Craft With May

no rules, just happy crafting

  • Home
  • About
  • Classes

Creative Fitness: Let’s make a collage card!

May 29, 2018

One thing I like to do when creativity is “stuck” and I am not sure what to work on? Make a card.

In the beginning it started as a way for me to figure out what I do and don’t like in my cards. It is also a way to use up scraps and leftover bits. Also? ZERO pressure. Sometimes just playing around with bits of this and that is all I need?

Where do you start? 

Pick one minor/background thing and put it on a folded card – or a card front. Here are some suggestions:

  • washi tape (shown/used above)
  • patterned paper block or strip
  • doily
  • stenciled design (ink or otherwise colored, used with paste, etc)
  • background stamp

Note that you may not see ANY of what you start with. The point really is to just get SOMETHING down on that paper.

What’s next? See what that one piece sparks. Pull out bits and pieces and just layer them. Notice I didn’t say glue? NO pressure, no glue. Just lay stuff out and see what looks good. Move stuff around. Above you can see I have a whole sheet of embellishments layered with some paper things under – no glue yet…

Still not committing – but I stitched a doily and two die cuts together. I like these textures and colors together and “worst case” – I will just use this cluster on some other project.

I kept coming back to the rosette & deer stickers though, and they really do look good together.  So now at this point liking these elements and the balance for the card I glue them all down onto the card front. This is establishing the solid base. You can see I have textures, colors, there is contrast. It’d be ok like this with just a sentiment added. You’ll notice with this process I have not yet gotten into small details.

Now that there’s a strong base? That’s exactly what I did! Some small things I like to add to cards include:

  • buttons
  • sequins
  • gold mist
  • pearls
  • beads
  • glitter glue
  • thread
  • tiny stickers
  • epoxy dots

Basically? Anything that would add a little fun to the card. Keep bulk in mind *if* you’ll be mailing it. My card was being hand delivered so I did not worry about bulkiness or weight.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my walk-through of this card- I had a lot of fun making it and there is a note + gift card taped inside. Boom! Baby shower gift handled.

Looking for more of my tried & true design ideas? Tried & True Cards (and Scrapbook Layouts!) are classes all about that. You can find more information about those classes and all my other online classes on my site here.


Filed Under: Cards, Uncategorized

Comments

  1. Alex True says

    May 29, 2018 at 7:53 am

    I like the way you incorporate stitching.

  2. Marcie Lovett says

    May 29, 2018 at 9:38 am

    One of the things I learned from you is that you can always cover up the parts of an embellishment you don’t like. I try to keep that in mind when I’m coming up with a design.

  3. Gab says

    May 29, 2018 at 5:03 pm

    Such a sweet card … and Tired and True cards is one of my favourite classes of yours! Those designs are just classics that I keep coming back to!

  4. Charlene says

    May 30, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    I just NEED to do this- use up some of the mostly used gem packs, etc… I have a bunch- and I have a reason right now to do so- I need to make 3 thank you cards and a sympathy card… so off to work 🙂

Welcome!

My name is May Flaum, and I love to craft. My fingers always have some kind of ink or mist or paint on them, and I love to share what I create. Thank you for dropping by, and welcome.
Happy Crafting! email: may.flaum@gmail.com

FTC disclosure:

This blog contains affiliate links whenever possible. This helps me keep the content coming at no charge to you. win-win! I work with many craft companies, and am sometimes paid, given product, or otherwise compensated for my time and that work does show up here on my blog. For the full disclosure, you can read here ftc disclosure page .

Search

Get the Newsletter

Subscribe to recieve my blog posts via e-mail



Archives

Copyright © 2018 • May Flaum Designs, LLC • All Rights Reserved
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More