Cardmaking

Shuttlebugs · Veteran Member

Cardmaking

dorian · Guru

I think it's admirable to make your own personalised greeting cards. I'd much rather receive one of them than some bland, manufactured sentiment.

In fact I think that the whole greeting card business is a scam. It's a wonder that the Chinese haven't capitalised on the one million percent profit margin.

Then again, I wonder what an Engrish greeting card would look like:
www.engrish.com/wp-content/uploads//2011/06/wedding-regret.jpg

Rip and Rosie · Guru

I love hand made cards.
I have a niece who makes hers but they are computer generated, so saying they are very clever and unique, and usually include her own photos.

pambaz · Senior Member

I would love to see some of your cards Susan.
I enjoy making them too but just don't seem to be able to pack for travelling. Too much "stuff". What do you take and what sort of storage do you use?

Pam

Shuttlebugs · Veteran Member

Lol about the wedding regret, dorian :)

Rosie, I too have a digital program that allows me to make cards, scrapbooks, 3d projects etc. It is the printing it that can be hard in the MH. But I love playing with the program. I can stop off at a place like Harvey Norman's and print if I need to.

Pam, thanks for your interest :) I actually have a website and blog with loads of my cards pictured on them. You can see them at www.papercraftcentral.com and cardmakingsaga.blogspot.com/ and there are also more of my projects on Facebook under papercraftcentral.com I'll attach a couple of pictures of cards made on the road and at home for you here though :)

As for storage, I took a plastic tub of cardstock, ink pads and punches with me on the road. I also took a bag of tools. They both fit on the overhead cab rack. When I go to crops I usually fill the boot of the car with 'stuff', so I thought I was being very frugal in the MH!! The punches I chose were basic shapes like circles, squares and ovals as I have found I can make a lot of punch art items with basic shapes - flowers, teddy bears, clowns...I thought I would start a plastic ziplock bag of punched shapes so it will be ready for the next trip though as punches are heavy critters.

The stamp sets I took were unmounted ones so I just took one average sized acrylic block for them to cling to. That weighed a lot less than wood mounted stamps do. I could pre stamp some images and just take some Copics or Stampin' Write markers along next time instead of stamp sets and acrylic blocks. That would weigh less.

I also colour coordinated the inks and papers I took so everything would go together. I pre-cut some card bases and card fronts so I wouldn't have to have too much paper with me but could still rejig what I had in a number of ways. I didn't take a heat tool or embossing powders and did miss that. If I am organised enough I will stamp and pre emboss some common sentiments and take a bag of them with me next time.

Do you have any other ideas that could help reduce size and weight??

-- Edited by Shuttlebugs on Sunday 10th of November 2013 09:57:16 PM

-- Edited by Shuttlebugs on Sunday 10th of November 2013 09:58:14 PM

pambaz · Senior Member

Your cards are lovely . Do you sell them?

I think you do well with what you take. I know I would pack too much and then I would be in trouble with you know who.

I think the only way to do it, is to work out what you want to do and how before you go away. Cut the papers and collect the embellishments for each card or project, the stamps and punches you want to use. Put each card,papers etc in an envelope or plastic bag.then take a small bag or box with the usual equipment,stamps,punches ,pens etc. pretty much like when you go on a crop or retreat.

Maybe for me I will just take my quilting, it all fits in a bag smaller than a pillowcase.

Pam

Pejay · Guru

Thought I would add a couple of photos of some cards I have recently made, although not 'on the road' but they would be suitable to make on the road - I like to keep to my KISS motto - for me the simpler the better.

pambaz · Senior Member

I really like your Christmas cards Pejay. Simple but elegant. When you have to make a lot the simpler the better.

Pam

halfpint · Senior Member

I really enjoy making card, very relaxing Even though camping is very relaxing card making puts me in another place. I have always made grandkids chrissy card & one year I didnt make cards, I gave my grandaughter a brought card, she read the card then looked at me saying " I am disappointed........... Next year was nans home made card.

grae and deb · Senior Member

Hi Susan

My name is Deborah, Grae and I have been on the road since Feb. We are on the road full time as we sold up everything to follow our dream of seeing Australia. I have been doing scrapbooking for years and am doing a scrap book/journal of our travels. Just before we left I did a class on card making and have been doing it ever since. We are working our way around Australia and often Grae is working and I'm not so I have a lot of time on my hands. I filled in by making cards and it got that way I had dozens and nothing to do with them. We are in a caravan park at the moment while Grae works and while I look for work and in the last 3 weeks I have had a sign up outside our van advertising cards for sale. I thought that while I was working in the annex on the cards I would see if anyone would like any. I advertise them at a price that is not a lot but is enough to cover costs. I can't believe how well it is going. I stick to simple but colorful designs, leave them blank with an offer to add a name or greeting if the customer wants. Many say that the simplicity is what they like and the fact I have cards for men. Today I sold all but one of my male cards so had to sit down and make a few more. The way it is going I may not have to go out to work.

