How to make card elements

You've been hearing a lot of talk from me about making card elements. Today, I am going to show you how to do that.  Let's start with die cutting. First of all, you will have to cut your pieces out. All four of the dies I am using are from Papertrey Ink and they all have coordinating stamp sets. I like to think I am being very efficient when I am cutting out my mat stacks. As you can see, I use four dies at a time. I even double up my paper.  So with each cycle through the Big Shot, I get 8 pieces cut. Not bad!  Next up, I stamp the card elements using various stamps and colors.  This takes awhile and I do mess up one or two every now and again. I find that the more you stamp the image, the better you get at the placement.  Once I have the mat stacks all stamped out, I package them (this is how I store them) in clear plastic sleeves.  They are all set to use on a card.  I usually do the cutting and stamping on the same day. I do a ton of them.

 

The fun part comes when you go to use all of your card elements. I have already showed you how I make "Lana Cuts"  backgrounds. I have a box full of these sorted by brands of paper.  So usually I start with picking my background piece. Then I grab a card element that I like for the layout of the background. Finally, I chose an image. This particular one is a digital image by Pure Innocence. I color in my image with my Copic markers to coordinate with my papers. Once I am done, I cut out my image and pop it up with some foam tape on the mat stack.  I usually will add ribbons, and buttons at this time. The whole card just comes together so easily when you make them this way.

I have been using different images on these cards, but so far I am loving the digital images by Sweet & Sassy (Cocoa) and the Pure Innocence images. I like being able to play with the size before I print them so they will fit my card perfectly!

I hope you have enjoyed my little card elements class!  LOL! Happy Sunday!

Comments

[PeggyF(lefsegirl)]

Great tip Lana. I may have to get busy and use up some of my product so that I may purchase some new trendy stuff. Also, I hope you had a great Birthday (little late)!!

[Sara]

I came across this post while doing an image search for mat stacks. I totally could not resist checking out such a fun looking pile of mat stacks! You've definitely inspired me to do the same. It seems like a great way to be prepared for when crafty time is limited. :)