Recycling Your Christmas Cards - Coming up in January

 Hi Crafters

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and have time now to sit and contemplate, consider your crafting for next year and making designs in your heads. I find myself doing this when I have free time.

I have planned my blogs for the first half of the year, and the emphasis will be on using what you have in your stash, starting with recycling your Christmas cards. Be sure to save you cards and anyone else’s who are happy for you to recycle theirs. 

The projects will be presented over January and I will try to share with you ways of preparing the projects in a way that will allow you to store your makes for the year until you need them, storage is always a consideration for crafters and so preparing your items to a place where they can be stored easily is useful. This process may require you to make notes on the finalisation of the projects to store with the items so when you come to complete them in October/Nov you have the prompts to finish them well, but it will be worth it. 

So see you all again with these projects the first week of January. 

Dee

Round up of the Year

 Hi Crafters

First let me wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and thank you for stopping by. I realise there are many things you could be doing and blogs you could be visiting so THANK YOU for checking my blog out. This year has seen a good increase in viewers and for that I am very grateful as it gives me the encouragement to continue. 

So this year for crafting has been very messy and looking back at my posts this has been reflected in the mix and maelstrom of my posts. Not just because there has been little structure to the crafting year but also because I like to try my hand at many styles of crafting. I am not sure if this is helpful to viewers but hopefully you can find items you are interested in, although this has made me realise I need to be more careful with headings. 

I have only been able to visit one Craft Show this year (Exeter) and have held one Workshop. In August I attended a Craft Fair, this was not great for me (or many of the other stall holders) which has made me question doing any more Fairs. I am not closing that door completely but I am thinking that I will not do any in 2022, and see if I can find another outlet for items. So in this respect I am looking forward to trying something new. 

For the Blog I would like to tidy it up a little, and have an idea to focus on a particular area for each month  instead of ad hoc posts, with a little more planning for weekly posts. Let’s hope this is a new year resolution that is followed through. If I can plan a little better then my posts will be better structured and photographs to match improved instructions. Please check in  in January to see if this works for you. I would also appreciate feedback at any time as this will tell me if a more structured approach is good for you, the readers. 

So I leave you with a picture of my Christmas Cake this year. Honestly I am no good at cake decorating or icing, so soft icing has been used, meaning the corners are not clean squares but I find ribbon hides a multitude of errors. This is a simple pattern of snowflakes in 3 sizes made from cutters, placed around a circle of icing rolled out and cut using a saucepan lid. 

The cutters used were the push down style:

I am not experienced with these and struggled to remove the snowflake once cut. In the end I found a great system. Press the cutter into the icing and lightly wiggle to cut your pattern. Lift the cutter and clean out the pieces in between the edges, with a cocktail stick, before pushing the handle down. This will not release the shape but a careful pick at the edge with cocktail stick will enable you to get under the shape and go around the edges gently lifting before removing the shape. I then turn these onto a piece of grease proof paper when I I had a selection of all the sizes I placed them around the circle of icing before placing the whole lot onto the centre of the cake. I have placed 3 silver reindeer into the centre of the circle of snowflakes but you could add an iced picture or a selection of Christmas trees or poinsettia, whatever you fancy. I then wrapped the sides in silver ribbon with another fancy ribbon placed in the centre. 

I then used the spare snowflakes to place around the cake stand. I am happy with the finished item, it certainly suits my needs as this cake will sit on the table until Christmas/Boxing Day and once cut will not be around long, and will be probably be shared out to family and neighbours, (if not gone by January) 

Hope you all have a great Christmas and looking forward to crafting in the new year.

Dee

 

Gift Boxes & Bags (A round up of styles)

 Hello Crafters
I have been busy over the last couple of weeks like most of you. Christmas cards are now made and mostly distributed, and the last couple of days have been about parcel wrapping. I have always enjoyed the wrapping almost as much as the giving and like the gift to be a surprise so boxes are useful at this time of year. 
I also make gift bags especially for toiletries, makeup and jewellery as the bags can be used to store the items after opening and hopefully re-used a few time for wrapping. I know some of my card boxes have had multi-use too, so thats good.
Today I thought I would do a round up of a few of the boxes and bags I have made and give you directions  to the particular blog or YouTube video so you can make them yourself.

No1

Recently made, a 2 section box for hand wash and hand cream gift. This I made by measuring the bottles and then making a base to fit the 2 bottles side by side. This particular box needed to be 8” long and 5” wide 2.5” deep. So require a 12 x 12 sheet and I used the Sara signature “Letters from the Heart” paper pad. Just make your box as you would normally and then for the dividing centre part take a piece of card the length of the box and just under  double the width The width of this box is 5” so I make the card 9.5” x 8”. Score the width 2.5”, 4.75”, 7” . Fold the centre score lines to form a double layer and glue together. Then lay into the base of the box. Check the fit (it may need a slight trim either side to fit snuggly into the box base. Then glue the 2 panels to the base of the box.

