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I find that the most difficult part of creating cards is pulling together the paper, stamps, embelishments, etc. I use mostly non-Stampin' Up materials, so my stash of paper and supplies is pretty eclectic.
Do you have a certain creative process for designing your cards so that everything comes together cohesively?
__________________ Debbie "Make it work, people." - Tim Gunn My Gallery
I'm also a Non- SU person, and my process starts with either a card I've seen on Pinterest, for example, that has given me either a layout/colour scheme or stamp use idea. Often, the stamp, or maybe the reason I am making the card will suggest a colour scheme. Sometimes I will ink a background sheet, and that will throw up an idea for a stamp to use. I don't tend to use much in the way of printed papers- despite having a mountain of it. A colour wheel is a good investment, for helping to find what works well too.
I always look at sketch challenges and use them for the layout. I also look at what others have created for those challenges. Then I flip through some patterned paper pads for a spark. I check out the new postings on SCS every day for more ideas, then go to personal galleries of those cards that catch my eye. I tend to make lots of cards with patterned paper backgrounds because I do mostly sentiments on the front, not images, for Operation Write Home. For personal cards I start with the Feeling I want to send and find stamps first then layout and colors + embellishments. Miss You cards to grandsons out of state look VERY different from Happy Birthday to my 'old lady friends!'
I start with the event the card is for and go from there. I don't use sketches, but often see something already done that gives me a starting point for a general layout. Those grey sketch layouts totally freeze my brain, I need to see color to get inspired!
First, I start with the occasion and person the card is for and search thru the gallery here and on Pinterest for ideas to start.
3 days later, I go down to the crafting cave with a firm picture in my head of how I want the finished card to look. I go to my stamp boxes and start flipping thru them to find the right stamp set. Hey! I forgot I had this set (which won't work for the occasion I need)! I need to play with this!
Hours later, paper scraps and embellishments strewn from one side of the table to the other, I have a **fabulous** card, that won't work for what I needed a card for to begin with. But, it's **fabulous**!
Then, I dig thru my stash of cards and find something that I can use for the occasion, even if it means I have to cover up a sentiment with a new one.
I pick the stamp and what ever color I want and then my paper and embellishments. I probably should pick my paper and color the image to match the paper.
Do you ever create a mock-up first out of scrap paper, or dive right in?
Actually, I do create mock-ups some of the time. Sometimes from scrap paper, and sometimes on the computer. The finished card doesn't always look a lot like the mock-up, but it gives me a chance to see if the sizes of my elements/colors/etc. are really going to work, or if I need to make some adjustments. Or, if I'm not at home and am overcome with a creative bug - I can do a mock-up in the lunchroom at work.
Mostly, though, I just head to the crafting cave and make an enormous mess.
I need to have some sort of focus, so I prefer to start with a birthday or holiday in mind. If it's a birthday card, I decide on a theme for that person. Then I flip through my stamp catalog and decide what images to use (or punch/die cut if I'm starting with that instead of a stamp).
For example, a friend who likes horses, cats, fantasy & medieval, and wine, will get a card with one of those themes. If her favorite color is green, I'll make sure to work that in as well.
From there, my design process can go several ways. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to do. Sometimes I need inspiration. I might see what the challenge is on SCS. I might look and see what other people have done with the image. Sometimes, I've got a new technique or layout I want to try so I may work with that.
__________________ aka Sue. Or Sue-odd.
No blog for me. My gallery chronicles my card-making successes and mishaps.
Sometimes I know what stamp I want to use and start there, find pp and cs and start making the card, adding embellishments later. But most of the time I get an idea, see something here in the gallery or elsewhere and start with the pp and cs and then I start looking through my stamped images in my binders to see what I have to complete the card.
I start with the event the card is for and go from there. I don't use sketches, but often see something already done that gives me a starting point for a general layout. Those grey sketch layouts totally freeze my brain, I need to see color to get inspired!
You should try the sketches challenges here on SCS. Along with the challenge there is an attached thread of uploaded cards to view. You can take inspiration from posted cards not the grey layouts! Just a thought!
