Craft Fayres 2025 and the future

 Looking forward to Crafting in 2026

Adding to my last post, here are some thoughts on my crafting for 2025, and looking forward to 2026.

Let me start by saying my sewing and card crafts are first and foremost a hobby. So although I read up on the do’s and don’ts of craft Fayres for layout and pricing, (see Made Urban for great advice if you are crafting to sell) it is often difficult to follow the good advice. I do not need to make a profit, and am not really looking to spend a lot on props for the table. I only do local church and village hall Fayres. This has an effect on the pricing of my items. 

My bags are from £4 to £10, so for example my Tote bags sell for £5 for the smaller Christmas totes and £6 for a larger tote. These are fully lined using a metre of fabric in total, as well as the handles. Compare these to Etsy at an average of £14 - £24 and I  realise my prices need to go up. Flat bags are simple and quick to make and I price these from £2.50 for purse size, £3.50 for std make-up bag, and £4 for larger ones. Again too cheap. 

My craft bags were the most expensive item I sold, until the napkin rings) at £9.50 with 4 pockets and lined these take over a metre in total of fabric to produce. 

Shopper bags are £6 and the Christmas shopper bags have a transfer patch on the front. Both are lined.

Over the past 3 years I have also made expanding bags, cross body bags, bottle bags, box bags, gift bag and drawstring bags. 

At Fayres I receive good comments on my bags although more interest is shown in the sewn gifts. Is this because they are cuter or more unusual?? Also bags are being sold everywhere and you can pick up pretty cheap bags in stores like B&M, as well as recycled plastic shopping bags in large sizes for £1.50 to £3.

So for 2026 I have decided to streamline the production and concentrate on 

Craft Bags - New Design 

Tote Bags - New Design

Flat bags - standardise the sizes and keep these at a great price

Cross Body - New Design

Drawstring gift and storage bags small stock and geared toward storage and craft bags.

So I have lots to think about and plan for next year. 

I would love to get other crafters reasons for making and/or selling their items and comments on my makes. If you would like to comment on my blog, please press the follow button at the top of the page, and let’s make a happy group of crafters on line that share ideas and their successes. 

Now for gifts and Cards

I started out doing craft Fayres selling my paper crafts. Cards, Boxes and gift bags as well as scrapbooks and memory albums. I also tried selling cards and scrapbooks on Ebay and Etsy, with a small amount of success. 

Isolation Journal posted Dec 2020

Folio Album posted Feb 2021

As you can see back in 2020 I was still concentrating on paper-crafts , it was not until my husband was diagnosed Oct 2021 I started sewing again. By 2023 cards and paper-crafts were getting difficult to sell as a lot of people had started crafting during lock-down and were making and selling cards, journals etc. It gave me an opportunity to try selling the bags instead, and it worked out well.

Then last year I started taking a few cards to the Fayres and they sold well, and this year I sold 19 Christmas cards at Fayres as well as 32 birthday cards and 5 commissioned cards (these are sold at a premium of £5 each). 

I will continue to make cards and those taken to the craft Fayres will be restricted to 3 styles so I can display and do point of sale info, as they are more unusual styles .

They will sit alongside the 3 gift items I will make. 

Cards I make for a Craft Fayre will be the more unusual styles so that people buying are getting something unique. I find they sell better and at a more realistic price. I sell my cards from £1.50 to £3.50 each.

Sometimes if I make a new design that is unique to me I will make them a limited edition of 12 and this helps lift the price to £3.50. I realise that if I was selling them in a gallery they would probably sell for £9.50 each but I do not live in an area where this sort of price structure would work. Commissioned cards I only make for friends as the time they take to make is not reflected in the price, they are usually elaborate multi-layered and have a lot of embellishment. They have included pop-up cards, 3 layered pop-open box cards, and open book cards 

These are a work of love not profit, and I enjoy making them as they stretch my imagination to come up with the designs to the recipients likes. 

So there you have it: what I have made in 2025 and what I am going to make in 2026 (always open to change and flexibility of course). 

Happy Crafting

Dee

Don’t forget to press the follow button - to comment , or if you wish to send an email my details are on the right hand side in post settings. 

Christmas Fayres 2025

Christmas Fayres 2025

As promised I will report on how I did this year at the Christmas Fayres.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the biggest one because of family illness. However this was compensated by the amount of sales I achieved at the village hall coffee morning in November, which tripled on last years sales, so I am grateful to all who attended and purchased from me.

