More Free Crafts To Try

 Ideas for other Free crafts

To end this series of blogs on free crafts, I would just like to offer a couple of other ideas.

Check out the free downloads available on-line. There are some artists that offer regular free downloads with ideas to use them such as  Gi Kerr, you can find her videos on YouTube and if you join her facebook page you can access the Friday Freebies. I must point out that I do not advocate just using free downloads, as these artists have been generous with their work. I have joined her facebook page, downloaded several of her Friday Freebies and had great fun using them. I have also bought some of her projects from her Etsy store.  The facebook pages are often a craft community with lots of ideas shared. Here is a link to her YouTube video

https://youtu.be/k0fOYfF9JXM

Then there is Pinterest and YouTube which offers lots of ideas for recycled crafts, that are free or cheap to make:

Stone painting - I have downloaded several pictures that have inspired me ready to paint a couple of lovely smooth stones I have been given. Below are some pins I have added to  my Pinterest folder 

Check out my Blog and YouTube for ideas on how to make Altered Paperclips and journal clips. A great gift for friends. Still time to have a go before school restarts.

Zip Jewellery; Here are some of my inspirations from Pinterest

Fabric flowers can be made from old ties. Simply unpick the stitches and iron out the fabric and then cut and sew new flowers for you projects. There are some lovely prints to be found with silk ties and if you can get them free from anyone just finishing work or clearing out their wardrobe, they can be a rich source for mini fabric projects. 

Here is an evening bag I made from one tie

And a recent make: a flower brooch with fabric from a tie and old buttons

So that completes the idea list . Hope you found something to try. 

Happy Crafting

Dee

Fun Christmas Freebie

 Crafting for Free or very Little

Christmas Star Wreath

This is a great project to do with the children or craft group Ideal for decorating a hall or community room and everyone gets the pleasure of being involved.

If you and your crafty friends have saved last years Christmas cards (doesn’t every crafter) here is a lovely wreath to make that will add lots of colour to your room.

Start by cutting all the cards into stars, I used a set of nesting 5 point star dies with stitched edge but if you do not have this you can use a 5 point star template and pencil the outline and cut out by hand. This takes a little time but you get to frame the parts of the card that will be the prettiest to use. So I have a Happy Christmas star for the top of my wreath and some lovely robins in smaller stars for the edges, as well as general winter scenes. I had my stars prepared as I cut and stored them when I took the cards down. So I selected a few larger stars and a lot more medium stars that had coordinating colours. Mainly traditional Christmas red, white and green. 

Next I cut a large circle from some greyboard, again if you do not own greyboard, cereal boxes will do the job, just cut 2 and glue together to make a firmer wreath. I cut my first circle of card with a craft knife to cut into the board and then scissors a to finish the job. I then found a smaller item to pencil around for the smaller circle. I cut a cross in the middle with my craft knife and then cut from the cross to  the inner circle to get it started and then used my scissors and knife to cut round. 

Once I had my base wreath, the size of the wreath has been determined by the size of the grey board or cardboard you have available, you need to wrap the circle with ribbon. I had some lovely linen/flax ribbon that I had purchased very cheaply at a car boot, just because it was cheap and I knew it would come in handy sometime.

 I went around the base wreath evenly layering the ribbon until it nearly met and then stuck the ends down with tape. This would be the bottom section of the wreath.

I then took my stars and started laying them out over the wreath. There is a trick to getting stars to stand out and that is using a ball tool or scoring tool between the top and bottom of each point on the star, and fold in to make the star stand 3D. 

Flat star before scoring

Scored star now 3D

Once you have your stars all laid out as you want start gluing them to the wreath base. I found it easier to get my layout by adding the larger stars say 5 or 6 around the frame and then overlapping the smaller stars to fill in. I add my stars with a hot glue gun but you could also use silicone glue especially if you have little ones helping and you do not want them using a hot glue gun. 

Once these are firmly in place add a finishing bow to the bottom I used the same natural linen ribbon I had put around the wreath base but added another level with red sating ribbon, adding another piece of the red ribbon to the top to enable the wreath to be hung. 

Here is my completed wreath hanging on my front door, to give you an idea of the finished product. All this has cost is the glue and ribbon. 

