Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Guest Series: Photo Philosophy {Erin Manning}

Welcome to our special guest series, Photo Philosophy! We know how important photos are to scrapbookers, bloggers, and memory keepers of all types—and while technical know-how is important, we believe that good photography begins with what you believe about your camera and its possibilities. We've invited five incredible photographers to share their own personal photography philosophies with you this week, in hopes that you'll consider your own philosophy. More meaningful images begin with knowing what you want from your camera. Today, please welcome Erin Manning! Enjoy!

Photography is a synthesis of so many things I care about – art, technology, creative expression, and connecting with people. As a child, photography books like the Family of Man and pictures in the old family photo box mesmerized me. I didn’t have an understanding of the mechanics of a camera and wasn’t aware of basic composition, but I was drawn to the people in the photographs—their expressions, emotions, and relationships. Inspired to create my own images, as an adult I began the journey toward becoming a photographer. Along the way I’ve educated my “eye” in design, learned to “see” light in a different way, and now use my camera and equipment as tools for creating photographs that capture part of people’s lives.

image © Erin Manning

I believe that authentic photographs of people aren’t posed, cajoled, or rehearsed. Your job as a photographer is to be observant of what’s happening and technically ready to capture the shot.

image © Erin Manning

I believe that kids should be kids. Give them something to play with and watch the magical moments unfold.

  images © Erin Manning

I believe that we all like to hear a story. You can tell a visual story with your images by capturing pictures from different angles and distances. When you place these images together they create a dynamic and interesting narrative.

images © Erin Manning

I believe that relationships between people are the most important things in life. Be sure to capture them in your photographs.

............................................................................................................ 
Erin Manning is a professional photographer, teacher and television personality living in Los Angeles, California. Television viewers know Erin best as the digital photography expert and host of DIY Network’s Telly-award-winning series The Whole Picture. She has also appeared as the techno-lifestyle guru on Enable Your Home and is author of Portrait and Candid Photography, published by Wiley. She helps people understand photography and technology by translating technical mumbo-jumbo into everyday words and by facilitating learning with a clear, friendly teaching style.

Whether in front of the camera or behind it, photography has always been a part of Erin’s life and synthesizes her experience and education in art, technology, and entertainment. She specializes in lifestyle imagery for clients such as AT&T, Bank of America, Disney, various lifestyle magazines, healthcare organizations and individuals. Erin spent several years honing her craft by working as a commercial, portrait, and stock photographer, as well as working for Getty Images, and completing a degree in Studio Art/Graphic Design from Loyola Marymount University.  

Erin serves on the Board of Directors for the Digital Imaging Marketing Association and is a member of the American Photographic Artists, Women in Photography International and the Los Angeles Digital Imaging Group, whose purpose is dedicated to advancing the art and science of digital imaging.

 
Want to learn more with Erin?

Learn more about the light, composition, and how to work that camera of yours in Erin's online Digital Photography 101 class at ReneePearson.com beginning March 21. You’ll be taking better pictures in a snap!

Home Studio Lighting Kit. Erin partnered with FJ Westcott to develop a lighting kit that’s safe, easy to use, and affordable. It includes two stands, two daylight-balanced lights with two softboxes and an instructional DVD where Erin personally walks you through setting up the kit and shooting great pictures.

Would you like to learn how to make money with your digital photography? Check out Erin's new book, Make Money With Your Digital Photography. It hits the shelves this May.

Erin shares fantastic video tutorials at Vimeo and Canon.

And be sure to visit her site, Erin Manning Photography.

Daylight Savings Time

photo by Monika Wright

{Day 5} On Card Groups, Matters of Size, and Final Thoughts

Thank you so much for joining me this week. I've had fun learning about card making, I hope I've been able to take some of the mystic out of the process. Your sweet comments made all the work I put into the week worth it! Thanks also go out to my contributors for the week. I was amazed at the willingness of each card maker to offer their thoughts and share examples or sketches. And a special thank you to our give.away.day. sponsor, Lawn Fawn! It's been fun to see the comments on both our site and theirs! Welcome to our newest viewers via Lawn Fawn. 