Also I had made a conscious decision not to attend 3 Fayres in my local town, as the organisers had decided she would not allow me to sell the jewellery in gift bags, as I did not make the jewellery, only the bags. 

This left 2 Christmas Fayres and the coffee morning, as well as a few sales to friends and family throughout the year. 

So here is the final tally : 

First the items that did not sell.

Cross Body Bags - despite selling a couple at the coffee morning last year I sold non this year and did not take them to the other fairs. But I intend to alter the design and try again, as I have sold 5 from the eight made.

Box Bags - A new item and I was very disappointed that I did not sell them. I think one went to a friend to put christmas gifts in but that was it. So despite having made 8 leatherette and 6 fabric bags these were a bust, and I will not be making more. The stock I have will be given to another charitable cause. 

Alternative Selection box flat bags - I sold a few last year but non this year so these will not be made again.

Expanding Bags, Shoe Bags - Only one sold at the Fayres, I love these bags and find them so useful for my cruises, and use one regularly for line dancing. I have another 9 made and will keep them in stock, but not making any more at the moment.

What did sell 

Shopping Bags - 3 sold. Not many considering the size and they are lined and include Christmas bags that can be re-used year after year. However I will continue them in some format when I have some large bundle of fabric that suits the project and is cost effective.

Square Christmas Gift Bags - 4 sold. These are a good size and I only charge £4 for them. `I have sold quite a few over the 2 years at craft Fayres so I will try to sell the remaining 10 I stock and then rethink them.

Flat bags Including Christmas - 6 sold from makeup to nightdress case size.  These will always be a basic stock item and I look  forward to. Making them to match other bags in the range. There was also one set of matching makeup bags sold.

Tote Bags - 3 Christmas tote bags were sold and I only have 2 Christmas and 2 standard tote bags left in stock. I will be making a new range of tote bags.

Drawstring Bags - 2 Christmas drawstring bags sold. These were only taken to the last Fayre and so was an acceptable number, and among the other bags. 

This is a total of 19 bags 

Gifts 

Christmas Napkins rings in christmas fabric bag - 4 sold . New item. These was the most expensive item on the table and so to sell 3 at the last Fayre and one to a friend, brought in good revenue. I have 5 more in stock which will be taken to next years Christmas Fayres

Scissor/sewing bag - 4 sold New item this year and I may continue then for another year.

Christmas Coffee spoons - 6 sold. These make a great gift for a colleague or to say “Thank You” and I will add more for next year. I think I need a better way of showing them . 

Jewellery & Gift pouch. 32  sold across the 3 venues . Definitely the best seller. They seem to attract people to the table and are sold at £5. People often buy multiples. 

19 Cards were sold plus 2 packs of 8 cards.

So there we have it. I have only managed to do 2 Fayres and the table at the Coffee morning this year. Still I am able to donate £550 to Friends of Bridgwater Hospital, and have enjoyed the challenge of making new gifts and bags. 

I have also learnt that you need to concentrate on a few designs that are unique to you, and with this in mind I have decided to expand my fabric cards next year, and I have an idea to give me a USP for my bags. I will be working on these ideas in the new year. 

Thank you for dropping by my blog. 

Happy Christmas to all the crafters out there 

Dee

New Fabric Christmas Card

 Fabric Greeting Cards

I am old enough to remember padded fabric cards that used to be the posh cards you purchased for special people, they were usually boxed, and cost a great deal more than the other cards in the shop

I had a eureka moment a couple of weeks ago, which resulted in trying a new version  of the fabric cards. My cards updated the idea as the fabric had fun sayings .

These are 8” scalloped edge cards. 

I shall try them out at my last Fayre this year and I hope they sell well as I would really like to expand the idea. 

Pricing is one of the most difficult areas when selling your crafts. If you are a crafter making items to sell as a means of income then your prices have to reflect the materials used and the time you spend to make it, this is a a whole different area to my selling for charity. There is no pressure to make a profit, and yet, you have to consider pricing just as much. Price items too low and customer may underestimate the quality of the item, price too high and customers will walk away. These cards if purchased in a store would probably cost around £4  - £5 but I do not think they will fetch  that at the small fayres I attend. I am pricing them at £3.50, or 2 for £6. 

