Aussie Scrap Source

10 reasons to send a card: thank you

 

10 reasons to send a card: anniversary

 

 

10 reasons to send a card: with sympathy

Probably the saddest reason to send a card is to acknowledge the death of a friend or family member.  These cards need to be thoughtful and uplifting, to show care and condolences.

 

 

10 reasons to send a card: congratulations

Congratulations… on your new job, your new house, your new baby … congratulations cards can cover a multitude of celebrations.  Make them specific or more general so that you always have one on hand.

 

 

10 reasons to send a card: thinking of you

 

 

10 reasons to send a card: i’m sorry

 

A sorry card can be given for many reasons and is lovely way to show you care - passing of a pet, hard times, loss of job etc

 

10 reasons to send a card: get well soon

 

 

10 reasons to send a card: getting married

 

 

10 reasons to send a card: happy birthday

One of the most popular reasons to send or give a handmade card, and probably the ones we turn to most often, birthday cards obviously come in all shapes, sizes and themes.

 

 

10 reasons to send a card: i love you

We’re starting off the new design/school year with a new card series here on the Aussie blog, called 10 Reasons to Send a Card, and each week we look at one of those reasons!  February is of course the month of love and tomorrow is Valentine’s Day so it’s only fitting that we start with Valentines cards. 

 

 

 

production line christmas cards

Making your own Christmas cards can seem a little overwhelming when your Christmas Card list reaches triple, or even just double figures! It’s easy to fall back on a cheapie box of printed cards, but we wanted to share some inspiration today on creating your own handmade Christmas cards that look like you’ve put hours of work into each one, but really they’re fairly quick and simple as part of a production line process.

 

 

Suz Doyle starts us off with a set of cards that look vintage and special, but are so easy an eight year old can make them (in fact, her eight year old daughter who doesn’t like being left out of the creating fun, did make the one pictured directly above!) 

Suz layered Prima leaves onto a strip of chipboard which she then cut into triangle shapes to make the trees.  The backgrounds are made from the new tim Holtz Kraft Resist papers (and you can get six card panels from each sheet), Glimmer Misted quickly, distressed and adhered to kraft cardstock.  A little braid and a little bling are all these cards need, but Suz couldn’t resist some finishing touches from the gorgeous Fancy Pants ‘Saint Nick’ Glitter Cuts pack.

 

 

 

 

 

Jenni Hudswell created this simple but effective set of cards from Prima North Country Art Paper.  Already sized at 6x6” these sheets are perfect for cardmaking, and Jen cut them into 1” strips to adorn plain white cards.  She created a couple of different looks with the pretty co-ordinating stamp, and it can be fun to change it up a little when you have a lot of cards to make.  The white tree, above is inked and then embossed, picking out the gorgoeus detail of the tree.  It serves a second purpose though as Jen then glimmer misted over the top of the embossing to create a resist effect.

 

 

 

 

Jane Clark has used the Cosmo Cricket Mrs Claus papers for these super quick and economical cards.  The ‘Yes Virginia’ paper has twelve of these cute little Santa figures on it. Jane covered the fronts of the folded cards with a range of other Mrs Claus papers in various sizes and then further decorated the cards with punched out bows and large adhesive pearls.

aussie christmas special: handmade card ideas

Halloween is over.. the Melbourne Cup is over.. surely that means it’s time for Christmas!  Our design team have come up with some beautiful ideas for handmade Christmas cards this year – and we’re thrilled to announce, and welcome new design team member, the talented Kim Arnold,  who along with Georgia Keays makes her debut for Aussie in this post.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Georgia wanted to make Christmas cards for her children's teachers which were similar but also unique. The first step was to let each child choose one of the bigger pieces of chipboard from the Crate Paper Peppermint line to serve as the focus of the card. As the colours of this range are so vibrant Georgia decided to use a very neutral paper as the background. Once Georgia had made the first card she simply repeated the design using the different chipboard pieces and adding other embellishments to suit.

 

 

When it comes to Christmas cards they need to be eye catching, but easily replicable and simple to make as most people need to be able to make large batches quickly. The Echo Park Holly Jolly Collection packs are perfect for easy but interesting Christmas cards with virtually everything to make these cards in one pack.

 

Whipping up some fabulous Christmas cards with the Jillibean Soup Christmas Eve Chowder 6x6 paper pad can be as simple as you wish to make it. Chris has combined the Jillibean Soup papers with the new Hero Arts Cling Wishes Come True stamp set, a Sew Easy Floss and a few Crystal Dots. She cut out the little penguins and trees from the paper itself to create some very quick and easy embellishments and to finish the cards off did a little machine stitching.

