Featured Designer: Patti Milazzo

Hello!  I’m Patti Milazzo and I’m the next lucky Fiskars Designer to share a little bit about myself.  I’ve always enjoyed being crafty whether it’s with paper, paint, beads or some other craft supply.  But scrapbooking and paper crafting have been my obsession for the past 11 years.  And since joining Fiskars I’ve had the pleasure to work with some fabulous tools, papers and embellishments that have inspired me in so many ways.  As being creative is a part of my job, I make time for it each day.  But I also try to be creative in other aspects of my life.  I especially enjoy making jewelry for my daughter and creating home décor items for my kids’ rooms.  I like adding that personal touch to things I share with family and friends.  However, like many of you, my life can get pretty hectic at times with a husband, kids, work, home, dog and everyday life.  I’m sure you can relate.   So although I prefer to share my creativity, finding and making the time to do that can be a challenge.

Recently, I was chatting with a friend and we shared our thoughts about card making.  She and I agreed that it was an aspect of paper crafting we didn’t enjoy very much.  It made me wonder, why is that?  It should be simple.  However, as much as I like creating I’ve found that making cards is a huge challenge for me.  I’m able to create them for assignments, but when it comes to making them to give away I come up short.  After some thought, I realize that my biggest obstacle is my need to be very detailed and that I have some pesky perfectionist tendencies that get in the way with getting my card projects done quickly.  It seems I approach my cards the same way I approach my scrapbook pages and other paper crafts.  Ultimately, the thought of spending so much time and effort on a card becomes very unappealing when there are so many other things to be done any given day.

So I’ve decided to challenge myself with a mid-year resolution.  I’m going to get in the habit of making MY OWN cards instead of opting for the card display rack when I’m out running errands.  BUT I’m going to approach this a bit differently than I have before.

Here’s my game plan:
-Primarily use only scraps in the design of my cards. 
-Create simple designs that take no more than 10 minutes to make.  Avoid complicated techniques and choose easy-to-use tools.  Also, it might be helpful to keep a little sketch book so that designs can be used again and again.  Don’t worry about each card being an original. 
-Make time each week (15-20 minutes) to create at least 1-2 cards even if there isn’t an immediate need for one. 

The results:
-I’ll save money!  I’m going to add the equivalent $ to a jar I’ve placed in my studio this way I’ll be able to see how much I’ve saved myself. 
-I’ll be limiting waste and my scraps will be used more wisely. 
-I’ll have a supply of cards to choose from for any last minute occasion.

For really quick cards, create a simple design and repeat it to make various greetings.  Both the “hello” card and the “thank you” card were 5 or less steps to make.  Using Heidi Grace’s A Little Bird’s Tale collection, I designed a single large posey type flower in the center of an uneven square.  The Ultra ShapeXpress Tool, Shape Templates and Squeeze Punches make cutting these shapes a snap.  Use the freehand attachment for the Ultra ShapeXpress Tool if you enjoy cutting your own shapes like the large daisy and the scalloped border on the “thank you” card using Kimberly Poloson’s Cabana Blossoms collection.   

Photo cards are a great way make a greeting card with minimal supplies.  You may even find that you have some unused photos that will fit your theme perfectly.  For this birthday card I used the Threading Water Border Punch, the Around the Corner Squeeze Punch, and a few strips of festive paper from Heidi Grace’s newest We Are Family collection.  A few alpha stickers and a cupcake photo complete the card. 

Put left over letter stickers to good use by combining them with Squeeze Punch shapes to fill in for missing letters.  Again using my new favorite collection, We Are Family by Heidi Grace, on the “love you” card I substituted layered punches in place of the letter “o”.

The “get well soon” card was created using a simple color blocked pattern from Heidi Grace’s Daydream Believer collection.  The stamp is from Heidi’s Greetings stamp set...love these!  This set has so many sentiments for virtually any occasion. 

Father’s Day is coming soon and I’m sure Dad would appreciate a card made especially for him.  Cloud 9 Designs Max’s Backyard has bold, rich colors that make it perfect to create a card for the man in your life.  Again, Squeeze Punches are one of my favorite easy-to-use tools.  Stars, circles and tags created with the Chip Off the Ol’ Block punch are arranged and embellished with a few stickers.

More tips to help card making easy:
Create a list of holidays/occasions to use as a reference.  You can find a list in paper calendars as well as on-line.
Jot down ideas for sentiments and card titles.  These can come from songs, everyday speech, magazines, anywhere. 
If you want to save time on making envelopes, use pre-made standard envelopes and adapt your card sizes to them.

Once you have a simple game plan, card making can be a breeze.  It doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming.  Find what works for you and go create!

By Patti Milazzo