I received a lovely care package from Trinity Stamps (they take such good care of me!) with the new Card Making Sketchbook in it, along with a few gnomies to color up. I played around with the book and thought of some ways it might help you. Let’s take a look!

Video: Ways to use a Cardmaking Sketchbook

Big thanks to Trinity Stamps for sharing this sketchbook with me!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

Sketching

Obviously sketching is the thing to do, right? I created loose sketches in the boxes; there are several sizes in the book and each box is divvied into thirds horizontally and vertically. Some card designs fit with that but others might need you to “ignore” the lines if it’s in quarters.

I used a Copic friendly pen which didn’t bleed through at all. For the various patterns of paper I just used some lines in different ways; if you’re jotting down ideas from something you’ve seen, it can help you to remember whether it’s a dark pattern or light, detailed or graphic, etc. But you can also just shade with pencil too to get the value (light vs dark) in place.

For the image, which I thought of as a small stamp of a character (if you’re indicating a larger stamped image you’d scale up the ‘blob’). Sometimes marked with an I for image, but often not.

And a scribbled sentiment can indicate where to place that. Don’t forget to indicate embellishments!

But overall, the things to jot down are the things YOU liked. Sometimes a card is great except for [that one thing] and it’s perfectly fine to just sketch out what you DO want to use on your design.

Notetaking

There are some indicated lines for things like “Project for” — which I assume is for Design Team members to track what designs they’ve used for a manufacturer assignment. There’s also a date listed. But you could also write WHO you made it for –  your recipient.

There are empty circles for a color palette; Copics won’t work on this paper but a few colored pencils could be handy, or if you know color names or numbers write those down.

There are blank lines for more notes – and that’s pretty valuable in remembering what you started sketching for.

1. Where was the original? (a blog? YT? What was the title of it so you can go find it again if you want it?
2. Were there interactive features you couldn’t adequately indicate in the sketch? (does something flip or move? have dimension?)
3. Product ideas – if there’s a stamp you need to order, what was the name of it and who makes it? 

More ideas

I started sketching the lessons from classes; it’s often hard to remember which class something was in, so a quick doodle can remind you of something you learned that you’ll want to try again without digging through the list in your account to guess what it was. Remember to write down which website it was, and which lesson number.

You can also sketch other non-card ideas that you want to try out on a card! See a ketchup bottle label that has potential? A billboard with an idea for laying out a slimline card? Don’t forget to look all over for inspiration. Having them all in one sketchbook is a handy place not to lose them so the next time you’re in need, you have a ton of ideas.

Is this sketchbook for you?

Maybe. I’m not you so I really can’t say! But it’s not a cheap book, as helpful as it is; consider what your crafting budget is, and if the price makes sense. You can do the same with a cheap sketchbook; to create a small proportioned box for A2s or slimlines, just trim one out of cardstock that you can trace around to get the horizontal x vertical correct.

But if you like teal (who doesn’t?) and having a nicely organized book that’ll fit right in with your crafty stuff, all those boxes and lines already printed out, it’s a nice book to have.

A warning: DO NOT SPEND ALL YOUR TIME COPYING YOUR ENTIRE PINTEREST INTO THE SKETCHBOOK. You could literally spend weeks filling the book and getting NO cards made. I spent 3 days on my book, but also came out with a whole bunch of cards that I used as samples in this video, so it wasn’t awful. But if you’re being careful and using rulers, etc, it can take a long time to get these completed. Manage your time well, grasshopper. 🙂

Where are the cards?

They’re each posted as inspiration in the courses they are from. Each of which are on sale til October 13! Tap on the image to go see more about the class.

Need more holiday inspiration? Try the new Holiday page to see what is available!

Supplies

1. Trinity Stamps Card Making Sketchbook 
2. Stamps
   1. Cocoa Gnome Stamp 
   2. Gnometivity Stamps 
   3. Good Tidings Stamps 
   4. North Pole Gnomes Stamps 

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