Hello friends! A few days ago I posted a video where I shared my creative process and all the decisions (and indecisions) I make when I design a card. It was heartwarming to read all of your comments and feedback and I’m so happy you have found that video useful.
Today I’d like to share something different, but something that in a way continues the topic of cardmaking – I’d like to share my go-to cardmaking formula, I call it a perfect cardmaking formula (only in a way that it works perfectly for me when I make Clean & Simple cards). I’m also sharing a way to replace one of the elements I use in my formula with something that can be found in pretty much everybody’s stash.
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VIDEO TUTORIAL
I’m sharing a video tutorial, watch it below or on Youtube:
THE FORMULA
So my formula is simple: white card base (usually using specialty cardstock like woodgrain, spicy yogurt or simple colored card) + gold frame or gold die cut (usually using Altenew’s Antique Trims) + a large floral or a floral cluster + sentiment. Simple as that. I use this combo when I have a hard time coming up with a good design idea for a card and it has never let me down. See some ideas below (click the photo to go to that blog post):
One of the elements in this formula, gold die cut, can be created using dies and gold mirror cardstock (or silver if you are a silver kind o girl). I pulled out my Spellbinders’ dies and experimented a bit to see what frames/dies cuts I could make for my cards. I only made 8 examples (I wanted to show them in my video and I didn’t want the video to be very long, showing 7 on photos below as the 8th one is used on a card), but I look forward to making additional examples using dies from Spellbinders and other companies.
I chose Spellbinders to show as an example as they have very fancy and detailed dies and also because I have a lot of their designs (and I truly love their dies). See below the photos of the die cut + the names of the sets I used to create them. I also have all of these sets linked below.
Dies listed: Pierced Delight, Majestic Circles, Standard Circles, Royal Circles, Gold Rounds, Heart & Flutter
Dies listed: Luscious Labels One, Labels One, Fancy Framed Tags Four
CARD DETAILS
The frame I used for my card was created using a different set, Triple Tear. It is simple, yet elegant and I felt it was a perfect match for this project. To stick with my formula I went with white woodgrain cardstock from Simon Says Stamp (Altenew has identical card). For the flowers I used Altenew’s Vintage Flowers and matching dies. I did use a completely new color combo for me and I went with Peach and Yellow colors.
I used my mini MISTI stamping tool to stamp these and if you watch my video you can see how easy and quickly I was able to stamp two sets of flowers and leaves. I don’t use MISTI for all of my stamping, but it does work wonderfully for stamping color layering stamp sets and for stamping on textured paper such as watercolor paper.
For the sentiment I used one of my all time favorite sets, Labels Love, and heat embossed Thank You in gold embossing powder onto white cardstock cut it out and foam mounted over the frame. I couldn’t resist adding several sequins and clear drops to finish this project.
SUPPLIES
I’m listing the products I used below. Click on the link to go directly to the product. Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much for your support!
 Spellbinders Majestic Circles Dies Shop at: SSS | SPEL | AZ |
 Spellbinders Standard Circles LG Dies Shop at: SSS | SC | SPEL | AZ |
 Spellbinders Platinum Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS | SC | SPEL | AZ |
 Spellbinders Platinum 6 Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS | SC | SPEL | AZ |
 Spellbinders Fancy Framed Tags Four Dies Shop at: SC | SPEL | AZ |
 Spellbinders Labels One Dies Shop at: SSS | SC | SPEL | AZ |
 Spellbinders Triple Tear Dies Shop at: SSS | SC | SPEL | AZ |
 Spellbinder Hearts and Flutter Dies Shop at: SSS | SC | SPEL | AZ |
 Spellbinders Pierced Delight Dies Shop at: SSS | SC | SPEL | AZ |
 Spellbinders Royal Circle Dies Shop at: SSS | SPEL | AZ |
 Spellbinders Gold Rounds One Dies Shop at: SSS | SPEL | AZ |
 Spellbinders Luscious Labels One Dies Shop at: SC | SPEL | AZ |
 Pretty Pink Posh 4MM Clear Droplets (small) Shop at: SSS | RAH |
 Pretty Pink Posh 4MM Metallic Gold Sequins Shop at: SSS |
 Mini Misti Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS | SC | AZ |
 Altenew Label Love Stamp Set Shop at: SSS | AN |
 Altenew Vintage Flowers Stamp Set Shop at: SSS | AZ | AN |
 Altenew Vintage Flowers Die Set Shop at: SSS | AN |
 Altenew Vintage Flowers Clear Stamp and Die Bundle Shop at: SSS | AN |
 Altenew Peach Perfect Dye Ink Pad Shop at: SSS | AN |
 Altenew Summer Afternoon Oval Set Dye Ink Pads Shop at: SSS | AN |
 Altenew Red Sunset Dye Ink Pad Pack Shop at: SSS | AN |
 Altenew Gold Mirror Cardstock Shop at: AN |
 Altenew Woodgrain White Cardstock Shop at: AN |
Simon Says Stamp Woodgrain Cardstock White Shop at: SSS |
 DoCrafts Gold & Silver A4 Mirror Board Pack Shop at: SSS | AZ |
 ScraPerfect Crafting Pouch Shop at: SSS | AZ |
 Hero Arts Gold Embossing Powder PW100 Shop at: SSS | SC | HA | AZ |
 Versamark Watermark Emboss Ink Pad Shop at: SSS | HA | AZ |
 Ranger .5 Oz. Multi Medium Matte Adhesive Shop at: SSS | SC | AZ |
 Scrapbook Adhesives Thin White Foam Squares Shop at: SSS | AZ |
Love your idea of using a formula. I haven’t come up with my own formula-only that I keep it simple with not too many colors. Love your videos! Thanks for sharing!
i adore the bright colors!!