Once I have finished my last Fayre in December I will post the results for this years sales. I think I already know the best seller. 

Happy Crafting

Dee 

Second Christmas Stall

 First Christmas Fayre

So my first stall, this Christmas was a table at the coffee morning while the table on Saturday was at a Christmas Fayre, run by the church and with bellringers and the choir entertaining shoppers throughout the morning. The Fayre ran from 10.30 until 1.30

My set up was similar to the coffee morning table. Christmas gift bags, tote bags and gifts.

I have sold at this Fayre for a couple of years, and whilst the takings are not great it is a lovely atmosphere, I meet other crafters that I know and its a pleasant way to spend a half day.

The stall costs £15 and you are asked to give an item for the raffle, which I think is a great idea, when the Fayre is run by a community group.

For this table I decided not to display my Box Bags or the Alternative Selection Box Bags as they had not sold at the previous sale, instead I tried some cards and some Napkins ring sets .

I would say the footfall was down a little this year, and although I thought I sold a little less than last year, it was actually £1 more. 

So what sold at this Fayre: 

Best seller was the jewellery gift and purse, which was 70% of the total sales.

Other items sold was Christmas gift bags, purse, and a couple of the reindeer spoons in a holder. 

The reindeer spoons in a holder make a great colleague gift or good for friends who love their tea and coffee, as they will  always have their own spoon. The large fun fabric cards did not sell but I will be taking them to my next Fayre. This is based on the fact that I took some items to sell at my November Women’s Institute meeting ( we have a trading stall for anyone wishing to sell excess grown fruit & veg, or home made items ) and sold 10 cards. I also sold one of my Scissor /sewing kit, I made 6 to try and after the 2 tables have sold 3, not huge but I will probably keep them in and tweak them in some way, as they seem to catch the eye of buyers, and are a pretty addition to the table.

Any craft Fayre takes a lot of preparation, and then there is the setting up and packing away after the show, but if you love your crafting and meeting other crafters, they are fun and and great way of distributing your makes,and getting funds to make next year.

As I pack away from this Fayre and prepare for the next and last Fayre on 9th December I am already starting to plan my makes for next year, I have a couple of different style bags I want to try and I want to look at what has sold over this year and plan my gift makes accordingly.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Update on Craft Fayres

 Set-Backs & Progress

Hi all you lovely crafters. I am sorry it has been a long time since my last post. Family issues have meant I have been tied up for the last 2 weeks of October and the first week of November, just as Craft Fair season started.

The season should have started with a stand at my local monthly coffee morning, followed by the largest Christmas Craft fair I do last Saturday (8th November).

Unfortunately with trips to hospital and a friend unable to help me on the day, I decided to cancel the large CHristmas Fair, in time for the organisers to give the 2 stalls I had booked, to another crafter. The decision was made on the basis that I could not work 2 stalls on my own and though I have friends I could ask to help, because the Craft Fair is an hours drive away, it meant leaving home at 7.30 and getting home about 5pm. Too long a day for anyone not as keen as me on crafty days, and quite honestly not as important as my dear family member in hospital. 

Having made the decision I sat down and considered what I was going to do with the mass of crafty goodies I had prepared and the future of my crafty makes. It really helped me to realise I needed to streamline my makes and make core products that would then require less items to be stored, less room on the stall and allow a better layout. 

It should be noted at this point, that I am not a business, I am a crafter who makes and sells for charity. 

I looked at my inventory and realised despite reading articles that suggested any crafters doing craft fairs should:

• Have a Core product range
• Limit the number of products sold at a fair 
• Leave space on the table to allow the buyers eye to clearly see the products
• Introduce new products one at a time to see how they fit in to base lines
• Build you table around your Key item/Best seller

I had never really worked this way.

1. I made new things all the time to try them, because they interested me rather than because they added to a product range.
2. I took too many items to a craft fair and tried to fit them all onto the table
3. Whilst I knew which bags I made sold best overall, I had not really discovered why other items were not selling as well as I thought they should or if it was what customers wanted. 

Hard though it was to accept these truths, looking at my stock list and stored bags I realised that by not changing my ways I was just making life harder. If I made a core product range of bags limited to 6 styles, and a core range of gifts limited to 4 products. This would make 

storage more manageable, 

stock movement easier, 

and set up quicker. 