No2

Best Box Ever

I called this my best box ever as I had learnt to add an extra section to give a professional finish to the inside of the boxes. You can see this in my blog 9 Sept 2021.

No 3

T Light Box 

For some reason I cannot find a blog for this although I cannot believe I have not given you this. It is a simple box to make and can be made from 1 sheet of A4. Simply measure your T-Light and make sure your sections are wide enough. This box has been made with a sheet 21cm  x 28cm by scoring along the 21cm side at 2.5cm,5cm,11cm,13.5cm,19.5cm, and turn to score both sides and 2.5cm and 5cm both sides. This box hold 3 larger T-lights.

No 4 

Self Closing Pouch Box

I made this a long time ago and have several sitting in my craft room stores flat with the extra base pieces and tape in place ready to put together when I need them.

See my blog 22/11/20

No 5 

Small Box with Laminated Lid 

This box was made to demonstrate using pretty papers laminated one side to enhance your box making. It means you can use thinner papers printed on home printers as once they are laminated they have added strength. Perfect for the little jewellery gift box etc. 

Just make your box as you would normally using a sheet of laminated paper for the box lid.

No 6 

Origami Box 

I made 20-30 of these cute origami boxes. The one pictured here is one of my largest and has been made from a 12 x 12 square for the base.

A great gift box for jewellery that can be used by the recipient as a jewellery box as it is pretty enough to be left on the dressing table or sideboard. 

You can see how to make in from my blog on 3/12/2019

There were some that got away - in other words were given to the recipient before i took a photograph for the blog. 
Ingenious Bottle Box that is double skinned and sturdy enough for a bottle and to keep its shape. this was from a Crafters companion CD that came with my A3 Scoreboard 

Triangular Box - So simple to make from a sheet of A4. Ideal for sweets and trinkets. You can find how to make here. 

https://youtu.be/wrIHETxrB-E

Hope you enjoy these and have a go at some of them. 

Christmas embossed Stars for decorations

 Hi Crafters

I noticed that only the last few of my recent blogs have been Christmas crafting, noticeably less than in previous years where I have done whole series  of projects such as “12 days of Christmas Cards” or “Craft Fair makes” . What is it about this Christmas that has not led me to do Christmas crafts in such depth as before?

Firstly I think it is lack of Craft Fairs to take part in and then having done one at the end of October I decided not to do any more this year and I will seriously be looking at doing them at all in future. There are 2 main problems for paper crafters.

Firstly craft lovers who attend such fairs, are often crafters themselves, enjoy your products happily chat to you about your makes,  but then rarely buy as they prefer to go home and try making it themselves. This happens more and more nowadays. Five - ten years ago they would buy as they wanted the template and perhaps did not feel confident to make the item themselves without a sample to follow. But as time goes on and they have made more themselves so the construction of projects is more easy to them. That is a natural progression and you only have to consider the amount of craft items sold on Tv to understand how many people are participating in some type of craft today. 

Secondly there is a wide variety of cheap products available in the stores that are similar (although not as personal or unique ) as hand crafted items. Many of your makes can be purchased for less in stores such as Home Bargains, The Works and B & M. All stock pretty stationary, notelets, journal book and planners, they make great stocking fillers and at throwaway prices. The area I live is not a market for £40 Journals and Albums. So I need to be realistic and view my hobby as just that, a hobby. 

With that said I intend to continue to enjoy my hobby and the upside of not making for fairs or to sell in any way, is I can make what I like when I like and take my time learning and trying new techniques. 

And so I find myself trying something new this weekend. I saw the technique on Positively Papercraft, and will be making star decorations from Paper Towels. 

Ann on P.P. Used the embossed paper towels with her dies to cut out leaves painted them with water colours, finished with PVA glue or clear embossing for a 3D wreath on a card. It looked amazing.

I have made paper stars a lot and found a good way of making them 3D, but decided to try using the paper towel technique and have a play. I also tried embossing the papers 

These stars have been made with 2 pieces of paper towels then folded in 3 to make 6 layers. My star dies were then used to cut out the shapes (the stitch edged dies seem to hold the layers together better, and so i mainly used these. I then decorated them, some I added PVA glue with water to give a firmer front.

I also added some to ribbon to make hanging stars and these will be hung from the Mantel  or shelf.

So what will I do with the individual stars???