__________________ The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable. Practice safe eating always use condiments
I always start with either a stamp/stamps or a product/technique (i.e. panpastels, gelatos, stencils) that I want to use as the basis around which to build my project. Then I start 'The Hunt for Red October' going through my embellishments (including dies to make my own), pattern or special paper, embossing folders, etc. and I build a trial-and-error mock-up. Sometimes it's really interesting how what I was thinking of doing originally doesn't work out at all LOL and I end up with something quite different. If I'm using a technique or product for the first time, I'll usually watch YouTube videos.
__________________ "May your mind whirl joyful cartwheels of creativity." - Jonathan Lockwood Huie.
I generally start with whatever the focal point is going to be - whether an image, a sentiment, a diecut, whatever - and then gather things to build around it. If that includes patterned papers, then I use the colors in the paper to determine the palette for embellishments and/or to color an image.
I usually think about the person I'm making the card for and what their style/passions are.
When I purchase a new stamp its because I get a visual image in my head of what it should look like and I'm compelled to create it. I don't know how it happens, it just does. If I can't find embellishments to match the look I'm trying to achieve, I end up making those as well. There are so many looks and techniques you can achieve using stamps, the possibilities are endless!!
I like to look through my craft supplies and then make an enormous mess as I dismiss one idea after another. Sometimes I like to look through card-making/stamping magazines, sometimes at cards I have received, here on SCS, etc. I often start with the stamped image and go from there.
A woman after my own heart. When I finally reach a design decision my craft room is a disaster. Again.
__________________ Debbie "Make it work, people." - Tim Gunn My Gallery
My process changes every time because it depends on the inspiration. I may start with a stamp, paper, embellishment, theme, technique, or product (alcohol ink, etc.). Then I just play and make a colossal mess until I have something I like.
It depends for me. Sometimes I pick paper first other times die or stamps first. I do know that you lovely ladies here keep me full of ideas with your beautiful cards here.
Blessings and thank you for sharing your beautiful art!
I also have to start with a sketch of some sort. I love retrosketches.com they have good ones...there are tons of sites with card layouts or sketches. Before discovering that trick I was completely LOST!
I look at my list of cards to make, pull supplies suitable for a few cards. Think of an idea. Question that idea. A month later realize I haven't made that card and rapidly throw something together that doesn't look anything like my original idea.
I love the replies to the question on this thread! When starting a card I don't start with a layout but with the person in mind. I then ask my hubby what kind of things this guy is interested in. (Female cards are fairly easy). When he says its not golf then I get out the geometric designs. Really! My mind is totally blank for general guy cards so without hubby's suggestion of plain designs I would be lost. (I really love to make hunting, fishing, manly man cards but they are difficult.) For women I get the ideas from cards I've seen, a certain color jumps out at me, the season of the year playing a huge part in what I make. I laughed til rolling over QueenofInkland's "Hunt for Red October" begins...my artroom, too, is torn up just trying to put colors together etc. for my card. Flowers everywhere, dies and cases opened, paper (set aside in special bins for other ideas that come to me on my search) strewn....then finally it happens. The great idea! Then if the idea was complete a card is produced in an hour or so. If only a bit of an idea comes then I am at that table maybe several hours. Love this thread, as I don't think there is any perfect consistent way to put a card together...the really eye catching ones, that is. Cutsey cards for children etc. look easier, or Wedding cards as they just need to be white, and gorgeous.
Last edited by dottiejdavis; 04-30-2014 at 02:24 AM..
I generally start with the person and the occasion, then I think about the person and what they like, sometimes I will draw a quick sketch, then the fun begins...find a stamp that matches what I want to create...then the paper...then the embellishments...then I get sidetracked by a 'find' while I have been looking for the stamps and paper...then I have to make dinner, change the laundry over...then two weeks pass and I remember I was in the middle of making a card, return to my craft room, see what I have done, and start again!
I start by finding some patterned paper I want to use... often some scraps. Then I choose cardstock/ink, then stamps. From there, I use a sketch or a card from Pinterest that inspires me.
My design process usually starts with a trip to the store...I never have just the right color cardstock or PP to make a card even though I have an enitire cabnet filled to the brim with cardstock and PP... :-p
__________________ Bev
Organized People are just too lazy to hunt for things!!!
What is your design process?
