Greeting cards

Busy Day at TCD

Erika L Hayes1 Comment

Summer is in full swing! This hand-crafted card was a great combo of whimsy and elegance. Much like a summer garden party. The project sheet is also available in the resources tab if you would like to share this card with another.

A tip I wanted to share with you about this card is to be sure to add a very fine mist of water to the lush lagoon paper before you run it through the die cut machine. A second thought is about what is called bleeding off the edge. When you see a card like this, and the flowers are cut off but not full images that is called bleeding. It is a graphic design term that simply means that the entire portion of an image “bleeds” off the page. It is really a fun and effective way to add visual interest to your cards. Go on give it a shot.

The Craft Dash has been busy interviewing and getting a few new artists on board. Heidi McKeever will soon be adding her beautiful oil paintings to our store and writing about her experiences with painting.

I am always interested in adding more content. If you are interested in having your products added to our store, shoot me an email and we can talk about it. (erikahayes@thecraftdash) I am currently looking for a hand lettering artist to share products and education.

We are also looking for projects and ideas for our coming soon newsletter where we will be discussing current trends and ideas for our art.

This card is available for sale on the shop tab on this website as well as on our Etsy Store.

Again, thank you for your support as we build this site to create and educate!

The Craft Dash, a place for creating and educating artist of all levels!

Erika Hayes

Crafter her entire life, Erika spends hours creating every day. She loves the crafting community and all the humans that are a part of expressing themselves in creative ways. She has been lucky enough to work in the industry as a concept designer and is a multiple-time published artist. Encouraging crafters to take part in education to better their craft is her life goal.

“Practice makes progress, perfection is unattainable.”

Top Five Reasons to….

Erika L HayesLeave a comment
Year-round Christmas cards. Yes! I try to make 5-10 Christmas cards a month. Why? Well, as most of you know the season for Christmas Stamps and Dies starts sometime in September. There are so many choices! I sometimes “over buy” for a year. I rarely send out cards that are identical. Additionally, I often found in the past that I would buy many Christmas theme sets and only pull them out once a year, if at all.

After a few years, some of the products I purchased didn’t even see the light of day. I only would use my Christmas goodies a few months a year. What a total shame.

When I was talking to my BFF (Golda)about this, she mentioned that she had some of the same frustrations. She told me she would make Christmas cards throughout the year. I can’t remember if she set a number, but I decided if I made 10 a month that’s 120 Christmas cards, or even at 5 that is 60 over the year. This struck me as a good plan mostly because I wouldn’t need to stress the already stressful season. I usually have some to spare and pass on to charity which is another bonus. I found also that I really enjoy the longer time spent as I can think about the people I am sending cards too. It makes for a much better year.

Maybe this is something you can start doing! Think of all the fun you will have. Also, the guilt doesn’t hit as hard on buying the latest and greatest when you have already been using your stamps from previous years! You know that over the upcoming year you will use them!

TOP FIVE REASONS TO MAKE CHRISTMAS AND HOLIDAY-THEMED CARDS YEAR ROUND

  1. I am not stressed about getting cards out
  2. I get to address 5-10 envelopes a month for Christmas cards (if they move a quick label fixes it) and have no need to have a marathon addressing session (Bonus: I also sometimes have time to add cuteness to the envelope that will be going out.)
  3. I get to use my product all year long
  4. I get exposed to the other things in my Christmas themes to use on everyday projects. I find that a lot of my Christmas theme stamps and papers can go with everyday goodies to make a fantastic pairing.
  5. It usually helps keep me in a holly jolly mood all year round