Some will be used to make a couple of unique cards. 

Decorate gift bags and gift boxes 

And the remaining will be scattered like confetti in gifts or when I sell anything, as happy mail. 

Let me know if you try this technique, and please subscribe to my blog as it encourages me to keep posting.

Dee

Old Projects finished at last

Hi Crafters

As promised, here are the projects found when sorting through the craft boxes.

The bottom photograph is a selection of cards, they includes the ones made in my previous blog, some lovely 3D cards from a Create and Craft kit that have vellum inserts. These just needed some greetings added and the 3D Decoupage put together . Then there were some White and silver Christmas cards.

Next were some notelet sets in folders. Each set has 6 DL notelets and envelopes and the file with matching papers, these were all made from the First Edition Eastern Promise paper pad. 

Then I found 2 box cards. These consist of a card that has a box attached which holds 3 scented tea- lights,  both have been made with Christmas papers from the Sara Signature Vintage Christmas Pad, which was my favourite last year, and quite honestly I have not found a pad I like as much this year.

The 3 bigger boxes hold 3 larger scented tea-lights and are perfect as a thank you gift, or thank you for having me gift etc

Then there were several packs of self-sealing boxes. I have kept some as they will be useful for my own gift giving. These pouches are made using 2 pieces of 12 x 12 card stock. Scored in such a way that when put together the top of the box stays together naturally (unless you overfill the box section. You can find several YouTube videos for these, and I have added additional squares of card to line the inside and cover the outside of the base of the box to reinforce

These boxes can be made and stored flat so are very handy to have in your stash. I have three in the giveaway bag.

Lastly there are 4 gift boxes that i had scored and cut out ready to put together, (I think I must have been trying a new template) and as I had some Lidl small chocolate bars I made up the boxes and added 4 of the mini-bars into each , I then filled the top of the box with a Christmas napkin. These require a tag and content description attached to the Christmas ribbon wrapped around the box.

All of these have gone into the bag to be given to a friend who sells them to support a cancer charity. 

Over the next week or so I will continue to look through my boxes and complete anything else I feel may sell well at this time of year, and therefore benefit the charity, at the same time tidy my craft room ready for new projects in the new year. 

I hope this has inspired you to check out the cupboards and see what you have, not quite finished, that you can complete and use. If you look at anything and are not sure if you want to finish it, consider stripping it for using on other projects or be ruthless and throw it out. It will be be good to start the new year free to crack on with new projects and ideas.

Dee

Origami Christmas Card

 Hi Crafters

Well today is a tale of woe and triumph. I belong to a craft club and on Monday night we had decided to make some origami Christmas cards. One of our members had brought the card in to share and with the card (which she had made on a cruise) was a spare pack, which I diligently looked over and decided i knew how to fold the tree pieces and so we would all have a go this week. We all took the appropriate card and paper and I started with instructions for the sizes of papers required to make the tree.

Then we got to the trickier part of origami folds, but I reassured the others that there were only a few folds so not too difficult, after all some of us had taken part in folding 1000 cranes for Hiroshima, so this should be quite simple. We folded the first piece and then realised that there were no down folds for the branches and unfolded. Undeterred we unfolded the piece from the spare pack and the initial folds appeared correct but the end result was not right. So we hummed and ha’d over the various combinations, still not right. By now I was feeling a combination of embarrassment (having assured everyone it was straight forward) and determination not to be beaten. No YouTube where we have craft club so we just had to keep trying. 

Lyn, the owner of the original card gave us permission to take the bottom section off and see the folds, it was a start and we continued to puzzle over it. About 30 mins before the end of club time, between myself and two of the other ladies we had finally worked it out. Once we had checked out the folds we set too using them on the five sections to make the tree. Some had lost the will by this time but a few of us continued and had quite a laugh about it in the end. 

So here is my card from the evening

 The camera work here is not great but you get the gist.

Having thought I knew what I was doing I had sorted out 6 cards and envelopes from an old C & C Christmas kit, to make on the night. Alas I made just the one, but I did make the other 6 up at home and here they are.

Tidying up my Christmas stash I found an 8 x 8 book of Origami Christmas papers that did the job perfectly. I also made a video of me folding the trees so I could make them next year and be reminded of the folds should I forget or not be able to replicate the sample I put in the pad. I can’t seem to post it as it is too big a file. Instead of the star I added to the first card, as the other 6 are larger cards, I added a robin to the top of the tree. 

To make the card select a base card, like I said previously I took the opportunity to use some base cards from a kit ( I had bought the kit for the card stock and had fun using up the cards making boxes and other items) these were 5” x 7” whereas the original card I made was a standard A6.The 5 squares of paper for 5 x 7 card are 13cm, 11.5cm, 10cm,8.5cm and 7cm.