Today's post is the rest of the things I learned that didn't fit into any of the other categories. And some cards thrown in for good measure. :)

Awhile back, Mary Kay Seckinger decided that she really enjoyed making cards so in order to facilitate that habit, she started a card group. If this week has in any way encouraged you to explore this hobby more, she shared the how's of a putting together a card group:  

Here's how ours works (I gather it's different from many, where they make X number of cards, and meet to trade them): The host chooses a theme (or the lack of one, sometimes), and prepares food. It's evolved into dinner, though when I hosted the first one I just made some fairly elaborate snack-y things. Each of us designs and kits a card for the number of people who've RSVPed. Then we show our cards, share any tips or tricks required to make our card, and begin passing our boxes or buckets around the table, making each card in turn. Typically we bring our own tools and adhesive, though there's always someone who forgets something critical (often me). As for how we got started, I just emailed all my friends that I thought might want to participate and invited them. For a while we had a mailing list set up for us, which would be very helpful, but didn't work for some people who weren't getting all the emails. So now we just share a list and forward it around. We meet once a month, typically the second Friday. Originally I'd imagined meeting at a public place like a library, rec center, even Whole Foods community room... but those places didn't work out. So we meet in our homes, and that's worked out fine.

card property of Becky Olsen
 

Next topic: size. Does it matter what size you make your cards? Not at all. Some of the gals make the standard 5.5" x 4.25" (that's an 8.5" x 11" sheet of cardstock cut in half, I only add that because I didn't catch on until I'd made a few cards. I thought it might be helpful to someone.) mainly because it's easy to put in an invitation size envelope. Others go with whatever size fits the bill. Sarah Hodgkinson is famous for her "honkin' huge" cards, some known to be 9" x 4" landscape. This is a good size because you can use bigger products Sarah says. Kimberly commented:

I do love doing 6x6 size cards most of the time. Square cards are just where I feel the most creativitely driven from.

card property of Kimberly Neddo

Valerie suggests starting small, even as small as 3" x 3" or tags. And Danielle is currently loving the pocket card (see example below) because: 

It's so easy to make your own with patterned paper, and you can fill them with so many things... tags, lollipops, gift cards, letters, photos, etc

 

card property of Danielle Flanders

I love that there is no one right size, I think I'll enjoy the experimentation aspect of this suggestion. 

Finally, I have a few last thoughts. Becky encourages you to just have fun, work with the mistakes and enjoy the process. I have to agree. I know that works well for scrapbooking, and since so many of these suggestions transfer to card making, it makes sense. Another thing I've learned is that if I find a design that is easy for me to create, I should make more than one. I fell in love with a stamp from Studio Calico and ended up making 4 of the exact same card because once I had the original one, I knew the rest would be easy.

card property of Emily Pitts

I hope you've enjoyed the week, I hope if you were as card-phobic as I used to be that maybe something you read this week has made you curious, made you want to try your hand at card making. Thanks for sticking with me! And you'll want to come back next week, I have seen the titles for the week's postings and, um, wow.

{Day 4} On Sketches, Lifting, and Etiquette

So is it working? Are you not freaking out as much? What I've learned from this week is that most of the advice is really similar to the advice I'd give a beginning scrapbooker. I know since I started doing the research for this week, I've lost a bit of the terror (NOTE: I said a BIT of the terror, it still scares me and sends me into a slight panic, but I'm getting more comfortable with the whole idea of whipping out a card, and I now have a few easy and quick go-to designs that will take a lot of the thinking process out of it for me. Not over thinking it was one of the tips given by a respondent. She must have known me.). I think the key is something Teri Anderson shared:

Practice! Make cards often. I make a card every single day. [She's not kidding, check out her blog] I think card making gets easier the more you do it. It’s like scrapbooking in that way. Think back to your early scrapbook pages. You got better the more you scrapped. It’s the same thing with card making.

She's right. The more cards I make, the more I enjoy it. My biggest issue is I want my cards to be cute, I want to be proud to send them, that was the same issue I had when I started scrapping. I wanted my pages to be well designed and tell a story. I think the more I make cards, the cuter and easier they'll become. I hope you find the same to be true. Please remember to load your cards inspired by this week to the Flickr gallery, I'd love to feature them on Saturday.