You could also decorate the wreath with paper flowers 

Cones made from Book pages etc

I am. Sure you will come up with more ideas and if you save other greeting cards you could make an autumn or spring wreath cutting leaves instead of flowers or stars. 

Happy Crafting

Dee

5 things I wish I knew about selling my crafts when I started

 Selling Your Makes to buy the next Craft Items 

Let me start this blog by stating I am no saleswoman, I wish I was. I have seen good sale persons in action and they love their own products and will tell anyone willing to listen about the products about their many wonderful uses and why you cannot do without it. But I am not talking about selling to make a living here, I am talking about selling some cards or craft items each month and adding this to your craft pot to buy the next “must have” items, guilt free.

Here’s 5 selling lessons nobody talks about 

1. When you first start making and thinking of selling you are so full of joy over your new hobby that you will probably consider the items you have made are great, well maybe not great, but good, and if not exactly pristine well good enough, after all these are hand crafted items. Think again, first impression only come once and if the first craft items you sell are not up to standard this is the image you are giving out.

2. I am only selling to friends and family so I do not need to package them and paper bag will do. Again this is sending out a message about your crafts. How do you what your items to be viewed.

3. I have not made many cards/gift bags/folios, but I would like to try selling. Think about this carefully before starting to sell your crafts. Ask yourself  “Do I have enough choice”?, are they items that people require all the time or only rarely. Do my friends and associates use the things i have made. If your friends are the type who love tech and send Birthday greetings by email then they are not in the market for your beautiful hand crafted cards. Make sure your items fit your selling place. There is nothing that puts you off selling your crafts more than setting them out there and not making a sell, so it is worth thinking hard about how and when you sell. 

4. I am not willing to give my crafted items away. I have heard this said and while  most of us like to be recompensed for our time and effort, think about this as a way of getting you wares known, call it promotion if you want . If you belong to a club see if you have anything suitable for the Raffle and donate it. For example,  I have given a set of stationary items, 

and a set of 5 gift bags for raffle prizes. 

Just make sure you have added your details to the package so the recipient knows who made it and how they can get more should they require them. I have seen many crafting friends start selling this way. I started selling cards at my WI and now, as I am on committee,  I make a lot of the birthday cards we give to members. A lot I donate but every now and then when I hand over 10 or so cards I get recompensed for the  materials and that way I get the pleasure of making them and some funding towards the next lot. WI friends often comment about them and  I imagine they are the same ones who purchase from me on the Trading stall we have. 

5 Lastly, and this is a hard one, be prepared to take criticism. Most family won’t give it, friends and colleagues will also be reluctant. But if you are showing your goodies and getting few sells, take the hint. That does not mean giving  up, talk to them, ask them what sort of items they like of yours and how you can improve them, what are they looking for generally when shopping for cards, or other items. Remember we all started somewhere and I know I made all of the above mistakes , which is how I can share them with you. 

I am fortunate enough to have a husband who is happy for me too craft away, but will be totally honest about what I make. He will also tell me whether he thinks I am wasting my time on something and question the need for anything I make. This can be a little annoying at times but keeps me grounded. 

Another way to craft for free is to look out for bargains on Ebay and use some and sell some on. If you are a regular crafter you will know the cost if items, so know a bargain when you see one. This is particularly good for craft kits. I will check out clearance items and if I like an item and the price is right I will buy it. 

For example: There is a Christmas card kit on Ebay today 15/8 that has 30 cards, 30 sheets of A4 card and embellishments. They may not all be to your taste but you could use the cards you do not like as much to make boxes or layer up. The cost is £4 plus  postage, so for £7.50 you have at least 30 cards thats just 25p each and for the cards with plenty of card left over, for boxes, gift bags etc. Just add your craft skill and imagination. If you have the outlet make the 30 cards up and sell them, at 50p each you have doubled your money. Or make half and sell the other half on. Here is a box made from spare card from one of the Christmas kits purchased last year.

Be prepared to use your spare pieces in other ways to get the most from the kits.

There is also a Create and Craft Teddy Bear kit, with 38 cards and envelopes, and 43 sheets of A4 papers as well as sticky back ribbons and stickers for £12 including p&p. If I bought this kit I would make 18 cards and then sell on a kit of 20 cards & envelopes and 20 A4 sheets, as well as some of the sheets of stickers etc. Or you could make up 4 x 8 card kits and keep one and the odd sizes and sell the rest on. You get the idea. 

