5 minute Cards Part 1: Playing with color

 oh, no.... My kids are out of school!, Around this time of year, I am hit with, WHAT DO I DO WITH MY TIME??? Right? I stay at home all year long... I know I am lucky and incredibly blessed. Thank God for stay at home moms! right? But what do I do when I need my creative time and my angel kids that are in school are home ALL DAY LONG? I turn to my time-saving creative freeing exercises.

Omaha Zoo first week of summer break with my oldest daughter

Becuase I am pressed for time, or more like, I take my creative free time when I can get it during the summer I thought I would continue to share some of my insights as how I "save" time during the summer to get some  cards made in the short "bits" of time I have, so I am able to do more with my kids.

Let me say this first so you don't get the wrong idea: YOU CANT RUSH ART. You just can't. so although it may seem like 5-minute cards are out, I think with the right planning you can create cards in 5 minutes. It's all in the planning. ( thoughts of how to make your time worthwhile, or writing in your morning pages how to go about making cards.)

Here are some of my design tips for 5-minute cards:

Have a plan: If you are not in a "let's make something mood" That's all right, the best way Artist's and creatives find more creativity, and why Pinterest is so popular is because you need time to see what you can do. I find if I have a deadline for a card to be in the mail for a birthday and I don't have that perfect card, I will take a little extra time before I start a project and look through what I have, or if I know what I want to use, but don't know how to implement it, I will "play" play with my stamps, my inks, watercolors, then I feel ready to actually make a card. Playing makes all the difference in my projects.

Playing means to enjoy the process! I have looked at playing or dinking around in two different ways: wasting a lot of time and resources, or the other: learning and playing to make something amazing.  I save my playing and dinking around panels, they can usually inspire me to make something else, or they go into my Art Journals, that eventually I use to express myself as a story of a season.


On to some of my playing around that turned into cards, that took me less than 5 minutes to put together:

This is a really nice warm up I wanted to see what purple dioxide and Antwerp blue would do with greens and yellows, along with some expressive brush strokes. I also had just bought this Blessed stamp from Taylored Expressions, that I had to play with. It came together seamlessly, then because I wanted the purple to pop, I matted the panel with purple cardstock

This next card was the same way, I wanted to use this card to play with my new Windsor and Newton Crimson red watercolor, I had a panel of these two Poppies stamped ready for me to do something with, so I thought I will play with my new Crimson red watercolor with this poppy panel. adding some black pattern paper and some ribbon made this card look perfect for a 5 min. card. 

I know that that summer goes by really fast when you have kids at home with you, usually a wedding weekend, and visits with friends and family is mixed into the summer along with vacations, getting caught up on cards and creating things is always tricky when you have kiddos at home, It is my hope to inspire you to start playing around, and enjoy the time that you do have into making a card. 

What stamps or mediums do you like to play around with?

If you are looking for some great ways to take your cards to the next level you may want to try these classes, I have personally taken these classes and love them, I refer back to them often!


Watercolor Cards Made simple
Radiant Stamping Techniques
Wild cards: 21 Techniques with favorite supplies with Cathrine Pooler
Inventive ink Colorful Mixed-Media Effects
Fresh Eyes on Your Cardmaking Supplies

My favorite watercolor card class that has helped me the most:
 Angela's Fehr's class Creative Watercolor

I hope that you have some time to spend on your creativity, and if needed learn a new trick or two!

Happy Creating!