Must Read Tips for Stress Free Card Making

Whether you have been making handmade cards for a long time or are just starting out on it, there are some tips and tricks you could incorporate to make your venture a success.

Here are some I have adapted myself:

Never throw away scrap paper

As you make your cards, you will have to cut out pieces of paper from different stock for every project. This means you will also have a lot  leftover paper that you cannot use for your base. Throwing these pieces away will however result to a lot of waste.Hence, instead of disposing of it, you can use it to make your punched out shapes using punches, or cut out small pieces that you can then layer with other papers.

Always have ready a place to jot down new ideas

Whether you are at home, in the office, in school or on the road, you will occasionally spot something that will inspire your card making and if you do not put this down somewhere, you are likely to forget it. Thus, it’s good to always have a notebook with you; just something that you can carry around wherever you go, and also put on your bedside to jot things down in case something comes into mind at night.

Make some cards without any messages

Most of us tend to add messages, quotes and sayings to our handmade cards as we make them and even though this is fine, it may also be limiting to some extent seeing as the card can only be applied for one specific purpose. Leaving some cards blank altogether will give you room to incorporate appropriate words when you need to send or sell it.

Use embellishments or images to cover up mistakes

As you go about doing your handmade cards, errors are bound to arise and even though starting from scratch may be easier at times,  it's sometimes best to creatively cover the mistake so that your time, effort and material is not wasted. If you are making a card with a photo and the photo gets ruined somehow for example, you can place another image on top. Also if a section of your card base is messed up with excess glue, you can add some decoration to that part to conceal the mess.

Keep all liquids away from your space

When it’s hot and sunny outside and you are busy with your craft projects, you may need to cool you down every few hours. However, as you do this, you should be careful not have any of it around your studio or work area. Some of the papers available for card making have a type of dye that washes out as soon as gets  in contact with water. This means even a drop can ruin your entire project; and the same applies if you touch the paper with wet hands. This is especially the case when using colored paper. So, to be safe, it’s best to freshen up elsewhere and also dry up your hands completely before you get back to your job.

What other tip do you think is useful to crafters who do handmade cards? Add it in the comments section below...let's share!