Last year I started watching CreativeLive. It’s a great site for learning new things and getting inspiration. I happened to log on one day and there was a class called Introduction to Art Journaling. I decided to tune in as the photography classses that day weren’t what I needed. Within this art journaling class I was inspired to take the concept and use it for my notecards.
I’ve been making cards for years out of recycled wallpaper. Compared to what I have seen on Pinterest, my cards were very plain. Art journaling inspired me to get out paints, buy some stencils on ebay, and even contact my mom’s friend who does stamping. I now have stamps, embossing powders, more wallpaper, different cardstock, stencils, paints, and as of Christmas a Cricut.
(This did not survive the mail)
I came to discover the Cricut because I wanted to make my own stencils. After doing some research, and my husband doing even more research he decided that the Cricut would be a good investment. I have a background in design and decent know-how of Illustrator, Cricut allows uploading of SVG files which is great! I am able to create my own designs in Illustrator and upload to the Cricut Design Space. So far I have not made any stencils, but I have made some rudimentary attempts at cards.
Pre-Cricut
Before the Cricut I was attempting to hand-letter and then stencil on my cards. I sent out a few like this, very proud of those at the time. I didn’t take pictures of these first cards because I was making them to send out right away for birthdays, house warmings, and just because. For some reason I have a strong desire to put way too many mismatched elements onto one card. I feel that if I don’t have a little of everything on one card I’m missing something. The cards were very confused and amateur.
Post Cricut
I started using Pinterest to 1: learn a little about how the Cricut works and 2: to get some card ideas. After spending some time with my mom’s friend I realized I really wasn’t doing things right. I needed to really think through a card design. Picking out random stencils, stamps, papers and gluing/painting things randomly makes for a sad almost frightening card. (Apologies to those who received those first attempts.) Luckily I learn fast, my Illustrator knowledge has somewhat come back to me, and I am excited to have card ideas.
First semi-thought out card of my own design
Birthday Girl text is part of the Cricut images available to use, cut from Cricut adhesive foil (my first cutting attempt)
Green under the flower cutout is discontinued wallpaper, the flower was my first design in Illustrator attempt.
Button is from a collection of buttons I bought off of ebay years ago in an attempt to find a specific type of button to fix a shirt (no luck). I finally have a use for those buttons!
First thought out card of my own design
After my first two semi thought out cards seen above (first one was inspired from Pinterest), I got a brilliant idea for my nephews’ birthday card. He loves Star Wars and I had gotten him some Star Wars decor for his room, so a card to match was perfect.
First I found a Star Wars typeface, then another typeface that was silhouettes of popular characters and ships.
Next, I finally opened my 2016 day-to-day Star Wars calendar my mom bought for me.
Then it was time to start the layout and picking materials. I used the Cricut adhesive foil for the text and went through 2 plain white cardstock pieces for the card before realizing black would look way better. It took a few tries to get the cut out right on the card because I am still learning which setting to use for different paper types.
I used a silver pen to write a message on the inside of the card.
The cutout ships became confetti in the card.
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