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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Ten Easy Tips for Mass Producing Cards!

I needed to make 50 ~ Christmas party invitations & needed a cute but quick card idea. It had to be something I could reproduce easily and did not include too much coloring. I turned to the Splitcoast Stampers website, as I often do for inspiration. I found THIS adorable card using the Mr. Twister set by Stampin' Up! ~ thanks to Julie for the fabulous idea! Check out her BLOG ~ her scrapbook pages are gorgeous! So this is my version of Julie's card ~ I like how it turned out.

Are you making cards to send this year? I know many cardmakers who don't because it is too overwhelming. I also know many of you have probably already started working on your holiday cards. Today, I thought I'd share my tips for mass producing cards just to break-down the steps to save you some time. BTW ~ although these tips are great for this busy time of year, my tips would be useful any time you need to make a big batch of cards.

#1: Come up with your idea! Search website galleries, blogs, stamp company sites, catalogs, or magazines for inspiration.

#2: Once you have your idea, make sure you want to make it over and over again! YOU NEED TO LOVE IT!

#3: Determine how many cards you need. I keep my address list on a Word address label file & keep it updated throughout the year. When my envelopes are ready to go, I just print my labels and stick them on!

#4: Make a sample of the card idea ~ simplfy where necessary & make sure your measuresments are exact so they are easy to cut with your paper trimmer.

#5: Select easy tools to use, like punches. I love my Nestabilities; however, I don't really want to make 90 Christmas cards with 2 or 3 layers of Nestabilities. I would much rather punch out my items.


#6: Make the coloring easy or use solid image stamps.

#7: Make sure you have all the supplies you need ~ order if necessary.

#8: Cut all the pieces of cardstock.

#9: Stamp and color all of your pieces at once. It's much easier to stamp all of your images at the same time.

#10: Use an assembly-line process when you put them together.


Enjoy making your cards ~ or not! Make sure you come back and share your link with me so I can see what you made!

ETA: These cards were made in compliance with the Stampin' Up! Angel Policy that can be found HERE.

Supplies Used: All supplies are from Stampin' Up! (unless otherwise noted): Stamp set ~ Mr. Twigster, Snowflake Jumbo wheel; Cardstock ~ Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip; Pattern Paper ~ Ski Slope; Punches ~ Scallop Circle, 2 circle punches, scallop border; Ink ~ white pigment. Other Supplies used: Ink ~ Palette, Copic Markers, glitter pen.

Oh ~ I can't forget to mention that Kate over at i{heart}papers will be having a special Black Friday sale this weekend! A $10 gift certificate for every $50 spent (code 10FOR50) & Free Shipping on orders over $25!




11 comments:

  1. Kendra thanks for the shout out! Again much appreciated! Love your card!

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  2. Those are cute cards, and great ideas. I am not making them...I would rather send a picture and letter, so the card is just one more thing not really needed. And for the time invested, most of the time is trashed or stuffed away. I guess I spend more time sending famiy and friends cards at birthdays and other occasions.

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  3. Kendra, Thanks for all of these great tips! You are awesome! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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  4. Hi Kendra, great tutorial, I love this card, sooo cute!! I have a question for you about making the cards though .. could you email me privately if you didn't want to post here? My email address is sstaley@twcny.rr.com I just wanted to ask you how much it cost to order all the supplies and how much you charged for the 50 cards?! I was approached to do this and wanted to see what I would be getting myself into!! lol!TFS!

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  5. Wonderful tip to share - I do this quite a bit when I have a lot cards to make!

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  6. Thanks for the great tips. I'll have to come up with something this weekend. I have alot I need to make

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  7. Kendra, I truly hope you are not getting paid to produce these cards as you stated in your entry...stamps are not to be used for commercial use without express permission and are copyrighted.

    Bernice

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  8. Kendra - your cards are fantastic! And what a great job to get! Good on ya, babe!

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  9. Well I hope you are getting a TON of cash for producing these WONDERFUL stamps. I know that you are honest and would fully comply with all angel policies. Right babe! {wink!}

    Your tips are so helpful!

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  10. Kendra, thanks for clarifying the Stampin Up policy, I'm really happy that you are following policy as dictated by the stamp company. So many artists/crafters don't and I'm glad to see you are being honest.

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