Remember how I said some days would be text heavy and others would have lots of pictures? Well today is the latter. You get lots of sketches and examples today. The number one suggestion of the respondents was to use sketches for inspiration. There are so many great sites and magazines out there. You're welcome to share your favorite ones in the comments section today. One that I was personally involved in, Cardmaps Today, the collaboration of Scrapbook and Cards Today and Page Maps goes on sale March 21. Loads of great sketches and even more examples of said sketches. Highly recommended! Click here for more information.

You'll also want to check out the upcoming PaperCrafts Go To Sketches for Card Makers issue (due out in August of 2011). They had nearly 2800 entries and had to pick a mere 10% of those to showcase in the magazine. It's going to be a great resource! I know those sketches inspired many a cardmaker, I know I made a few based off the list. 

Now for the sketches from some of this week's contributors! I asked some of the WCS collaborative to work up a card based on a sketch, if you measure easy by how fast the cards came back after the assignment, I think you'll find these sketches to be great jumping off points for your creativity. 

Allison Landy's sketch and Melissa Kaisermann's interpretation (Ally's version can be seen in Tuesday's post):

 


 

Rae Barthel's sketch and Aly Dosdall's interpretation:

Reneé Morris-Dezember's sketch along with her and Francine Clouden's interpretations:

Shelly Jaquet's sketch and Paula Gilarde's interpretation (Shelly's work can be seen on {Day 1}):

 

Valerie Mangan's sketch along with her and Monika Wright's interpretation:

Teri Anderson's sketch and my take on it will be in the video:

For even more sketches, head over to Paper Smooches!

A few more suggestions along the lines of sketches include visiting the blogs and galleries of cardmakers you admire to analyze what you like about that particular designer's style. Both Becky Olsen and Teri suggested this, Teri put it like this:

Find a few card makers you like. Check out their blogs and galleries. Take some time to really examine their work and figure out why it appeals to you. Are there elements you like? Do they follow design rules well? Are their cards witty? Do you like how they use embellishments?Try to turn what appeals to you into inspiration to make a card or two.

If you need yet more inspiration, you can always lift a layout you've already created. Shelly, Kelly Marie, and Rae all agreed. Shelly suggested you simple scale down a layout that you know has already worked. Why reinvent the wheel?

You can also participate in any of the several challenges out there. Teri said:

Try some card challenges.  They are another great way to get your feet wet. Just search for “card challenge blog” in Google and you’ll find a bunch of great challenges. One of my favorites is the Tuesday Trigger challenge on Moxie Fab World (moxiefabworld.com). Cath, who runs the blog and is Paper Crafts’ Trends Editor, offers an inspiration piece every Tuesday. You get a whole week to make something inspired by it. It’s always a great excuse to make a card and to see what other cardmakers are doing.

The most important thing when looking to other designers and sketch artists for inspiration, please credit them as the source. It's only polite to make sure the original creator gets kudos for helping you come up with something amazing. Thanks to Becky and Sarah for pointing that out!

Finally, I found the following card ideas, which came in an email from Paper Crafts, to be a very helpful as well. Thank you and birthday cards are always nice, but it's good to have a few more ideas when the mood strikes, right?

• All Occasion (humorous as well as serious, blank/no sentiment, etc.)
• Anniversary (milestone anniversaries as well as generic ones)
• Baby
• Birthday (kids, adults, milestone ages, teens, etc.)
• Congratulations (new job, promotion, making the cheer squad, getting engaged, getting an 'A', first house, new car, etc.)
• Easter
• Encouragement (you can do it, good luck, in general or for specific events, etc.)
• Father's Day (expectant dads, new dads, grandfathers, like a dad to me, brothers or friends who are dads, military dads, etc.) 
• Friendship (girlfriends, best friends, humorous as well as sentimental)
• Get Well (sick, hospitalization, broken bones, humorous as well as serious sentiments)
• Graduation (middle school, high school, college, graduate school, etc.)
• Halloween
• Hello
• Love (including Valentine's Day)
• Miss You (romantic, military, etc.)
• Mother's Day (expectant moms, new moms, grandmothers, like a mom to me, military moms, etc.)
• Season's Greetings (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year's)
• Sympathy
• Thank You (in general as well as for specific people such as teachers, soldiers, coaches, friends, host/hostess, etc.; as well as for specific occasions and events, such as for a gift, offering support, listening, etc.)
• Thanksgiving
• Thinking of You
• Wedding

 

Supply list:

• blank 5 " x6.5" card
• scrap of paper
• vellum
• foam adhesive
• sewing machine
• letter stickers
• scissors
• trimmer

 

 

Directions:

1. Fold card.
2. Trim scrap of paper to fit. Adhere.
3. Cut about a inch of vellum.
4. Place horizontally over front of card.
5. Add sentiment and trim vellum to fit.
6. Stitch with machine.
7. Hand cut embellishment from a scrap, apply using foam adhesive.

