Do you make your own envelopes for your Handmade Cards?

If you are like me, your answer to this question would be Yes!!!

You see I like crafting so when I learnt from Crafter's Companion, I could make my own envelopes,I was excited. I bought the Ultimate Crafter's Companion Tool . Its been probably 4 years and I still use it today for scoring and making envelopes and boxes. The tool is really versatile....

Anyway, I used to buy envelopes from an art store for my handmade cards. Coloured envelopes, texturized envelopes and oftentimes I encountered a few issues.

1) The card was often times too big for the envelope because I would forget to measure before cutting (my fault) and there was no way of trimming it without spoiling the design

2 ) Some of my customers would request certain sizes of cards and I had to go searching stationery / art stores in Trinidad (and there aren't many) to get the particular size envelope

3) It was costly and at the time customers were not willing to pay extra so I had to absorb the loss

4) The store would run out of stocks and there I go again looking for envelopes

When I found the online store crafter's companion, you could imagine I was pretty excited. I bought paper in bulk from a paper company in Trinidad and for a fraction of the cost (more like 1/20 the cost) I was hooked and begun making my own envelopes. Since then I have designed my own envelopes adding other elements to the outside of the cards.

Now I can adjust the sizes of the envelopes to customers request, the cost of making cards have reduced, less time is spent hunting all over Trinidad for envelopes and I no longer run out of envelopes.

Again, thank you for visiting my blog ....till next time. Don't forget to leave me a comment.

'One of a kind' Cards vs 'Repeat designs'

ONE OF A KIND VS REPEAT DESIGNS

Whether you like to receive cards, send cards or design cards, I am sure you've been asked on many occasions about your preference for 'one of a kind' or 'repeat' design. 

For me the answer is definitely a resounding 'One of a kind' cards ...you know... different designs every time. I love to play with all of my card making tools and resources. Love the adventure ...don't you???

ONE OF A KIND CARDS

From a designer point of view for me..... its refreshing,its exciting...its challenging and I love challenges. I love to see things as an adventure as I try not to take life too seriously all the time (just some times). I tap into my inner child to explore the world of fun in my card making process.

Thats why I will be celebrating 100 days of christmas starting
23rd September and ending 6th January 2016 with a new card design every day...you may find that some of the stamps were repeated but still its a different card.

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For the person who is purchasing the card they often tell me - its like what no one else has, so its unique. You have captured the essence of the recipient and so on and so on.

They feel special and also proud to be giving someone a card that they would not find on any other shelf. 


REPEAT CARD DESIGNS

To argue for the Repeat card designs - they are easy to do as the design has been done and sells well ,therefore it takes less time to make.

You can still personalise these cards by adding a name or special greetings to the inside or outside  (for handmade cards). Does not require any design skills or any additional thought to go into the design....No hassles, no mistakes....

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The Purchasers....

There are people who dont care too much for design. For them...it should just be appropriate- birthday, wedding, christmas etc Voila! they buy it...No thought goes into whether the recipient would like it or how they would feel to get a card such as this. 

Its a purchase to get the job done...give a person a card for a certain occasion. There is nothing wrong with this...Its a choice!

Now that I have given you the two sides of the coin which one are you?
'One of a kind' or a Repeat design...? 

What are your thoughts.....Leave a comment!

(Just a little note- I am currently on a break from card making as I am out of the country so I thought I would discuss a few questions that I have been asked to comment on several times in the past. So if I sound like I'm babbling its probably left over pina colada in my system. )

Tranquil Hibiscus

Hi folks...Thank you for your continued support for my blog. I know its been a while since I posted. Some upgrade works were being done on my property which involved an excavator and in the middle of the work some cables were cut in error. Yes...my internet cable was one of those cut...It was a nightmare getting it sorted out with the provider. In the Caribbean, the customer service for certain services is a nightmare. I tried using a different provider but they said they could not provide the internet service as the area in which I live, require cables to be upgraded and they havent reached my area as yet. So I had to work with the current provider. To make a long story short...I finally regained service so I am back... Today's card is a sympathy card I did for a friend of mine whose mom died.

In making the card I used a hibiscus stencil, tim holtz distress inks and stitched dies.

This design can be used for birthdays, get well, congratulations as well. Ideas are limitless, colours are limitless. Please leave a comment on my blog if you like this design. Thanks for stopping by.... see you...

Life is a beach at retirement!

Hi again...welcome back to Rendesigns. Hope you had a great weekend. Today I decided to add a card that I did for my sister's friend. Its a retirement card. The card was done like a book with 3 pages. The concept was not mine but I adapted the concept to what I had in stock and designed the card around it. The first page was the front of the card which said 'Happy Retirement', 'Life is a beach' and 'I am the happiest retiree around' for which I used an Art Impressions stamp of a woman on the beach sipping a drink...

The overleaf of the front page was a set of balloons for each department where she worked, to sign their names.I added a bit of paint and glitter to the balloons

The second page was the message which again I did not write but I designed the look of it. (I normally write my own messages for my cards but if someone wants to write their own message I let them!)

The overleaf and next page were simple and designed for persons to write 'well wishes' on them.

I think it went well....Let me know what you think by leaving a comment on my blog

Sympathetic Sunday

Welcome back! Today I thought I would change things up bit and post a slightly different card. The only stamping done was the message 'With Sympathy' I did this card for a friend whose dad has just died and I thought I would share it with you. For me it is easier to do Sympathy cards geared towards women or for a family which includes women, as you can do flowers but when its for a man I like to try and see what I can come up with... So this is my card for today...... Let me know what you think...

For the message 'With Sympathy'

Let's have some wine

Hi there...welcome back! Today's posting is for all you wine lovers out there...... The image used is from Deep Red Stamps called 'sidewalk cafe'. This is probably the 2nd time I used this stamp and I have had it for at least a year. This stamp gives a good clean impression on cardstock and it is a great stamp to colour...whether with markers or watercolour. I used India Black ink by Memories to stamp the image and then used two different types of watercolour pencils. The message "wine a bit...." is by Art Impression- a great collection of stamps which is very easy to use and gives you a clean, neat image and text when used. Here is my card. Hope you like.

This was actually fun to do....I am really enjoying myself as I randomly select stamps to use. Please leave a comment before leaving my site. See you on my next post day after tomorrow! Thanks.

Other products used

Crazy in Love

Hi there again....Welcome back to rendesigns. Today my card is entitled "Crazy in Love". As I said, this month I am featuring cards by randomly choosing stamps in my stash.... I love this cute little stamp by Stacy Kay...it was fun colouring with markers I found in a little art store here in Trinidad. Its a pack of 20 fabercastell markers. About 20 years ago I started colouring with markers with my sister who is now deceased. I never picked up markers after she died in 2003. She was way better than I was. This is a card she drew and coloured with markers and colour pencils, that I found recently.

Beautiful isnt it..... Told you she was very talented. So this is me trying markers again......

The card was coloured in a combination of markers, water colour pencils and water colour paints. Hope you like. Dont forget to leave me a comment.

Other products used were

Thanks for stopping by!