Lastly look out for summer bargains. A lot of the companies are selling off stock this time of year. There are some great buys out there, but not all sales items are being offered at the very best prices available so shop around. If you see a sale item you like google it and check out prices elsewhere before purchasing. 

Here are a couple of my best BARGAIN PRICE outlets

Www.everycraftsabargain: Some great prices for tapes glues inks and other basics, but you do need to purchase a lot as the postage added makes a difference. Particularly good for a group or craft club.

Www.craftclearance.com: They have some amazing dies on offer from Sue Wilson, Tonic, Craft Expression and The Paper Boutique. They also sell The Paper Tree paper packs at clearance price. However the website is not so quick to get around, and if you are on the email list and get notification of new stock the website can be very slow, but definitely worth a look. 

Lastly check out the Range every now and then. I use to think they carried only basic items, but as well as the basics they have some items that they have obviously cleared for other companies and these are not only great quality but really great prices. Probably best to see the the best buys on-line and then check out stock in your local store. I have purchased Natural History Museum 12 x 12 pads at half the original  price. 50 sheets of double sided papers for an amazing price of £8. These items clear quickly, so if you see something you liked buy it. The downside is that delivery to your local store can take a week or more. But I have just purchase 50 sheets of Matt gold card 240gsm for £7, about half of the price of other companies.

A set of gift bags made from the Natural  History Museum pad. 

If you want to see more about these bags check out my blog 1st Sept 2020.

I hope this post is of help to you, if you like it please leave a comment. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Craft for Next to Nothing

 Project 3 

Party Invites and Thank You Cards

For this post I want to share some ideas on wheeling and dealing for your crafts.

This sounds a little unusual and is not for everyone. I know a lot of people just like to craft and enjoy the process and I understand the benefit of crafting for craft sake, but some of my enjoyment comes from making something for nothing and sharing that with others or selling then giving the profits from them for good causes. I get a bigger kick from giving in this way. 

As well as Ebay I sell items on Etsy and clear excess craft items at Car Boots. I love a walk around a good Car Boot as not only do I get exercise but I can pick up some bargain items for my crafting. Sometimes this requires thinking out the box, like todays project. 

I was wandering around my local car boot last Saturday and on a table was a collection of Beatrice Potter cards. To be honest I could not really see what they were but as the lady picked them up to tidy them and put them into a sleeve I saw there were several images and a good size so I asked how much. The reply was 50p, so I immediately handed over the cash and went on my way. At home I took them out to have a better look and sure enough there were 28 Beatrice Potter images, each card image is on a what looks like a playing card, and measures 3 1/4” x 5”. 

I needed to do very little to them for the idea I had. Using some A6 cards and envelopes from my stash (Papermania A6 Cream card and envelopes). I cut the corners of the blank cards and layered the images on the top.. I left them perfectly plain other than that as I will use inserts to finish them.

I thought I would use 6 -8 cards as Birthday Party Invites and matching cards as Thank You cards. They would make lovely invites to a little ones party and should they be showered with gifts from family and friends they can write simple Thank You notes. 

If you were seeing your invited guests you could print the invites onto quality paper and stick them to the back of card. In this way you would not need another card or envelope, and the whole process has cost 50p.

Other items I look for at car boots are pieces of costume jewellery that I can re-use for Journal and Memory Book adornments. Usually bracelets or necklaces that I can take apart and use the beads to make decorated pins and clips for the binders and pages. You can see some of the makes by checking out the post below.

Dee's Craft Den: Craft Fair Show & Tell Journals and Journal Pins: 

Also ribbons can often be found, and of course books that can be re-purposed for journals or pages used to make shabby chic flowers etc. I have had some good finds with music books and  pages of old prints and flower illustrations. 

Occasionally, once or twice a year, I will attend a Car Boot as a seller. I am a fair weather seller, the weather making a difference to the sort of day you have, I select a day when I have dry, warm but not too hot a day. This way I can set up in comfort and manage the 3 or 4 hours there. It is essential to choose a well attended C B and to set out your items on the table as well as possible. Whilst people like to rummage for bundles and oddments if you are selling excess craft tools, dies etc they need to be clearly visible. I have had my share of good days and bad over the years, so it is only worth doing C B’s if you enjoy the day, as there is no guarantee of good sales and you can end up doing a days work for £30. You have to remember the time spent sorting items,  and loading the car and unloading when you get home. 