 

 

 

There has to be sparkle at Christmas time Jane tell us! The punched background was created by using a Martha Stewart Punch All Over The Page Country Tile punch. Jane also said that these punches are fantastic!! They're so easy to use and there are no mistakes trying to line up the pattern!! The punched card was then layered on Jac paper or single sided adhesive sheet and glitter poured over the top. Jane also cut out one of the punched designs and placed it over the paper bow.

 

Jane fell in love with these Webster's Pages Cameo, so she decided she would use these on her special Christmas cards for family and close friends. Jane extended the element of the cameo by glueing lace around the edge then added folded stripes of paper as shown. One tip Jane said 'Use lots of strong adhesive to keep everything in place!'.

 

 

When Sue first saw the Postcards to Santa paper from Webster's Botanical range, she knew that it could be turned into simple but beautiful Christmas cards. Sue has combined the papers with the lush Webster's ribbons, along with twine and bells to create her cards. Gold stitching has added a touch of elegance. Sue also added Frosted Lace stickles to highlight the designs on the paper.

weekend inspiration: little yellow bicycle

 

 

 

 

Chris Millar thinks Little Yellow Bicycle have made it so easy with the Tiny Princess range of papers to make the most darling baby and little girl cards. The papers lend themselves to be inked up just a small amount to add a touch of shabbiness and depth. And the dimensional stickers and jewels are wonderful embellishments to give the cards that extra bit of something special!

The card directly above was created following a sketch on the Mojo Monday blog group.

 

 

 

Jane Clark decided to continued the circle design of the Layered Flower Button Dots to her card, she trimmed three circles slightly larger than the stickers from the Fuschia Flower Dot paper then sanded the edges to make them stand out, and mounted the piece on teal daisy paper. The Button Dots were added in the centre, for one of them Jane pulled the layers apart and added a butterfly cut from the Flutterby paper between the layers.

Jane placed the square canvas word in the bottom right-hand corner to balance the design. Quick and easy idea!

 

 

Upon looking at the Fluuterby paper covered in gorgeous pattern butterflies, Jane's first thought was to cut them all out and have them flying across the card, that's a lot of butterflies!! So a lovely strip with three butterflies trimmed around the wings will also do a lovely job! Jane popped one butterfly on an angle to create more interest and to show off the beautiful paper underneath. Jane found the canvas word stickers to have great texture and add elegance to cards.

 

 

Now wouldn't one of these cards just brighten up your whole day?!! Rae Barthel has captured the complete essence of the Sweet Summertime range with these 2 bright and cheery cards. We love the way Rae has used the clear cut shapes and canvas border stickers in such a fabulous way! Thank you Rae for sharing your gorgeous card with us!

 

 

These two amazing layouts are from Mary Ann Jenkins. Mary Ann has also used the Sweet Summertime range, including their fabulous chipboard shapes which add such wonderful dimension to her page.

And here's a little bit from Mary Ann herself about creating with this range "I love the bright Summery colors, and how about that cute fruit and button banner!" We do love that fruit and button banner too Mary Ann! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful creations with us!

countdown to christmas day 16: tattered angels

 

 

 

 

 

 

Louise is excited and amazed at the creative potential for the new range of Glimmer Glam and Glazes! They are a wonderful addition to the range of Glimmer Mists and Chalkboard Mists! Together this range provides you with an endless range of creative possibilities for all of your creative and paper projects.

Louise has created a range of layouts and accompanying cards to show the versatility of the Glimmer Glam and Glaze, just from a style perspective. For this first Layout and card she has used the Glimmer Glam to add simple but effective festive bling to the regal Alpha frame, and for the card she has used a festive red glaze to decorate the frame which has a subtler sheen.

countdown to christmas day 18: the girl’s paperie

 

 

Card expert Charlene Cundy has created these two beautiful cards with the stunning Girls Paperie range. The bakers twine and rosette details add a lovely vintage touch and dimension to the subtle layering and stamped sentiment.

countdown to christmas day 25: hero arts

 

 

Hero Arts stamps always give a beautiful crisp image when used. Sue loves to heat emboss the images to create a lovely glossy look. Sue has quite a collection of branch stamps and this holly flourish was the perfect addition! It is lovely to hang things off such as the cute baubles cut from patterned papers and embellished. You could also hang stars or snowflakes for a different look.

