Hey friends, its Katie here with a couple of card gift ideas. I am primarily a card maker these days and being one, I love to gift cards to friends and family. I truly feel that for those of our friends and family that don't necessarily make cards and yes even those that we know that do, having cards in our possession gets us to send those cards out.
The purpose of these 2 sets of cards that I created was to a) gift them, b) make them easy to mail, and c) to create them fast and furious (lol).
I think its important to note that many of our friends don't realize that cards can have their own issues when it comes to mailing. Bulky, overweight, and/or square cards will always require extra postage, so make sure to let your recipient know that it may require extra postage or that they might not even be able to mail them at all depending on the dimensions.
So, here we go... The first set here are 3x3 cards with no envelopes. The purpose of these cards are small gift cards to accompany a purchased gift. I based my theme on birthdays for children so I used some very bright background paper from Basic Grey's Lime Ricky 6x6 pad and then created my focal image using a new release for December called Candle Trio. I then encased all the cards in a clear plastic holder. Clear Dollar Stamps has a large variety of sizes of clear containers and card holders (keep on scrolling down). These containers ship flat and are so easy to store. They are perfect to keep on hand for cards, candy, or any gift that will fit inside.
These cards are 3"x3" --- NOT MAILABLE. Start with a piece of cardstock measure 3"x6" and score in half. I measured the Basic Grey paper at 2 7/8" square.
I then stamped my Candle Trio image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink 6 times on a piece of Neenah Solar White Cardstock.
Then its time to color. As you can see, I stamped a "test" sample and this is what I used to put colors together to see if I liked the way they worked together. No rhyme or reason here... just my plain old eyes and my personal judgment.
Here are the colors I used and I listed the foundation color first and the highlight color second.
Purple - BV17, BV08 * Orange - YR16, YR68 * Lime Green - YG03,YG23
I colored each candle once with the marker and then took the second marker and just highlighted the lines. I did each candle to completion before moving on to the next candle.
For the flame I used R37 and YR07. I went dark first (red) and then just colored the whole flame with the yellow.
Then I grabbed a square punch and punched out all my images.
Since my punch was 1 3/8", I then used my paper cutter to cut mats measuring 1 5/8" square. I then put the cards together. I only created 6 cards, but as you can see there is a lot of room in the plastic holder after I squished it down. LOTS AND LOTS of room for more.
Add some pretty ribbon and you have a very cute, very fast, gift for anyone. I also am showing a great way to used these little cards. Just punch, add some twine and tie around your gift bag or gift.
How about some thank you cards. One thing that we all need after Christmas are thank you cards. For these, I created standard A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") cards.
Again, I used another cute new release stamp for December called Ladybug Flower. I paired it with a classic set called Words of Gratitude. Again, I went fast and furious (lol).
Same process as the first gift set. Easy coloring. For these smaller images, I find it easier to lay a bit of darker color first and then add my lighter color which is actually the opposite of what I do for larger images. Its just what I do, I did the same process for my green leaves.
The colors I used were: (ladybug) R29, (flower) YR07, Y38, (leaves) G28, G07, (center of flower) E49, E77
I used the same size punch as above and created 2 mats for these cards.
Here are the cards put together. If you notice, I used a couple of different "thank you" sentiments as well a couple of different arrangements with them.
And the finishing touch is again, the perfect clear container and a simple but gorgeous ribbon wrap. The to: and from: sentiment is from Patchpal Messages, but there are a ton to choose from at Clear Dollar Stamps.
I have 6 envelopes and 6 cards in the clear container and there is lots of room. If you keep your cards relatively embellishment free you could easily squeeze in 12-15 cards and envelopes.
Hey, don't worry, there is plenty of time to order supplies and still get your cards made! Remember, this month's Stamp of the Month is yours for FREE with only $30 minimum order. Its super cute so don't miss out.
Happy Holidays and we'll see you for Sneak Peeks at the end of the month! So mark your calendars.
This is Katie signing off for Clearly iStamp.