When I have done them it has been for a mixture of reasons. 

To clear excess craft items

To sell my craft items 

To meet other crafters 

To promote a craft class I am holding - I take hand-outs to give to anyone looking at the craft items and having an interest in paper crafting.

Since Covid I have only  sold at one CB, to be honest it was not a great day, but I had a friend with me so the time went quickly and we enjoyed the day. I have visited more and it it would appear that there are less people attending in general, children’s clothes and toys are the most regular selling items but buyers still enjoy the variation available in general and most people attending buy something. 

Just be careful if you are buying, to think about the use of the items you are cnsidering purchasing or you will end up with lots of bits and pieces that together do not make a project. But if you can think a little outside the box it can be a great buying place. 

I have also bought clearance boxes of notelets as they were £1 for 20 cards and envelopes. I bought several boxes as the prints were centred which meant I could cover them with my own paper projects, making them very cheap base cards. 

 

Happy Crafting

Dee 

Free or Very Cheap Crafting Projects No2

 Project No 2

Wallpaper Gift Bags 

Oh my !!! how I love this project. A lot of homes have an odd half roll of wallpaper left over from decorating, and if you do not, ask around family and friends. 

I have to admit to not having any in the house as I have a modern bungalow and prefer painted walls. But even so I have used wallpaper in the past and so for the purposes of this months posts I checked out the local B&Q when hubby was visiting for something else. 

I was in luck and managed to find a roll of Laura Ashley wallpaper for just £1. This gave me a smile for the rest of the afternoon. The roll measures 20.5” wide by 11yds long, so plenty to play with. 

So here are some of my projects for £1.

 Here we have:

Gift Bag

Large folio file

2 folio envelopes

1 pocket folder for storing dies or giving cards etc

All were made from 5 pieces of the Laura Ashley paper

I started by cutting pieces from the roll. The easiest way for me to manage this was to put the roll on the floor and pull up to my large glass cutting mat. I placed the edge of the roll at the top of the board placed my hand in the middle and cut, using scissors, running the scissors along the bottom edge of the mat. So each of the pieces cut measured 21.5” wide and  14” High. So the roll would cut 28 of these. I cut 6 to start. I knew I wanted to make a gift bag and after that use kept making items I like to make that suited the paper. 

To make the gift bag I folded 2 of the pieces in half and cut along the fold line.

1 became the front and back while the other I used one half cut in half again for the sides and the other half I put away for another project.

To make the bag I folded and glued down about 3/4” on the tops of both front and back pieces and scored along the bottom edge at 3”

For the sides I cut the 1/2 sheet down to 4.5” wide and folded down the top edge 3/4”the same as front and back panels, but do not glue yet.

Next for the side panels I scored across the from the bottom 3”, turned and scored from the top down 8” from the folded top, I then scored the length at 3/4” and 3 3/4” and at 2 1/4” down to the 8” score line.

Score from the 8” score line centre point to the bottom 3” score line out to the 3/4” score lines, as in the picture above.

Cut the outer panels off from the base 3” and the top corners. Glue the top fold down.

While they are drying glue the bottom 3” together so that the front and back are in one length and then glue the 3” base pieces on the side panels to form a square (see picture below)

For all the previous glueing I used a wet glue. To attach the side panels I have added sturdy double sided tape (red tape) to the outside of the side panels and a little wet glue to allow manoeuvrability before pulling up the sides to attach to the front and back. Once the bag is altogether i marked 3” in from both sides about 1” from the top to punch the holes for the handles. For these I used very narrow ribbon in a matching blue.

 

I am so pleased with the results. A very pretty and practical gift bag.  I am definitely going to be making more of these. The finished bag measures 10.5” H, 10.25” W, 3”deep.

NB You could strengthen the base with a little card insert 2 3/4” wide by 10” long.

Next I made some folio files. I used another piece of the cut roll cut in half to make the envelope folios and one whole one to make the larger folio cutting the circle tie holders from the pieces cut off at the sides. To see how to make these envelope folios see my post on 25 May.