Each piece is folded in half both sides and then diagonally both sides. Lay the square down and fold in the sides to form a triangle  

Lastly fold the sides to the centre lining up with the centre line 

Layer  the base card you can emboss this layer if you want added dimension

Place the largest of the folded squares on the bottom of card and slip the next size over the top lining up. Keep glueing the back of the bottom part of the triangle and the tails and slip over the top of the one already on the card to form a tree shape.

Here we have the finished card

Another design in the repertoire 

I have been tidying the Christmas boxes and found several unfinished projects and decided to finish and donate them. 

I will show you the projects in the next post.

Dee 

Anna Griffin Christmas

 Hi Crafters 

I have recently purchased some Anna Griffin Dies and am looking forward to making my Christmas cards with them 

The first die for me to try is a lovely Santa Sleigh, the die set has an outline die that makes the base card and then the sleigh die and a set of parcel and tree dies.

This is a sample card from Anna Griffin show 

I do love the Anna Griffin range and have bought several of her dies although I do not usually buy a complete set as I am not ready to spend £80 to £150 on a set of dies, mainly because I know i won’t use them all enough to warrant the spend. One or two from the set to try the designs and some of the accessories, are all I need to ‘have a go’ and not get bored repeating the style. I realise that Christmas is a little different as we all make a lot of cards this time of year, but I like variety so never buy all one range. I am often tempted with  Anna Griffin as it was one of the first designers I purchased when she sold on QVC, but I have so many dies now I really could not make use of 5 or 6 dies in a similar style, so usually just buy my favourite  to try them out,

I am not a quick crafter and working with a die set such as the one shown above will take me some hours. First I have to think  about the design then get out the necessary card and tools and then make up the card.

For this die I needed the large A4  plate so had to get my SIZZIX Plus out the cupboard to cut the base card

Then find the mirror card to make the top layers of the card and sleigh accessories. This took me a couple of hours and then it was time to make dinner. So I still have the base decorations to make and the greeting. Once the card is completed and I am happy with it, I can then get a production line going. I will definitely be adding several of them to my Christmas card pile. 

Here is my version. 

 I am super pleased with it and now I have the basics I can put them together easily. Like most special cards this takes more card than the average amount if card to construct.One standard piece of A4 card 2 pieces of mirror card as well as the patterned card for the holly leaves. And some scraps for the greeting. If you add the cost of the base die spread over 20cards each card would cost about £2 to make. I am not making these to sell, but I throw this in for anyone who does make to sell. 

Obviously if you make lots, and have a good market for them the price per unit goes down, but in my experience and in my area if I am selling cards at £3 or more, my sales would be limited and it would take a few  fairs to sell 40 of the same card. 

All this does not put me off buying more Anns Griffin dies and I am looking foreword to working with the Carousel die I have purchased, and the greeting Impression dies. 

I will post more as I make more. 

Happy Crafting

Dee

More Laminating Projects

 More Laminating Projects
Gift Card holder and Tags 

Hi Crafters

Following on from the other laminating projects mentioned in my previous post, I was asked if `tags could be made using the laminator.

So here are 2 styles of tags

The first has been made laminating a large tag and then adding a laminated pocket on the back to take your greeting 

Put a couple of large tags into a laminating pouch, and put through the machine

Cut around leaving a band around the tag sealing it.

Then with badge size laminating pouches, cut one down by removing 1.5cm from the long and short side, turn inside out and slip into another of the badge laminating pouches,pop through the machine

Cut the top off the badge and this gives you a clear pocket to add your card. add it to one of the tags 

Punch a hole in the top and add an eyelet to take your ribbon.

Here are 3 large Journal tags with one of my  cards on the back showing the pocket for journaling or gifting info.

Next are fun large tags made with 3D decoupage. It is a pad bought from the Range, the pad has papers, and coordinating 3D decoupage for toppers and cards. I laminated the individual pieces of 3D decoupage, fussy cut around the pieces and then layered them onto tags cut from the card with foam pads.

I love making these jazzy tags and they will brighten up any parcel. 

I have added an eyelet and ribbon, so these tags will be sturdy, and hopefully used more than once.

