That's just so much cheaper, so that I buy it like once a year and have enough for many different kind of projects. Other necessary supplies which are worth every cent are:

• Paper cutter like this one,
• Cutting mat from Boesner or any other manufacturer, size 45 x 60 cm,
• Classic patchwork rule (Omnigrid) and classic rotary cutter (Olfa) - both can be found in patchwork supply stores.

And then I take acrylic paints, paper napkins (to replace the multitude of printed papers you'd otherwise have to buy), and then I make some stencils and linocuts which replace fancy stamps, stickers and Co. Yes there're also all types of embellishments that can be put atop your cards like buttons, perforated flowers, ribbons, eyelets, 3D-stickers, I know, I know, the list ist loooong. I'm okay without them right at the moment.

So please scroll the pics down and see the how to step-by step.

P.S. Curious about hearts accompanying the final photo? Come over by the end of the week and see the DIY-tutorial about making those fun keepsakes!