Story-Telling With Ensembles: How to Make Scenes on Cards

Let's face it: we all love a good scene card! They're beautiful, eye-catching, and perfect as greeting card designs for all occasions. Plus, scene cards are now easier to make more than ever before with the help of craft ensembles! Whether it's an underwater scene, a nature scene, or a summer garden scene, ensembles are here to help you amp up your scene cards using just one bundle of paper crafting products. 

Sunrise In The Park

Today, we're going to dive into how you can create beautiful scenes on your cards with ensembles. After reading this post, you'll surely be able to craft cards that are more than just pretty - they'll also be able to tell a fun story! So sit tight, and let's get creative! 

What Are Scene Cards?

Before we dive into the creating process, let us first define what are scene cards in cardmaking and paper crafting. Scene cards are cards that have design elements that belong to a specific theme. These cards portray a scene happening, such as a picturesque winter forest with reindeer peeking from behind the trees or a boat on ocean waves seemingly making its way toward a lighthouse. 

Roaming Pandas

Scene cards tell a story in ways that simple decorative cards do not, as the details included in these types of cards, such as their color palette, element positioning, and images used, are intentional. Each piece is in harmony with each other, and they all work together to create one cohesive message.

Find the Best Cardmaking Kit for Beginners Here! 

There are many ways to craft scene cards, but there are three key features that cards need for them to be considered as "scene cards":

1. Background - Just like a story, these cards need a setting where the "scene" happens. Backgrounds can be a stamped image of clouds, watercolored rainbow colors, or a stenciled wall-like pattern. Whatever medium you choose, the background helps create a foundation for the card's overall theme.
2. Foreground - While the background serves as the base of the design, the foreground is the frontmost feature of your scene card. Just like in a picture, having a foreground in your composition helps create depth and perspective and draws the viewers' focus on certain parts of your scene. Some examples of foregrounds can be a row of mountains, snow drifts, branches, leaves, and window ledges. 
3. Character - Of course, no story is complete without the actors bringing life to the scene! Just like in scripts, scene card ideas need subjects to enact the narrative. Scene cards would feel empty and incomplete without them. You can even say, "No card is an island!" (LOL). To level up your scene cards, you can add characters like animals, insects, people, vehicles, or even inanimate objects!

Red-Crowned Cranes Layering Die Set

It isn't a requirement for scene cards to have all three parts all the time, but you can use these three features to guide you into crafting your first scene cards! Just remember that having these cohesive elements would make your scene cards richer and make your card's story more captivating. 

How to Use Ensembles to Create Scenes

If you're feeling stuck on ideas for cardmaking, then look no further than with scene cards! For attractive cards that will surely wow your recipient, you can't go wrong with scene card designs. Luckily, it's not as complicated as you think, and even as a beginner, you can concoct your own mystical, enchanting, fun, and adventurous stories with ensembles!

Wrought Iron Gate Die Set

As mentioned in our previous post, ensembles are paper crafting bundles specifically curated to make your creation process more straightforward. Thanks to ensembles, you don't have to scour for hours looking for products that coordinate with each other! Since each Altenew ensemble features designs that belong to a specific theme, you can create one cohesive scene or mix and match elements from different ensembles to create multiple stories! 

There are different kinds of ensembles available, and your imagination is the limit. Think of your cardstock as the canvas, and you are the artist crafting the next masterpiece of our time!

A Step-By-Step Guide to Making Your Own Scene 

1. Envision Your Story

Think of the story that you're trying to portray. Try asking yourself these questions about how to design a greeting card to help you map out what kind of theme you're going for. 

• Are you making a holiday card? A sympathy card? A new baby card?
• What kind of materials do you have? Do the designs coordinate with each other?
• What medium will you use? What color palette will you utilize? 
• What is the overall message you'd like your scene card to depict? A calm scenery? A funny one? A mystical, enchanted vibe? 

Once you have brainstormed an outline, it'll be easier to get to the creating part!

Bird Bath Layering Die Set

2. Sketch Out Your Scene

Once you have your story in mind, it's time to put it on paper! On a piece of scratch paper, start by lightly sketching out the position of your card elements. From your foreground to your characters, create an outline of where you want to place them. Planning out your scene in advance not only helps you avoid mistakes but it also guides you to create a design that makes sense. 

For example, your planned setting is the sky. So you'll want to have a background of clouds and position your characters around the middle areas of your card to give them space to make it look like they're floating or flying above. After all, scene cards require intentional positions and placements.

Design Cards Easily With These Beautiful Bundles! 

Ensembles make this process fun because, in each paper crafting kit, you will find a multitude of cardmaking items to stencil, die cut, emboss, and stamp. These will be elements that complement each other, such as an embossing folder that can serve as a background for your stamped images or a stencil that helps you create shadows and highlights, resulting in a more nuanced setting.

Chestnut Tree Layering Die Set

3. Experiment With Layering

Now this is where having both a foreground and a background comes in handy! You can enhance your scene cards by layering elements to provide a sense of illusion, as this can make your cards seem more realistic and natural

You can play with perspective by using different angles, interlocking pieces, or hiding die cuts behind each other to create vanishing points or focal points. Overall, layering the different elements of your ensemble can add dimension, interest, and texture to make your scene cards even more stunning.

4. Have Fun and Let Your Imagination Fly

This step is arguably one of the more, if not the most, important step of all: let your creativity loose! Always remember the goal of cardmaking: it is not only to produce beautiful projects but also to create DIY crafts that will bring a smile to both your and your recipient's face.

Rolling Hills 3D Embossing Folder

Scene cards are fun to assemble, plan, and tinker with, so make sure to enjoy the process. When it comes to the world of designing greeting cards, scene cards are one of those designs that you just have to try for yourself. With paper crafting ensembles, you're sure to have a blast weaving stories through stamps, die cuts, embossed elements, colored backgrounds, and more!

Give Your Cards a Happy Ending With Ensembles! 

Overall, gorgeous scene cards are just one of the many convenient benefits of using cardmaking ensembles for your projects. So why don't you start your once-upon-a-time today and try the magic of these handy cardmaking kits for adults? Once you try the wonders of using ensembles, you'll always reach for these paper craft kits again and again!