Happy Crafting

Dee

 

Laminator Workshop

 Hello Crafters

I have been preparing for a “Using Your Laminator for your Crafting” workshop

I managed to list 10 makes for the laminating machine as I really enjoy using the machine to  finish my projects. The list is below:

1. Laminating sleeves to keep your dies tidy  
2. Laminating pouches for your paperwork. 
3. Laminated purses for giving money or gift cards 
4. Laminating one side of your paper to make journal covers
5. Laminating one side of your papers to make tags
6. Laminating gift boxes and bags
7. Use your scrap pieces from your laminating to make clear lids for your boxes or put them through your embossing folders to make pretty tops for your boxes that look like glass finish 
8. Use your scrap pieces to make handles for your gift bags that look like handbags etc 
9. Put napkins into your laminating pouches and either laminate completely or laminate one side for an ethereal look to the project
10. Make your own stencils

Many of these ideas I have used before and shown on the blog but I will try to show a few new items I have made and hope to inspire you to use your machine at home.

Item 3 - 3 gift folders

Here we have 2 made with straight popper closures and on the third I have cut out a matching butterfly and added it to the popper when securing it so that the tab is decorated.

Item 4 Journal Covers 

Here I have used a piece of the Boho Bouquets paper and laminated it to make a Journal cover that is more durable.

9 Using napkins to laminate for your projects

Here we have 3 napkin projects 

A poppy folder 

Manipulated napkin panels to make the width to make a box

Seashells napkins laminated with Matt laminating sheet - one side only -

So here we have a taster of just some of the projects that can be made with laminated papers.

I hope they have inspired you to try your own.

If you want to see some videos of laminating project I would recommend Positively Papercraft on YouTube as her video’s inspired me, 

Happy Crafting

Dee

Upcycling Christmas Cards

 Hi Crafters

Yes it is that time again, time to start getting ready for the great Christmas makes.

I was thinking about half term and the opportunity to make cards with the children ready for them to give out at Christmas, preparing some items in the half term will take some of the load off later. With that in mind I came across a box of 4 x 4 cards that I had bought in the sales last year.

The box had 30 cards with red envelopes and I think cost me just 99p, at this time of year you may well be able to find them in the discount shops as they put out the Christmas stock. 

The cards although perfectly good for general use if you have no crafting ambitions, were not for me, but the 30 envelopes alone were worth more than the 99p, and was the main reason for purchasing the box. I can make my own 4 x 4 cards and have the perfect envelopes. So what to do with the cards from the box.

Well here are my ideas:

1. Gift Tags - simply punch a hole in the top and add some pretty ribbon I used one bunch of 8 tags an added some Christmas colour ribbon.

2.  Photo Mini-Book - I took a group of 8 cards and glue the back page of 7 to the next card. 

The cards are then folded to concertina 

 

Leave one card to decorate the box you make to hold the photo mini-book

Use the card to draw around to make the box shape. Add 1cm line on all 6 sides and then another 1cm line outside the first line. Cut around the outside lines to make the base of the box, and score the first line. Cut down to the first line on each of the six sides and glue the tabs down to make the base box. Repeat for the lid but make the first lines 1/8th” off the card base, so this makes the lid lightly larger.

The last item I made was a banner. First I cut off the back of the cards, then I punched two holes in the top and simply slipped ribbon through the holes spacing the card evenly along the ribbon.

This would jolly up any plain wall space

Well here are some ideas to get you started. Would love to see any of your makes.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Super Quick card for you to make

 Hi Crafters

I have been away a couple of week but I am back now and today I have a great card that can be made quickly and with items you already have in your craft room.

I chose a fairy theme but you could use flowers or for men a motorbike or train would look good in this format. Next choose the size card you want to make, I made mine A5 as it was the quickest and simplest card to make. Ideally a stamp and die combo is best but you can use any stamps and fussy cut the images.

Cut apiece of A4 smooth card 13cm x 19cm too work on. (Adjust this to fit your finished card size). 

I made the mistake of using a linen card which did not give me such a smooth finish 

First take a circle or oval die which will give you an aperture 4-6” and cut it out on a piece of scrap card as we are going to use the aperture not the shape 

I used a circle as it was the right size and cut it out on a piece of craft card I had in my scrap box. I will keep the circle for another project.

Next lay the stencil piece over your working card 

Now on the inside of your aperture use inks or chalks to build up a layer of colour around the edge, You can do this all around but I prefer the look with a gap at the right side of the aperture .Continue to build up the colour with less in the centre fading to nothing in the centre. 

The with black ink or a darker in to the one just applied add your image to the right side of the aperture. 

I stamped some star dust to the shaded left side and put my fairy to the right, and as I had a die to match my fairy I cut my fairy out again and layered it. 

I then added a greeting to the top of the card outside the circle image and then backed the work card onto a piece of blue card 14cm x 20cm to add a trim 

I could imagine this on cream card with yellow shading and a dark brown or black train through the right side, 

Back soon with more makes. 

Dee