All my supplies are kept under the bed when we travel and when we settle for a while and set up the annex they all come out. Grae jokes about the amount of gear I've it got but I know he is very pleased and proud of what I'm doing. Perhaps I've found my job.

I would love to hear from you and others that make cards and share ideas and experiences.

Deborah

pambaz · Senior Member

Hi Deborah,

Congratulations on the sale of your cards. Have you done Christmas cards? , that should be a good seller. Keep them simple as you will probably need a lot.

I made all my Christmas cards, some very simple and for special friends I did more elaborate ones. You can repeat the designs. Christmas tags would be a good seller too. I make Gift Card holders as well.

A friend of mine makes tags and sells them to a florist, she also makes simple but elegant cards and sells them to gift stores. She is doing very well.

I do a lot of scrapbooking but I mainly do family albums. I did scrapbook our first caravan trip (5 yrs ago) which was to Cairns, I ended up with 2 albums. Decided that wasn't going to work after many trips and 1000's of photos later. I would end up with far too many albums.

Enjoy your scrapbooking and card making, it's a terrific hobby.

Pam

countryroad · Senior Member

I scrapbooked my first Tassie trip, I can't believe the pleasure it still gives me, without even looking at it. I spent so much time making it that it all sits in my head and when something triggers a thought, the trip I scrapbooked pops up. Not the second trip, that wasn't scrapbooked.

Thinking maybe to just do odd pages of places, the cream of the crop maybe.

Robyn

pambaz · Senior Member

Robyn I have thought about doing one of those digital albums, you know the ones on Snapfish, Big W etc. I could do one of each trip and pick the best of the photos. Though that will be a hard task picking my favourites. Our son and his partner give us one every Christmas of the grandchildren. They use lots of photos and they are just lovely. They don't take up space like the big albums of scrapbooking.

It's a thought and maybe after Christmas when I have some time I will go through the photos of each trip.

Pam

Nelly · Guru

I am not a crafty person but I enjoy and appreciate what other people do and good on you ladies for doing what you like doing when travelling. I have put together a couple of the digital albums through Snapfish - they are very time consuming but good in the end (I think) I am actually doing one each for my 5 daughters for Christmas - starting with a photo of each of the Grandparents, then Dad and Mum as youngsters and then our wedding photo and then onto baby photos and then through their life to now. It makes it awkward when they keep coming and going into the house - everything has to be put away and then brought out again but I hope I will get there. Happy camping

neilnruth · Guru

Nelly, our son just did one for my husband's special birthday. It's great. So9 easy to pick up and browse through. I'm sure your daughters will love them. So far I've only done one for our children - 4 to go. You're doing well to try and do 5 at once!!

lyn-n-ken · Senior Member

Pam I'm a scrapadict and you can never have to may albums lol

Shuttlebugs · Veteran Member

Woops Christmas and end of year activities got in the way of checking back in with you all. It's great to read how crafting works out for you all on the road. I love quilting too, Pam/ Not sure I have enough room for two hobbies on the road though. Lol!

Deborah, I loved your stories about your card making and how people enjoy them and buy them. I always say I will sell my cards but have never really marketed them. Every year I make Christmas cards for our troops deployed overseas but now they are coming home I am not sure that will be needed so much. Selling cards wherever we stop is a great idea and gives me an excuse to have a small craft table set up under the awning, hey. No reason I couldn't run a class or two there either if anyone was interested. I do that from home now.

Peejay I loved your cards too.

I so agree with everyone's comments about their scrapbooks - that they jog the memory (and that you can never have too many - lol, Lyn!) Lately i have been using smaller journals and just posting a couple of things about memorable experiences and they help my memory as well. I use 'found' items (like brochures, post cards, ticket stubs, labels, etc) and an occasional picture, and journal more. I chose a 'smash' boo with scrapbook paper pages so there's no need to make backgrounds. It makes scrapbooking simpler and more casual, and of course you need less to finish a page so it is perfect for traveling. For our Christmas lunch pages I kept the awful jokes out of the Christmas crackers and printed off two photos, then accented with some star shaped sequins. That's about all I had to do!

jayem · Member

Hi crafters,

I, too love card making although I started out as a scrapbooker. I have been wanting to have some crafting with me but as I have a whole room here at home, I wondered how I could manage. I have decided that I need to have some kits ready to go, much like I do when I go to my card group. I have a base and then coloured card pre cut with my die of choice, often a heat embossed sentiment or die cut greeting, embellishments such as flowers, ribbon and bling and put it all into a sandwich bag. My basic kit includes tape, glue and tools and I am pretty well set. This is working well and I enjoy my creative sessions being productive as well.

