Handmade cards and other crafts, templates & tips

Tuesday is Play Rangers day and Alex loves it. We all meet up at the football field and for 2 whole hours after school the children play, craft and have lots of fun. Now that the days are shorter and colder we also have a fire to roast marshmallows, make popcorn or to have hot drinks which are served in plastic cups.

To avoid the children getting hurt (the cups get very hot) I made these cozies using leftover yarn.

They are very easy and quick to make as you can see from the photos below (by the way, these cozies were made for plastic cups from IKEA).

18 rows of 9 treble crochet.

Fold in half to join both ends.

Slip stitch to the end of the row and weave in the ends.

You should now have a ring like the one above.

Crochet a simple edging in a different colour both at the top and at the bottom.

Your cozy is ready to be used and it only took a few minutes to make.

Here are all 20 of them

 

With Christmas fast approaching I dug out the Christmas cards we received last year and have been using them to make some cute gift tags as you can see below (to see a larger picture please click on the image).

There are lots of things you can make with old Christmas cards, if you'd like to recycle yours have a look at these great ideas.

Creative uses for Christmas cards

How to make a holiday star from old cards

Greeting card box

Make a Christmas basket out of old Christmas cards

Make tree ornaments out of Christmas cards

Even more ways to recycle your Christmas cards

Christmas ornaments

Recycled wreath (scroll to image 5 to see how you can make a Christmas wreath using old Christmas cards)

Recycle a card into a crochet ornament

 

This is a bunting I made for the Autumn Challenge on the Kool Crafts and Arts forum (please click on the pictures to enlarge them).

The inspiration for the crochet leaves came from this tutorial and it's a great way to use up leftover yarn.

 

With the days getting colder it feels good to wear warm and comfortable items. In the last couple of weeks I finished 2 pairs of crochet slippers for me and Alex and a neck warmer to send my sister for Christmas.

My slippers
Alex's slippers

Neck warmer

This knitted neck warmer follows the same pattern as these and it's really easy to make.

First you need to knit or crochet a rectangle long enough to go around your neck and wide enough to be folded in half. I finished mine with a crochet edging.

Now for the folding, fold your rectangle in half as shown in the photo below.

 

Sew on a button large enough to go through one of the loops.

Flip it over.

Fold the sides towards the middle.

Use a loop to button up your neck warmer.

This is what it looks like when it's finished.

This is a bag made out of granny squares which in turn were made using yarn bought at the local charity shop. I chose an easy pattern from the book "200 crochet blocks for blankets, throws and afghans" by Jan Eaton.

I loved mixing and matching the different colours and I love how it turned out. The handles came from a bag also bought from the same charity shop.

 

Just a short post to show you a few cards I've been making.

The accordion card below was a special commision from a teacher at my son's school. Due to the nature of the card I made a box to put it in rather than using an envelope.

The card below was made for the Halloween challenge on one of the many Flickr groups and also for the Halloween swap on the Kool Crafts and Arts forum.

This week I've been making a few cards to replace the ones I sold and it's amazing how a little detail can go such a long way in completely changing the look of a card making it truly special and unique.

Today's post is about some of the little details you can add to your cards so they stand out.

Butterflies and dragonflies

When adding butterflies or dragonflies to your cards try drawing lines or little dots to give the impression of movement. You can also glue only the body of the butterfly/dragonfly onto the card and then lift the wings a little, this will give the impression of flapping wings making your butterfly/dragonfly more realistic.

The last card in this series is one of my new ones and you'll see that the butterfly on the bottom corner is made up of 2 punched butterfly shapes glued together in the middle. Again, this helps give the impression that the butterfly is flapping its wings.

Flowers and leaves

To create layers of flowers or foliage with different heights use foam pads. You can also make your flowers look more "real" by slightly shaping their petals. To do this you can curl or pinch them so they don't lie flat on the card.

Also when making the centres for the flowers try using circles of different sizes. Even if you use the same flower shape throughout your project you can make them look different by using larger or smaller circles.

The flower used on the first card had its petals slightly twisted or pinched. The flowers on the second card are all the same but some look slightly different just by using a smaller circle in the centre.

Mix and match

Just because you're making a card it doesn't mean you have to use only paper and cardstock. Raid your sewing box and experiment with ribbon, fabric, buttons, yarn, etc. These elements will add texture and interest to your project.

All the cards above incorporate items you can find in your sewing box such as leftover bits of ribbon, lace, rikrak, buttons and fabric.

Stitching on paper

I love stitching on cards and use it quite often. Again experiment adding a few stitches to your project to see what a difference this makes. You can use a sewing machine, do the stitching by hand or use false stitching using a fine tip pen to draw the "stitches".

I hope you find these ideas useful.

Just wanted to show you these I made a few weeks ago for Louise from Send My Card.

They are for A4 size cards and I had lots of fun choosing the papers and making the little handbags.

 

Today I want to show you a new die-cut I bought to use with the Sizzix BigShot. Actually there are 3 dies or frames in the package, they come nestled and before using them you need to separate them with a craft knife.

These dies are compatible with the Sizzix BigShot and the Cuttlebug and they come with instructions for use with both the machines above.

What I want to show you is what you can cut with them because when I looked on the Internet I couldn't find anything that would give me an idea of what the product does but it sounded interesting and that's why I bought it.

These are the nestled dies.

Here they are after being separated.

Frame and mat cut with the larger die.

Frame and mat cut with the medium die.

Frame and mat cut with the smaller die

Experiment with different combinations of dies to get different frames.

    

     

You can also overlay different sized frames to obtain a different effect, this works best if you use matching or contrasting colours.

Note: I haven't tried cutting thick cardstock with these dies as they don't seem to be as sturdy as the Originals or the Bigz dies from Sizzix but they cut paper and thin cardstock very easily.

Following my previous post on t-shirt yarn here are the 2 bags I made with this material.

You can crochet or knit with t-shirt yarn just as you would with any other type of yarn, the only difference being that this is a much thicker medium requiring the use of bigger knitting needles or crochet hooks. On both these projects I used a 12 mm crochet hook!

