Card Sketch #8 | Use Your Pattern Paper or Solid Cardstock!

Use your pattern paper or cardstock to create a card using this card sketch layout! This layout is great to help us use up our crafting paper whether it’s Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper or solid cardstock. Plus I think we ALL have pretty patterned paper from various other crafting companies that can be used as well. For my basic card, I used scraps from the retired Flowers For Every Season 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper.

Getting Started

Going forward when I use the term ‘square’ I’m actually referring to the ‘rectangular squares’ in this layout. Speaking of layouts, this is an easy one. I will admit the only hard thing about this layout it getting that first center square glued down perfectly so that all the other squares line up perfectly. Plus notice there is more space between the front panel of squares to the sides of the card base than there is on the top and bottom.

I chose the Simply Said Photopolymer Stamp Set for my basic card. I love the simplicity of this set, yet it’s so versatile. Not only does it have many useful sentiments but also has two different font styles. To me that’s a bonus! You can never have too many sentiment stamp sets! Be sure to check out this stamp set online or in the 2024-2025 Annual Catalog on pages 19-21. It’s actually shown being used with the Mix & Match products that work together to make crafting EASY, which is also great for beginning crafters. I’ve made 3 cards using one layout: Basic, Stepped Up, and Avid.

Basic Card

For my basic card, I used scraps from the retired Flowers For Every Season 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper. Since the main image up top IS my basic card, here is the inside of it. Very basic and using Basic White as the card base. You don’t have to do anything else inside. Just stamp the sentiment and you’re done! You could use the LET’S CELEBRATE for the front sentiment and the HAPPY BIRTHDAY for the inside sentiment of the card. But back to the front of the card . . .

TIP: Have your card base opened and laid flat. Layout all the square pieces until you have them all arranged the way you like them to look. I use the putty end of my Take A Pick Tool to pick up the center piece or use the Crafting Tweezers from the Embossing Additions Tool Kit or any crafting tweezer will do. Using Multipurpose Liquid Glue allows movability so I strongly suggest using it for this project. Glue down the center piece, then the pieces on both sides and so forth. You’ll see it will go easily once you have that center square laid down.

Lastly I stamped the sentiment onto Basic White cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Then I dovetailed the ends and popped it up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. FYI all the sentiment labels for this card sketch are popped up with dimensionals.

Stepped Up Card

For my stepped up version I used Poppy Parade cardstock and leftover scraps from recent cards I made for Card Sketch #4. Click HERE to see that blog post. I used leftover patterned paper from the Sentimental Christmas Designer Series Paper (DSP). By the way with every purchase of this DSP, Stampin’ Up! donates $3.00 to this year’s Product Giveback to benefit children’s literacy programs.

All I did was to add some BLING to the center of each ribbon bow in each of the 5 squares to step this card up. The Rhinestone Basic Jewels embellishment pack has three sizes so you can use whatever size you want. I used all three sizes and the center square has the largest rhinestone.

For my stepped up card I used the Greeting of the Season Photopolymer Stamp Set, which is an Online Exclusive product. It has BOTH Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays or you can do Happy Christmas and Merry Holidays! LOL! Some of the sentiments are single words allowing you to mix and match your sentiments and font styles! I chose Happy Holidays for the outside sentiment so it would fit within the size stated in the card sketch. My next one will be Merry Christmas and I’ll cut the sentiment label just a bit longer.

Don’t you just love how the inside sentiment has both font styles?! I can see myself mixing and matching the two fonts for a sentiment on the front of the card as well. Also this stamp set is sold as part of a BUNDLE that has coordinating DIES, which can be very useful for any paper crafting project or gift giving.

I normally place an inside Basic White panel inside my cards (4″ x 5-1/4″) but I wanted to show that you don’t always have to do so. Sometimes we all like to save where we can so I chose to stamp directly onto the Poppy Parade cardstock. To finish, I added a leftover strip of coordinating DSP to the inside to add a little extra something special.

Avid Card

My avid card turned out bright and cheery! I’m using the Simply Said Photopolymer Stamp Set once again and I decided to use solid cardstock for the squares in the following colors (corresponding number of squares for each): Pretty Peacock (2), Poppy Parade (3), Shaded Spruce (2), and Crushed Curry (2). I thought about using a Basic White card base with a white sentiment label. Then I tried Poppy Parade but that was way too bright for me so I ended up using Shaded Spruce for the card base and Crushed Curry for the sentiment label.

Here is where my card really turns into what makes it an avid card. I adhered the squares onto a 3-3/4″ x 5-1/4″ copy paper and then dry embossed it using the Zinnia 3D Embossing Folder. Plus I heat embossed the sentiment using VersaMark and Black Embossing Powder. You can also do this one without dry or heat embossing and it would look just fine, but I really like the added texture!

I hope my blog post has been informative and/or inspirational in some form or fashion. If you are reading this, I hope you’ll leave me a comment letting me know you where here!

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