I love the fresh start a new year brings and I love all those year-end round ups that pop up. This year I thought I'd do the reverse of that and share my predictions for top card making trends for 2024.
To be totally transparent, I'm the Marketing Director at 12x12 Cardstock Shop, an online scrapbook supply store, and then I also have this site, Bits & Pieces Paper Lab. Long story short, I'm immersed in the paper crafting world 24/7.
I've always got my eye on emerging trends and based on what I've been seeing, here are my top picks for current and upcoming trends for 2024.
1. Wax Seals Card Making Trend
This paper craft trend started last year and based on the fact that Spellbinders now has a wax seal of the month club, I think this one is here to stay. I love vintage paper crafts, so I can 100% get behind this one.
How to get the wax seal look on handmade cards: Join the Spellbinders club or shop wax seal kits on Amazon. If you don't want to spend money on a new craft category, I released a faux wax seal cut file set that lets you get the trendy look with paper.
2. See-Thru Cards Card Making Trend
I've been seeing lots of creative uses for acetate, the clear film used for shaker cards. And although shaker cards are for sure one of the best versions of see-thru cards, I've seen so many other clever ways to make see-thru handmade cards.
Did you know you can emboss acetate like Designer Kate Deignan did here? In fact this whole card is see-thru. And Jennifer McGuire has a cool see-thru card technique here. I'm starting to see more and more of these designs.
How to get the see-thru cards look: Look for dies or SVG files with large open designs, then get creative and back those openings with vellum or acetate and add visual interest in the background of the window. I've created a whole Pinterest board of ideas here for you as well.
3. Bold Colors + White or Black Card Making Trend
This one I feel only 75% sure of. I was feeling really confident in this pick until the Pantone color of the year was released and it's a pale peach, pretty much the opposite of bold. But I've been seeing so many bright rainbow colors + black or white in the last half of 2023, and I really do think it will last.
How to get the bold colors + black look: Start with a black or white base and use repetition in shapes cut from a variety of cardstock colors. Or, use this trendy cardstock strips technique in a rainbow of colors. I created a cool black + neon handmade card here and there's a tutorial and cut files included.
4. Foil and Metallic Card Making Trend
The hot foil trend for cardmaking started a few years ago with Spellbinders Hot Foil Plates but it seems to just really be picking up steam and it's moved beyond the hot foil plates with people using metallics of every form. From metallic pastes and inks, to metallic cardstock like Stardream and actual foil cardstock, pops of metallic are everywhere.
How to get the metallic cardstock look: If you don't want to spend a ton of money embracing this trend, start by grabbing a few sheets of foil cardstock. Create a card just like you normally would, then cut your sentiment from foil cardstock. Another fun idea is to make layered flowers, but cut one layer from foil.
5. Letterpress Card Making Trend
Spellbinders introduced their Betterpress Letterpress system late last year and I think this will result in a wave of letterpress products and designs. I've been on the fence about buying this and keep talking myself out of it, though I may give in eventually. Regardless, I think we'll see letterpress making a splash this year.
How to get the letterpress look: You can somewhat achieve this look by inking an embossing folder before running your cardstock through it. The inks transfers to the debossed impression.
6. Quilt Inspired Designs Card Making Trend
I credit Paige Evans with this trend. One of her earlier lines featured bright patterned papers with paper pieced quilt designs. In 2023 I started to see basic shapes of cardstock assembled into designs and in late 2024 this morphed into actual quilt block patterns as card backgrounds. Combined with the hand stitching trend also made popular by Paige, I think a quilting themed trend is going to hit hard. I think we'll see it as quilt blocks made of paper AND the concept of patterned paper stitched together. I noticed one of the new lines from Simple Stories has a quilt patterned paper.
How to get a quilt inspired look: Browse quilting sites for quilt blog designs and then recreate those patterns with fresh, trendy patterned papers. Many years ago I made some quilty flowers by mixing patterned papers (see above) and that is a fun take on it too.
7. Intricate Paper Pieced Designs Card Making Trend
For a while the one cut SVG files were all the rage, but now I am seeing so many more intricate layered cardstock designs. Tim Holtz introduced his Colorize line which is lots of layers stacked together to make full designs, and I've noticed Spellbinders dies including smaller and smaller pieces.
How to get the intricate paper pieced designs look: Obviously this trend isn't for everyone. If the idea of layering up lots of paper layers sounds like torture, then this is not your trend ;) I personally love to spend a long time piecing paper. It's very relaxing to me. Look for SVG files with lots of layers if you want to try this trend (you might like these in my shop.) Encore cardstock is great for this because there are several shades of every color making it easy to do shading.
8. Shaped Cards Card Making Trend
As people start to use their Cricut and Silhouette for cardmaking even more than they are, I think more and more shaped cards will come on the market. I'm certainly trying to do my part and have a whole section in my shop of shaped cards like these thermos cards. I'm predicting these will be an even bigger trend this year.
How to get the shaped cards look: Unfortunately these are a little harder to design, so you'll likely want to buy the SVG files premade. But add your own embellishments and layer these up with patterned paper too.
9. Pop-Up Cards Card Making Trend
Since Lovepop came on the scene, I've seen more and pop up cards, well, popping up. I think home crafters will continue to try their hands at these. I've also noticed an explosion of explosion cards. While there used to be just one basic explosion card design, I'm seeing more and more show up.
How to get the explosion card look: Again, this is one you'll probably need to buy a premade SVG file for, since it's a little trickier to design on your own. I'm working on a few designs for my shop, but Emily Minor is a good one to check out for explosion box tutorials.
10. Vintage Inspired Card Making Trend
When I toured the American Crafts showroom a few months ago I noticed how many of the spring lines were vintage inspired with a pastel colorway. I saw lots of small vintage floral patterns, lacy layers and edges, delicate watercolors and pale pink and peach colorways. This is probably just the paper crafting world catching up to the cottagecore trend, but I am 100% a fan! In fact I am so in love with THIS vintage paper line.
How to get the vintage inspired look: Create lace edges on your card with punches or SVG files, use pastel color pallets and look for patterned papers with pale colors, floral patterns and tea stained edges. You can find directions for this Easter card here.
There you have it! My predictions for top card making trends for 2024. I'll be curious to see how many I got right!
-Michelle