For those of you that don’t know, I’m off in London, England until into the first week of March.  I’ve seen a lot of great things so far, but I have to say, they have some fantastic card shops.  I’ve found one chain here in particular that sells “handmade” cards that are really something to be seen.

Lots of them are very detailed and really something anyone would love to send, let alone get in the mail.  Of course with all beautiful things, there is a price.  The card above is £5.60.  That’s $8.53 cents if you bought it in the US.  Yikes.

Something else that is odd to me, but apparently totally normal here, (outside of driving on the left, lol), is that a lot of the cards for mailing have really big dimensions.  At home 6″ square cards are big and we are charged extra postage, here the vast selection of the cards are at least that big, and most are bigger.

Seeing things like this is the stores makes me feel all that much better making them myself!

~Jen

i’ve been doing some nosing around to find out proper postage rates for your cards.

as far as i can tell, your standard size cards require only the 44 cent stamp.  you shouldn’t worry about extra postage on your card if you’ve used pop-dots on them – one layer of pop-dots should not increase the postage.

the us postal service DOES charge a 20 cent surcharge on items they deem as “non-machinable”; these would include square cards, and cards that are mailed in plastic envelopes.

i found the us postal service website a little difficult to maneuver through, and it took a lot of searching just to find that little bit of information for you.  my suggestion to you would be to take some different sized cards and different types of envelopes along with you the next time you’re going to the post office, and ask them first-hand what the prices are…that way you can purchase any extra postage rates you’ll need to make sure your cards reach their destination in time!

happy mailing!

i’ve spent the last few days perusing websites and blogs in search of new inspiration for my cards.  sometimes i feel as if everything starts to look like everything else, so i need to mix things up a little.  i found some great new ideas, and i can’t wait to try them out!  i won’t share my sources, but if you sign up for the monthly card kits, you’ll be the happy recipient of some new, fun techniques   remember…registration for this month’s kit is open until february 22nd…make sure to reserve yours today!!!

we all find ourselves in a rut every so often…not being able to come up with a single useable idea – or what i like to call “wasting paper”.  sometimes it’s best to just put your project aside until your mind clears and your creative juices start flowing again.  but, if your on a ‘time-crunch’ and really need to produce something, don’t feel bad about perusing magazines and websites to look for great ideas that you can draw from.

having to produce cards every month for mail-out kits AND a class, my mind sometimes draws a huge blank.  one of my favorite sites to visit for inspiration is www.twopeasinabucket.com.  the site is chock full of ideas – you could literally saty on there for DAYS and scroll through the pages!!!

where do you go for inspiration?  what do you do that “puts the juice back in your coconut”??  PLEASE SHARE!!!

any card maker knows that the beginning of your card starts with a good card “base”;  that is, your standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.  in order to acheive that base, you need a good paper trimmer and some sort of scoring tool.

as with everything else, there are sooooooo many paper trimmers on the market…and you’ll probably buy at least three before you find one that you’re comfortable with!  i have purchased MANY (i won’t reveal the exact number), but have narrowed me “keepers” down to four:  the Fiskars Rotary Trimmer, Fiskars Personal Trimmer, the Cutterpede, and the Making Memories Precison Paper Trimmer.  each trimmer has a specific purpose for me, and i faithfully use each one.

the Fiskars Rotary Trimmer is large (not for taking along with me when i crop), and i use that one to cut the bases for my cards.  i like it because it cuts through two sheets of cardstock at once, and cuts a nice straight line.  a bonus is that this trimmer has interchangeable blades, which means that i can cut different edges or even score if i choose to.

the Fiskars Personal Trimmer is my most used of the four that i own.  i use this one for all of my cutting…no matter what the project.  i get a good straight line, it’s portable, and the blade lasts a decent amount of time.  this trimmer also offers a scoring blade, although i’m not a big fan of it; i have found that most often the scoring blade scores too deep, and my card crease ends up ripping.