 

and the giveaway goes to . . .

Welcome back to all who came from Lawn Fawn. We are glad to came back to see if you were the lucky number and we hope that you will visit often. By way of introduction, we have a remarkable team of designers. Their bios are to the right where you can also find their individual blog links. Our team members take turns hosting our blog, providing fresh content each and every day. Each Thursday we offer something delightful for our give.away.day., and Sundays we provide quotes for you to add to your arsenal. Please stop by often. We would love to have the chance to inspire you!!

Thank you, Kelly Marie, for sponsoring our giveaway today and for showing such support. We have fallen head over heels not just with the Lawn Fawn product lineup but also with you! For those not fortunate enough to be the lucky number today, we hope you are able to find your favorite Lawn Fawn stamps to purchase! Looks like they sold like hotcakes yesterday!!

Without further delay, here is our lucky number for today:

Congratulations, Melissa! Please send us an email to writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com providing us your mailing address so that we might get you your new stamps! We hope you enjoy them!

Emily is back shortly with more card making inspiration and guidance! Stay tuned!

give.away.day. featuring LAWN FAWN STAMPS

Every now and again, a new company hits it big at CHA. This year, undoubtedly, one of those companies is Lawn Fawn. And in our pursuit to bring you all things spectacular for

we are thrilled and honored to introduce you to this hot new company!!

Just one year ago, Lawn Fawn launched with four stamp sets, but have quickly grown to thirty-six sets!! Lawn Fawn stamps are cute, whimsical, and even a bit quirky!! Their stamps feature original designs, with fonts that have been customized to perfectly coordinate with each set. And to give you the best stamp experience possible, Lawn Fawn stamps are manufactured in the USA with high quality photo-polymer.

This week Emily is helping us to embrace our inner cardmaker. And for cards, stamps are fun, easy, and repeatable!! Look at the sweet wonders that Kelly Marie, owner of Lawn Fawn stamps, designed.

Kelly Marie: Here is a card using Say Cheese, Hello Friend and Just My Type from Lawn Fawn. I paper pieced the polaroid for a fun look, and it is perfect for a sentiment on a card!

 

Kelly Marie: This card uses Say Cheese, Say Cheese, Too and My Silly Valentine (for the "you are"). It is a one layer simple card that looks really special!

 

Kelly Marie: This card uses Bannerific and shows how you can use Thickers (or other letter stickers) to add a sentiment to it!

 

Kelly Marie: This card using Bannerific and Sophie's Sentiments. It is a fun way to let a favorite patterned paper and ribbon shine. The sentiment can be changed for any occasion. (This would be a cute "It's a girl!" card, too, etc.)

Adorable, no? Kelly Marie makes it look easy and her cards are so doable, practical, and darling!! Thank you, Kelly Marie for sharing your talent and cards with us!!

But, we hear a few of you saying that you aren't cardmakers, so maybe you don't need some Lawn Fawn stamps. What???? Of course you do. Stamps aren't just for cardmakers, they also make delightful embellishments and titles on your scrapbook pages!

To convince you, we asked Lawn Fawn to send a set of their brand new stamps to Elizabeth and Donna. We asked them to create three layouts with their stamp set to see if it could be done.

And the verdict? Aye! Aye! A big round of applause!
♥ Lawn Fawn stamps + scrapbooking = heaven ♥

Donna worked with the Say Cheese! set and Say Cheese, Too. Look how terrific her pages are:

Here are some thoughts from Donna:

Kelly Marie sent me both Say Cheese and Say Cheese, Too. 

