Easter Post

 Something for Easter

Today my post is a special for Easter 

Instead of an Easter card I have made these lovely Easter stakes that can be used in the garden or part of an Easter display .

• Here they are in my indoor plant 
• They would be perfect for lining the path to the egg hunt.
• Placed by the front door 

I have made them by making a rosette with scrap paper 2 pieces 12” x 2.5”

1cm scores all the way along and then folded valley and mountain folds.

To the centre of the rosette I have hot-glued a wooden tag with the Easter bunny image and then all of this has been hot-glued to the stick. 

I finished the back with a circle of paper to cover the stick and then a piece of ribbon with a loop over the top finished with a wooden button. 

The craft group I attend had a go at making them along with the yellow card die cut chick that holds a Cadburys cream egg. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee 

Desk cleared & 2 Great Keepsake books made

 More Tidying = Blizzard Books  

I don’t know about you but every time I try to clear my desk I manage about 10 minutes tidying  before I pick up something that just begs to be made into a card or craft project. Some of my card designs and fabric patterns come from these tidying moments. Or it may be that I am putting away paper and card I see a use for them, so they never get into the correct box, they just scream to be made into a folio page or , most recently blizzard books. 

Thought Process

I was putting away some papers I had printed and realised that the copy paper I had used for the printing was the right thickness for origami folding.

That led me to remember the Blizzard books I had made some time ago.

I quickly folded a small size blizzard book. As the binding for the blizzard is made from a piece of paper half the width of the length of the paper this was made from a piece 15cm x 29.5cm, using the whole length of the A4 sheet. This binding was a fraction too small to hold business cards, so I repeated the process making the width 16.5cm and this worked perfectly.

Having made the book binding I cut 2 pieces of card to make the covers, a little bigger than the business cards I had put into the book. 

Looking at the card covers on the desk, I needed papers or fabric to cover them.

I decided as I was going to use the book to hold my business cards I would use some fabric recycled from one of hubbies shirt and I would have a great memory/keepsake book that would be useful.

I usually use a button on elastic for a closure for this type of book but for this memory book I found an old Ilfracombe Yacht Club pin that had particular meaning. 

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I was so pleased with the end product I decided to make another. This time, staying with the memory book theme, I decided to make another bigger book and using a sheet of A3 paper , which is 42cm long I cut it to 21cm wide. I wanted this memory book to be a photo album and so cut panels 4” wide from sheets of A4 Black card. 

Next what to cover the book cover with. This time i decided to use one of Brian’s ties and carefully unpicked a favourite silk tie, ironed it out, sewed 2 pieces of the stabilising fabric from inside the tie together to make padding for the card (as the silk was quite fine) and glued the stabiliser and the silk onto the 2 covers. 

                                                                

                                            

                

                                    

I really like this book and will pick some favourite photos  to go inside. I am also going to offer  a workshop for this project and kits where there will be fabric included and instructions to use your own fabrics to make this a keepsake book.

New Box Bag

 So many Crafts so little time.

It’s been a while since my last post, but I have been busy crafting. Trying to use up some of my paper stash and still sewing my bags for charity. 

So the first item I want to share with you is my new box bag. . I have been thinking about making this since I saw it on Christine’s Home Affairs on YouTube. Her box bag comes in many sizes, she even makes a large one for a weekend bag. 

When trying something for the first time I always make a trial version. For this one I used a piece of cotton which I added a stabiliser to. I wanted to practice my zip insertion and this was a good way of doing it without wasting the heavier furnishing fabrics that I will use later. 

Following the YouTube tuition I put the bag together using a piece of fabric 16.5” x 18” . The bag went together well but the fabric was far too soft for the finish that I wanted, however it had given me the confidence to try with other fabrics. 

Then I had one of those Eureka moments when I  found some leatherette fabric that had been given to me. I cut out a piece 18” x 20” and a 25” zip.  The beauty of using this fabric was it did not need lining. The end tabs were made with one piece of the same fabric, no hemming required . 

The end result was a lovely roomy box bag.

     

All done and all that remains is to add my label and make it again in a pretty  upholstery fabric so we have all tastes covered, once I have a small selection I can add them to my sale list.

Back soon - it’s new papercrafts next.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

NEW BAGS SEWN

 Sew Useful Bags for 2025

I hope this is not too confusing for anyone checking back to my blog for the latest papercrafts, because this post is going to update you all with what’s going on with my sewing projects.

For those that do not know, I started sewing when my husband was diagnosed with cancer, and when he died 16 months later I had 2 laundry bags full of bags. So given that papercrafts were not selling well at local craft shows I decided to sell the bags and donate the profits to my local hospital where Brian had received some of his treatments.

Th first shows I sold  Shopping bags, Craft bags, Shoe Bags, Gift Bags, Makeup bags and purses, Since then I have added and tried several other bags. However, displaying so many types of bags has not proved easy and so this year I have decided to limit my makes and therefore my displays to just 5 or 6 bags, as I feel this will concentrate the display and make it easier for the buyers to see what I make. 

As Craft bags have been my best seller, (I was making a 4 pocket bag and a tote bag style) I decided to continue the 4 pocket bag, stop doing the simple tote, and instead make a drawstring top bag. The draw-string bag would be useful for knitters and crochet crafters, while the pocketed bags are great for artists, and card crafters, although there is plenty of cross-over. Both bags are also great for general use , sleepovers and Home Storage. 