These bags are slightly heavier that if they had been made using more conventional materials but they are very durable and hold their shape quite well. They were also worked in the round to avoid very bulky seams.

 

T-shirt yarn is a big thing in my home country where you can find it for sale almost everywhere. It can be used to make necklaces, hats, belts, rugs, bags, etc. There are also many magazines dedicated only to crafts you can make using this type of material, I bought a few of these while on holiday and also 2 balls of t-shirt yarn to try it. I'll post pictures of what I'm making when I finish.

Unfortunately, I'm running out of the shop bought t-shirt yarn and I still have a long way to go so the only option left is to make my own. If this is something you'd like to try too just follow the instructions below.

Instructions to make t-shirt yarn

1 - Search for old t-shirts you no longer use. They can be plain or patterned, personally I prefer the plain ones.

2 - Iron them if they are too creased and lay them on a table, on the floor or use your ironing board.

3 - Cut off the bottom hem.

4 - Make a diagonal cut and then work your way round your t-shirt cutting a long, continuous strip of the fabric. Make sure it's not too narrow so it doesn't break easily.

 

5 - Stop when you reach the sleeves and finish with another diagonal cut. You should have something like below.

6 - At this stage, you have a flat strip of fabric that you need to curl to get a yarn type thing. To do that you need to grab small sections of the cut fabric and gently tug it. It will curl naturally as shown below.

7 - Make balls with your t-shirt yarn ready to knit or crochet with it.

Having a sewing machine that does a little more than straight stitching but mainly that handles thick fabrics or bulky seams well makes a lot of difference as I'm finally able to make some of the things I've been wanting to make for quite a while.

One of the items on my list was a folder to take to the PTA meetings and where I could keep my A4 notebook as well as any other documents pertaining to the meeting. Here it is below.

As you can see I kept it very simple, inside there are 2 pockets the contents of which are held in place by the 2 pieces of ribbon.

I've also been having a go at making myself some bags mainly for shopping. This is the 1st one I made and it's a little longer than I intented.

This is my 2nd bag made using a template I drew myself and lined for added strength.

The bag below is the 3rd I made and my favourite so far, I used 2 tea towels from a set of 6 I bought at the local charity shop.

Alex is 10 tomorrow and there's nothing he likes more than to get back from school and to have the house decorated for his birthday.

A year ago I made him this bunting but it's not very long and I've been wanting to make another one to put up on the opposite wall. So today we both got to work, we gathered a few fabric scraps, cut them into squares using the Sizzix Bigshot and my squares die cut, trimmed them with the pinking shears to avoid fraying and then just fed them through the sewing machine diagonally following the colour pattern Alex chose and that was it, our bunting was ready in no time at all

Here is the finished bunting and also the birthday invitations I made for Alex to give some of his friends at school.

Thursday is Forest School day for Alex´s class. They explore the small wood they have at school and I´m very pleased that Alex enjoys it so much. They´ve been learning which berries are edible and which are not and that´s how he had the idea of trying a blackberry crumble.

So after school off we went in search of blackberries (fortunately they aren´t difficult to find around here) and then home we came with a bag semi full of them ready to bake our dessert following this recipe.

When I take my son Alex to the park I usually take something to keep my hands occupied and this is what I made recently, a white crochet garland using thick cotton bought at the local charity shop.

The inspiration came from Blossom's blog and you can find her tutorial here.

 

Because I've been missing my Singer sewing machine so much (I couldn't bring it with me when we moved to the UK) and because it's my birthday next week, my husband decided to give me an early birthday gift...

So to try it out I made these covers for our passports.

If you'd like to give this a go just follow the instructions below.

1 - Make a template

Measure the width and length of your passport and add a seam allowance to that or use the template below  I made for mine (don't forget to check if the size is correct for your passport).

2 - Cut your pieces of fabric

Using the template as reference cut 1 piece for the inside, 1 for the outside and 1 as interlining (I used something called  volume fleece), leave a margin all around the template. Cut also 4 fabric squares big enough to fold diagonally to form the triangles you'll use for the corners of your passport cover.

3 - Put the pieces together

Lay your interlining on your work table and on top place the outside fabric (right side up as shown in the picture below) and then the piece of fabric you'll be using for the inside of the cover (right sides together).

After putting these 3 pieces together flip them so the interlining is on top and trace the template using chalk or a pencil.

Lift the 2 first layers of material and place 1 triangle in each corner as shown below.

4 - Sew

Sew all the way around but make sure you leaving an opening to turn the cover inside out. Trim to avoid bulky seams.

Turn your cover inside out, press and sew all the way around again as close to the edge as possible and your passport cover is done and ready to be used.

Note: I also decided to sew along the centre fold so the cover would fit snuggly.

 

 

With Alex back to his school routine I was again able to take some time off my chores to do a bit of crafting and finish some cards I had started at the begining of Summer. You can see them at the end of this post.

I have also worked on a Birthday gift for a friend of Alex's who was 10 yesterday, I made her the card, the album and the necklace you see in the photo below. The inspiration for the necklace came from a book I found at my local public library titled "Bead & Button, Ribbon & Felt Jewellery" by Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell, ISBN 978-1-904991-66-3. This book includes beautiful jewellery projects you can make using items you have in your sewing box such as buttons, ribbon, lace, fabric, etc.

These are the cards I mentioned at the begining of the post.

If you read this entry on my blog you know I've been playing/experimenting with some Fimo I found at my local charity shop. I've also been having a look at some great sites/blogs trying to learn a few modelling techniques although without much success as I just don't have the skill, so I endend up making very simple buttons and pendants which I plan to use in future projects.

One of the things I learnt is that the best way to obtain an even "sheet" of Fimo is by using a pasta machine which I don't own so after thinking about it for a while the only thing I could think of was my Sizzix BigShot and you know what? It actually worked

If you too would like to give this a try when working with Fimo what you need to do is a "sandwich" like the one shown in the photo mosaic below.

1 - Use your multipurpose platform without the tabs.

2 - Place a cutting pad on the multipurpose platform.