All of Lawn Fawn's stamps are cute, but I think these two sets in particular are really adorable and useful.  I think for scrapbookers these two sets would be the most versatile as they could easily be used for both cards and scrapbook pages.  Just as a reference I would consider myself a beginner stamper.  I don't have any special markers for coloring my images and I generally don't do any special techniques.  I just use the stamps and ink.  I found the Lawn Fawn stamps to be of great quality, they stamped nice clear images.  I know that a lot of scrapbookers are scared to use stamps on their pages because they are afraid of messing-up an otherwise nice page if for instance they don't get a good image.  I tend to have this same fear and so I usually treat my stamps kind of like a sticker or a die-cut.  I will stamp on another piece of paper or cardstock and then either punch or cut-out the image.  That's mostly what I did with these layouts.  Also, I took inspiration from the name of the stamp set itself as well as the sentiments included in the stamps. 

 

All-in-all I had a lot of fun using these stamps.  My favorite images from the sets are the small camera and the smiley face - I know for certain they will get a lot of use in the future!

 

Elizabeth received the Bannerific set. Just look at all her variations on the banner treatments!

In the first layout, Elizabeth stamped and trimmed the banner from some white cardstock. In her second layout, she cut out the inside of the flags and placed fabric below, stitching them together at the end. And in her third layout, for this one, she stamped patterned paper scraps and cut them out to create a big banner. She notes that it wasn't particularly time-consuming because she could stamp five at a time, and that the cutting apart went very quickly.

Today, the dear Kelly Marie of Lawn Fawn (dear, get it? deer? fawn? teehee!) is kindly offering two sets of Lawn Fawn stamps: Bannerific and Say Cheese.

All you need to do is stop by the Lawn Fawn blog (try not to get forever lost in the unbelievable cuteness!), or facebook page, or sign up to follow them on Twitter. (They are having a giveaway there, too, if you want to double your chances, you should participate there too!!) Then come back and leave us a comment telling us where you visited, and something you saw that you loved. And if you wanted to let that something inspire you to create a page or card, that would be even better!!

Comments will remain open until 8:00 pm PST. One lucky number will be chosen at random and posted tomorrow. Please remember it is your responsibility to claim you lucky number before midnight Saturday. And for those who can't wait until tomorrow to know if you are the lucky number, Lawn Fawn stamps were just released at Two Peas in a Bucket. Go forth and shop!

{Day 3} Scraps and Inspired Designing

 

 

We've talked about why we make cards, what we need to make them, and today and Friday, we're going to talk about the how of making a card. Today we'll look at how to translate outside inspiration into a design, how to use what you already know works for you, and how to let go and create a simple card. Over and over again, the word simple came up. That makes me happy because I can do simple. I don't freak out at simple. 

 

First up is scraps. Nearly everyone mentioned that they use scraps for their cards. Much less daunting to cut up a small piece of paper than to cut into a nice big old sheet of 12x12 paper. I have lots of scraps. I think I could do this. :) Don't clean up after you've completed a layout is Sarah Hodgkinson's suggestion. Make a card with all the same things you know worked on the layout you just finished. Danielle Flanders , Angie Hagist, Shelly Jaquet, Kim Hughes, and Reneé Morris-Dezember all echo that sentiment. You don't have to rework something that already works, just create again with the scraps.

Next is design. This is another area that nearly everyone agreed on. START SIMPLE and have fun! Isn't the reason you are here, a fan of write.click.scrapbook, because you gravitate toward simple scrapbooking? I know that's why I'm here. Teri Anderson notes that your card style should be the same as your scrapbooking style. Clouds Shadler has some interesting thoughts on this:

First things first, figure out what your card making style is, this is key. There are so many places that can help guide your style - Card magazines, people who have blogs and share their cards, card classes etc. And yes, there are many different styles out there (don't be overwhelmed), for example- shabby, clean and simple, vintage, etc ... For me, it's mostly clean and simple ... Start there with a style, see what style appeals to you.

card property of Clouds Shadler

Rae Barthel agrees:

 Stay true to your creative 'style' when designing your card. You may love how a shabby chic/vintage card looks, but if you are a graphic scrapper by nature, it may be a challenge to pull off shabby!

