Are you ready? It’s time to start thinking about the holidays. Now that everybody is back from ScrapFest, bubbling with enthusiasm and ideas, let’s talk about photo cards. Holiday cards come to mind when you think about photo cards, but what about cards for all occasions? What about using all those great photos you have stored on your computer (or camera card if you “never seem to get them moved to your computer” like me).

It seems like everybody is sending photo cards these days. They are very easy to compose on the computer from many websites, they are economical, and they take little time to get ready for mailing. Well, what if you want to jazz up some of the pre-printed photo cards for special friends, grandparents or people that you know will cherish every card you make? Today I am going to show you how to alter pre-printed photo cards by trimming the card, mounting onto a notecard, and adding decorative stamping and embellishments.

First, here is a simple yet elegant holiday photo greeting idea. This is probably one of the easiest cards you will see this week, but it is time to start thinking about the photo you will use for your holiday cards.

Photos purchased from photographers can be expensive, but make a wonderful holiday gift. I used an acetate overlay for the stamped greeting so as not to damage the photograph. Even the bow is attached on top of the acetate and red cardstock so the picture can be removed and framed. The white ink and red décor accent dots are the perfect complement to the colors Bryan and Natalie used for their wedding.

Supplies:

• Clear Design: Holiday Cheer
• Cotton White StazOn
• Red Metallic Décor
• Acetate Cards
• Other: red cardstock, large white notecards, paper trimmer, glue dots, sheer white ribbon

Instructions:

1. Trim a piece of acetate to fit over the photo, leaving a tiny border over the top of the photo. Stamp the message in white StazOn ink.
2. After the ink has completely dried, layer the acetate over the photo and add to a piece of red cardstock. Attach the bow with glue dots so that no glue touches the photo.
3. Add two strips of red metallic décor accents in the bottom corner on the red cardstock. Finally add the layered photo on a large white notecard.

Todd, Hero Arts Vice President of Sales sends a family photo each year. By adding a few details and mounting the pre-made photo card it takes on a whole new meaning. With two stamping daughters in his family I’ll bet Todd will be taking home some supplies for this year’s card.

The beauty of this type of card is that most of the work is done for you, the final embellishments are added by you, and the card is heavier than traditional photo cards and can stand alone on a mantle or table. The addition of a poinsettia gives this card a dimensional effect.

By deciding how you will be creating your holiday cards before Thanksgiving you can use the weekend to add personal accents to your holiday cards, and maybe even get a little help from any stampers in your family.

Supplies:

• Flourish Trio
• Cotton White StazOn
• Red Metallic Décor
• Poinsettia Art Flowers
• Long Notecards White
• Other: paper trimmer, glue, red cardstock

Instructions:

1. Trim the photo card so you have enough space for a red background piece of cardstock, leaving a small border of the white notecard showing.
2. Cut ½” strips of red paper and stamp with the flourish design using the white ink pad. Stamp along the right side of the trimmed red cardstock using the same flourish and white ink.
3. With the stamped side down fold one end of the strip over (forming a long backwards “L” shape). Now fold the long end over meeting the first fold in a point. Cut off the long end and you have created your own photo corners. Repeat three additional times.
4. After assembling the card and corners on the white notecard, layer two poinsettias and add metal décor in the center. Add three metal décor embellishments over the design.

Note: I am going to show these and some additional photo corners in Wednesday’s video, along with a demo of making stamping over two pieces of paper look seamless (the technique I used in the next card.)

Lastly today, the Mattson family card was enhanced with Hero Arts Snowflake Gems and the flourish image used on Todd’s card. Can you tell I am proud of my nephew and his family?

This card is easy to assemble and I accented the blue and snowflake background with colored ink and clear gems.

Using a 12″X12″ piece of cardstock will allow you to get three blue backgrounds from each piece of scrapbook paper.

Supplies:

• Flourish Trio
• Chocolates and Blueberries Chalk Ink Queue
• Baby Blue and Clear Gemstones
• Snowflake Gem
• Long Notecards White
• Other: paper trimmer, glue, blue cardstock, paintbrush,bone folder

Instructions:

1. Trim the pre-purchased photo to fit a piece of blue cardstock. I like to add the photo after I have stamped the border.
2. Attach the blue cardstock to the long white notecard. Using a bone folder or kraft stick, smooth the edge of the blue paper where you will be stamping. Ink the flourish stamp and stamp a border along the right side of the card. There will be some areas along the edge, (where the two papers meet) that have incomplete designs. Dab a fine point paintbrush into the ink pad and paint the part of the design that did not stamp.
3. When the paint has dried attach the photo card. Add snowflake gems and gemstones (if there are some hand painted areas you are not happy with, that’s the perfect place for a gemstone.

For this week’s challenge we invite you to create a photo card. So, dig through your photos and let’s see what you all come up with! I am willing to bet that you’ll be showing me some great cards I never even thought of on Flickr this week. In addition to a photo, use at least one Hero Arts stamp or digital element and upload your photo cards to the Hero Arts Flickr Group by Sunday, September 27 at 11:59 pm PST. Please tag your creations with the code word photocard. By entering, you could win a shopping spree of your choice of Hero Arts products from the NEW Hero Arts Online Store! (Shipping charges apply.) Winners will also receive a 2009 Hero Arts catalog, sent separately. The prize amounts are as follows:

• Fresh Face Winner (someone who has not yet won a contest): $50
• Digital Winner (create something using a Hero Arts Digital Kit): $50
• 1st Place: $50
• 2nd Place: $25
• 3rd Place: $15

Tomorrow I am going to give you some ideas on how you can use the same supplies to create three different versions of a photo card, because we all know how boring it is to make the same card over and over 100 times!  I promise to make you smile, and maybe even go out and buy a box of candy. These cards will add a bit of humor and can even convey a personal message to friends and family.

Until tomorrow,

Filed under: photocard

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 4:35 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.