3 - Place a piece of Fimo between 2 pieces of grease paper

4 - Place the other cutting pad on the grease paper with the Fimo in between and feed it through the machine.

5 - This is what you should get, a thin, even sheet of Fimo.

6 - Carefully peel the grease paper.

The grease paper prevents the Fimo from sticking to your cutting pads and it will peel off easily if you do it slowly and carefully. You can also vary the thickness of your Fimo "sheet" by not using the bottom cutting pad.

Also, when using this method you shouldn't try to flatten too big a lump of Fimo as the grease paper will rip and you'll get Fimo all over your cutting pads!

Here are some of the buttons and pendants I made.

Today I want to share with you a few more of my favourite links. These are aimed at the needlework crafters and I hope you find them useful. If you don't yet know any of the sites below, then sit back, relax and enjoy .

FreePatterns.com

Whether you crochet, knit, cross-stitch, quilt or sew you'll find lots of free patterns here. To download the patterns you'll need to register and this is also free.

Crosstitch.com

Here you'll find a few free charts plus some very handy tools like a free online caption maker, a floss conversion tool and a cross stitch calculator.

Cross-stitching.com

Sign up (it's free) to have free charts delivered straight into your email box, you can also browse them online.

About.com:Quilting

Here you can find plenty of useful information on quilting as well as many free patterns.

World Wide Quilting Page

Web site with plenty of quilting patterns and instructions.

Free Applique Patterns

This site has many free applique patterns. Scroll down the page to find links to sewing and crochet freebies.

Freeneedle

Directory of free sewing patterns, tutorials and projects.

Free Sewing Patterns for Felt Toy Animals

The name says it all, if you like making felt  toy animals this is the site for you with lots of free patterns.

Crochet Pattern Central

Site full of free crochet and knit patterns, tutorials and tips and tricks from other crocheters and knitters.

About.com:Crochet

A-Z list of links to free crochet patterns.

Craftbits.com

Free crochet patterns, project and gift ideas to make yourself.

The Daily Knitter

Very good site with plenty of knitting patterns, videos, knitting forums, etc.

Happy surfing .

 

 

I don't know about you but when my son is on school holiday I never have much time for crafting or blogging. However I did manage to finish a few cards I needed for a commission and for a couple of challenges and also to play with some fimo I bought at my local charity shop.

The "Leaving to have a baby" card was a commission and I used a free template I downloaded from here.

The "Tea time" card below is for a challenge on Flickr and the other is for the Circles Summer Challenge at Kool Crafts and Arts.

I have mentioned my local charity shop several times on this blog, I love going there and finding things to use on my crafts. Recently I found fimo in different colours and have been playing with it making buttons and sweets. Alex also had fun making some animals and other stuff.

Alex made a panda, a lion, a tiger and a dolphin's head
Alex's bamboo

For some great ideas on what you can make with fimo have a look here and here.

Sometime ago I posted photos showing a few of my crochet bookmarks and received several requests for instructions so I've put together this photo tutorial which I hope you'll find useful. I used 4 ply cotton and a 1.5 mm crochet hook.

To make a similar bookmark you should start with a loop and one single crochet.

Increase one stitch everytime you turn to make the next row.

When you have the desired width (this bookmark is 12 stitches wide), work 17 rows in double crochet.

You should have something like this.

When you finish, weave in the ends of the cotton thread. Then you'll have to make a chain which you then attach to the pointy end of the bookmark with a slip stitch again weaving in the end of the thread.

On the other end of the chain attach a flower or any other embellishment of your choice. I chose a flower and a little bead. To hold the bead in place tie a knot and if you want use a little glue to prevent the end of the thread from fraying.

This is the finished bookmark.

Happy crafting.

Today's post is about using collage and decoupage when making cards and it's also the last in my series of posts on different card making techniques.

The term collage comes from the French coller which means "to stick". The Collins English Dictionary defines it as an art form in which compositions are made out of pieces of paper, cloth, photographs and other miscellaneous objects, juxtaposed and pasted onto a dry ground.

According to the same source, decoupage comes from the French word découper meaning "to cut out" and it's the art or process of decorating a surface with shapes or illustrations cut from paper, card, etc.

For both these techniques you'll need to find a source of images you can cut and use. Maybe the most obvious one is the Internet with it's wealth of free images you can print, cut and paste. Other sources are books and magazines and these you can buy very cheap at charity shops, car boot sales, etc.

The books below were all bought at my local charity shop and I've been using the images from them on cards.

 
The image on the left shows a page from the book "The World of Butterflies". As you can see the images are beatiful and if you want you can also use the text as background for your project.

Here are a few examples of cards I made using the collage and decoupage techniques. I hope they may inspire you to try these techniques.

 

Before I go away on holiday I'd like to share with you a couple of small gifts I made for my lovely 2-year old niece Mariana.

I made her the crochet bag and also the cute cross stitched pictures you see below. The picture "frames" are made of felt and were cut with the help of my Sizzix BigShot. Overall, I'm really please with the results and I hope she likes them too.

Below you'll find not only the charts I used to cross stitch the little house and flower but also a few others you can use. I'll be away until July 31st so no posts until then.

 

Next week will be the last of this school year at my son's primary school and at this time I like to say Thank you to those who helped him throughout the year by making them a handmade gift and card.

This year I made a felt bird  and a card for each one of his teachers and teaching assistants. I think they are cute and I just hope they like them too.

I found the template for the bird here.

The cards were made using cutouts from a few books on gardening and birds, some ribbon and a few buttons.

Here they are finished and ready to be given away next week.

A recipe card swap has started this month at Kool Crafts and Arts. The idea is that at the end of the swap each participant will have one recipe card for every letter of the alphabet. The first recipe cards are already being swapped starting with the letter A and this is the one I made earlier today. The recipe is for an easy, peasy (and delicious) apple pie.

Rubber stamping is the process by which you transfer an image onto a medium of your choice and which can be paper, cardstock, fabric, wood, glass, etc.

