Card making is a popular hobby which allows individuals to express their creativity in a simple paper craft medium. Making you own designer cards is easy to do once you have located some interesting focal pictures or designs known as card toppers.
To make a simple yet elegant cards, take an A4 (approx 11 inches by 8 inches) sheet of card and fold it in half. To get a smooth fold, use the base of spoon to make the crease. Now taking a piece of card in a coordinating colour, cut to 7 inches by 5 inches, and using adhesive, stick to the front of the card in a centred position. Now taking some gold mirror card or mirri board, cut a slightly smaller rectangle, which you can just cut and layer on top of your previous card, again using adhesive to secure it in place. This technique is called matting and layering, and it is a great way to and feature depth and dimension to your card making projects.
At this point you need to locate a card topper. A card topper is a ready-made design or image that you can place on your cards as the focal point. Card toppers are sold pre-printed in craft stores, or you can print your own card topper using your computer and printer. When locating card toppers, it is essential that you choose images where the copyright is not in question. It is also important in terms of cost to locate images which are royalty free, other wise your card making projects can become quite expensive. Nowadays, there are websites available to download images or designs for card toppers and these can have advantages, as once you have downloaded the design you can use it over and over again reducing the cost of your hobby. What is more, by printing the images onto different card stock, with different finishes, your can create different effects.
Once you have chosen your card topper, whether it be bought from a crafts store or downloaded and printed onto your chosen card stock, you need to trim it to your desired size and place onto your matting and laying. Now you will have created a frame and a focal point to your card.
To finish off your card, print off a greeting onto paper and trim with decorated edge scissors, and stick to the front of the card at the top in the centre. Alternatively you may choose a rubber stamp with a pre-made greeting, and stamp your greeting onto the card using an ink pad. To add an extra special touch, take about half a metre of organza ribbon and tie around the spine and front page of your card, then tie into a bow. And for even further detail, you can add more embellishments such as glitter or faux gems.
Paper crafting is one of the most versatile crafts around, and card making can be enjoyed by all members of the family. Card making is a great craft activity for parents and children, and is particularly fun to do in the run up Christmas and the Holiday Season. The use of card toppers makes card crafting quick and fun to do, and this enables younger children to become involved with the crafting activity very easily.
Allison Galpin - Card Topper Designer and Artist for printable card toppers http://www.cardtoppers4crafts.com.
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