Did everyone receive all sorts of great treats over the holidays? I sure did. This got me to thinking… “Lish, just how can I send the proper ‘thank you’ without breaking the bank?” MAKE IT YOURSELF, DAMMIT. And luckily we have The Cardmaking Kit to help us out.

A side note: You realize you’re busy when you’ve run of out clean underwear, your cat’s eaten the last of your Lean Cuisines and people forget what your last name is. I realized it’d been forever since I posted (or at least felt that way), and since that SIMPLY WILL NOT DO, I’m back! Where was I? Oh, the Detroit Auto Show (which all Detroiters MUST go to- it’s your southeastern Michigan civic duty!), Bellaire (Michigan, not Cali), and various fabric stores in the greater Ann Arbor area trying to replenish my supplies after a busy crafting/holiday season. Phew!

The Cardmaking Kit: Materials and Instructions for Creating Beautiful Handmade Cards
By Carey Jones
27 sheets paper, scissors, 3 card and envelope templates, stencil, stickers, instruction booklet
May 2004
Chronicle Books

How can you improve a craft kit? By providing templates! Let me tell you, the templates in this kit are enough for me to give it an A+, a gold star, and two big thumbs up. I know that the templates I’ve created over the years have become soggy with Sharpie stains from repeated tracing. Luckily, these templates are made out of this new, space-age technology that NASA is all over: floppy plastic. The templates come in three different sizes that double as either envelope makers or card makers. Brilliant!

The kit also includes a wee idea book to get the creative juices flowing. While very helpful, I say take your floppy-plastic templates and go to town!

Do you have any good resources you use for making cards? Feel free to share your ideas!