Nowadays there many different types of stamps you can use on your crafts. Mounted stamps are the traditional stamps that come mounted on a block of wood. There are also unmounted stamps which you'll have to fix to a piece of wood or to an acrylic block before using them, this is the case with clear stamps for instance.

       Mounted stamps                  Unmounted stamps               Clear stamps

In my opinion clear stamps are the most versatile because they allow for a more precise positioning of the image on your project. I must admit stamping is not among my favourite card making techniques although I have made a few cards using rubber stamps.

You don't need much for rubber stamping besides a few stamps, inks, a medium to stamp onto and colouring materials such as colouring pencils, markers, chalks, etc. The amount of money you spend depends on the brand and on the quality of the products you buy.

If this is a technique that appeals to you and you'd like to give it a try please follow the links below to find more detailed information about rubber stamping and some project ideas too:

The basics of rubber stamping at About.com

Rubber stamping techniques

Project ideas and tutorials

Below you can see some of the cards I made using rubber stamps with a brief description of how I stamped the images.

The daisies I used on this card were stamped onto white cardstock using water based brush markers to ink the stamp. The different parts of the flower stamp were inked with different markers, the petals and the centre of the flower were then coloured in with water based pastel markers. The daisies were then cut and fixed onto the front of the card with foam pads.

On this card the background flowers and the sentiment were stamped with bleach. For instructions on how to stamp using normal household bleach please click here.

The image on this card was stamped using a blue water based brush marker.

4 different unmounted stamps were used to make this tree card. The tree canopy was "built" by using the same stamp several times. I started by stamping the trunk and then moved on to the tree canopy. This is made up of lighter and darker tones, I started with the lighter ones and to achieve these I inked the stamp with a green water based brush marker and stamped it onto a piece of scrap paper before stamping the cardstock.

This is my first attempt at a technique called rubber stamp tapestry. I used several different little stamps to create a border for my card. Again, I used the same markers as before to ink the different stamps. The lighter images were stamped first and were achieved as explained above. The use of 2 different tones, one lighter and one darker helps to give the impression of depth to the stamped image as if there are several layers of different elements. For more information on this particular technique please click here.

This is a birthday card I made for a friend of my son who is 9 next week. I stamped the image and embossed it with gold embossing powder and then coloured it in with water based pastel markers.

I created these card toppers with a new set of unmounted stamps I bought recently, the See D's Vintage Collection. I used the same brush markers as before and then applied some matching chalk to the white cardstock.

Today I'm going to share with you a few links to some very cool web sites you might find useful when working on your papercraft projects.

Printable background papers

Activity Village

Cannon Creative Park

Cardmaking and papercraft

Epson Creative Zone

HP Scrapbooking

Papercraft Inspirations

Scrapbook Scrapbook

Templates

Papercraft Inspirations

Chia's Rubber Stamp Art

Jersgirls Computer Craft and Rubber Stamp Templates

Mirkwood Designs

Verses for cards

Verses for Greeting Cards

Colour codes

RGB Color Codes and Names

The Other RGB Color Chart

I hope you find these useful. Happy surfing & happy crafting

I made these 4 headbands yesterday evening for a last minute order, these plus 2 others I had made previously will be given as end of school year gifts.

It feels great to know that something I designed and made was such a great hit with the girls.

I also ran my stall at the local primary school Summer Fair and received great feedback on most of my handmade items, plus I also made a few sales which is always an added bonus . Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so I don't have a picture of my stall to show you but these are a few of the things I made and sold.

Die cutting machines are a must have tool for most paper crafters specially cardmakers and scrapbookers.

Nowadays there are many die cutting machines available commercially and aimed at the home market, they vary in the way they work, in size and in price. If you're considering buying one of these machines think carefully of what kind of craft projects you'll want to create with it, what materials you'll want to cut and read the information available online about the different machines so you know exactly what they do, what kind of dies they use, how much these cost and whether there are any compatibility issues with dies from other companies, etc.

Once you've bought your die cutting machine it's time to start using it and exploring its many possibilities.

I have 2 die cutting machines and they are both from Sizzix. When I bought the SideKick I thought it would be enough for me as I only wanted to use it for cardmaking. I soon realised this was a mistake as I was restricted to the size of shapes and materials I could cut.

Eventually I bought a BigShot and I love it. It allows me to cut not only cardstock but also thicker card, felt, fabric, etc. There's also a much wider range of die cuts and embossing folders I can use.

 

 Below are a few suggestions on how you can embellish die cut shapes to use on your projects. I cut a few shapes to show you how you can put them together.

Duck

After cutting all the pieces that make up the duck I applied some orange blending chalk all around the body, wing and head of the duck.

The next step was to stick a foam pad on the reverse side of the wing to make it more 3D and then glue the beak in place.

I then placed the wing and glued the head on the body to finish the duck. Doesn't he look cute?

Stocking

The aim here was to make a red Christmas stocking with a white toe, heel and top. For that I cut two shapes one in red and one in white.

I cut the white shape along the markings so I had my toe, heel and top.

I then glued them on the red stocking thus creating a pretty stocking to use on a Christmas card, for instance.

Bird with branch and flowers

First I cut all shapes in the colours I wanted. The bird shape will be used as base.

I applied some blending chalk around the bird and the larger flower too and then glued all the different elements in place making sure they were properly aligned with the base shape.

Here are a few examples of cards made using die cut shapes. They were all embellished one way or another before being used.

On this card I used a black pen to create the faux stitching effect.
The sewing helps to add texture to the card.
I used a black pen to outline the flowers and the leaves.

This card was made using the paisley die cut from Sizzix.

Below are links to a few companies that sell die cutting machines:

Sizzix
Ellison
Cricut/Cuttlebug
Craft Robot (French site)
Quickutz

 

 

This post is about where to find inspiration for your crafts when you seem to have exhausted all your creativity.

I don't know about you but it happens to me once in a while, my brain just seems to shut down and all my creativity is gone. Here are a few tips and links to help you deal with crafter's block, I hope you find them helpful.

