the crafty yogi: Card Paper Cutting Basics (Plus)

So, maybe you have a lot of lovely Stampin' Up supplies and you want to make some cards, but you're not really sure how to get started. Well, today is your lucky day, I'm here to help! Today is all about the basics, let's cut some paper.

First you need a paper cutter, our Stampin' Trimmer (#126889) is a great one, it trims and scores! Next, you need some of our awesome Stampin' Up card stock (it really is the best).

All cards begin with a great base. This is pretty easy, just cut your card stock in half, you'll get two card bases. The 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper, cut in half and folded in half fits perfectly in our beautiful envelopes. Here are the two ways you can do this.

So you're card base is 5 1/2 x 4 1/4, whichever way you cut it.

Next, the super important front or inside piece. This is cut to 5 1/4 x 4.

So, you can get 4 of these from each piece of paper.

With that, you can get down to card making!

This card has the card base and the card front, then a bit of stamping and some embellishments.

This is the same size that is often used on the inside of a card.

If you want to step up your card front a bit, add another layer.

The Designer Series Paper was cut to 5 1/4 x 4 , and then the Whisper White layer was cut a quarter of an inch smaller, 5 x 3 3/4 (that's the magic formula, each layer 1/4 inch smaller or bigger).

Or, use the quarter inch idea for a focal point, like in this cute Easter card.

So, if I was going to stay basic, I'd stop here, and you are welcome to do that. Go make a few cards and come on back. If you want to go one more level, you just need to know about the 1/8th inch cutting technique. This is my personal favorite. And in true crafting confession style, the way I say this is whatever the size is, "plus two lines." For example, in this next card, I added a layer in between the card base (5 1/2 x 4 1/4) and the card front (5 1/4 x 4). This layer is 5 3/8 (or, 5 1/4 plus 2 lines) x 4 1/8 (4 plus 2 lines).

Pretty cool, yes? So this plan has each layer an eighth of an inch bigger or smaller.

These cutting guidelines can be used for the card front backgrounds or for focal points. I went a little crazy with the layers on this card.

As you can see, I left a bigger space around the focal point. That's how you can add interest to your cards, by varying the sizes of the layers, as seen in the next set of cards.