Sunday, March 13, 2011

Quick Cards

Last week I needed 3 cards, and I had about 1 hr to make all three. Sometimes, I have time to fuss, rearrange, and add lots of detail, but not this time. I needed to mail out 2 St. Patty's Day cards and a birthday card that day. Here's what I came up with:




Here are a few tips for making cards quickly:
1. Stick with what you know. I'm all for pushing yourself and trying new things, but if you're in a hurry now might not be the time. I love mixing and matching patterned papers, so I used that as a starting point.
2. Use paper that you know you have lots of embellishments for. This way you don't have to spend time searching for matching embellishments. For example, I just happened to have the whole Lucky Me collection (thanks to Little Yellow Bicycle!) including matching stickers and buttons.
3. Keep it simple. Often we add lots of "fussy" (read: time consuming) details to cards: stitching, bows, lots of embellishments, stamping... When short on time stick with 1 fussy detail. For example, since I stitched a border on one of the St. Patty's Day cards, I didn't do any stamping. Since I stamped and colored in the chihuahua on the birthday card, I kept the embellishments simple.
4. Finally, remember its the thought that counts! The person you're sending the card to is going to be thrilled to receive something you made, they're not going to be checking to see if every little button or bow is perfect.

2 comments:

D's Paper Studio said...

Great cards. I forgot I had the "Lucky" paperline. Time to get crackin'.

Unknown said...

Beautiful cards and great tips! When I am in a hurry I also go back to what worked for me before. I look at the cards I did before, pick something that I like and do a similar card.