Etsy Ireland: How to.....make the most of Etsy Suppliers!

Like all you lovely and talented people out there I love all things Etsy. I especially love Etsy Suppliers in particular. I am one of those very fin-nicky people who like unique items for my crafts and I find Etsy suppliers are usually always there to complete any unusual requests I might have. Today, I'm showing how I made a very simple card using the supplies recently bought from NiceDay Supplies, PackagesandStrings,booksbyjme and BeautifulAdditions

First of all for any card making project, you need to decide what size card you wish to make and if possible what type of card, be it for a birthday, an anniversary or some other occasion. In this instance I am making a birthday card for an old school friend. Once you have selected your card size, score you card through the centre to ensure it folds correctly and neatly.

At this stage, my mind is usually wandering with ideas, how will I layout the card? What colours or themes will I use? I always have scrap pieces of paper to hand and try to recycle them back into new cards as much as possible and here I've found a lavender blue piece that I've decided to incorporate.

Luckily for me the cute design around the edges was already in place from a previous project!

I've decided to bring in the first of my Etsy Suppliers and use a sentiment stamp to make the card a little more meaningful. These little stamps from booksbyjme are really handy. In the past I have bought directly from the stamp suppliers in the U.S but found the cost to be too high! The beauty of buying from the etsy supplier is that they also keep their costs as low as possible! To use a stamp you need an acrylic block, you must peel the stamp off, place it on the block and then chose an ink colour.

In this image, I'm printing using white ink, however I soon changed to black as the white print was not as successful as I had hoped.

I try to personalise my cards as much as possible, so one of my favourite things to do is to incorporate faux stitching using one of my treasured tools....a white gel pen! :)

Next Step - the all important back ground paper! At this stage you can usually find me shifting through huge amounts of paper in my teeny-tiny craft space. I'm a bit of a paper hoarder! Nothing gets thrown away and everything in my eyes has a second, third or forth possibilty!

I've also decided to complete the card using some gorgeous buttons and pins from NiceDay Supplies, twine from PackagesandStrings and pink gingham ribbon from BeautifulAdditions

Once the paper has been cut to the appropriate size, glued down and the ribbon tied in a pretty bow I like to corner the edges of my cards using a small corner puncher. You can buy them from lots of art and supply shops all over Ireland.

For me, layout is really important. I play around with all of my materials before I permanelty stick anything down. Many of my designs have a 3D feel to them and a little tip I use is to place 3D glue dots on the back of the item you wish to raise up from the card. In this case I am popping up the sentiment aspect.

3D glue dots are the easiest things to use and one of my essential items I need to have on a regualr basis. Next stop is to add a bit of funk to my lovely buttons, using the twine I purchased I will tie it through the buttons, again making the card appear as if its been literllay sewn together!