by Claire_Wolfe

Created on: July 22, 2011

Card making is an extremely popular craft at the moment and there is so much fun to be had in creating personalised cards for your loved ones. There are so many different techniques in card making that it can be quite a daunting prospect when you are just starting out but here are a few techniques that can be used as a beginner.

First of all there, are a few basic items that you will need to have:

• A cutting mat is an essential item, as well as a craft knife

• Some foam pads which will give your cards some height

• A ruler and a pencil – preferably an automatic one so you can make precise marks

• Some scissors

• Double sided tape and/or a tape runner

• Some glue

One easy way to begin with card making is by using decoupage. This means that you build up images making them 3D so they stand out a bit more. You can buy sheets of decoupage that are ready cut (die-cut) so you don’t have to spend time cutting out all the fiddly little bits. There are also decoupage packs available which usually have all you need to make a few cards, including the backing papers which are a must have for any crafter.

The sheets of decoupage are normally numbered, or lettered according to the order you assemble the image. If they aren’t then you need to work down in size order – starting from the beginning and working down to the smallest parts.

Layer up the image using foam pads. Foam pads come in various different thicknesses so the thicker the pads you use, the higher your image is going to be. If you don’t want the image to be too high then you can either use thinner foam pads or don’t use all the layers. You will still be able to produce an effective image only using two or three of the layers of decoupage.

Once you have layered up your image you are ready to put it on the card. If you are stuck for layouts in the beginning then there are several websites available which people upload their cards they have made. Don’t copy them, but use them to get ideas on how to lay the cards out. There are also websites with templates on them. These show a basic outline drawing of a card and allows you to build your card up based on the template.

Use the technique of ‘matting and layering’ to build up the 3D image you have just created. This is where you add a coloured piece of card behind the 3D image, with a small border showing, to make it stand out slightly more.

After you have

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