If I managed to book to 2 tables at a fair, I would show my paper crafts on the other table and the same principles would be applied to list of products being shown on that table.

Next I set about reorganising my stock.

The bags I selected were

Shopping Bags - Christmas Shopper bags

Gift Bags - Christmas Gift Bags

Box Bags - NEW

Makeup bags & purses

Expandable bags 

Tote Bags 

Craft Bags - low on stock so not being taken to craft fairs this Christmas despite being my best selling bag

Gifts were:

Jewellery with purse - Best Seller 

Scissor - sewing purse

Christmas spoon in holder

Notebooks with reusable fabric covers

This left me with other items such as Cross Body bags, Drawstring Bags, Alternative selection box Bag, Nightdress Cases. 

So for my first craft table at the coffee morning I took the bags I had listed except the  

Craft Bag and gifts as listed above 

My trial run on the kitchen table easy to build and I was pleased with the look 

My very good friend and I set off with good spirit and set up at the coffee morning. The committee who run the village hall had kindly given me the table for free and placed on their facebook page to remind people that I would be attending as well as a stall for the Poppy collection. 

The coffee morning last about an hour and then a raffle and 1.5hrs later it’s all over. It started with a few of the helpers taking a look and then a few coffee morning attendees over the first hour. It built up quite well, and as the raffle was being done I was pleased to note we had probably doubled our sales from the previous year. The Chairman mentioned the stall during the raffle and then when it finished we had another rush . Despite the fact I couldn’t get my Sum-up machine to work we ended taking 3 times the amount of last year. I had brought a stock list and tried to tick what I was selling. My friend who it should be said is a much better seller than me, was so busy at the end we had to fill it the remembered sales after the event. It was an exceptional sales time, probably helped by the fact that those attending the coffee morning are locals and all the money was going to the local hospital. But I am very grateful to all who purchased from me, and for all the kind comments. 

I cannot imagine my other fairs being as profitable.

I will go through all the sales after the other 2 fairs have taken place. But the best sellers for this stall were the Christmas Gift Bags and way out in front the jewellery in gift pouches. 

I will be back after the next fair on Saturday 15th November when my friend will be helping again. 

Happy Crafting.

Dee

More Preparations and ‘finds in the cupboard”

 Making the Most of Your Stash

As I prepare my stock for the Christmas Craft Fayres, I naturally end up tidying the boxes that have been holding my makes.

Yesterday tidying another box of papers I made some more laminated folders. I did not need them,  but as I looked at the papers I realised they were perfect for the project, and I had a half hour spare so decide to make a half a dozen to use up the papers. Over the years I have finished off many paper pads this way. As a treasurer for my local W.I. I have lots of different pots of money to collect at meetings, so I allocate a folder for each project or event. I also use them to hold receipts, recipes etc in the home and to give money or small gifts.

So another little bundle of laminated folders.

I went to put them into one of my finished article boxes and came across a number of other items made over the last couple of years to use up the papers were perfect pads and fabric scraps.

I use up all the papers and fabric peices I can possibly find use for, and although I very rarely put them on my tables at craft fayres as I have little space,  I have a friend who sells them to neighbours and colleagues for Cancer Research, so nothing is wasted. 

As I have expanded to 2 tables for my fayres this year I decided to package up all these items for a stocking filler section.

These are envelopes that close onto a double front flap and I have added a card and tag

Here we have 2 laminated folders or wallets and the front blue one is a document wallet

This picture shows a set of three budget purses and a set of of 2 gift purses 

3 sets of a folder and matching bookmark made from pretty vellum papers

Lastly I found 8 tissue holders made from my fabric scraps. 

Altogether there were 46 bundles, all now labelled and ready to display . I have decided to charge one price and it will be just £1.50 an item. 

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Christmas Craft Fayre Report 2

 Marketing Paper-crafts

First Item for the Gift Table

The second table I have booked at the Fayres will be for Gifts and Paper-crafts. I have already decided the items that will be displayed and limited them to allow customers to see clearly the items available .

There will be 3 different single pack Christmas cards and a couple of 6-8 pack designs 

A selection of brooches and earrings  (Christmas and General) which are sold in a small fabric gift purse. 

Christmas napkin rings in a fabric gift bag 

And Blizzard books 

I have just finished making a few of each of the two sizes I make.

