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Figuring out a pleasing layout for your card design can be a bit tricky especially if you are new to cardmaking. I know when I first started making cards, deciding on layouts was one of the things I found most difficult. I often found that the idea I had for a layout didn’t end up looking good once I actually put all the images where I had planned.

Play with your stamps!

As I have been cardmaking longer, I’ve found my favourite way to decide on a layout is to actually place the stamps down on a piece of cardstock the same size as I want my card to be and play around with them until I get a layout I’m happy with. This saves me time because I know which images I’m going to use before I actually start stamping so I only have to stamp and colour the images I’m going to use!

For this card I wanted to make a cute welcome baby card with a woodland scene. I knew I wanted it to be a 5 x 7 card because I am going to use it as a baby shower card for one of my coworkers so it needs lots of space for everyone to write their messages inside.

So I took a blank piece of cardstock cut to 5 x 7 and started playing with the stamps to figure out a layout. I decided I wanted to have a masked off background with the trees stamped directly onto the cardstock and then have the critters popped up with foam tape in front. The sentiment will be stamped on the banner and added to the top of the design.

Making the card

Once I decide on my layout I could get to stamping. I masked off a rectangle on my cardfront panel with some low tack tape and stamped the trees in the same positions I had decided on earlier. I wanted to do some ink blending on the background so I also stamped the trees on masking paper. Next, I stamped the critter images onto a scrap of cardstock so I can colour and fussy cut them out. I used Rich Cocoa ink for stamping the images because I wanted a slightly softer storybook feel to this card. Then while I had my MISTI out I stamped and heat embossed the banner and sentiment onto some dark brown cardstock.

I masked off the trees and ink blended with a couple Distress Inks to add colour to my background. Then I removed all the masks and got to colouring. I coloured all the images with my Ohuhu alcohol markers and I fussy cut out the critter images. After fussy cutting out the images I tried them out on the background and decided they needed a bit more so I stamped, coloured and fussy cut some greenery from the stamp set as well.

To assemble the card, I glued my cardfront panel to my cardbase and added the critters. I glued two of the critters directly to the background and used foam squares to pop up the bear. The greenery was also glued down around the critters.

Finally I added the banner sentiment and some embellishments to finish the card.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my cardmaking process! Let me know in the comments if you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them.

Supplies

• Woodland Whimsy stamp set from Simon Says Stamp *discontinued*
• Neenah Solar White 80 lb cardstock
• Rich Cocoa Momento Ink
• Broken China Distress Ink
• Mowed Lawn Distress Ink
• MISTI stamp positioner
• Ohuhu Alcohol Markers 120 set
• Ohuhu Alcohol Markers 48 Pastel Set