It was about this time last year that I bought the first issue of Let's Make Cards, a magazine and folder of stash combined. I was new to card making and the first issue had really great stash with a Christmas theme: Magic Mesh, die cuts, metal charms, sequins and so on. It made some fabulous cards. The second and third issues, however, were disappointing, and the magazine didn't motivate you to do much beyond sticking die cuts to card blanks and scattering a few sequins around.
So when I saw issue 2 of "You Can Craft," from Future Publishing, I saw a virtual copy of Let's Make Cards in terms of execution. It's shrink wrapped (to stop pilfering at the store), has a magazine, 20 card blanks and a selection of papers and embellishments.
As Christmas puts so many demands on the card maker's stash pile, I bought it to see what it was like.
The stash is not dissimilar to Let's Make Cards. The papers are much better quality. Interestingly, it was not Christmas themed (presumably issue 1 was).
The magazine itself is far superior. It has lots of templates at the back and with these and the papers enclosed, you can get quite creative. The contributors include "names" like Judy Balchin, Shimelle Laine and Jane Dean, and while the articles aren't bylined, I could see where some of the designs originated. A guitar template, for example, had Judy Balchin written all over it. Here's my interpretation. I love the fact the templates are neatly sized at 100% already (who has time to hover at the office photocopier?) and I used tracing paper to reproduce the design.
There's also a great cupcake template - cupcakes are so "in" right now.
So for a beginner, or someone wanting a stash injection and some new ideas, this is a well put together magazine and good quality stash.
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