Hi Yana… Your cards are always inspire me. I do not have any formula, just follow my heart. I love your style. Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Beautiful cards. I don’t have a formula for successful cards. At least I don’t think I do. Hmmm. Maybe I should look at my card stash and find out.
No I do not have a cardmaking formula. I always follow the line of my inspiration …
Beautiful cards! Thank you for sharing them 🙂
Beautifu cards! I do not have a formula for card making but I can see the advantage to having one. The Misti looks like a wonderful tool for stamping!
Just loved this tutorial. I actually went and got a couple of dies just for this purpose because I love all of your cards!
I really don’t have a formula for making cards. I’m a follow instructions type of girl, but think a formula would be a great thing for me. I love watching your videos and get lots of wonderful ideas from them. Thank you for sharing so much of your love of the craft.
I don’t have any formula. But I definitely try to follow sketches and other people’s blogs for ideas.
I don’t have a card formula but I’m completely intrigued and am going to have to come up with one. I love the ease of being able to go back to something over and over again especially for times when the creative juices aren’t flowing.
Gorgeous card!! And a lovely formula! Thanks for sharing, and thanks for the chance to win a misti 🙂 Would love to own one!
I suppose it would be a vintage patterned paper and a few (lot ) flowers. Haven’t got a formula though per se.
The Misti is great! Love the touches of gold you have added on your card!
I dont have a card making formula, so I’m so glad you shared yours. I start with a stamp set for the occasion I’m making the card for then kind of just shift through my dies, papers, embellishments, etc until something jumps out. 🙂
I love how you do your card and I will try your trick when I run out of ideas.
I would love to win the misti for my better card making.
Thank you for the chance. Cheers!
Love the technique
Thanks for sharing, always enjoy your videos. A Misti would be an amazing tool to have!!
I usually try to start with a focal image and work in a “thing” for the person I am making it for…either a color the person likes, an item that a person likes….something to make the card just for them.
Thank you for t he chance to win. I love how inspiring your altenew projects always are =)
What a great formula! I do not have a formula of my own. I basically see ideas that I like, then do my own spin on them. Thanks for the opportunity to win a MISTI! So fun!
Love your work they are all beautiful! I wish I can use the misti as well for my projects!
I don”t have a card making formula, I just create whatever come to me at the time or from internet inspiration.
So pretty….thanks
Thanks for sharing your formula, the video, and the video. Can’t wait to try your formula for myself. I haven’t developed any formulas for making cards.
Have a great day!
I do not have a formula, but it is something I might try, thanks for the inspiration! Your cards are lovely.
What a lovely elegant card! I will be keeping this formula in mind for cards from now on. Thanks to MSP for the chance to win the Misti.
I don’t have a formula, but I try to do clean, simple cards.
I look for inspiration on the internet like on pinterest. I don’t know if you could call this a formula. I sometimes take out all my material and look at it. I look for stamps and dies from different companies I can combine. I’d LOVE to own a Misti! <3
I Always am Inspired by your Brilliant works of Art! Thank you, for all the work you do to make wonderful, informative and well done videos and Thank you for Considering me for the Mini Misti, I want to Win!
What usually happens is that I get inspired to color an image, find paper that would look cute with the image and then select the medium and colors for that image. I enjoy being inspired by all of your videos. Would love to win the Mini Misti.
Love your cards and love your formula. I will definitely try it. Thanks for sharing. Hope to be the lucky one. 😀 Thank you.
You could buy more focused if you have a formula. Sounds like a great idea. If you get tired of 1 formula, make a new one. Thank of the tip. Also thanks for the chance at a MISTI.
your cards are always just stunning and great videos. My style is fairly clean and simple always using the rule of thirds. Perhaps sketching ideas first would be beneficial but who has time for that? Thanks for the chance to win a Mini MISTI!
I love it!!! Thanks for share with us and the chance of win.
Hi! I’m new to card making, well other than making photo cards from my landscape photography. I think a formula is a great idea. Thanks for sharing!
Great formula. I don’t have one as I’m not good at carrying through with a set plan and goes with life. I just jump in and do it. But I have one rule…less is better. Always take one thing off and then its done. Sage advice given to me by a wonderful lady.
Your cards are absolutely beautiful! I don’t have any formula. Sometimes I make a card very quickly and sometimes I sit in front of my desk for hours. 😛
Such a great idea. I currently do not have a formula, but I might just have to give it a try. Thanks for sharing your ideas and lovely cards.
Your work is beautiful and I love the formula idea. I usually don’t have a plan but this doesn’t always work out well.
Wow, I love your beautiful cards! Thanks for sharing your formula – I’m going to try it (since I don’t have one of my own!).
I guess I don’t really have a formula, other than CASEing a card I really like or using a sketch. But I really like your idea. Generally, I just do whatever comes to me for each card.
I love the golden frames and elements you use – I’ll have to give this a go!
I don’t have a formula per se but I very often use the 2 Mama Elephant femme frames dies for my cards, so many scenes have a similar enough layout… plus, recently, sequins are a must! 🙂
Your cards are stunning! Your presentation on your blog is pretty awesome too!
I don’t have a formula yet…but love yours
I don’t have a card making formula but that sounds like a good idea!!
My formula is usually the rules of three. I also try for a clean and simple look, otherwise my cards look too overloaded!
Gorgeous card. No formula–just what strikes me.
The only formula that I really use is that more often than not I will stamp a central image and mat it with a thin border usually 1/4 inch larger than central image. I also like to add a subtle sponging of color to my card stock pieces. I enjoyed your process and end result. I will have to try out your formula and see how I like it when I am doing the work 🙂
Your card is very beautiful and creative. I love the textures.
Love all your cards. Very beautiful!
I don’t have a card making formula myself, so I often spent over half hour planning to come out with one card 🙁