It’s been ages since I’ve done any paper-crafting on the blog – which means I have been a TERRIBLE friend and have missed sending a LOT of birthday cards these past few months. In an effort to start 2018 off properly, and do a better job of remembering important moments and friends, I decided to create a few clean and simple cards (CAS) yesterday to get a jump on those January birthdays.
If you haven’t made cards before, it’s a very simple project: you’ll want cardstock because it’s a bit thicker and more substantial than printer paper a stamp set or stick on words and some glue.
Cut your paper to 5 ½” by 8 ½” and fold in half.
I like to stamp sentiments onto my CAS cards because they are always beautifully designed, consistent and far better than anything I could draw myself.
The sentiment is from a Stampin’ Up! set called “Big Day” – which I don’t believe is for sale, but you could probably find it used on Craig’s list or eBay.
CAS, clean and simple cards, refers to the fact that the card has a lot of white space and is minimal looking; very rarely will you find ribbons, bows or anything else 3 dimensional poofing out everywhere.
I had some heart punches so I just grabbed a rainbow of colours and punched them out. I like the fun and festivity of the colour spectrum – just perfect for celebrating a birthday.
I had my hearts cascade down the card, attached with glue, and “blinged” it up with a few rhinestone stickers from the dollar store.
I added a birthday cake, from the same stamp set, and a couple of hearts to the inside of the card as well to finish my clean and simple card off. I played with the arrangements a little and make a half-dozen CAS cards ready for adult and kid birthdays alike.
You may see a version of this done in reds and pinks for Valentine’s Day.
I haven’t written my Christmas thank you’s yet either – shame on me – so while I was in the paper-crafting mood I decided to create some CAS thank you cards as well.
This is a single stamp set from Stampin’ Up! called “Lotus Blossom” and it’s gorgeous. Each layer of the flower is stamped in a different colour to give it the highlights and shadows you see.
Again, clean and simple cards have a lot of white space (although not white on this card) and are very crisp and clean. I’m not much of a fru-fru girls, so adding a lot of bells and whistles isn’t my thing.
I used a round corner punch on opposite corners to give it a bit of interest and stamped a “thank you” on the inside.
These cards took minutes to whip out and I was able to get my Christmas thank you’s out the door in the same afternoon.
Easy, clean, and simple and off to a good start in 2018!
Have a great one!
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