Cardmaking On A Shoestring: Bon Voyage Card

It has become extremely expensive to buy cards these days. A lot of people have taken to making their own cards, but sometimes these are so elaborate and expensive that it takes your breath away. In the next two blogs I want to share some ideas for making cards that will not cost an arm and a leg, yet does not lack for effect or prettiness. I kick off with a Bon Voyage card. You can of course choose any theme you like, though. The design I use is taken from my book Designs By Miekie 1.

When my niece and nephew demanded we do a card project, they selected these two designs from my book. I printed the designs, but drew dot-to-dot pictures for them to redraw. The result was that I was left with the printout of the designs. Not wanting these to go to waste (how frugal am I?!), I chose to use these printouts for the two blogs in this shoestring series. You can read all about the project I did with this kids by following this link.

I cut the designs apart. I will be working with this design in today's project.

I will start by coloring the picture using my Derwent Coloursoft pencils. These are very expensive pencils, but you can use any cheaper version with equal success for this kind of project. You really don't need artist grade pencils for what we intend to do.

I start with a bright blue on the clothes.

The blue is contrasted with an equally brilliant yellow.

The flesh is done in light pink.

The facial features, hair and make-up is then coloured.

The luggage is done in a slightly darker blue.

The sign for the bus stop is done in red and white.

The background is coloured in a muted neutral grey.

I then use rubbing alcohol to smooth the colouring lines. This can be obtained from a good pharmacy and is inexpensive.

Much better.

I carefully cut along the frame to get rid of the white edges.

The picture is now coloured and ready to be used on the card.

I find a 12" x 12" craft sheet matching the colours in the picture. I will use this to fold the card from.

Fold the craft paper in half to form a card.

I cut the top off my card, making the card 19 cm tall.

I now go in search of a sheet of plain A4 paper in a colour contrasting with that of the card, but coordinating with the colours in the design. I will use this paper to matt the picture to.

I measure the picture.

I cut the matting to be 1 cm larger than the picture in both width and height.

The picture is mounted to the matting and then to the card. I use double-sided tape for this.

Foam rubber die-cuts are extremely inexpensive and widely available. I opt to use three transport die-cuts. These all came from one pack of cut-outs. I will use Tombow glue to glue the cut-outs to the card.

To liven things up a bit, I add some rhinestones to the foam rubber stickers.

I also add a couple of foam rubber hearts.

A row of tiny buttons finished things off.

A pretty and very cheaply made card to wish someone well on a long journey or short trip.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
Jy kan Kom Ons Teken en Verf Tuinstories hier koop.
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Jy kan Tuinstories hier koop.
You can follow Miekie's daily Bible Study blog, Bybel Legkaart, here in English & Afrikaans.
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