The small Blizzard book holds:

 Business card,   

Gift Card 

Supermarket & bank cards

While the standard Blizzard book is a lovely keepsake, you can have black card pages for a photo album or standard pages for a notebook, or water colour paper for a sketch or painting book. I add Black or white card.

Having finished a number of books, I started to write the packaging for selling. 

I am trying to standardise the point of sale paper-work. 

When selling at a fayre it is important to remember that customers need to be able to see your items, and their use, easily. That is the reason I want to keep the tables more sparse than usual with spaces on the table . The Blizzard books are packaged with a product description that includes my craft logo. I took some time to choose the lettering and layout of the product description. With my logo  - “Paper-crafts With Personality” centre stage and as these books were my own design I placed the word “Unique” before the logo.  

These are the small Blizzard Books that take business cards, Bank cards, Gift cards etc

I altered the description a little for the larger version that can be used as an album, art book etc. 

A sample of each size will be open on the table 

First item finished and packed away.

So now onto the next items. 

My choice of 3 Unique Christmas Cards 

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Expandable Storage Bags finished

 Christmas Fayre progress report 1

Hi all you lovely crafters out there. 

Well as promised I am crafting and showing as I work my way toward the Christmas fayres.

Over the last week the sewing machine has been out again and I have made 10 shoe bags (or expandable storage bags to add to my stock. This was one of the bags I decided to include on my table but only had 4 remaining in stock. 

I had to remind myself of the sewing sequence for them as I had not made them for a year, so I took myself on to YouTube to watch my favourite sewing lady. Her Chanel is called Christine’s Home Affairs. Of course nowadays you have to sit through 4 lots of adverts to see a video, or pay to remove advertising (and I am too tight for that), but Christine shares so much of her time and information it is a pleasure to watch her videos. She also shows you how to bulk sew, and how she prices her items to sell, so for anyone starting out there is a lot to learn here. 

I started by selecting the fabrics I was going to use and cutting 10 bases. 

Next I needed to cut scraps for the handles and zip ends. I am not a lover of sewing in zips buy putting a tab end on them makes them neater and simpler to insert, so worth the effort cutting out.

I tried to get a production line going but found it difficult to sit at the table for more than a couple of hours and the bags were taking more than 45minutes each, so I split the load into a 2 to be finished on the first day and then 2 lots of 4 to be sewn over the next 2 days. 

So here I am 3 days later with 10 finished expandable storage bags, ready to tag and bag. 

 These will be added to the stock list and I will check the next items to be made. It is surprising how the months creep on you. At the beginning of the year, after checking my stock and deciding on the bags and gifts I wanted to make for 2025, in my head I had structured the months ahead with a line up of makes to do. Needless to say these well made plans did not come to fruition and I found myself at the end of August starting the process again.   

During the process of tagging the bags I will need to work out a price. My sewing and crafting is not a business, it is a hobby and I do it for pleasure and to raise funds for my local hospital, even though there is no need to make a profit, pricing is very important. I think most craft sellers will agree. Overprice your goods and people will look but not buy. Underprice and they will not buy as the items become devalued. So although a profit is not the main issue, pricing is. At craft fayres people come with an expectation to get the unusual, hand crafted items and most are prepared to pay a  premium for the this, recognising the work and individualism in the item. Underprice and they may decide your items are not the premium product they thought they were. So I find pricing my items the most difficult part. The price is decided by the price of the fabric, zips etc, and the time it takes to make. You also need to factor in to your price where you are selling. If I sell in my home town I have to take items that have a better margin as prices have to be kept low to make the sells, whereas the Christmas fayres I am attending I can take any of my makes. 

These bags take me 45 minutes on average. And I get approximately 3 from a metre of fabric plus a 15” zip. I am charging them at £7.50. I am making money on them provided I do not factor in my time, and this is where it gets tricky. My time is obviously worth something, but I am not a professional, and there are a lot of bag makers out there, so whilst I would like to charge my time at £20 an hour (as this includes the maintenance and purchase of tools packaging and presentation costs, in reality I often end up charging an item at £5 for my hourly rate. So whilst £7.50 does not cover my time I hope I will have other items at the fayre with better margins to make up for this, as I believe this is a price that will give a better number of sells . 

Bags labelled with “Sew Useful Bag” tags and Handmade with Love price tags

Well on to the next make.

