Hey! Come see what I have made.: A cute homemade card tutorial

Time to stretch out my fingers and crank out my first tutorial blog!

You may or may not have seen this card design on etsy and pintrest. No way am I paying $8 plus shipping for something I can do myself!

STORY TIME: My friends and loved ones know me for my cool cut out cards. But they do not know that I am a horrible writer and just as bad at the whole sentiment thing. So the joke is on them! I make a really intricate design on the front of the card to cover up the terrible greeting on the inside. Precision knives are kinda my thing, so a blank card and steady hand are all the things I need for a nifty card. (Much more sincere than the crap cards you find at the drugstore last minute)

PROCEDURE:

Step 1. Gather your supplies.

Materials needed:

Pencil (duh)

Blank Greeting Cards (you can find these in packs at your local craft store, they will last a while unless you have a ton of friends) (Or you can always make the card from scratch, it is only just a folded piece of cardstock)

X-acto knife (Or any hobby knife. The one pictured I got at AC Moore for a dollar! I purchased maybe 3 of them for projects like this)

Scrapbook Paper (Or any type of pretty paper to use as a backdrop for your cut out)

Step 2. Sketch out a design on a scrap piece of paper. Be hyper aware of what pieces are popping out and which are staying intact. At this point you should know if your design is do-able. Simplicity is key here. I chose to do a wood grain design in the shape of a heart.

Crude Sketch

Step 3. Carefully and lightly sketch design on to your card.

Better Sketch

Step 4. CUT CUT CUT! Carefully, of course. Paper tends to scrunch if you press too hard with your knife. And most likely you are pressing too hard if you are a novice, like me. Practice makes perfect.

Step 5. ERASE! Take a good eraser and erase the pencil marks left behind.

**NOTE: Remember when I said to pick a simple, do-able design? Yeah, well I didn't follow my own directions. I didn't realize the knot in the middle of the heart was an impossible maneuver. So, I kinda winged it when I got to it with my knife. Another important reason to SKETCH beforehand.

Hard part is over, now for the fun part. You can also stop here if you'd like. A color backdrop is not always needed. Sometimes I enjoy the simplicity of only the empty space left behind.

Step 6: Cut out a piece of scrap book paper, cardstock, vellum or whatever the size of the front of the card.

Step 7: Open up the card. This is where your preference can take over. You may glue your cut cardstock to the inside of the front flap or the back flap. (You can see both versions below)

Flatten the card and glue by placing it between two large books to dry. Then you're done! Write a crappy greeting on the inside and you are good to go.

I made two versions of this card.

Glued to the back