the Cutterpede also offers interchangeable blades – both cutting and scoring – but this trimmer i use strictly for scoring.  i have not had luck with getting the cutting blade to cut a straight line, so i threw those out and consider this my “scoring tool”.  the scoring blades last a LONG time, and the crease i get is a nice one.

the Making Memories Precision Trimmer is a “stand-by” for me.  i bought this one because i had demo-ed it at a trade show and fell in love with it.  i have to be honest and tell you that i think the prototype was much better than the finished product…but maybe i just received one of a bad batch.  the big plus to this one is that the blade is self-sharpening, and that means a heck of a lot to a card maker

i’m always on the lookout for new products that work well, so if you own a trimmer other than the ones i listed and you love it, please let me know what you have;  there’s always room in my studio for a trimmer that needs a home

even before the cost of printed papers rose, i always held onto my scraps.  i found that while making other projects, i may have just needed a small piece of “this” or a thin strip of “that”, and it was quite wasteful to cut into an entire 12 x 12 sheet for how little was needed.  i keep all of my scraps in a basket next to my work station where they are easily accessible for when i’m working on those little projects.  my rule of thumb: if it’s smaller than 2 x 2, throw it out…anything larger stays put.

if you don’t want to hold onto your scraps, consider passing them along.  i have a card-making friend that i share mine with (and she LOVES getting them!), or you could donate them to your child’s school – the younger aged classrooms are always in need of supplies for their art projects.

so, don’t throw out those scraps!!!  find a way to re-use them in your projects, or pass them along to someone who can.

i love the look that inking gives some cards.  my favorite ink pads to use are the Distress Inks put out by Ranger.  these ink pads are available in 24 great colors, are acid-free, non-toxic, fade resistant and water based.  they feature a higher raised felt area, which is optimal for direct to paper techniques.

there are many different ways to use these ink pads, and i’ll give you a quick run-down on a few of them:  (1) run the ink pad down the edge of your paper for an aged look (2) swipe the pad across the surface of your paper and blend with a stipple brush for instant antiquing (3) crumple up your paper, them smooth it out and run the pad over it for a heavy aged look (4) use the pad as you would a normal ink pad for stamping – the pads are highly pigmented and have a longer drying time, so they work well for stamping.

i like to rip the top layer off of my pads…it reveals a whole different type of surface to the pad, and i find that i get a “softer” look when i ink my projects.  (just a note:  doing this does not prevent you from being able to use the pad for stamping!!)

if you’re interested in learning more ways to ink, you can google “how to use distress inks”, and you’ll find tons of examples!

think outside of the box, and try this technique on your next project!

i have always loved to color.  as a child, a coloring book and a box of crayolas would keep me occupied for hours!  not much has changed for me, and a brand new box of crayons, a new pallet of watercolors, or a new set of markers illicits the same excitement in me now as it did 30 (did i say that?!) years ago.

there are many products you can use to color stamped or printed images on your cards:  alcohol inks, colored pencils and markers are just a few.  and of those i listed, there are a GAZILLION “types” to choose from.

my favorite medium to use are markers, and my most used are my ZIG Brushables.  these are great because the marker features two brush tips, with a color on one end and a tint of the same color on the other end; this makes for super easy shading.

i also own a small set of the Copic markers.  i haven’t used them much, but am excited to do so…i’m just waiting patiently for jen to give me a tutorial

with so many options available, my suggestion to you would be to experiment with different mediums and find what you’re most comfortable with.  and, don’t limit yourself to just one medium – use what gives you the effect you’re looking for on your project.

happy coloring!

p.s.  my first “card of the week” went in the mail yesterday…have you sent your’s yet????

debb says:

Prism papers rock! Thanks for the opp – you can’t go wrong using prism!

Thanks to Random.org for helping pick a winner.  Debb, please drop me an email so I can get you registered for your mini kit!  Thanks to everyone else for participating.

Registration for the January Card Kits is now close and I’m working on getting card kits done and ready to ship today.  As always they will go out the last week of the month, if not before.

Happy Monday!

Jen