Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day

I am posting this again now that Blogger is working for me. You can now click on the photos for a closer look.

Today's post is in honor of one of my friends who always seems to go overboard with her Christmas cards. She makes over 100 each year and it ends up being an annual December headache. I keep telling her that my cards dif
fer a lot depending on how many I need to send. A card made for a special individual differs greatly from ones that need to be mass produced.

With that in mind, I am posting three cards today that share a common theme (Impression Obsession heart stamped with Versafine Crimson Red onto white cardstock.) However, they differ a lot in terms of how much time it took to make each card.



The first card is the simplest and would be perfect to send to a lot of people. It is a monochromatic card with only two images and an ink pad. There are no extra layers or embellishments. Embellishments are an important thing to consider when mass producing cards. Not only do they take time to add to your card, but they can considerably add to the cost of your cards. Speaking of cost, I chose a standard size card because it won't cost any extra to mail. 100 cards cost enough to mail without having to pay extra for a square card.

The ornate heart by Leigh Hannan is a great choice for this card because it is detailed enough to add interest without having to do anything extra such as chalking, coloring, etc. When making quick cards, I often pick detailed stamps or collage images that don't require any extra work.

The second card would be great to send to 20 or less people. It is one of the cards I used in my 10 in 10 Valentine's Day class. It has an extra layer of cardstock as well as a 3-D banner on top of the heart. The banner really didn't take that long to make. I stamped my saying onto a white cardstock strip and clipped the edges to look like a bow. I then added a red strip and once again clipped the edges. I tried to take a picture of the card so that you could see the card was 3-D. It was hard to capture the shadows of the banner, so I took a close up shot of the banner edges.

The final card is one that I would make for one or MAYBE two people. It is in honor of my students who said, "you colored in the heart?!" Yes, I really did. It didn't take as long as I thought it would. I used my Copic markers which tend to spread out as they color. I was able to dot a little color here and there to fill in the hearts and leaves without having to outline and fill in each object. I also touched each of the dots in the image with a Stardust pen. It was a nice finishing touch to make the card sparkly. Again, I added a close up to show the stamp details and glitter.

My advice with a card that takes a long time to make, whether through coloring, cutting or embellishing, is to give it to someone who will truly appreciate it. That person is usually another stamper or your mom.

1 comment:

GiftsByHeidi said...

Can't believe you colored in all those hearts! All 3 of those cards are gorgeous!