Want To Share Hand Made Joy This Year? Here's How…
Have you ever heard the expression, “Sharing is Caring?” Sharing is great, unless it is the flu, right? Have you ever given someone the gift of your hand made cards? I'm guessing that if you have, you have had an amazing response to it.
What I have found is that when you give the gift of your cards, you can easily split the recipients into two groups:
- The Sharers
- The Hoarders
Right? Here are some examples…
My sweet friend that I always give cards to each year, squeals with delight upon opening them. She starts going through the stack on who is going to get which card, I can always tell her favorite, because it goes to her mom. (And then her mom calls me on her birthday to thank me for the card!!!)
And then there is Matt's grandmother – she falls into the hoarder category – and it is equally flattering. She cannot stomach the idea of giving them away. She displays them in different areas of her house. Guests that enter ask her about them, and she says that her fabulous Granddaughter-in-law makes cards for her all the time. She views them as art and proudly shows them to everyone.
What is fun about doing this is sometimes you really never know what they will do with them, so have fun with it. Try to guess and see who you can peg correctly.
Today's project is a set of cards that are crazy easy to make, and fun to give.
I started with choosing my stamp sets:
- Sweet Essentials
- Sweet Essentials Clear-Mount Stamp Set
- Flowering Flourishes
- Flowering Flourishes Clear-Mount Stamp Set
That was pretty easy, I knew I wanted a flourish, and I knew I wanted a set of versatile sentiments.
Then it was time to pick out the colors. I wanted them to be all different, but still look like a set. (You know, like a pristine new box of crayons.) So I went with the In Color from Stampin' Up! that were introduced last year. I don't just like those colors, I love those colors. For exactly the reason I set before, they work so well together as a set.
- Midnight Muse Classic Stampin' Pad
- Summer Starfruit Classic Stampin' Pad
- Gumball Green Classic Stampin' Pad
- Primrose Petals Classic Stampin' Pad
- Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad
I stamped the same exact flourish in the same exact place on each card, just in the different inks. And then it was time for the sentiments.
These are all the sentiments in the Sweet Essentials Stamp Set:
And I love that font too! It's girly without like the hearts over the ‘i's. But you have a lot to work with. This is a stamp set that I feel really comfortable recommending to any level stamper. Whether you are brand new at this or a long time veteran, there is no such thing as too many sentiments.
So how did I decide how many cards to do in a set? It didn't finish how it started. I originally had planned to put four cards in a set. That was the plan until I picked my colors. And then I tried to pick only four, but couldn't. Seriously, I tried. But math was on my side on that one. Envelopes from Stampin' Up! come in a set of 40. At first I thought I would have 10 sets. Instead, I have eight and the world will continue to turn and I can sleep at night knowing that I didn't send out
“incomplete sets”. (Some of you are nodding, you know EXACTLY what I mean!)
Then it came down to accessorizing. I had options, and tried options. The first option was the Stitched Satin ribbon in all the In Colors. I tied bows with it, using the 10 Second Bow Maker, and they didn't make the cut. They were too “heavy” for the card.
Then I tried the In Color Dahlias, and they were just meh – they added nothing. And it looked like I stuck them on there just so I could say I accessorized.
The solution is shown, simple rhinestone jewels. I used different sizes. The only thing that bothered me was when I first made these cards, I stamped the flourishes. Then I added the rhinestones. And with there being an even number, the card felt a little unbalanced. I tried to magically just make another spot for one on a leaf, and it looked like an accident, so I just went with the four. And was just going to be bothered by it.
Then I added the sentiment, and I really felt like it added the balance I was look for. The card didn't feel like it was leaning over the right any more, the sentiment anchored it.
I love the clean and simple look of the cards, and I love how they also came together, from choosing the stamps, to selecting the colors, and how the accessorizing came to be. Being a stamper that loves layers on my cards almost as much as I love Dr. Pepper – I can also appreciate simple, single layer cards.
Card making is a journey, and a fun one. Don't worry about it when what have it planned in your head doesn't seem to come together in real life – just go with it. You might just like the end result better than your plan!
Have fun with creating gifts like this for your friends and family! Have fun watching them open them and secretly placing your bet between them being a sharer and a hoarder – it's a really fun game to play. It is so much fun to create for specific people on your list. As you stamp all the cards, use that time to think about that person, funny stories, great memories – even some of those memories you might want to forget….
Sharing your hand made cards and creations is an amazing way to share joy this Christmas and holiday season!
