The easy way to batch cardmake - tutorial

[Andrea Gourley]

3 hours and 10 minutes of my time this afternoon and 40 Christmas cards made each with paper, photograph, ribbon and a stamped tag.

Tools - craft knife and ruler, greeting stamps and ink, tag punch, ribbon and glue



Gather your supplies together. Buy cardblanks from the craft store or cut down cardstock like me. In photoshop I merged two papers together at the correct size to fit my cardblanks then I printed 4 of these pieces to each sheet of printer paper then trimmed them. I punched tag shapes from white paper, stamped a greeting then matted the tags onto red card and trimmed. My photographs were printed in Microsoft Photoprinting Wizard 9 to a page then trimmed all ready for adding to my cards



Clear your desk, stack up the papers, cardblanks, tags, photographs and cut your ribbon to the correct length then you're ready to go Do each step to all the cards before moving onto the next step in the process - rather like a production line

Adhere the paper to the cardblank - having all the patterns on just one piece of paper speeds everything up



Adhere the photograph - it would be just as easy to add an embellishment instead of the photograph



Tie and knot the ribbon, trim the ends



Glue on the tag - position it under the knot of the ribbon and then it will look like you've tied it on without having to get fiddly



Ta Da!!!!! 40 finished cards. No hassle. No stress. Happy friends and relatives who think you've spent hours handmaking a card for them. A happy cardmaker who can spend the rest of the day watching Christmas movies and snuggling with her puppy



I used Zoe Pearn's Winter Wonderland digital kit

[lovely1m]

Wow! Fabulous cards. They look great.

[ColleenSwerb]

Oh man, those are adorable!! I'm starting to get a smidge stressed over christmas cards, since I've been sick for 4 days and unable to do a stinkin thing, but this gives me hope! LOL!

[Keely~B]

Wowzers, that is the way to do it! They are awesome.
Now I'm feeling guilty for foregoing the whole card thing this year

[supertwinkle]

We decided to forego cards this year too. But your assembly-line process cards look like fun to do!

[Andrea Gourley]

Go on girls! Seriously, if you want to make a stack of cards this is the way to go. At just before 1PM I had the idea in my head and by 5PM not only had I made the cards but I'd done the tutorial.

If you're stuck for ideas there are stacks of cards in both the hybrid inspiration gallery and the hybrid babe gallery

[ColleenSwerb]

PS~I'm jealous you snagged that stamp set. I tried to buy it last week and it's still not in stock!

[Julie Billingsley]

wow! this is awesome! I could see doing a bunch of birthday cards like this too! Or valentines! I should totally give it a try!

[lovely1m]

I made our cards this year, too, but took the easy way out, totally digital, even with a template from the fabulous Listgirl, and printed out at Walgreens on 4x6 photo paper.

[livelys]

You're so good Andrea, and efficient!

I seem to be going digital this year too, using the cards I've made for December giveaways.... though my Mum would kill me if I didn't make something extra special just for her

[pkstew2]

Those are so adorable! We haven't even taken a Christmas photo yet - yikes!

[junebug]

they look great! i opted to make mine all different. so it's taken men awhile. one card here and there, started in the beginning of November. i have one more to make, then i'll mail them out. this seems so much easier, lol. wish i had made them all the same!

[Balinda]

the last handmade cards I ever did was wayyyy back in grade school..
this makes me wanna do this next year. Thanx for showing us your system.

[wvasweetness]

Wow - those are fab!!

[Andrea Gourley]

Honestly girls this is a really quick way of making a stack of cards. Even if you've never made cards before one trip to the craft store to buy some card blanks, adhesive and perhaps some ribbon and an evening of playing and you can knock up a batch all ready for Christmas or even a set of birthday cards to bundle together to give as a gift

[newfiemountiewife]

I love these Andrea!

Where do you get the card blanks? I live in the sticks, is there somewhere online? LOL

[Andrea Gourley]

Jamie I'm not sure about over there in the US. I live in the UK Someone will come along wo knows I'm sure

[lltheo]

Fantastic, Andrea!! The photo of your puppy is so adorable!

This sounds really silly, but when you say card blanks do you mean the sets of blank cards and envelopes you can buy at craft stores? I have Michaels and Hobby Lobby near me and they sell plain cards/envelopes in packs of 10 or 25 ready for card-making?? I think this is what you are referring to.

And, might I add...the stamps are spectacular!

Loveeeeeee this!

[Andrea Gourley]

Hi Leigh, that's right. You should be able to buy packs of blank cards with envelopes. They might be scored ready for you to fold or they will come prefolded. I tend to fold and cut my own cards. Over here in the UK we have A4 sheets of card, kind of similar in size to your 8 1/2 by 11 cardstock. I score and fold in half (if you score first you get a sharper and neater folded edge) then I cut them in half.

[meems]

oh those are so cute, Andrea! I just want to copy your card design hee hee

[Julie Billingsley]

Andrea, I must say I keep coming back to look at your adorable little Westie! I had a Westie growing up named Frosty and I just loved her to pieces. Your little guy is adorable!

[Andrea Gourley]

Thankyou Julie, he's gorgeous We're having a birthday party for him next week as he will be one year old. His name is Haggis and we all adore him. He's the Grand-dog of the family and loved as if he was a Grandchild

[jan31]

your cards are lovely and maybe next year I will follow your example, I have been making my christmas cards since about september and make everyone different, I dont know why, and I get stressed out thinking of ideas for each one, the worst ones of the specials for family and special friends as they expect brilliant cards every time and it just gets harder each time.

[Isabel]

Great cards!

[meganmecrazy]

Those are gorgeous!

[tettletop20]

Oh those are fantastic!

I do have to add that Joann's sells blank cards and envelope sets in like 50 (somewhat) bulk for $7.99! Cheaper than Michael's (that I've found). Use your 40% off coupon and it's a steal!

[HeatherStokes]

AMAZING - and you make it look so EASY - I wish I had seen this sooner!