1 - Tidy up your craft supplies

This allows you to not only organize your things for when your inspiration returns but also to have a better idea of what you have. Sometimes you might even find things you'd forgotten you had or thought were lost!

2 - Create an "inspiration" folder on your PC

Here you can save all those great images, projects and tutorials  you find while surfing the Net. These don't have to be specific to your particular craft, sometimes an idea or little detail you see somewhere may be adapted and used on your projects. For instance if you're a cardmaker or scrapbooker a nice patterned fabric might give you an idea regarding an unsual colour combination that you may want to use on any of your cards or scrapbook pages.

3 - Magazines and books

There are plenty of craft magazines and books available commercially but if like me you're on a tight budget you don't have to spend a penny. There's a wealth of free online publications and you can also use your local library. If they don't have anything useful to you try searching their database, some public libraries allow you to reserve or request books from nearby libraries. You can also try your local charity shop to see if they have any books or magazines that might interest you.

Here are a few links to online craft magazines:

Creative Times Magazine
Craft Creations
Paper Crafts Mag
Craftzine

4 - Photo sites

Browse through online photo sites like Flickr and Picasa to see what other people are making, you can also create an account and share your projects with others.

5 - Relax

If none of this seems to work for you just put your feet up, relax, read a book or magazine that's not craft related or have a nice cup of tea or coffee. Sometimes it's good to have a break from crafting to recharge your batteries.

 

 

 

We've been having a few spells of really nice weather here in the UK, just the thing to take Alex to the park after school so he can play with his friends and I can crochet a little. So here are a few things I made recently.

Crochet necklace with buttons

Flowers

Brooches

On those occasions when you want to present someone with a very special, elegant card nothing beats an embroidered card.

Even a simple embroidered card can be time consuming but you'll see that the results will be worth all your efforts.

If you've never tried embroidering on paper you can follow the instructions below to make not only cards but also bookmarks, gift tags, embroidered embellishments to use on scrapbook pages, etc.

Let's start by putting together the following items:

- embroidery pattern
- cardstock cut to size
- blue tack
- adhesive tape
- embroidery thread & needle
- sewing pin
- foam sheet

1 - Cut your cardstock to the size and shape you want.

2 - Position the embroidery pattern on the front of your cardstock. Use some Blue Tack to keep them in place while you pierce the pattern, you obviously don't need to use as much Blue Tack as I did!

3 - Place a foam sheet under your cardstock and begin piercing with a pin.

4 - When you finish piercing the pattern onto the cardstock remove the pattern and the Blue Tack and get ready to start embroidering.

5 - Thread a needle but don't tie a knot at the end of the thread. Begin embroidering from the reverse of the cardstock. Make sure you leave some length of thread and fix it with some adhesive tape so it doesn't become loose.

6 - When you finish embroidering make sure all loose ends of the thread are fixed to the reverse of the cardstock with adhesive tape. Your embroidery is then ready to be used on your chosen project.

Tips:

* There are many free embroidery patterns online drawn specifically for embroidery on paper but you can use any patterns just make sure that during the piercing step you do it at regular intervals along the line so your stitches are the same length as much as possible.

* There are piercing or pricking tools available on the market but you don't need to spend money on these as a sewing pin is enough to achieve the same result.

* Use pins instead of sewing needles because they are easier to hold.

* It helps to have the embroidery pattern close by so you can use it as a guide if needed.

Here are a few examples of cards I made using this technique.

If you'd like to try embroidering on paper here's a free pattern you can use.

Links to more free patterns:

Form-A-Lines Stitching cards

Stitching cards

Embroidery on paper

Circle of Crafters

Handcrafted Greetings

Happy crafting

These are the Fiskars texture plates, they are used together with the little blue tool on the photo to help create texture on cardstock.

I've had these for quite a while now but have rarely used them because:

1 - I find it difficult to use the little blue tool. To create texture you need to place the piece of cardstock on the texture plate and then using the tool make circular movements to emboss the image. I could never do this for long anough because my wrist started to hurt after a while;

2 - I could never get a clear and crisp embossed image.

Now, I found a way of using them to emboss cardstock and obtain a nice, crisp texture as shown in the photos below.

The light blue cardstock was lightly sanded after embossing to create that wave foam effect.

If you have some of these Fiskars texture plates and a Sizzix BigShot this is how you can use them to emboss cardstock.

You'll need:

Sizzix BigShot
Fiskar texture plate
Sizzix multipurpose platform
Cutting pads
Foam sheet
Cardstock

Make a sandwich with all the items above in the following order:

Multipurpose platform (use no tabs)
First cutting pad
Texture plate
Cardstock (make sure it's aligned over the texture plate)
Foam sheet
Second cutting pad

Run this through the BigShot to emboss your cardstock.

This is one of a series of flowers I made with cardstock embossed this way.

Have fun experimenting with your texture plates

 

If you have a blog dedicated to your handmade crafts or any blog really, you'll probably want to post some photos too and chances are that sometimes you'll want to edit your photos either to add some text, a frame or some kind of other special effect.

Fortunately, there are some very cool photo editing tools online you can use and best of all is that they are free!

Below you can see examples of photos edited with free photo editing tools found online. The links to these free tools are next to the pictures.

Have fun exploring and using them

Edited with Picnik
Mosaic built using Big Huge Labs
 Christmas card edited with LunaPic
 Card edited with FotoFlexer

 

If like me you struggle to come up with ideas for male cards here are a few suggestions. These simple designs can be adapted to any occasion by adding the appropriate sentiment or personal message.

These are very simple cards made with die cut shapes or stamped images and torn paper/cardstock. Little details like the sewing and the buttons add a nice touch.

By the way, don't forget Father's Day is June 21st.

 

This is a needle case I made for the Button Swap over at Kool Crafts and Arts. The aim of the swap was for us to choose 5 buttons and send them to our partner who then had the task of creating a little handmade gift for us incorporating the buttons received.

The buttons I received from my partner, Jen, were perfect for this project. This needle case is a great gift for anyone who does a little bit of sewing and it's very quick to make too.

The templates below were made by me and you can use them to create your needle case or you can also draw your own templates.

