Card Designs for May 2020 Card Swaps for All Seasons Handmade Card Swaps

Welcome to a new "Cards by Kendra" blog post!

Finally, the school year is winding down, thank goodness! Online teaching is definitely not what I thought it would be. With my limited amount of time due to working so much, I was only able to sign up for 5 swaps this month. I barely got those done, much less try out new card-making techniques and post on my blog weekly like I planned. But I wanted to share with you the cards that I made for this month's card swaps.

The first swap was a color theme, yellow and blue. 

I decided to try a floating flower frame technique. I stamped and die cut several different size flowers in both colors. I arranged them around a weathered wood patterned paper cut to 3.75" x 5" that was adhered to a white 110 lb. white cardstock base. Using Glad Press & Seal, I picked them up off of the paper to keep them in place. I flipped it over and added strips of 3D foam tape to the back of the flowers. Before removing the back strip, I laid the flowers on the card over the paper to determine where to stamp my sentiment. I added a strip of silver washi tape to the top of the card base and along the bottom, then adhered the flowers to the base. To finish it off, I added gemstones to the centers of some of the flowers. I thought it needed more silver, so I added some silver foil vellum leaves in between the flowers.

The second swap was a vintage/retro theme.

I really struggled with this theme at first. I have never made a vintage or retro card. I used a sheet of Stampin' Up's Pressed Petals DSP with words on it and stamped a few butterflies and a bird cage using Merry Merlot ink on the left side. I started out with a white doily and stamped a bird in the center. I also added ink to the edges to give it a distressed look. The frame was a piece of Merry Merlot cardstock cut to 4"x5.25" added to 110 lb. ivory heavyweight cardstock.  When I tried to ink the doily with antique paper distress ink, it fell apart. I was able to salvage the outer edge, so I just cut out a piece of cardstock to cover up what was torn. This whole card was just an experiment really. I had no plan. But I found these flowers, butterflies and leaves wood embellishments that I thought would be perfect to add. I added some punched out leaves that I painted in vintage photo distress ink. I needed a small sentiment, so I used the "For You" from the Stampin' Up Cake Soiree Stamp Set and added a 3D frame that I painted with Merry Merlot using a sponge dauber. A strip of very vanilla polka dot tulle ribbon was added to the center and the card was finished off by added small white pearls.

For the banner theme card swap, I kept it pretty simple.

I used a sheet of Stampin' Up's Cupcakes and Carousels DSP that had banners in the background. One of the first dies that I ever bought was a banner with stars in it. I cut out two banners, one in Bermuda Bay and the other in Calypso Coral. I interchanged the stars. The happy die cut was layered using Bermuda Bay and So Saffron cardstock. I added a 3D sentiment strip. The base and strip are Ivory 110 lb. heavyweight cardstock and the frame is Bermuda Bay cardstock.

For the technique card swap, we had to make a card using shimmer spray.

I had so much fun with this one! I used Dylusions shimmer spray in the bubble gum pink and pure sunshine colors on watercolor paper. I tested it out using different types of paper, including regular cardstock. I really liked how the 3rd and 4th generation backgrounds looked but I decided to go with the one in the picture since it had a lot of shimmer. I used a flower stencil and added Versamark embossing ink using a sponge dauber. I added white pearl embossing powder and heat set it. The background was adhered to a gold foil card base.  The sentiment was stamped using Flirty Flamingo ink from the Pop of Paradise stamp set. I added a rose gold pearl to the center of the flower to finish it off.

The final card swap was a graduation card.

I kept this one really simple also. I used a sheet of kraft cardstock cut to 3.75" x 5" and embossed the graduation caps. I used a red card base and added a black frame. Black & white twine was wrapped around the frame before adhering to the base. I finished it off with a Jolee's 3D owl sticker I bought a few years ago.

I hope you like my latest card creations!  Now that things are starting to slow down, I'd like to get back to my goal of posting at least weekly on my blog.  Please let me know what you think! I'd love to read your comments!

Also, you can now purchase some of my card creations in my Etsy store, PaperCraftHut! Check it out!