I have also had to drop 3 Craft fairs, it was a difficult decision but I was unable to sell one of my best selling items there and so decided to withdraw front the shows. To try and make up for these shows I am going to try some new outlets. The first one is Ebay. I have been selling on Ebay for many years and find it easy to use. It will be interesting to see if I can build a customer base for my bags on this platform. 

The first items to be posted on Ebay are the first 3 draw-string bags I have made.

2 are roughly 14 x 14 x 6” and the other is a large 22”W x 14”H x 6”D.

I will let you know how things progress throughout the year. 

Back soon with more crafts.

Dee

Project 4 Laminated Storage Wallets - Any size

 Laminated Storage wallets - Any Size

Project 4 Trash my Stash.

With the tidy up continuing I found a 12 x 12 brown box with several partly used 12 x 12 pads.

So every now and then when I get an idea I will go back to the box and see what papers will be suitable for the project. 

In amongst the pile are a couple of Crafters Companion, a First Edition and a sample pad from DCWV, as well as a g.c.d. Christmas pad and Craft Consortium. 

As a treasurer for my local WI, I use a few wallets to store receipts, invoice, and collect cash at meetings and fund raisers etc. So I thought I would make some new ones for this year. I needed A5 size for cash collected, and storing paperwork .To store cash including coinage requires stronger pouches and so I decided to make them laminated. I also like pretty wallets for my holiday paperwork, and the papers in the box would work well for this project. The DCWV are 120-150gsm and thinner sheets are great for laminating, so I picked some pretty prints and plugged in the laminator. 

The first folders I made using 10” x 12”. The 2” strip cut off is used for the flap and the main section has a 2cm edge and then folded in half with a 2cm base flap.. The 2” strip is folded in half and the top edges rounded. . Then both sections were placed in a laminator sheet with a little space between the main body and the 2” top. 

You can find lots of videos on YouTube to make these pouches including a great selection from Positively Papercraft, who has a lot of laminating projects.

The next bundle were made wider and shorter as I find this size more useful. But made with the same process.

All the pouches had popper fastenings added .

While the laminator was on I also covered some of the papers one side only to make small purses  and envelope pouches.. To do this I cut the 12 x 12 papers to just smaller than an A4 page so 20cm x 28cm placed to pieces back to back and put them in a laminator sheet. 

With the strips that were taken off I made some purse size pouches that will be perfect for small amounts of cash or vouchers etc.In order to make them more useable I added some side gussets.. With the laminated sheets I cut them down to make laminated envelopes. With one side laminated the other side can be glued down. 

Here is a picture of my afternoon makes.

Another batch of papers used up from my stash. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Another set used from my stash

 Project 3 - Craft my Stash

Another set of goodies found in my tidy up was a set of 5 x 7 printed cards and envelopes.

If I am out and about and see a pack like these on sale I will pick them up on the basis they can be used for notelets or base cards. At £2.50 for 24 cards and envelopes these cards work out less than the cost of envelopes and cheaper than blank cards from the craft store. 

Good quality card and a pretty print. There were 5 sets of 4 prints.

As the print was repeated on the back I decided I could use them to make folders that I then filled with notelets and flip album pages or notepads.

The first 4 used were the continuous flower print and i used one as the outside folder, scoring an eight of an inch either side the centre fold to give it additional depth.

I cut another card in half and then one side down again to line the inside.

The third card I cit in half and made 3 small notelets from one half and cut the other in half along with the last card which I cut into 4 . These 6 pieces were scored at half an inch one end and this was used as a flap to glue to the right side of the folder. All 6 pieces were lined up down the page to make a flip album for 6  photograph mats.

The next four cards 

I cut one card in half and trimmed it a little to line the inside of the base card. The other 2 cards I cut in half and then 3 of the half’s in half again and with these six pieces I made a flip photo sections . Using a scrap 1/2 card from a previous project, I cut it down to make the base for a notebook, using up some scraps of copy paper from my stash.. 

The last 1/2 card from the set i folded up to make a little pocket from the front of the booklet. It was attached with ribbon and another piece of ribbon was threaded through the flap to add a decorative bead. 

These make lovely little thank you gifts, or swaps, you could add a secret message in the front pocket, personalise it with photographs. 

Back soon with the project using the envelopes that came witht he cards. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee 

Trashing my Stash Project 2

 Project 2 in 2025

Document Wallets

A good way of using up your 12 x 12 papers. Simple and useful. 

These 5 wallets finished off  a Sara Signatures pad, they are double side papers which makes the inside of the wallets pretty . 

The envelope closures are made from a double circle die with central holes.

To make the wallet score the 12 x 12 paper at 1” and 6.5”

Turn and score at 1” and 10”

Fold and burnish all the score lines 

Next Cut the pieces shaded 

This then folds up to make your wallet. 

 Shown here with the die to make the ties.

These wallets can be used for receipts

Saving envelopes

Gift Envelopes

Vouchers

As well as Document storage

No doubt I will make more during the year. As well as using the 12 x 12 sheets I can use 8 x 8 papers, although they will not be so suitable for documents they are great for gift envelopes and receipts and payments. I am a treasurer and use lots of them during the year for cash payments. 

Back soon with more ideas .

Happy Crafting

Dee