To make a needle case like this you'll need to cut 2 cover pieces either of the same fabric/felt or one each in matching material (I chose felt for the outside and cotton fabric for the inside). You'll also need to cut 1 inside piece using preferably felt so it's easier to stick the sewing needles and 1 front piece which will be embellish.

Once you have all your pieces cut you can start assembling them:

1 - Place the cover fabric on the cover felt piece making sure the right side of the fabric is showing. Sew and trim with pinking scissors. If you want to use ribbon to help keep your needle case closed, insert it between both layers of material before sewing. As you can see, I made a button loop with ribbon.

2 - Place the inside piece of felt centrally on the cover and sew along the middle.

3 - Embellish the front piece of felt and sew it onto the cover either by hand or by machine.

Below is my own needle case made sometime ago, it's slightly larger than the one above but made in the same way.

Sometimes I post crochet charts and receive requests for some sort of written instructions. While I wouldn't mind doing that the problem is that I'm used to the Continental way of crocheting with charts and although I've tried writing the instructions to some of my own crochet designs I don't think anyone could actually make something by following them.

So, I've been looking on the Internet and found some really helpful sites that teach you how to read a crochet chart. Here are some of them, I hope you find them useful

Smart Knitting-Crocheting
DMC
Needlepointers

If you want more info on the abbreviations used in crochet and their meanings you can refer to the Needlepointers web site where you'll find plenty of links to crochet glossaries in several languages.

This is a scarf I knitted recently, I chose a basketweave pattern and used roughly 3 x 50g balls of Rowan's handknit cotton. I love this green but found it a little dull on its own so added the crochet flowers and small buttons to liven it up. I love my new scarf 

You can find instructions for the basketweave pattern by following the links below:

About.com:Knitting
Lion Brand Yarn

I also made these 2 neck warmers using just a little over 50 g of Wendy Fusion yarn (50% wool and 50% acrylic) for each. I bought the yarn on sale at Hobbycraft for half the usual price. The reason why I made these now is because I thought it would take me until Winter to have them finished but as you can see they were very quick to knit.

 

Shaker cards are so much fun both to make and to receive and contrary to what you might think they're actually quite easy to create. Also they stand out from standard cards because of the use of loose elements inside a "window".

This is how I make my shaker windows to use on cards.

Supplies:

Cardstock ( I used a piece of thick cardboard from a wine box)
Foam pads
Double-sided tape
Acetate

1 - Begin by cutting your window choosing the shape and size that will best suit your card.

2 - Put double-sided tape all the way around the reverse side of the window. This will hold the acetate in place and is a much quicker and cleaner way of attaching the acetate to the cardstock window frame. Place the acetate over the double-sided tape.

3 - Again, on the reverse side of the window, put foam pads all around making sure there are no gaps. This is important because you don't want your loose elements to come out when you shake the card.

4 - Choose the items you're going to put inside the window. They should not be too bulky as otherwise they might become stuck and not shake. You can use sequins, very small beads or even punched shapes.

5 - Choose the place on the card where you want your window to be and place your shakeable items there. Carefully, place the window you made on the card and make sure it's properly attached without any openings or gaps from where things might come out.

Depending on how you planned your card layout, your window can be used plain or embellished. If you're using stamps to embellish your window it might be a good idea to do the stamping before attaching the acetate so you don't get ink on it. Below you can see a few examples of shaker cards.

As promised here's the slideshow for my crochet pansies, hope you find it helpful when making your own pansies.

 

Yesterday was Earth Day and maybe I should've posted this then but I think all days should be Earth Days, after all it's the planet we live on and we take so much giving so little back...

Anyway, I'm taking part in one of the many fun challenges/competitions we have at Kool Crafts and Arts, the Houseware competition in which we have to choose an item we have around the house and embellish it posting before and after photos of said item.

I made these crochet cosies for a few plastic containers I saved and which I'm using to store things. The yarn was either bought very cheap (20p a ball) at the local charity shop or it's leftover yarn I've had for ages. What do you think? Aren't they cute?

Before

After

It's my friend's birthday today and I made her this little cross stitched wall hanging, I hope she likes it.

The tree came from the sampler below featured in one of the cross stitch books I bought at my local charity shop.

This is the chart for the tree.

 I made a few changes by using different colours for the tree trunk and folliage and then added a few tiny yellow, orange and green beads and a dragonfly.

 

 

Inspired by a few real pansies I have in my back garden I made these crochet ones using different types of embroidery thread and 4 ply cotton.

It's actually a very good idea to use embroidery thread on your crochet projects because there's a wider range of colours and also by using different types of thread you get a lovely mix of different textures making your finished projects even more special.

These pansies are my own design so I don't have a chart or instructions for them but when school starts again I will create a slideshow so you can see how I made them and then make your own if you want

OK, call me crazy but I have actually started making Christmas gifts, although totally unplanned I must say!

This is a scarf I made for my 2-year old niece. I saw this wool at Hobbycraft and loved it so much I had to buy it and make something with it as soon as I got home. Because she lives in Portugal and it's very hot there now I'll only give it to her for Christmas when it should be cold enough for her to wear it.

I also made myself a scarf to wear during the much cooler Spring/Summer season here in the UK.

The stitch pattern used on my niece's scarf is called "Fanfarre" and you can find it here.

On my scarf I used the one below.

Below are some of my other crochet projects:

 Crochet necklace

  Paisley

This year I made little Easter gifts for a few people at my son's school using some mini baskets bought at Hobbycraft over a year ago on sale and meant for a project that never saw the light of day.

To embellish them I cut a few flower shapes and paper buttons (to make the centres for the flowers) with the Sizzix BigShot and used a few ribbon leftovers to tie the flowers to the baskets.

After decorating the baskets I filled them with tiny chocolate eggs and here they are, aren't they cute?

 

Not long ago I wrote a post on how after a long time looking on the Internet for a chart for a crochet butterfly I found one in a magazine I had for years.

Well, guess what! I actually managed to find a chart online for a crochet butterfly and the good thing is it's even easier to make then the first one

This is the butterfly I made which has since then flown to a new owner and the corresponding chart is below.

