Bombshell Tutorial - Crafty Creative Card Shapes

Greetings my fabulous Bombshell friends!!  I'm here today with a really simple and basic tutorial on how to make shaped cards.  I've had a few questions regarding these and I thought I'd show you two different ways to create cards other than squares and rectangles.  (although, I must admit...those are my "go-tos")

The first way I will show you is essentially cutting by hand.  I have a couple of old templates that were given to me when I worked on one of my first design teams.  I don't *think* they ever went to production as they were difficult to make due to the materials but you could do this with any shaped template, stencil, or free drawn shape you have.  If you have a Cricut, you could cut any shape and use it as a template in the same way I am going to show here.

I have cut my Kraft cardstock at 5 1/2 x 4 1/4.

I then laid my template (remember this could be ANY shape you have or would like) on top of my folded card leaving the crease at the top.

Trace lightly around the edges with a pencil and then cut on the line.

 I'll do it again with a different template.

Cool, huh? And no fancy equipment necessary!!!  Love that!

If you do have a Big Shot, Sizzix, etc here is how to do the same thing using any die cuts you have.  I've chosen two different styles of Spellbinder Nestabilities to use.  I have used the largest in each grouping to give me the most surface area for my card.

First, select the shape die you want to use.

You'll notice that I anchored my die just on the crease of my card, holding it in place with low tack painters tape.  That way it won't wiggle when it goes through my machine.

Now you will put it into your machine leaving the CREASE SIDE OUT of your cutting plates.  If you cut all the way through you'll have two pieces but they will not be connected.

Run the plates through making sure that that creased edge is hanging out the entire time.

Here is how it looks when it comes out.  Now all I need to do is take my snips and cut the excess away from the sides of the card.

And VOILA:

Sweet, huh?  Ok...one more time using a different shaped die.  Add cutting plate on top and run through leaving the crease side out.

Now all I need to do is cut those little areas to separate it from the outline and my card is ready to decorate.

And here are the four different shaped card bases I've created.  Whether by hand or machine this process is really simple.  Please don't hesitate to ask questions!!  You can either leave a comment in the comments section or come over to my blog Paper Canteen and send me an email with any questions!!

I hope you have enjoyed this crafty, creative shaped card tutorial!!! Please don't hesitate to ask any questions!!!  Just leave them in the comment section with your email so that I may get back to you with an answer!!

Crafty Hugs!
Meredith

Tiddly Tuesday! Challenge #43 - Picture Me

Good Morning Friends!!!  I'm here with you today with a very fun challenge today at Tiddly Inks!!  This weeks awesome challenge is to use the following photo as inspiration 

AND create a shaped card (no squares or rectangles allowed) not using an electronic die cutting machine.  Cuttlebug, Big Shots, etc allowed.  

For my super springy card today (I laugh as I write this as it was snowing quite hard in MA yesterday!) I've used a color palette of white, lilac, mango and kraft.  I chose to use Joy Bugg as my springtime inspired image. 

In order to make my shaped card, I used a flat, plastic template that I traced onto my folded card.  I left the folded edge alone and trimmed out the other three edges.  The template that I have came from my days designing for QKD.  The templates came in three graded sizes so you'll see the white and lilac sunburst patterned paper as my first layer off of my card base that matches my card shape.  

I colored Joy Bugg in with my Copics.  I trimmed her out using my Label One Nesties.  I backed the image with a beautiful lilac cardstock that I trimmed with a sponge and white acrylic paint.  My inspiration came from Sarah Martina in this post here.  Thanks Sarah!!  

I did the same technique on my card base to carry the "distressed-esque" theme throughout my card.  I chose the sentiment "Bloom" from a flowery PTI set that I have.  I ruffled up some purple Swiss dot ribbon from PTI using this technique here.  I added a strip of bling to snazz it all up.As a couple of last touches, I grabbed some Kraft cardstock and my Cupcake punch and created a super cute border and I added a teeny, tiny binder clip on the right hand side to balance out the large sentiment on the left side. 

I do hope you play along with us at the TI challenge blog!  

I hope that you've enjoyed and been inspired to create today!!