Kelly Marie Alvarez, Angie Hagist, Valerie Mangan, and Allison Landy also encourage you to stay true to your style. It's OK to go simple. If you come to the end of your card making and feel like you need something more, it's also OK to add something at that point. Add some bling, flowers, scallops, or ribbon to fill out the card a bit more. Rae uses this technique a lot. Or a layer or two can work wonders like Mary Kay Seckinger shows us in the below example.

card property of Mary Kay Seckinger

Not quite fitting into design, but still kind of applying, is this fun suggestion from Sarah Hodgkinson, which I took to heart in the video:

I am all about corny sentiments. Sometimes the sentiment is my starting point (i.e., Love You Snow Much, Happy Holly-days, Happy Turkey Day).

And finally how about inspiration? Well if you were here last week, Celeste had a number of places you could reap inspiration from for your scrapbooking pages. The exciting news? You can also translate that inspiration into cards as well! Rae Barthel's thoughts on where to get inspiration is actually one I use often. Go through card magazines and online galleries. When I'm stuck in a tailspin, I'll pull out the Stampin' Up! catalog and just soak in the cuteness. My end results never look like any of the cards, but at least it focuses me on the task at hand. Kelly Marie Alvarez of Lawn Fawn advises you look everywhere for it:

I don't really have a go-to design, but I do tend to love scenes. I like to create little scenes in my cards, even with inanimate objects! It goes with my fun and cute style. Also, I think drawing from what you see around you in your home or in nature can help that design just come!

 Sarah Hodgkinson suggests if you need help with your color choices, head over to ColourLovers.com and check out the Palette section. Kimberly Neddo likes to carry a sketch book and gather design ideas from places like Hallmark. It makes total sense!

 Supply list:

• blank card base
• scraps!
• journaling card or similar small block (if you don't have the same journaling card as I do, you can print a picture of a fish from the internet.)
• adhesive runner
• brad
• small alphabet stickers

 

 Directions:

1. Fold card base in half. 
2. Cut a rectangle to be framed by the card based (mine is about .5" smaller on each edge). Apply with adhesive.
3. Apply journaling card with adhesive.
4. Cut a small pointy triangle out of scrap paper for the birthday hat.
5. With a needle or pin, poke a hole at the top of the hat, insert brad.
6. Apply letter stickers to create your sentiment.

{Day 2} Tools & Products

I some how managed to delete my opening paragraph for yesterday's post. Luckily, my second paragraph made sense (according to trusted sources--I thought it may have been a bit abrupt, but my source said no, it was fine), but I wanted to briefly recap.

Because I'm a scrapbooker, people who don't paper craft assume that I'm a whiz at making cards as well. In reality, cards can cause me great anxiety. I think collective member Monika Wright put it best, " I'm always the one without a card to gift and I'm the scrapper in the family!" I was on twitter a while back (did you hear that Write. Click. Scrapbook. is on twitter now? We are writeclickscrap, come join us if you are so inclined...) and noticed a conversation between two of my scrappy friends about how card challenged they felt. I realized I was not alone. Being a bright girl, I decided to do something about my phobia and LEARN to make a decent card, and so, this week was born.

 

Today we're going to find out what tools and products card makers always go for. As a scrapbooker, you don't need to worry, you already have most of these things! Do I hear a collective sigh? :)

Here's what the ladies say we need and a little about why we need them:

• sentiment rub ons, stamps, and digital elements
  Danielle Flanders told me that she loves using rub on sayings or stamps for the sentiments on my cards. Usually I find that chipboard alphabets are too large for cards. If you don't have many rub-ons or stamps, print your own sentiment with your home computer. There are a ton of sites on-line with unique sayings for your cards! Reneé Morris-Dezember encourages beginning card makers to not limit yourself to just stamps...use digital products...stickers...any kind of embellishment that you just really {LOVE} ...if you really LIKE the product you are using...you will really LOVE the cards you make.
   
• punches, both shape and border
  Punches are my favorite tools lately for card making. It's so easy to add shapes to my cards and unique borders with punches. I love the detail they add, says Danielle Flanders. Kimberly Neddo agrees, Border punches are a great way to add dimension too.
  
• stamps
  Stamps can be a go-to supply for card makers, Kimberly especially loves the border stamps that easily bridge the height or width of a card.


• papers you love, but might not normally use on a layout.
  Teri Anderson: A secret confession for y’all: When it comes to card making, I totally flip for cute papers I can use on cards. Bring on those papers with big, goofy floppy eared bunnies. I am kidless and single. And I so don’t have a place for those things in my scrapbook, but I sure like to use cute papers for cards.
   
