Are you looking for ideas on how to make handmade cards with patterned paper? Maybe you have lots of patterned paper in your craft room that you have not had the courage to cut? or perhaps you have scraps of patterned paper left from a previous project and need ideas to use them! If any of these are you, then continue reading this post, as today I will share with you a few tips to use your patterned paper to make handmade cards!
So let’s get started!
Handmade Cards with Patterned Paper
First of all, you will need to pick a pack of patterned paper that you like a lot, and see what is that you like about it.
- Is it the colors on it? or
- the images on it?
This will help you define how you will use this paper. For instance, if you like the colors then you can use them as the color combination for your handmade cards. And if it is the images on it, you can even see if you can cut them out and use them as the focal point in your cards or as embellishments. This really makes it easy to incorporate the paper into your cards.
In my case, for these cards, I did not have images to cut out, however I absolutely loved the color combination on it, so I decided to use it as the color combo for my projects as you are seeing in the picture below.
If you are interested in seeing examples of how to use images from the patterned paper then:
- check this post to see how you can use the images as an embellishment for your card, or
- this other post to see how you can use the images as the focal point
Because there wasn’t images to use in my patterned paper, I used the images from the “Celebrate Sunflowers” for my cards. So the next step after picking the paper to use, is to select the stamp set to coordinate.
If you use a suite from Stampin’ Up! this step is easy as you can select the paper and the stamp set from the same suite. In this particular case I actually decided to use a different set from a different suite. So never think that you cannot mix and match!
The Color Combo
As mentioned before, from the patterned paper I got the inspiration for my cards which includes the colors below. Note that the paper also had Flirty Flamingo as well, however, I did not use that one on the color combination.
When you are picking colors for your color combination, start with fewer colors and as you are designing you can add highlight colors to enhance them.. In my case I could have used a little of Flirty Flamingo.
Another thing to note, is that it is usually easier to start with fewer colors rather than with every single color in the patterned paper, and only if you need to add another color. The designing process goes much more smoother when you focus in less colors.
So just play with the colors.
Sketches and other details
Once you have selected the paper to use and the stamp set for your cards, then the next step is to use sketches! this is the best way to come up with card ideas in no time! Below I am sharing the sketches for these cards as well as other details.
Handmade Card #1
For all the cards that I am showing in this post, I colored the sunflowers using the same colors and the same technique. If you are interested in how to color them, I added a video tutorial at the end of this post for you to see step by step.
This first card follows an easy sketch but I changed it for a fun fold. You can see that this fun fold in particular is easy to incorporate with any sketch.
The tip on this card that I want to share with you, is that because of the way this card open and closes, it is best to glue the inside of the card first, that way you can make sure that the front covers the inside panel (which is where you would write your message)
Handmade Card #2
This second card is also super easy to make, this would be perfect for when you have smaller left over scraps of paper! You just mat them with coordinated cardstock and glue them to your card, and voila! you have a card!! That simple!
Also note that for all these cards I am coloring my ribbon with alcohol markers! This is a great tip to have color coordinated embellishments in any color that you need!! I love doing that.. So the key thing is to have a neutral ribbon or embellishment that you can color with the Stampin’ Blends.
A few good examples of this are:
- Metallic Edge Ribbon or any other White or Off white ribbon
- Clear Rhinestones
- Clear Epoxy Droplets
- Pearls
Always have some neutral embellishments on hand as these will be perfect for any project!!!
Handmade Cards #3
This final card is as well a fun fold and it follows a very similar layout as the first card, the only difference on this card is the orientation of the fun fold!
Which takes me to my next tip!! Always play with the orientation of the layouts!! I promise you will get lots of new looks just by changing the orientation, in this case this fun fold opens and goes up and down, where the first card open from right side to left side!! Pretty fun huh!
The Video Tutorial
As mentioned previously, below is the video tutorial where you will be able to see how to make these cards from start to end. I share the dimensions and go step by step on how to color these sunflowers with alcohol markers as well as how to make the fun fold cards shown in this post. I also go over the inks and colors I use.
Hope you enjoy it.. and if you have any question, don’t hesitate to leave me a comment!! I will be more than happy to help you
The Supply List
You can see below the full list of Items I used to make these cards, if you click on the images below it will take you to my online store where you can purchase any of these items. I truly appreciate your continuous support 🥰
