Welcome back and happy first of December!  Can’t believe it’s here already.  How did THAT happen? The holidays are just around the corner — and, if you’re like me — you’ll be rushing around trying to get everything done.   So this week I’ll be showing you lots of tips and tricks for making cards in minutes — that look like you spent ages on them!   Let’s dive right in…

You know how I love glitter!  One huge time saver for me when making cards is to let glitter do the coloring.  For these cards, first I stamped the Design Block Stunning Snowflakes on the card base, then I stamped the ornament.  Next I ran a nice thick line of glue along the inner edge of the stamped line, being careful not to go over the line.  Then I used a paintbrush to pull the glue towards the center.  Sprinkle on the glitter, let it dry, sew (or draw!) a line for the ornament to hang from and you’re done!

Oh and here’s another neat thing about glitter — you can glitter right over part of an image to cover it up.  Here, I glittered over the to/from.  It’s a great way to get more from your stamps!

Featured Supplies

• Clear Design Holiday Tags
• Design Block Stunning Snowflakes
• Other: red glitter (unknown), green glitter (Martha Stewart), glitter glue, corner rounder punch, silver thread + sewing machine.  Note:  You could also use glitter glue, but if you are making a bunch of these it’s more economical to use regular glitter + glue.

Now for two more cards and two more tips.  If you have time to do some coloring, use watercolors!  I love using them because you don’t have to be perfect — the soft edges and impreciseness are all part of “the look”.   Another tip I’ve learned for making cards in a hurry is to eliminate as much cutting as possible.  I followed that trick + using glitter to do the coloring on the ornament cards above, too!

Here’s how I watercolor:  using a blunt pencil, loosely scribble circles where you want the color to go.  I used two greens here. Be sure to use a blunt pencil so that you don’t make grooves in the paper.

Then use a wet brush to blend the colors, let dry, and assemble your card!

Here’s another tip:  look for images that just need a hint of color, like this cute penguin tag!  For this one, I just put some blue watercolor pencil along the edges, then pulled it in towards the center of the tag with a wet brush.

Featured Supplies

• Flourish Christmas Tree
• Clear Design Holiday Gift Tags
• Felt Snowflakes
• Felt Poinsettias
• Teal Gemstones, Clear Gemstones
• Other: watercolor pencils, ribbon (American Crafts), embossing folders (snowflake background and houndstooth, Cuttlebug), scalloped rectangle die (Nestabilities)

Now for the next tip — keep the focus on the message!  After all, that’s really what the card is all about.  Use pop dots to make your message — well, er — POP!

And, here’s another tip — use embellishments to add that extra “little something” — it’s so fast and simple.  Here’s a little button snowman with a paper scarf and nose, plus black gems for eyes:

Another tip:  try stamping your message in an unexpected color — I used grey here.

Featured Supplies

• Clear Design Holiday Wishes
• Happy Birthday Background
• Neutral Card Buttons
• Black Gemstones
• Sparkle Gem Hearts
• Other: patterned paper for the snowman’s scarf (Basic Grey)

And, two more tips for today — use tone-on-tone stamping!   Tone-on-tone stamping means to stamp with ink that is the same color as your cardstock.  You’ll be able to put together a card in minutes this way, and it will be easy to coordinate embellishments.

Here I stamped the Design Block Holly Flourish with  VersaMark ink + clear sparkle embossing powder for a white-on-white look.   Which brings me to my last tip for the day — use Design Block stamps — they cover most cards in one swoop!  This card is a little larger, so it took two swoops.

I actually spent the most time trying to decide what color ribbon to use, since so many would work and had to ask my mother-in-law, Dotty, to help me choose.  Oh and — that’s my little nephew — he’s such a sweetie!

This card is so fast to make — once you pick out your ribbon, ha ha — that even if you haven’t started on your cards yet you can get them all done in a jiffy!

Featured Supplies

• Sparkle Clear Magic Holidays (for the “naughty n’ nice” message)
• Design Block Holly Flourish
• Square Photo Cards and Envelopes
• VersaMark Ink
• Clear sparkle embossing powder
• Other: photo (taken by Dotty, thanks Mom!), ribbon (The Paper Studio)

Want to make some of these cards?  ALL of the stamps used today are HERE in the Hero Arts Online Store!  Woo hoo!

If you haven’t guessed it already, the challenge is to use at least one Hero Arts stamp to make a card in minutes!  Try to limit yourself to 15-20 minutes.   You don’t have to count time spent doing a sketch or gathering your supplies.  The card can have any theme you like — I shared holiday cards today, but I’ll have non-holiday cards to share tomorrow and later in the week! Upload your card to the Hero Arts Flickr Group by Sunday, December 7th at 11:59 pm PST and tag it with the code word “minute-cards.”  Please include any tips in your description.

Here are the prizes:

• Fresh Face (someone who has not yet won a contest!): $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2008 catalog
• 1st  place: $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2008 catalog
• 2nd place: $25 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2008 catalog
• 3rd place: $10 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2008 catalog

Speaking of prizes, let’s have a giveaway!

These photo frame cards are perfect for making cards to send to everyone on your list!  I’ll randomly select five winners Wednesday morning.  To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post with a tip for making cards in a flash.

See you tomorrow when I’ll be back with more make-it-in-minutes tips + a very special guest!  Meanwhile, there’s a sneak of the 2009 Catalog HERE that I know you’ll want to peek at!

Filed under: minute-cards

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 4:04 am and is filed under Motivation Mondays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.