In 2019, I was pretty busy with my new job so I made individual cards for close friends/family and didn’t do any bulk cardmaking. My sister attended over a dozen weddings so I did try out different combinations of die cut layering, embossing, and heavy embellishments.
Spring: Birthdays, Wedding, and Baby Shower Cards
During the Queen & Company New Year’s sale, I picked up one of their shaker kits to try out (Magical Characters). I used it as the focal point on my sister’s birthday card – I liked the pre-cut foam and acetate element but I won’t buy many of these kits. In a way, it was too easy and I didn’t feel creative. But they are great when in a time crunch. I am planning to use up the kit making birthday cards for kids and will give them to my parents to use. The birthday card on a die cut card base (Anna Griffin Fretwork) was similar to a card I made in 2018. But for this one, I decided to change the greeting and make it for a kid’s birthday. I cut the Lawn Fawn Scripty Congrats 3 times from scrap cardstock and layered it on top of different diecuts using Spellbinders dies. My parents attended my niece’s one year birthday celebration and it felt like a good balance of fun yet elegant for the occasion.
Between holiday sales and birthday gifts, I completed my distress ink collection in 2019 and made multiple ink blended backgrounds. One of my favorite combos blended Chipped Sapphire and Weathered Wood. With how busy I was, I just set the backgrounds aside and didn’t actually create any cards. Then in April, when I needed a card for my uncle’s birthday, I was able to pull them out to create some quick birthday cards. I used Card Making Magic’s Masculine Additions stencil to add some interest. Then added the adorable dinosaur from Lawn Fawn’s RAWR! stamp (+coordinating die) and a happy birthday sentiment from an old Sizzix die. My sister also requested a card for her best friend’s baby shower around this time – I was excited to finally be able to try out my Lawn Fawn Cloudy stencil and the MFT Welcome Baby stamp/die set. I also went with a 6×6 design, since it gave the card a more cutesy look.
The cream wedding card below should look familiar – it was fairly similar to one I made in 2018, following Christina Griffith’s tutorial (see my post here and Christina’s tutorial here). I made some more tweaks and was pleased with the result. Cutting the sentiment (Card Making Magic) 4-5 times and layering to give it a chipboard quality was worth the extra time because it really stood out. While I always avoid making multiples of a card, this is definitely one design I like to remake with a few tweaks. It works well for wedding cards across most cultures and it’s not too time consuming either. I think next time I make this I will try adding in some color with Ranger Perfect Pearls or Nuvo Shimmer Powders.
Summer: Lots of Wedding Cards!
The next wedding card was for one I attended with my family – I used Spellbinders APG Die of the Month (April 2019: Elegant Swivel & Sashay Card) dies to make an interactive card. I was having trouble finding anything in the colors and patterns of the invite, so I ended up creating my own patterned paper. I used woodblock stamps from a company that works with Indian artists to create beautiful and unique stamps (Blockwallah). The card box also turned out great – I used a Card Making Magic cover die to cut out an intricate pattern on the top and then glued acetate inside so you could see through to the card.
For a western wedding my sister attended, I still used intricate die cuts, but kept the colors soft and neutral. I also had a a paper pieced couple as the focal point and the only dimension was from flower/ribbon embellishments. The card box and the card base were both cut using a Spellbinders’ Amazing Paper Grace die of the month (March 2019: Spun Blessings Oval). For the base, I cut the bottom curved section off to keep it a flat bottom, while for the box I only used the inserts to make it a continuous oval. This is another card that I want to re-create when I have some free time but with some different colors.
The next 2 (!) weddings my sister attended were Indian weddings – so for those I went back to a colorful style and matched the wedding invites. For the aqua/gold card I used mainly Card Making Magic dies, while for the navy/gold, I used the Spellbinders Amazing Paper Grace die of the month (December 2018: Softly Spoke’n Flip and Gatefold Card). The navy/gold wedding card was for a closer friend, so it was much more detailed then a similar card I made in the Winter. I liked both the card and matching box – but I think in the future if I re-create this card, I will keep the inside panel simple.
Fall/Winter: Rakhi and Wedding Cards
During late summer/early fall, when I would normally make my rakhi cards, I was right in the thick of my house search. Luckily, I still had ink blended backgrounds leftover from a few months earlier and was able to use them for quick rakhi cards. For sentiments, I went with Card Making Magic filigree letters since I could customize the greeting easily. I even ended up with a couple extra cards that I added to my stash.
For a wedding my sister attended as her then-boyfriend’s plus one, I used the same hexagon die set from Card Making Magic as in the aqua/gold card. I kept the card a 6×6 square but made the hexagon layers flat. The colors were also more traditional with creams, golds, and maroon. The silver/white wedding card was another shaped card using the hexagon dies, but I used more layers and embellishments to make it a flashier card since it was a closer relationship.
I mailed out a lot of birthday cards to my family in the fall but with everything happening in my life, I pulled from my stash rather than making them for specific people (as in previous years). I bought my house late in 2019 and renovations started early 2020 so I became really busy around this point.
