Tips for Beginners #11

When you are de-cluttering your book collection remember to keep one to use as background paper on your cards or scrapbook pages, they are also wonderful for making paper flowers.  Otherwise visit second hand bookshops for interesting ones to use.

Tips for Beginners #10

Hello again!

Store your cardstock in colours.  I store my A4 cardstock in hanging files in a filing cabinet and my scrapbooking sized cardstock in the boxes that you can buy for storing lever arch files in.  My paper is filed on it's edge for easier access because if you stack them up it is always the sheet at the bottom of the pile that you will need.  If you have it organised by colour it is easy to grab the file or pile of card to select the exact shade that you need for your project.

Have a great Saturday!  Thanks for stopping by.

Tips for Beginners #9

Make your own cardstock and patterned paper swatches.  Each time you have a leftover piece from a project, punch a hole in the corner and put it on a book ring.  Remember to write the name of the card and colour on the back so that it is easy to re-order the same one again.

Sorry I have been so quiet on my blog lately.  Life has interferred with my crafting but I am hoping to return to blogging and making cards in the next week or two.  Have a wonderful weekend!!

Tips for Beginners #8

When you have fair size pieces of cardstock left over from making a card, keep them for making another card or project but to prevent a chaotic scrap pile I suggest that you "file" them in colours.  You can use hanging files, boxes or any other storage medium that suits you.  I use plastic suitcases that the children used to store their lego etc in and I have them labelled with the colour on the outside.  When I need a specific colour I grab that case and take it to my desk to select the appropriate piece.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Tips for Beginners #7

If you have a local paper or printer's shop close by.  Pop in and see if they have offcuts that they are happy to give or sell to you, this is a very cheap way of building up a stash of card or paper to use for layering your cards or for stamping on before you layer.

Hope you have a great Saturday with lots of time to be creative!

Tips for Beginners #6

I am still on the cardstock theme.  It is important when you fold your cardstock that you do so neatly and line up the front and back layers.  If you are using cardstock thicker than 200g it is a good idea to prescore the fold before folding it as you get a better finish along the spine of the card afterwards.  I use my Crafter's Companion score board and a bone folder to achieve a neat fold.  But you can also use a cutting mat, metal ruler and an embossing tool for scoring the line.  In my opinion a bone folder is an essential tool in your stamping kit.

Tips for Beginners #5

Hi there, hope you are having a great Saturday!

I am going to continue with the cardstock theme today.  For a professional elegant finish to your cards it is VERY important that you layer your cards.  You would stamp your image onto card and then stick it onto another layer of card that is slightly larger and continue until you are happy with the look.  The layers frame your image just like mount board does in a picture frame.  This layering can be called matting or mounting.

Tips for Beginners #4

We have discussed the sizes and weight of card stock so now let's talk about cutting your cardstock.  You can use a metal ruler, craft knife and cutting mat but I find that very labour intensive and to enjoy your craft it needs to be made easy.  I bought a wonderful paper trimmer/guillotine from Makro for less than you would pay for the three tools mentioned.  It is a bit bigger than A4 size and was very reasonable, they are under R200 now and it is calibrated in centimetres and inches which is a great advantage.  If you want to produce professional looking cards this should be one of your first investments in your craft.

Have a wonderful weekend, hope you get lots of time to be creative!  Thank you for popping into my blog!

Tips for Beginners #3

When stamping your image onto paper don't press too hard!

There is a temptation to press the stamp down hard onto the paper

or cardstock. This can give a smudged image - particularly with

clear stamps. 

Also try applying your ink to the stamp rather than the other way

around.  Lie your stamp upside down on the work surface and

gently tap the inkpad onto the stamp taking care not to get ink onto

the rubber that does not form part of the image.

Have a great Saturday!

Tips for Beginners #2

I thought that I would continue with the paper theme in my tips for beginners.  So let's start with the suitable weight of paper to use.  You'll agree with me that paper is vitally important to the finish of your card.  For the folded card I use heavy weight card between 200 and 300 grams and for layering (sometimes called matting) you can use thinner card or paper from about 120g up.  Remember that the quality of your cardstock is very important as better quality makes the finished card look more professional.

Tips for Beginners #1

This is the first in a series of tips for beginner stampers/cardmakers.  Every Saturday I will post a new tip and I also plan to start a weekly post on a Sunday about techniques that we use in cardmaking, this is aimed at beginners to try out or to remind "oldies" of techniques that we have forgotten. I hope you learn something from me, let me know if there is anything that you want specifically.

Tip #1
Let us start with sizes of cardstock and envelopes. 

The paper that you buy for your computer printer/photocopy machine is A4 sized, cutting your A4 in half makes A5 size and half of A5 is A6.  If a project or swap calls for an A5 card it is the measurement of the finished, folded card.

Envelopes are sized similarly. An envelope that takes an unfolded A4 page are called C4, an A5 page fits into a C5 envelope and an A6 card fits into a C6 envelope.

Have a great Saturday!