christmas card inspiration: part three

 

 

 

 

Suz shows here how one basic design and a single cool stash busting technique can become the answer to your Christmas card crisis this year in just a couple of hours work.  It’s all about the christmas trees in these cards.  Suz covered a 4x12” piece of chipboard in Strano RibbonStiff – it’s a waterbased sealant and stiffener.  She layered randomly co-ordinating ribbons right along the length of the chipboard and then brushed another coat of RibbonStiff over the top.  After it dried she went over the entire surface with a thin coat of white gesso, just to soften the colours and bring them all together.  She then cut the entire board into triangles approx 2.5” at their widest point. 

After that it was a simple case of inking the edges and embellishing each tree – delicate lines of Stickles, some bling and a co-ordinating bow.  The background of the card was as quick as inking Webster’s Pages journalling cards around the edges, tearing a short length of 7Gypsies tape for the tree ‘trunk’ and a stamped Christmas Greeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Janine is a self-confessed Christmas humbug! So for her to find a Christmas range that she fell totally in love with is quite a Christmas Miracle, but this divine range by Teresa Collins certainly hit the mark. The papers are sublimely elegant and contain Janine’s prerequisites to a perfect range, script paper, music paper, damask paper and paper with elements to hand-cut out!! Bliss!!!

When you have such amazing products to work with, creating these elegant cards became simple, especially with the inclusion of a few Prima Innocence flowers and Prima lace with a touch of gold and ruby red Glimmer Mist to add those perfect accents.

 

 

 

For these Christmas cards Louise wanted to keep the creative process quick and simple, but still with a festive flavour. Louise has created all her card bases from basic white cardstock and cut them to size to suit the envelopes she already had, and to give that coordinated look, she has decorated the envelopes to match her cards.

For these two particular cards Louise has used both the Hero Arts Creative Trees Stamps and the Elsie Flannigan Christmas time stamps to create a simple but effective look of Christmas trees, with a little funk. To complete decoration of the cards she has coloured in the design using water colour paints, and doodled a border.

 

 

 

 

 

For these two cards Louise has used the Elsie Flannigan Christmas Time Stamps. Louise has again doodled a funky border to coordinate with the stamp design and then coloured in the doodling and stamp images using watercolour paints.

christmas card inspiration: part two

 

 

Carole created these pretty Christmas cards with Cosmo Cricket's "Mitten Weather" Collection. Creating with purple, red and green was a little different for Carole but that is what made this collection so nice because it all worked so well together and all the cute stickers, borders and tags all matched perfectly for all the embellishing.

 

 

 

Iris made a set of Christmas cards that are very easy to re-create - and very economical too. If you take a close look at these four cards, she only used two sheets of patterned paper from Webster's Pages Waiting for Santa (The Delivery and Falalala), plus some dark green cardstock. Add a few stamping using Pink Paislee stamps, ribbon or lace, and some Prima flowers, and you are set to send holiday greetings on the way.

 

 

 

 

Not normally much of a cardmaker, Louise created these in under an hour and loved them so much, she's mass producing them for Christmas! She started with some white cardstock and cut a 1" strip off before embossing it with a dotted pattern. The strip was then given a decorative edge with a border punch and put aside.

Next she cut 1" strips from the various printed papers and sewed them together with a zig zag stitch. These were then cut down to fit onto each card size front and the corners were rounded. To add interest to a couple she punched a scalloped circle out of the background and then all backgrounds were adhered to the card using foam tape for dimension.

Using the diecut paper, she cut a 1" strip from the edge and positioned it, adhering the punched cardstock strip over the top to hide the edge. Arrange the Poinsettia flowers and vines into place and adhere with a strong glue. Stamp some words onto offcuts of the same cardstock and use a 1" circle punch to cut out your headings. Arrange and adhere with foam tape into place.

These cards are very quick and economical to make, and each can be made slightly differently just by changing your title, punches and the order you sew your papers.

christmas card inspiration

There’s no point denying it, we’re definitely on the countdown to Christmas now.  So over the course of the next few Mondays, we thought we’d bring you some inspiration in the form of Christmas cards, but not just any Christmas cards – these are useful Christmas cards!  They’re the kind that you can make into a practical production line.  The kind of versatile design where you can give each one a unique touch, but that still follow a similar layout so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel for every card you make. Enjoy!