Or click here.

https://youtu.be/WGoU3cBJX_M

To make 2 gift bags took 3 of the 6 cut pieces

The folio envelopes took another 2 and the last one was use folded over to make a mini folder to gift cards or die cuts etc 

And that is the 6 pieces used up very quickly.

I loved this project and will be using up the rest of the roll making another 6 gift bags (9 pieces) and the remaining 12 or so pieces will be used to make pretty folders to use when sending out my items I sell on Ebay or Etsy. 

The items made for the post will be donated. 

I hope you enjoyed these makes as much as I have enjoyed making them and it is definitely a great project to make for charity stalls or with the children in the holidays. So we have had one project making paper flowers for nothing, and this one making 8 gift bags 3 folios, and approximately 24 folders all for £1.

Back soon with more ideas for creative crafts

Happy Crafting

Dee

August is all about Free (or next to nothing) crafting

 Tips and Ideas for Free Crafting

Paper Flowers

So here we are the month of school holidays, holidays in general and household funds stretched for most people so I thought I would look at crafting on a budget. I have already looked at using your scraps and making the most of crafts you already have in the cupboard, so August is going to be all about some free or very cheap crafting projects that you can make yourself and maybe entertain the children with. 

During August I will also share some tips on where I buy some of my bargains and how to make the most of Ebay.

Summer is traditionally a slow crafting time as everyone gets out to enjoy the fresh air and events taking place across the country, but this means it is also a great time to pick up bargains and start collecting free items for future use.

Freebie Items I like to save into my craft stash include:

Cereal boxes - The thickness of the cardboard seems just right for mini album covers etc. 

Toilet rolls inners- One of my  project will use these some make sure you save some ready to craft along.

Envelopes - I get a lot of envelopes with brochures and catalogues and always put them aside, either to recycle as money collecting envelopes (I am treasurer for my local WI) or if I have a surplus I can use them to make envelope albums or files. 

Pretty wrapping paper if it comes my way in large enough pieces I will fold it neatly and add to my recycling stash.

Old books either with pretty illustrations or old print can be re-used on many projects. This will be the first free items we use for :

Project No 1
Flowers for your paper projects 

Today I have 2 types of flowers for you 

Both using freely available items that cost you nothing extra as you will have them around the house.

No 1 

Toilet Tissue or Kitchen Towel flower

You can make all sorts of embellishments/flowers from toilet tissue. Check out my post on 

Dee's Craft Den: New Use for Toilet Tissue:

Todays flower is a simple flower to add to cards or gift boxes.

Take 2 sheets of toilet tissue and spray with water add another 2 pieces, and spray and another 2 pieces and spray 

You will now have 3 thicknesses together

You can pop these into an embossing folder and then die cut them for flowers or simply place onto your cutting pad add your flower die and cut 

If you emboss them first, when you die cut some of the embossed pattern will be flattened, but you will still have some small pattern to your petals. You could die-cut first and then emboss and this gives you a much more defined pattern. As I wanted this as a fairly flat flower I did not emboss it. I used my SIZZIX BIGZ Daisy die which has 4 section per flower 

After cutting I waited until the petals are dry and then put them together with some wet glue and a little glitter glue in the centre.

Tissue Flower on Embossed Tissue background 

Flower No 2

For this I have used pages from a Book. This happened to be an old music book, which make lovely backgrounds for vintage and shabby chic projects. 

For these flowers I have used a die and stamp set by Heartfelt Creations

The stamps have been stamped out using Adirondack Eggplant ink pad 

For speed I cut 2 pages into 4, roughly, and just stamped the top of each section and then cut them out. The underneath die cuts, with no ink on,  I have coloured to match using my blending sponge

The petals were then shaped with my mat and ball tool and 2 or 3 sections put together 

The top stamped flowers are clean images 

While the blended petals give a different look 

I have added one of the large flower to the base of a bookmark to brighten the finish

 So both of these flowers had a zero cost for the materials to make the actual flower, and both are readily available in most homes.

If you do not have dies you can cut the flowers by hand : check out YouTube and Pinterest for techniques.

Back soon with more makes 

Happy Crafting 

Dee