Happy Spring!

Savoury muffins

300 g of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
salt
4 eggs
2 dl of milk
2 dl of vegetable oil
200 g of various cold meats (ham, cured ham, chorizo, bacon, etc.)

Pre-heat the oven to 180 ºC.

Put the flour in a bowl and mix in the eggs, the milk and the oil until you get a smooth dough.

Cut the meats and mix.

Pour spoonfuls of this mixture into baking cases and place in the oven to bake. Check with a cocktail stick to see if they are done.

Note:
Instead of vegetable oil I used butter and these were made only with bacon which I slightly fried previously. Because the bacon was already quite salty I didn't add any salt to the dough.

We loved these and I'll try them with different fillings.

Yogurt cake

1 yogurt (natural or any flavour)

Use the carton where the yogurt came to measure the remaining ingredients as follows:

1 carton of vegetable oil
2 cartons of sugar
3 eggs
2 cartons of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder

Pre-heat the oven and grease a cake tin.

In a bowl mix well the eggs, the sugar, the vegetable oil and the yogurt.

Add the flour and the baking powder and mix.

Place in the oven to bake.

Note: I replaced the vegetable oil with butter.

Hope you enjoy these recipes and have a lovely week end 

 

Tea bag folding is a sort of origami which uses small squares of paper with the same pattern, folded in the same way and then arranged so as to form a symmetrical rosette or medallion which is then used as an embellishment specially on greeting cards.

This paper craft was created in Holland by Tiny van der Plaas. Apparently she needed to make a card for a friend and absently began folding tea bag envelopes thus creating a unique embellishment.

Nowadays, you can find plenty of tea bag tiles on the Internet for free download.

I must admit this is not my favourite technique simply because I cannot get neat folds as you can see from some previous attempts of mine when I first began making cards:

For really gorgeous cards made using tea bag folding you should visit KoolCrafts' Flickr page. Her folding is so neat and her cards beautiful as well as all her other origami projects. If you want to try or further develop this technique and need inspiration this is the place to go.

Here are a few links you may find useful:

Free tea bag tiles

http://www.teabagfolding.circleofcrafters.com/freeprintabletiles.html

http://madeinniagarafallsca.com/

Tea bag folding projects

http://madeinniagarafallsca.com/

http://www.dotcomwomen.com/crafts/teabag-folding-butterfly.shtml

http://www.cardinspirations.co.uk/demo/demo16.htm

 

 

These are some of the commissioned cards I made recently.

Brief: Basketball card

Brief: Football cards

Brief: Viking helmet

Brief: Funny Golf

 

These are my most recent purchases, I bought everything online from Cutting Edge Crafts, an online shop that sells to the UK only. I don't like to buy online but this has been my 3rd or 4th time buying from them for several reasons:

- Their prices are very competitive;

- Payment can be done by credit card but also through PayPal, cheque or postal order which is great if like me you don't like to give out your credit card details;

- P&P is absolutely FREE;

- You don't have to spend a minimum amount like some online shops require you to.

 

 

I've been wondering for sometime if there was a way I could emboss paper/cardstock using my brass stencils on the Sizzix BigShot and after several "trial and error" experiments I finally found out how to do it .

If you'd like to try this for yourself just follow the instructions bellow.

You'll need:
- Sizzix BigShot
- Sizzix multipurpose platform
- Sizzix cutting pads
- a foam sheet
- brass stencil
- paper/cardstock

1 - Place the multipurpose platform on the Sizzix BigShot.

2 - Make a sandwich with the cutting pads like this:

          one cutting pad
          brass stencil
          paper/cardstock
          foam
          second cutting pad

3 - Run this sandwich through the BigShot to emboss the paper/cardstock. You'll get an embossed image like the one below.

4 - If you want to colour your embossed image just flip over the brass stencil and place it over the image making sure the outlines match. Use chalks, markers, pencils, etc. to colour in.

 

Here's another example of an embossed image using the steps described above and coloured in with blending chalks.

And this is a card I made using an image embossed with this technique.

If you want to give your handmade cards an attractive 3D finish one of the techniques you can use is embossing.

There are 2 kinds of embossing: heat and dry embossing. For the first you need a heat gun and embossing powders and for the second you need stencils and an embossing tool.

    Dry embossing tools                                                     Heat embossing tools

I'm going to start by demonstrating the heat embossing technique.

1 - The first step is to gather all the tools/materials you'll need. Choose a rubber stamp, have your embossing ink pad ready, choose the embossing powder you want and have your heat gun all set up to go.

2 - Apply the rubber stamp to the ink pad and stamp the image on the paper.

3 - Quickly sprinkle the embossing powder over the stamped image making sure it's well covered.

4 - Pour the excess powder back into the container to avoid any waste.

When sprinkling the embossing powder over the stamped image, do it over a piece of paper big enough and with a crease down the middle, this will make it easier to pour the excess powder back into the container.

5 - Melt the embossing powder with the heat gun. When the powder starts to melt move the heat gun slowly to the next section of the image until it's all done. You should have a raised glittery image like the one below.

Now for the dry embossing technique you'll need stencils and an embossing tool.

1 - Place the piece of paper/cardstock you want to emboss between the 2 layers of your stencil making sure it stays in place.

2 - With the embossing tool start tracing the outline of the image chosen. Be careful not to make too much pressure so the paper doesn't tear. Go over the outline 2 or 3 times so you have a noticeable raised effect. The finished embossed image can then be used on your project.

Note: If using brass stencils (like the ones below) you'll need a light box to emboss on any material that's not see through. Place the paper/cardstock on the stencil and keep it in place with Blue Tack. Again, go over the outline with the embossing tool.

If you want to use an embossed piece of paper or cardstock as background for your cards I find that the easiest way is to use embossing folders like the ones below for the Sizzix BigShot. You simply place the paper/cardstock in the folder and run this through your BigShot to get a lovely embossed image.