I think I could sell my cards if I were in a caravan park but we mostly free camp... any suggestions?

lyn-n-ken · Senior Member

hi jayem
I'm sure people in free camps need cards to, make a sign and put it in one of your van windows might bring in some sales, I'm a scrapadict and take a plastic crate of stuff with me and a tool box of tools it goes in the car when we move on and in the annex when we set up, were on the road permanent I want to get into cards I even worked out how to do a photo card on the PC so am going to make my xmas cards with photos of where weve been. have you tried selling where you live, do you travel much.
let me know how you go with it.
lyn

hards · Member

I snuck two boxes of craft work under the bed and whenever we stop for more than a few days, out they come cards, fabric painting, watercolours. It was so hard to decide what to bring but this is a trial as we are going to be on the road for a few years and I couldn't face the thought of not doing some craft work. If only I could figure out how to sneak in my sewing machine and quiliting! Anyway, my dear hubbie saw me bring them out, shook his head and came back from town with a small craft table to set up in the annex. Gotta love him!!!!

lyn-n-ken · Senior Member

were on the road permanent 3 years now and I take my sewing machine I don't use it a lot but its there when I need to, I've changed my curtains 3 times and its a heavy duty one sews denim light vinyl I've sewn a shade drop and some Velcro on screens, it dosn't take up a lot of room and travels in it's original box, I met a lady who takes a embroidery machine with her and it was huge they carry it in the back of their 4x4, I have a folding table we put up in the annex and scrap out there I leave it set up with my stuff can go to it whenever I want, we stay 2/3 months at the one place so it gives me something to do when hubby is glued to the footy/sport ( boring ), I you want it bad enough you will find a place for it I've also met some quilters on the road and they take small sewing machines with them.
And we NEED a hobby with us.
lyn

BohemianGypsy · Guru

I've been a card maker for over twenty years and I love it. In the last few years I've gotten into scrap booking and art journaling as well as 3d items. Most of my cards are vintage designed and very dimensional which is my fav way to make them.

I love to do card challenges on card challenge blogs and they force you to think outside the box lol. I've taught card making and how to make journals from scratch including the binding etc. hubby calls my craft room my bat cave and not for the faint hearted. He is a joker lol.

When we do the big trip I will take a bit of everything to do and will also include my sewing machine hehehe. We've already discussed it and I said to hubby that I would forego clothes and shoes (less than I would normally take) to be able to take more craft supplies.

I look forward to seeing more of everyone's work and will maybe share some of mine.

Regards

Michelle

lyn-n-ken · Senior Member

good for you gypsy,
craft on and on
lyn

BohemianGypsy · Guru

Thanks Lyn. I have only recently gotten back into crafting and had a year and a half break due to the passing of my Mum. I didn't cope with it very well.

But I'm gradually getting into it all once again and I'm finally getting excited to be heading into my craft room once again lol.

Seriously though choosing how much to take on our journey will be the hardest as I will want to take it all including my Big Shot and all my Spellbinder dies, and embossing folders lol.

Michelle

Pejay · Guru

Ah Michelle, you sound so much like me - my craft room is called 'the Sgt's Mess'- for obvious reasons (hubby was in the army, and it constantly looks a mess.

And yes, I too take my machine 'on the road' with us, and surprisingly I have used it along the way. When we were down in Tasmania back in 2011, I purchased a polar fleece jacket in K-Mart at Devonport, and (as usual) the sleeves were too long, so out came the scissors, off came the excess, and under the machine to re-hem the sleeves. All done!!

When we head back up to BP Dam in Sept. I shall be taking my cardmaking - will make my Christmas cards in between fishing and socialising!!

-- Edited by Pejay on Saturday 2nd of August 2014 03:09:38 PM

BohemianGypsy · Guru

LOL Pejay, I totally understand Sgts Mess as hubby and I are both ex army. I could spend all day in my bat cave and not get bored lol. I used to be a Stampin' Up! Demo and I loved that too but had to give it up as I was spending much on stuff for myself lol.