• foam adhesive
  Many of my respondants listed this product as an absolute must. Angie Hagist loves the dimension that it brings to a card.  Allison Landy said her cards, not just like her layouts, often don't feel complete unless there's some popped up element. 

card property of Angie Hagist

• embossing tools
  Another great way to add dimension to your cards according to Angie.
   
• coordinating lines
  Stick with a single product line or use a club kit or even a card kit. As in scrapbooking, anything that makes the coordinating of product easier is a good thing says Valerie Mangan.
  
  
• small scale papers (6x6 pads are great) 
  Valerie and Kim Hughes both suggest looking for small scale papers.  Valerie suggests you pick up a 6 x 6 paper pad or two. Many lines make smaller scale versions of their collections in this format. These are ideal for cardmakers.
   
• 3D products, especially chipboard 
  Here's an example from Allison Landy showing just how much dimension chipboard and 3D elements can add to a card. 

card property of Allison Landy

• pre-made card blanks and envelopes
  It might seem super obvious, but this is a suggestion from Reneé that I could totally get behind! 

• scraps (much more on that tomorrow)

Two final comments on tools and products before we get to the video:

Becky Olsen also recommends you only pull out a few supplies, so as to not overwhelm the process: 

When you know what you are working on, pull out just a few products that are inspiring to you, I have found that if I have too many options it will take substantially more time to filter through all of the choices, thus complicating your design process. After you have the base of your card designed if you think of a specific product that is the perfect add at that point that you didn't already include, get it out then.

And Mary Kay Seckinger suggests that you keep all your often-used card making tools out and handy, so it's easy to whip out a card when the mood strikes you. Very good idea!

 Here's a supply list for you:

• pre-made card blank and envelope
• 2 sheets of 6x6 patterned
• scrap of white paper
• 6.5" ribbon
• sentiment sticker
• chipboard frame
• liquid adhesive
• cutting tool
• scissors
• boarder punch
• foam adhesive
• adhesive runner

 

 

Instructions for a 5"x7" card:

1. Cut a 4.5" x 5" piece of paper, adhere to base.
2. Cut a 3.75" x 5" coordinating piece, use a border punch on one side.
3. Adhere a strip of ribbon to the smaller piece, wrap around the back.
4. Adhere to the card.
5. Apply sentiment sticker to white cardstock, w/ liquid adhesive attach a frame around the sentiment. Trim.
6. Apply foam dots to the sentiment, apply to the card.

{Day 1} The Creative Process of Cardmaking

I decided to put a plea out to a number of known card makers, some are solely card makers, some do both cards and scrapbooking. I asked them three questions. This week is the result, we're going to take the "freak out" out of card {freak out} making! My hope is that by the end of the week, you'll have a number to tools in your belt so that you'll feel comfortable whipping out that card for little Johnny's teacher, the neighbor across the street, or your mother-in-law's birthday.

I took everyone's thoughts and tried to categorize responses into general areas that would flow through the week. Some days there will be lots of examples, others will be lots of me writing. I know there will be some overlap, I may merely touch on one idea today, but expand upon it in two days. I got so much good advice, I don't think you'll mind. And not only am I going to simply recite what I've learned, every day I'll have a little video of me (yes, me) making a card in less than 5 minutes, showing these ideas can be put into practice by even the most card-inept person. It's going to be a fun week, I hope you'll come back every day, including give.away.day. on Thursday (I know what we're giving away. hee hee!).

Today we're going to learn about processes: what drive them and what a few of them are.

Driving your process, I'm happy to report, is as individual as you are. There is no right or wrong way to start creating a card. It was split down the middle as to what drives the card makers' creative process. Some said they start with the card recipient in mind. 

Kelly Marie Alvarez says:

A card will just flow if you think about what that card-recipient loves. It will also bring you so much joy to create for that specific person, that the card making will just come!

Danielle Flanders agrees:

Keep in mind the person you are giving it to. For example, if it's a child's birthday, go with a fun design and bright colors! If it's a sympathy card, go with soft, serene, calming colors. ...The recipient will appreciate that you took the time to make them a special, one-of-a-kind handmade card from your heart.