 

Sue Tonga loves to send Christmas cards to her extended family members that are personal and handmade. Sue's family love to see photos of her kids and so she created this cute pocket card which holds a tag with the kids' photo and room for a handwritten message. Sue chose to use the Crate Paper Snow Day collection which contains a lovely set of whimsical chipboard elements which were perfect for embellishing the cards.

To create the card, Sue first started with a base of Kraft cardstock that measured 3 3/4 inches x 5 3/4 inches. Sue then cut a piece of Hambly gold overlay and a piece of Snow Day paper to create the pocket. Sue adhered the Snow Day paper to the bottom of the overlay with double-sided tape and then sewed the combined piece to the Kraft cardstock, leaving the top open to allow for the tag to slide in an out.

Sue then adhered the Kraft cardstock to a piece of vanilla cardstock measuring 4 x 6 inches. To create the tag, Sue cut another piece of Kraft measuring 3 1/4 inches x 5 inches. Sue cut a different pattern of Snow Day paper, sewed around it in gold thread and added a 3 inch square photo to the centre. Sue then stuck it towards the top of the tag and added some ribbon and a fabric brad to finish it off.

Sue says you can easily make more than 12 cards using the Crate Paper Snow Day chipboard set due to the simple card design. It is fun to be able to create lots of cards that are all similar but are unique too. And don't forget, if you don't have children and would still like to do something like this for your Christmas cards, you can always include photos of your favourite Christmas ornaments instead.

 

 

 

These BasicGrey Jovial cards are super effective and great to make on a production line when you’re creating a large volume of cards in preparation for Christmas. To make them, Kathie’s used the Jovial 6x6 paper pad and a set each of Woolies, Pops and Die Cut Shapes. She estimates that you can make around ten cards with one set of products, with loads of paper left for other projects.

Making the cards is easy. Kathie simply cut her favourite sheets from the paper pad to 6x4inches and adhered them to blank cards cut from Vanilla cardstock. She then trimmed the offcut patterned papers with decorative scissors to create a pile of border strips. She overlayed two or three strips over each background sheet, then adhered one of the DieCut shapes over the strips with 3D tape.

A Wooly or a Pop perches on top of each shape. To finish, Kathie printed up some Christmas sentiments on the leftover cardstock and adhered one to each card.

 

 

 

 

Caz whipped up these quick and easy Christmas Cards using the new Everybody Loves Christmas rang from Echo Park. Caz cut out the 8 larger journaling blocks from the Journaling Cards sheet of paper. She then chose co-ordinating patterned paper for each one and covered the front of the white cards.

The journaling blocks were mounted on double sided foam tape and attached to the lower half of the card. 2 thin strips of contrast patterned paper were added to the top and bottom of the cards and a sticker where needed.

 

 

Caz then used the smaller journaling blocks and some other strips of patterned paper to decorate envelopes to match the cards.

quick 'n easy cards: mothers day

With Mother's Day just around the corner here in Australia, the magical Miss Mel has put together a series of cards perfect to make for your mum on her special day (or get the kids to make one for you - they'll love playing with your Glimmermist!)

 

For this series of cards, Mel has used one of the Hero Arts card packs that we stock at Aussie Scrap Source.  They are available in a variety of colours with each pack containing 10 acid free cards with matching envelopes perfect for those different special occasions. The cards are coloured on the outside and crisp white inside, just right to hand record your message.

 

 

 

The new range of Glimmer Mist sprays are perfect for cards. Lightly spray a colour over the entire front of your card (as Mel has demonstrated here using Pink Bubblegum) to create a beautiful working surface. Add a Jenni Bowlin die cut journaling card (butterfly), some Heidi Swapp bling and colour in the edges of the butterfly to match the Glimmer Mist. Add a special message to Mum using Hero Arts Basic Lowercase Letters.

 

 

Create an attractive card with a little layering.  Here Mel has used a Heidi Swapp flower as her base, adding a Basic Grey Sultry chipboard flower and a Basic Grey button on top to complete the dimensional feel of the card.

 

 

 

Add an older photo of your Mum to her card this year for something really special.  Fold a smaller sized Heidi Swapp flower in half directly underneath the photo, adhere into position and add some bling for a soft, pretty feel.

 

 

Pamper your Mum and create a cute little pocket on her card to hold a tea bag or coffee satchel.  Mel has stitched the pocket into place and added a splash of glimmer mist (Pink Bubblegum) and BasicGrey ribbon before attaching her main message to the card - enjoy!