Week 4: Stenciled Cards

During week 4 of the greeting card class we made stenciled cards with one option being stenciled bookmarks as an added decoration.
We have a large cabinet full of acrylic paints, so many of the card projects during the trimester take advantage of this resource. Some students really enjoy this creative freedom but others find [...]

Week 3: Rubberstamping tips

Many of the students in the greeting card class have never used rubberstamps. The biggest problem that they encounter is not being able to get a clear image. With a little instruction and a few tips most are able to produce good images after just a little practice.

Use a stamp with a firm mount. Wood [...]

Week 3: Rubberstamp Cards

This week in the card class we’ll make cards using small rubberstamps arranged in threes or fours and matted. This card project builds on what we did in the first two weeks – Week 1: Four-patch cards and Week 2: Clip-art cards. It is also a basic introduction to using rubberstamps. The universe of stamping [...]

Week 2: Matting tips

Here are a few tips shared with the greeting card class as we made clip-art cards:

Pull the overall design of the card together by matting the card message with the same color mat as the clip-art . (The image on this sample card comes from the Curtis Botanical Collection hosted at the National Agricultural Library.)
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Week 2: Matting colored clip-art

Our second class went well but got off to a late start. The weather and some facility problems caused the delay. Fortunately, clip-art cards are almost intuitive to make and explanations are simple. The biggest problem is in selecting a mat to best frame the clip-art and set the desired mood for the card. See [...]