One of the things that I love about the Nerd Games Craftalong is that it sometimes inspires me to make projects that I otherwise wouldn’t have, such as these cards. All of these cards were made to mark off some ‘Nerd Games Bingo’ squares.
Bingo prompt: Calligraphy
I went to Michael’s to pick up some blank cards and found a ten pack on clearance. It wasn’t until I got home and opened them that I discovered they were not the basic folded cards that I was expecting, they’re gatefold cards. At first, I was disappointed, but then I came up with a way to use them that turned much better than my initial plan. Originally, I planned to just embroider the word hello and color it in, leaving the rest of the card blank. But with the gatefold card, I needed to figure out how to fill in the blank fold space above the words. I stitched out the hello, colored it in, then proceeded to figure out how to fill the blank space. Enter the Tula Pink fabric I had just received! Thankfully, the fabric colors coordinated pretty well with the colors in the word hello!
I really like how these cards turned out and am already thinking of making more in the future. For those cards, I’ll coordinate the marker colors with the fabric colors and I will also stay in the lines instead of trying for an artistic, just slightly outside the lines look.
Bingo prompt: Scrapbooking
During the Michael’s trip mentioned earlier, I picked up some sheets of double sided paper. I didn’t have a plan until I discovered the accidental gatefold cards and everything came together quickly for this one.
Bingo prompt: Adult Coloring
I bought this bee design from Etsy specifically to make this card. When coloring it in (as well as when coloring in the calligraphy card above), I realized that the alcohol marker set I have is very limited color palette-wise (seriously, it’s like the manufacturer was inspired by the bright neon of highlighters), but thankfully I was able to find enough non-neon colors to work for this card. On a related note, if anyone has some alcohol marker suggestions, I’d be happy to hear them!
@AudiobookLover I love happy accidents when it comes to using supplies that are unexpected. You really should do more papercraft! I would never guess this is a medium you don’t often touch. They are so well done.
These are all so pretty! Love colors in the first ones. (I’d probably like your marker assortment also, haha!)
I watched a video yesterday about constraints bringing the biggest boost to innovation and accomplishment, as opposed to goals, which are often wrongly considered the most important success strategy. Your experience with the accidental gatefolds feels like good evidence for it.
They’re all just so lovely. You managed to make different styles and I love that you thought to use the gate-fold blanks horizontally. That Tula Pink houndstooth is dreamy!
These are really lovely! I like the colours of the “hello” card the best, but the starry moth design is also beautiful.
As for alcohol ink markers, Copics are the bees’ knees, but crazy expensive. I have a small Ohuhu set from a friend, and a large Sanjoki set that I lucked into at a liquidation store. I enjoy both and would say they work comparatively well. I find myself going for the Sanjoki set when I’m home and the Ohuhu set when I take them somewhere, primarily because of the size of the sets.
Were the bees a stamp? I think it turned out pretty. I especially love the second on of the moth. Its simple, yet stunning.
For alcohol markers, I always go with Copic, but if you don’t want to invest that much I would recommend getting a brand you can buy individual markers from. If you get really into it, you will find you have go to colors.
Thank you for your input on the markers. I like the idea of being able to buy individual colors. Maybe the next time I’m at Dick Blick I’ll see if they have a budget friendly house-brand.
Congratulations! Your Fabric & Embroidery Cards are a Featured Project this week! 