Happy Crafting 

Dee 

 

Autumn Crafting

 Getting Ready for the Christmas Craft Fayres

Summer is over, day trips are limited by the weather so my spare time turns to preparations for my Christmas Fayres.

Last year I did 1 Fayre at the end of August and 2 Christmas Fayres. 

For some reason for the August fayre I took a few cards I had made and sold a few. I have been selling my bags for a couple of years   now and not really trying to sell cards, as they had not been selling well.  So it was a pleasant surprise when I sold a few cards and had some commissions for cards from friends, this led to renewed interest in designing my Christmas cards. A couple of designs came to mind and I  started to get excited again about card crafting. With a huge stash of card dies and card craft items I soon had a good pile of cards to take to the fayre in November. The designs were unique and one incorporated a gift while the other was a card and embellishment in one. These sold better than ever, and so I decided to have 2 tables at this years fayre, one for bags and one for cards and gift ideas. The same thing happened to the fayre booked in December, the cards sold well alongside the bags and gifts, and again I decide to book 2 tables for this year, which I have just done. 

First job is decide which bags I am going to sell on Table 1 and which cards and gifts for Table 2. 

Second job is stock check and decide on the items I need to make to get the stock levels up to cover the 2 fayres.

Third job is labelling and pricing the items. 

As I get prepared for the Christmas season I will share my progress on the blog.I will tell you what I have made and how I priced it, and then after the fayres I will report back on how each item sold.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Challenge finished One last Card from scraps

 Using up those scraps

As I mentioned in my last post the challenge to use up the 36 page 12 x 12 paper pad, has finished and I am just showing one last card that used up some of the trimmings left over from the challenges.

There were not many and as all the papers coordinated I was able to use them all on the same card.

It is a great feeling when you can use everything and not have any papers or card scraps to throw away.

The only item I have added to make the card is some rose gold tape purchased in Paperchase sale. The tape is a lovely colour but not very sticky so I would not use it to secure any crafts but for this card it worked perfectly to edge some of the strips to make them pop on the card. 

The strips with the edging have been placed ad-hoc and I do think they make a difference.

The strips have been added to a plain 6 x 6 card with a greeting elevated in the centre . The greeting is backed by another piece of coordinating scrap .

I love this way of using up scraps and the design was inspired by Sam Calcott, who has a great number of videos on using up scraps which are well worth checking out. 

Back next weeks and I will be telling you about a local craft show I visited.

Happy Crafting

Dee

Challenge Project No9 - Mini Brag Book

 Mini Brag Book

So for this challenge we are down to 3 sheets of 12 x 12 and some scraps.

With 2 of the sheets I decided to go back to what I remember as Grandma’s brag book, not my idea, and one of the first construction ideas I ever made. As these pages are double sided they are perfect for the project.

Score the sheet at 3”,6”,9” on both sides 

On the first and third score line cut up to the top horizontal score line, and on the second score line cut down (in other words in the opposite direction to the other 2 ) to the bottom horizontal line.

Then starting from the outside corner fold the square forward and back until the sheet form a booklet. Then leave the outside sheet and glue the next 2 pages together until you get to the last single sheet. 

Method One 

Cut 2 pieces of scrap cardboard (cereal boxes are perfect for this) 31/4” square. 

Use some of your scraps to cut 4”squares and cover the outside of the cardboard by sticking the cardboard in the centre of the 4” piece of scrap paper and cutting the corners before sticking down on all for sides. Once dry add the covers to the top and bottom of the book .

 

Method 2

Cut a piece of coordinating scrap paper 3.5” wide and 7” long score at 3 3/8”, 3.5”, 3 5/8.

Fold the cover in half and fold the score line to give a small bound edge.

Place a piece of ribbon 12” long between the book and the cover before adding the cover as follows:

Glue the top page all over and centre the cover over it. Turn the book over and glue the back 

page and then bring the cover over lining up to give equal sides. 

Pull the ribbon up, add the bead, and knot it off. 

I then cut 8 pieces of 2 3/4” square to make photo mats, which will be added to the pack . 

This is the last of the projects for this challenge and I have one piece of 12 x 12 left and a few odd pieces. I am going to make one last card using some of the scraps and perhaps use the last sheet to make another envelope folder, for the store cupboard. 

I also have enough scraps to make a larger card, and I have an idea I want to try, which I will show when complete

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Challenge - Project No 8

 

This folder is slightly different. It has a pretty notepad, and a small memory book.

