Creative Card Making Ideas

As each new generation of card maker joins the ranks, new and improved card making ideas surface. A few old techniques are making a strong comeback as well.

Rubber Stamps for Card Making
Rubber stamping, one of the oldest forms of greeting card techniques, is still very popular. Not only is it one of the easiest techniques used in card making, it is also one of the most fun. Rubber stamping is very versatile and the outlines beg for more attention. Crafters tend to return to add layers, vivid colors and additional outlines or to emboss the outlines with glitter and glitz, even using paper punches to decorate and create borders around the design.

Card Making Designs
Designs can circulate around a theme or can be mismatched. Some techniques include creating a topper, or a piece of cardstock, about one half inch smaller than the front cover of a card. The topper can be decorated or embellished with a variety of materials before being attached to the card with double-sided sticky tape. Toppers can be placed crooked or centered. They are also prefect for use in layers, or creating pocket or aperture cards.

Pocket Cards or Aperture Cards
For this project, you will need a card, a topper, a piece of translucent paper, a paper punch, glue and several bottles of glitter. An easy way to create a snowy forest is to start with light blue cardstock for the card. Fold the card and cut it to the desired size. Take your topper and make it about one half inch to one inch smaller than the card face. Using glue and glitter, smear glue over the entire topper. Sprinkle dark blue or black glitter on the top of the topper and white glitter crystals on the bottom half.

Using a bare tree paper punch, cut out several trees, making sure to stagger the trees across the bottom and middle portion of the topper. Using a star shaped paper punch and a half moon, cut out several stars and one moon and place them across the top portion of the topper.

Open the card and lay it on a light table with the topper beneath the card front so you know where the trees and stars will be, once you glue the topper to the card. Again, using glue, smear it along the area of the card face where the stars and trees will be. Sprinkle yellow glitter for the stars and moon, and brown glitter for the trees.

Place double-sided sticky tape along the inside edge of the topper and then place it on the card, being careful to position it so that the brown glitter and yellow glitter are seen through the punched out shapes of the trees and the stars.

Laced Parchment Paper
To create a laced or antique look, simply use different types of paper punches and crafting scissors to create an eyelet lace look on a sheet of parchment paper. Fold the parchment paper over the front and back of the card, running one line of glue just below the fold line along the back of the card to hold it in place.

Cut the parchment to the exact size of the card (front and back), or make it slightly smaller to give it a blanket look.

Dry Embossing
Dry embossing creates a beautiful raised picture on your card. With this technique, even the most sturdy bird or flower will appear delicate and fragile. For this project, you'll need a light table, a ball-pointed burnisher to press with, a card made of crafting paper (that will let some light through) and a stencil.

Place the stencil on the card where you want the design and tape it in place. Because the tape will be hard to remove from the card once you are done, stick the tape to your shirt once or twice before using it to tape the stencil in place. Lint from your clothing will stick to the tape, causing it to lose much of its stickiness. It should now stick to the paper adequately, but still remove easily without damaging the paper.

Open the card and lay it face down on the light table. This means the stencil will be on the underside of the card face. Tape the card in place, using the lint method described above. Using the ball-point burnisher, outline the design with a heavy but steady hand, making sure you outline the entire stencil. Outlining is all that should be done. Do not attempt to fill in the entire design.

When you are finished, remove the tape gently, unfold the card and remove the stencil. The design will be so delicate and fragile, you'll be surprised it was created so easily.