Allison Landy echoes this:

Do you need an energetic or whimsical card for a child's birthday? Or, do you need a softer, sweeter design to wish someone a happy Mother's Day? 

 The other half said they let product drive them.

Valerie Mangan suggests:

Let a product or sentiment guide the project. Sometimes I’ll see a piece of patterned paper and inspiration will hit. Sometimes the words of a sentiment stamp or sticker will strike a chord. Start with something you love and let that steer the creative process.

Rae Barthel likes to start with the paper:

Choose papers that you LOVE and are eager to work with. I always let the patterned papers/products guide my card design. 

One card maker, Becky Olsen does both. She starts with the the purpose then moves onto the product (More on that later). 

Now we're going to discuss the creative processes of three different card makers. I love how different each person approaches the making of a card. I helps me see that there's not one right way.

Sharyn Tormanen advised me to think about a card as a mini layout:

Photo = embellishment/image, the sentiment = the journaling and the embellishments are the cohesiveness whether you use them for visual triangles or just because you're addicted to embellishments.

1. If you usually start your layouts with journaling - then begin with the sentiment.

2. If you normally start your layouts with photos - then begin with an image.

3. If you are big on the visual triangle, like myself - then translate that into your card.

4. If you embellish your layouts - then embellish your cards.

Shelly Jaquet, who before my email didn't consider herself a card maker (but trust me, she is!), gave me her process for design, as well as a few examples:

I guess I do have a go-to design; although, it is crazy complicated. Ok... just kidding about that one. My go-to card idea is one simple element with a greeting. Sometimes, I put that element in the center of the card, sometimes in bottom right corner.

card property of Shelly Jaquet

Sometimes, I use just a simple punched shape as the element… sometimes, I go crazy and make a more layered embellishment. After I have my one element/embellishment, I tackle the background of the card.

  card property of Shelly Jaquet

I sometimes, create a simple background using stamps or other little things … sometimes, I keep it as plain as it can get with just cardstock. 

cards property of Shelly Jaquet

Finally, Becky Olsen shared her process with me, I think this is a great story about making things work for you:

I like to let the product "talk to me". If there are obvious design elements in the paper, or a color in an embellishment that I want to highlight, I work around those to choose the shape, style and size of the card. Often what I thought I would be working toward turns into something more interesting because I let the design process occur organically instead of deliberately. An example of this is a card that I was making to submit for a specific call; I really wanted to sew on it, so created all the other elements and then did the sewing last. I hated the sewing but loved the rest of the card and didn't want to start over so I used lines of miniature pearls along all the sewing lines to cover the stitching. I then saw the opportunity to add a pearl swirl and larger beautiful flower that I wouldn't have used otherwise. Of the few cards that I submitted, this was the one that was picked up for that particular call. It turned out much better than I could have envisioned it because I went with the flow and didn't freak out when it started to tank.

And now it's time for me to take a few of these ideas and put them into practice. I'd love to have you join me and post your cards to the Flickr gallery. Here's my supply list to make it easy on you. Gather everything, then hit play.

Supplies:

• cutting tool
• scissors
• scoring tool
• 3-in-1 butterfly punch or similar
• 2" medallion or circle punch
• liquid adhesive
• adhesive runner
• tiny attacher or stapler
• eyelet tool
• eyelet
• 8.5" x 11" sheet of white cardstock
• three sheets of cardstock or patterned paper (I used green, cream, and kraft)

  

And in case you can't see the video, here's the written instructions for you.

1. Cut sheet of white cardstock in half so it's 5.5" x 8.5".
2. Score at the halfway point (4.25") and fold in half.
3. Punch a 2" circle or medallion from kraft patterned paper.
4. Punch a green butterfly trio (save the two mini butterflies).
5. Punch a cream butterfly trio.
6. Attach the cream butterfly to medallion with liquid adhesive.
7. Attach with stapler the green butterfly over the cream butterfly. Lift up wings for dimension.
8. With eyelet tool, attach an eyelet above the butterfly.
9. Cut about 7" of twine, feed it through the eyelet hole and tie.
10. Attach tag to front of card with stapler.
11. With liquid adhesive, attach two small butterflies inside the card, then write your sentiment.

Seven Million Wonders

photo by Erin Sweeney