The notepad was made with scraps of copy paper, (as previously described) and covered with a half sheet of paper.

The memory book was made with a sheet of 12 x 12 , sectioned and then cut through the middle and folded to make the booklet. 

Each of the seven section has been covered with a white phot mat and the side pocket has labels for journalling.

 

            So 3 sheets of the paper and half a sheet for the notepad.

This leaves 3 sheets of paper and a few bits and pieces. I would like to find another project to complete the challenge.

Dee

Project 7 - Of the Paper Pad Challenge

 Coming to the end of the pad

We are down to the last few projects now with odd pages remaining, and a few odd pieces.

None of the projects are new, I have made them all before but they suit the project and with all the papers coordinating should make a pretty display. 

Project No 7 is a classic envelope folder.. I have made the Christmas version before with 4 Christmas cards A notepad , and gift tags, and decided to use one of the last full sheets, to make a summer version. It would also use up some smaller pieces. 

This envelope is made with one sheet of 12 by 12 paper. Mark the centre of the page and then fold all four corners into the centre . Then simply fold the square in half. You can either fold the back triangle over the front or leave them down as covers for the pockets either side. In which case it would be good to use a strong wet glue to run along the outside edges leaving a pocket in the top of the envelope

In one side I placed 4 cards and envelopes, and in the other side a small notepad and 4 notelettes. 

 

We are getting near the end of the challenge 

Back soon with the last couple of projects 

Happy Crafting

Dee

Challenge Project No6

 Using Up more Bits & Pieces

The aim of this challenge is to use up your papers, but why not clear out more bits and pieces as well. 

So to make the next batch of cards I went back to the cupboard and checked out some stacks of  embellishments, and came up with some great charms that worked with the papers. 

So another pack of 4 cards were made with the papers and the simple addition of the charms.

3 of the cards had a cat charm and 1 had a large butterfly. 

All four were packed in one presentation bag ready for the McMillan coffee morning.

As you can see 3 were made into Birthday cards and 1 ‘Just A Note’ card that could be used to cheer up a friend 

Back soon with more ideas

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Project 5 of the Challenge - Back to Basics

 Pretty Stationary Sets

This project required using some pastel coloured A4 papers to make the base folders, and allowed me to blitz the papers requiring 2 and a half sheets of 12 x 12 and one sheet of A4 per folder, plus ribbon.  

A quick gift to make. No tools needed and makes lovely Thank You/Teachers gifts

Simply fold up the bottom of the sheet of A4 by approximately 2”, If you are making more than one use the first one as a measure for this fold to match all the folders. Trim the outside corners before running some glue down the outside edge of the fold to make the pocket.

Next measure the size and the folder and cut 2 sheets of paper 1/2” smaller on the height and width measurements. Glue to the outside. 

Next I used the same papers to make 6 matching notelettes, 

Going back to my craft room I picked up a stack of copy paper. Whenever I sell items or print anything that does not use a full page I save the other half.  I trim the pieces to 14cm x 21 and then fold in half. Putting 10 sheets together I staple the centre . The last thing I make for the folder is a matching note pad, using the 1/2 sheets of 12 x 12. Cut the 15cm x 30cm down to 15cm x 23cm. Gently fold the piece over but don’t push down on the fold. Slide the folded paper into the crease of the fold, Glue the top page of the stack and bring the folded paper down. Turn over and repeat , securing the notepad papers to the cover. 

Pop the 6 cards into one side of the folder and the notebook into the other.

You now have a great set of stationary to gift. Just add some matching ribbon to close the folder . 

I made 5 of these and added them to the challenge stack.

Happy Crafting 

Dee

Challenge Project No 4

 Next cards - Similar but different 

Now on a roll, my next card was something similar in design to the previous cards, but with a little twist.

The cards were covered with the 3.75” squares of patterned papers and a bow of white ribbon was attached to the centre. But instead of an embellishment or greeting added to the card, I added one of my hand made stickpins. 

The card would then be a greeting and small gift - all in one.

These cards were packaged individually with an explanatory note in the package, and I matched the pins to the colours of the background papers. 

I had enough pins to make 6 of these cards and so project 4 of the challenge has been completed. 

Keep checking in for more ideas of how to use up those lovely papers you have. 

Happy Crafting

Dee