Hello there, cardmakers. Welcome back to the
beginner's guide to cardmaking. Today we are going to be looking at how to build a card layout. What simple design principles can we apply to help us create a card that we are happy with? It is important to remember that there really is no right and wrong when you are creating a handmade card. After all, it comes from the heart and is treasured by the recipient because of that. What matters more than any design principle is how you feel about your card. There are, however, some simple design tips that you can apply that will help you build a card layout.
Have you ever made a card and felt that something feels a little “off”? That it just doesn’t look right to your eye? Sometimes it can be as easy as moving a sentiment or adding an embellishment here or there, and that can make the design feel more complete, more visually appealing, more engaging, and clearer. Sometimes it needs some more thought and potentially a revisit.
There are many things to consider when designing a handmade card, and they can include design principles such as the rule of thirds, repetition, movement, proximity, white/negative space, contrast, emphasis, balance, alignment, proportion/scale, texture or color, etc.
That is a daunting list to consider, so let’s try and keep it simple and consider just a few of those!
Rule Of Thirds
The rule of thirds is a simple design and photography guideline which is used to create balanced, interesting images often by placing your subject off centre – either along a line or an intersection. This causes the viewer’s eye to wander, and it feels less static than placing the image right in the middle of your photo. Or in this case, your handmade card.
A tic-tac-toe grid, which is used to define the rule of thirds, creates nine equal-sized sections. You place the most important elements of your design along the lines or at the intersection points on the grid. You don’t have to be 100% accurate with this, but it can really help you when positioning the focal point on your card and the other elements that flow on from it. If you want to make your own tic-tac-toe grid for reference, take a piece of acetate measuring 4.25” x 5.5” (standard American A2 card size) and use a Sharpie to draw your lines onto it. Make sure the lines are drawn at equal distances from one another in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Add small circular marks or crosses at the intersection points.
In the card example above, when you place the grid over the card, you have the mouse placed at the bottom left intersection point, and his hat at the top right intersection. The mouse forms the focal point on this card. The rest of the card is clean and simple and makes the most of white/negative space. The sentiment has been placed where the designer feels it works best. Note that the sentiment is not on an intersection! Does this matter? No. What really matters is what is pleasing to the eye.
In the next example above, the mouse has been placed at the bottom right intersection. The balloons are placed at the top left intersection. However, there are some bold stripes! So where do they fit into the rule of thirds? Well, they don’t really fit! They form part of the background so are less important in the rule of thirds. The two main elements are still sitting at intersections.
If you think about professional landscape photography, you may see a shot of some beautiful rolling hills with a person standing in the foreground. In most cases, that person has been placed off centre. This is more pleasing to the eye than if that person is standing in the middle of the picture. It immediately makes the photograph more interesting.
So, what if you are someone that creates all over patterns on your cards? Or someone that creates a large floral spray for example? Do those cards fit with the rule of thirds? Not really. Your eyes are not drawn to a focal point because there isn’t one. The whole card becomes the focal point and because of that, things like color, symmetry, balance, and harmony will play more of a part.
If you look at the above example, you will see that this card does not follow the rule of thirds! Does this work as an acceptable card design? Yes, absolutely! It has colors that work well together, a design that has movement, and a single large flower which is the focal point of the spray. All the other parts of that spray lead off from that flower. Don’t let the rule of thirds define what you create! You can still create beautiful cards that don’t follow that principle.
What is important to remember is that the rule of thirds is a guideline. It doesn’t have to be applied to every card, especially if that is not your personal style. It can be used to help kickstart a card layout, and it may be that your design ends up fitting perfectly. It may be that it doesn’t, and that is okay.
Repetition
Using repetition is a simple way to create impact on a card either by repeating colors, shapes or images. This can really help unify the design and creates a visually recognisable pattern. Grid formats and all-over patterns fall into this category, and they are fun to make, especially if you are struggling for ideas or feel overwhelmed by a product. You may see one or two dies or a couple of stamps that you want to use but aren’t sure how to position them effectively. They may work well using repetition.
The card at the top simply uses the same tree die but with different colors for the canopy. The trees sit on a straight line and are used on a mini slimline card base. Your eyes tend to move from left to right and back again. That is not only because the trees are overlapping and on a straight line, but the size and orientation of the card causes your eyes to zone in on them.
The card at the bottom has a grid format made with different shaped cookie die cuts. The colors are similar across all the biscuits, which helps to unify the design, and the cookie shape differs in each horizontal line, which adds more interest. This recognizable format is easy and pleasing on the eye and is a great way to create a card with smaller dies or stamped images.
Movement
When considering movement on a card, think about how you might lead the recipients’ eye across the design – how they might move from one element to the next. You can create movement through focal points, colors, shapes, directions or lines. Don’t overthink it! You may well find yourself creating movement on a card without even realising it.
The card below uses a press plate background along with a pressed butterfly and some floral/foliage dies. Everything has been arranged in an arch running top left towards bottom right. The overall shape/direction draws your eye around the card.
The card below contains a wreath. Wreaths are a great way of creating movement on a card as the foliage travels in the same direction to form the circle. So, your eye tends to wander around the circle, which, in this case, is punctuated with other additional die cuts for extra interest.
The card below features butterflies positioned in a trail moving from the bottom of the card to the top. This card uses the
Butterfly Swirl Press Plate. The sense of movement is palpable in this instance, and the hard work was done just by using the coordinating die as a guide when positioning the butterflies onto the panel!
Color
When thinking about colors to use on your card, here are some ideas that can help you decide which way to go.
