Cardmaking: with a photographic focal point

Hello hello.

How about something colourful and quick to kick-start your creative week that might also inspire you to dust off your printer to make use of all those photos you've been taking?

OK, then here's the card I made for Mother's Day this year:

The focal point - the photograph of a colourful fruit and vegetable market stall - comes from a very sweet set of mini cards and envelopes I found here at Lemon Cat Shop on Etsy. Here's a closer look:

Once I'd selected that this was the particular mini card I was going to use I drew from it the colour scheme for the whole card: lilac, bright green and orange.

For the record: I think orange is going to be a big colour trend this year. I've been thinking it for a while [I like colours ... it's the kind of thing that occupies my mind from time to time!!] and have recently started seeing it crop up in all kinds of places since. I've even spotted orange fashion displays in Marks & Spencer the other day! And surely it must be a strong trend if it's even reached M&S! So ... I'm predicting it'll be making into craft supplies soon ... *puts crystal ball back in the cupboard*.

Where were we? Oh yes ... a quick crafty card ...

• so, I picked a pre-printed card and selected my colour-scheme from it;
• then I gathered together a few scraps of paper in those colours and layered them up on a kraft card base;
• I then introduced some splashes of white - via the jute mesh strip and mini peg clipped to the top - to pick up the white border in the photo;
• my final touches came in the form of a 'love' sentiment sticker and one of my favourite ever  embellishments I created: an embossed, painted and die-cut metal heart:

I came up with the idea for these when I created a 'Metal Embossing' masterclass for Papercraft Inspirations magazine in 2014 [Issue 128 if you have any back-issues you want to flip through!] and I've enjoyed using them on my own projects ever since. This particular one was a prototype that I didn't use for my final published samples ... but I rather like its scratchy imperfections.

 

And that's that; a decorative card full of colour and texture, yet only made from 4 components:

1. photo focal point
2. coordinating paper strips
3. a simple sentiment
4. and a single eye-catching embellishment ... and you're done!

Here [again] is how it all mixed together:

 

Feel free to take the merest whiff of inspiration from it ... or else copy the whole thing outright. I don't mind. [Drop in to share your version with me anytime]. 

 

And if you don't have the mini photo cards that I used ...

• then why not print one of your own photos on to some white cardstock and use that instead?
• It'll not only make a wonderfully bespoke focal feature ... it'll also give you the chance to show off snaps of your favourite holidays, scenery, pets or family members!  

And, if you're brave / egotistical enough you could even stick a selfie centre-stage on a card!

 

Julie ;-)