Many crafters use a color wheel, which is cheap and widely available. A color wheel shows the relationship between primary, secondary and tertiary colors and how they interact with each other to create a harmonious, balanced design.
So, what are primary, secondary, tertiary, warm and cool colors?
- Primary – red, yellow and blue (basic colors that cannot be made from mixing other colors).
- Secondary – orange, green and violet (each made by mixing two primary colors).
- Tertiary – made by mixing a primary color with an adjacent secondary color.
- Warm colors – reds, oranges and yellows.
- Cool colors – blues, greens and violets.
The card above uses cool colors for a coordinated seamless look. Blues and greens also sit next to each other on the color wheel, so they are an example of what is known as analogous colors (see below).
Here are a few additional color scheme ideas to consider using on your cards.
- Analogous – use colors that sit side by side on the color wheel.
- Monochromatic – use colors of any shade, tint or tone of one color.
- Complementary – use colors that sit opposite each other on the color wheel.
The card above is an example of an analogous card. It uses blue green, green, yellow green and yellow for everything bar the sentiment. These four colors sit next to each other on the color wheel and therefore create a visually balanced design.
The above card is an example of a monochromatic card. The cardstock panel is blue, the foiled image is blue, and the sentiment has been foiled with blue foil onto blue cardstock!
The two cards above use the same complementary colors. Blue/green and red/orange sit opposite each other on the color wheel. It’s a surprisingly festive combination! Some people might see the red/orange as a true red and some people will see the blue/green as more of a teal/green. Either way, they are opposite on the wheel and combine well together.
There are other more in-depth color schemes such as split complementary, diade, triad, and tetrad to consider, but the ones above are a great starting point. If you pick up a color wheel, you will learn all about tints, tones, and shades too! Color theory is an expansive subject, but for the purposes of today’s post, let’s try to keep it simple.
Another way to help you select colors could be by consulting the
DIY Color Deck System. This is a system of 52 cards that include an image, spaces for you to add your personalised color swatches, some fun facts, and helpful information around color theory.
The card above uses the DIY Color Deck System. A
1” Square Punch has been used to cut squares of ColorWheel cardstock which align with the colors in the picture. Using the Color Deck is a great way of finding and using color combinations which are outside of your comfort zone.
Balance
Creating balance in your design is simply distributing visual weight that results in a congruous design. It could be a symmetrical or asymmetrical design that creates the balance. Or you could take several elements and group them together in a balanced composition in one focal or central area of the card.
In the card example above, the flowers and foliage have been arranged on opposite sides of the diamond. Whilst the actual layout on each side differs slightly, both sides share the same colors and feature more or less the same number of similar die cuts.
The card above uses a scalloped edge die to create symmetrical interest behind the flowers. The flower spray itself is balanced by having a similar amount of foliage and flowers radiating out from the large flower in the middle.
Proportion/Scale
This just refers to size, scale and visual weight – the relationship between different elements on your card. Your card design may well feature elements that are proportionate with each other – for example, flowers, leaves, stems – as they come from one set and have been designed with that in mind. You can of course mix and match different flowers and leaves from other sets and discover that they work seamlessly together because of their size. However, it doesn’t have to be that way! Not everything has to be proportionate. There are sets that are designed to be more visually playful, with unexpected image sizes, and those can create some quirky fun designs!
Pictured above is a Christmas card using a chalet die set and two die-cut bears. The chalet and bears are not from the same die set. They are from different die sets, and they are actually from entirely different collections.
Positioning the bears prominently in the foreground, towards the bottom of the card, helps to create a balanced mountainside scene. Side by side with the chalet – the larger bear would almost be the same height as the chalet! Even if the bears were moved up 5cm from their current position, they would look too large against the chalet. Where you position your die-cut elements is important and can make a real difference to how the card looks and feels at the end.
White/Negative Space
You do not have to fill every available part of your card. Leaving white space (negative space) around your design creates less visual distraction. It lets the focal point shine and will directly draw the viewer’s eye in.
In the final card example above, this very clean and simple card design is almost two-thirds white space but uses waves of color as its focal point. Interspersed amongst the colorful waves are flowers and leaves which add extra interest to that section of the card. Your eye is immediately drawn to that middle section.
This brings us to the end of simple design principles. This post is a guide which you can refer to if you are new to cardmaking or you are just stuck. The principles are simply there to consider if you need a nudge and a little help along the way. Nothing is set in stone, and experimenting will be the best way to learn! As you start to feel more confident with designing cards, you may want to consider a few of the more advanced design techniques which weren’t covered here today, but we hope you find this post helpful. The next post in the series will be all about ink blending for beginners, so we hope you will come back for that.
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To start, we are going to ink blend the stencils in numbered order. Align stencil 1 over top of an A2-sized (4.25” x 5.5”) 
Align stencil 2 to the panel, then ink blend the dunes in sand brown and the sun in two shades of yellow. Use low-tack tape to mask the stencil opening as needed to avoid unwanted colors.
Align stencil 3 to the panel, then ink blend orange-red ink.
Align stencil 4 to the panel, then ink blend the dune details in dark brown ink and the canyon details in terracotta orange ink.
Align stencil 5, then ink blend the sky in aqua ink and the cacti in green ink. Remove the final stencil to reveal your finished background!
Next, we are going to diecut the 
Diecut the tires from black, the undershadow & sidestep from 
Diecut the flames from 
TIP: I didn’t align the back tire very well, and a little bit of the blue car was showing below the tire. I used scissors to snip away that little bit of blue stick out, and no one will ever know I made a small mistake!
Stamp the sentiment from the 
Adhere the ink blended background directly to a landscape A2 card base cut and folded from 