Tips:

* When heat embossing try to handle the paper/cardstock as little as possible as otherwise the embossing powder will adhere to other parts of the paper besides the stamped image. Before melting the embossing powder remove any specks with a thin paint brush.

* You can colour in your embossed images using markers, colouring pencils, chalks, etc.

* Practice your embossing techniques on scraps of paper until you feel confident.

* Try mixing embossing powders of different colours to create new tones. Use a small resealable bag for this.

 

Here are a few examples of cards and other projects using both heat and dry embossing.

Card with heat embossed flowers                                 Heat embossed embellishments used to decorate an envelope

Dry embossing on vellum using stencils

Both these cards use backrgound images embossed with embossing folders from Sizzix

 

For quite some time I've been wanting to have a go at those crochet butterflies you make from a folded granny square but I couldn't find the chart anywhere, and I've looked using any search terms I could think of!! A few nights ago, I was going through my old cross stitch magazines and guess what? I found these cute crochet butterflies and... they came with a chart  Yuppiii

If you'd like to make some yourself just follow the chart bellow:

Here's another one of my crochet brooches.

I would like to share how I made this flower with you but unfortunately I can't write the instructions or draw a chart, I've tried both and even I can't understand them so I took photos of all the stages. I don't usually follow any patterns, I just make it up as I go along which means that I never get 2 flowers that are exactly the same

Here's a slideshow I created to show you how the flower above was made. Hope you like it.

If you're into handmade cards you've probably seen a few examples using a paper-folding technique called Iris folding. The name comes from the fact that the finished design looks like the iris of an eye or the lens of a camera.

This technique may look difficult but it's actually very easy, all you need is a template and strips of paper which are folded and placed over the template as explained on the tutorial below.

The result should be something like this, a design spiralling towards a central point, the iris.

 

Iris folding tutorial

1 - Choose your template and trace the outline onto cardstock.

2 - Cut out the inside of the shape you've just traced using a ruler (metal one preferably and a craft knife).

3 - Place the cut out cardstock over the template, use Blue Tack to keep it in place.

4 - On the template measure the widest end of one of the numbered sections and cut strips of paper wide enough so that when folded in half they will cover the whole of the section and still have a little over the outside (please see photo above).

5 - Decide in which order you'll place your strips of paper over the template.

6 - Put double sided tape along the outside of the of the cut out window to help you keep your first strips of paper in place.

7 - Start placing the strips of paper in the order you chose. When you finish your first round keep placing small pieces of double sided tape to keep the next layer in place.

8 - Keep placing your paper strips until you finish. Below you can see the back and the front of your card topper.

                               Back                                                                             Front

9 - Choose a piece of cardstock for the iris.

10 - Embellish as desired and your iris folding card topper is ready to be used.
 

Tips:

* Instead of strips of paper you can also use ribbon, fabric, vellum, etc.

* Vellum creates an interesting effect as the different layers produce slightly different shades as you layer them.

* Instead of folding your strips of paper, tear them so you get a rough edge. This can produce also create an interesting effect.

Below are some examples of cards I made using the iris folding technique:

 
If you want to try this technique, you'll find plenty of templates on the Circle of Crafters web site.

Last week was half-term which means that my son Alex was home and I didn't have time to do any crafting. He went back to school yesterday and I did manage to make a card for an 80th birthday.

I'll be writing a series of posts on card making techniques but first I need to tidy up or I won't be able to function. My next post will be about a technique called Iris folding.

Below is the 80th birthday card I mentioned and also a birthday card I made for an 9-year old. I really like this cute dinossaur and it makes a nice change from the usual football cards for boys.

When making cards or scrapbook pages the quickest and easiest way to cut clean shapes is by using paper punches, these come in different shapes and sizes and the designs can be either complex or very simple.

Paper punches can cut through paper or cardstock that's not too thick, if you try to cut shapes out of very thick card you might break your punch mechanism.

Paper punches allow you to cut not only shapes that you can use as embellishments but also create decorative borders and corners making your cards / scrapbook pages even more special.

Border systems allow you to use your regular shape punches to create decorative borders, the ruler helps you keep an even spacing between the cut out shapes.

Punch art is the art of combining several different punched shapes to create a new different shape. For some examples of punch art, please visit the following sites:

Kenna's Punch Art Layouts

Wittyliving

Craftavenue

The cards shown below were made using mainly paper punches and I hope they may inspire you when using punches on your craft projects.

Tips

* If you punch out shapes that you end up not using don't throw them away, store them in a box for use in future projects.

* Use your paper punches and thin paper to make confetti that you can use to decorate your table for a special occasion or even on shaker cards.

* Keep a record of your paper punches on a small notebook and take this with you when you go into a craft store so you always know exactly which punches you have. Use paper scraps to punch out shapes and glue them on your notebook pages for a quick visual reference.  The photo below shows my paper punch record, it allows me to know which punches I have at a glance.

 

I will be posting a series of articles on different card making techniques which I hope you'll find useful.

Cardmaking is a very expensive hobby and in a time of economic recession you really have to make your money go a long way. Here are a few tips that will help you save money without having to give up on your hobby.

1- Wallpaper samples

 You can get them for free from DIY stores and use them as background papers for your cards, tags or even to punch out shapes.

I store my wallpaper samples in clear plastic envelopes in an A4 ring binder.

2 - Paint cards

These come in a wide range of colours and again you can get them for free from DIY stores and use them on collage projects or to punch out small shapes.

Left: the background paper used on the Christening card is wallpaper
Right: the coloured strip on the green envelope under the cut out bird is a paint card

3 - Fabric samples

Some furniture stores have free samples of their upholstery fabric. Also, some online harberdasheries send out free fabric samples if you ask them. Old clothes too are a good source of fabric.

The card above was made using a free leather sample from Tesco.

4 - Ribbon

You can get small pieces of ribbon to use on your card making projects from blouses (little straps to help hang the blouses), some items that come tied with ribbon, gifts people give you.

5 - Buttons

If you have clothes you no longer wear cut out all the buttons before throwing them away. These make great embellishments for cards.

6 - Old cards

Don't throw them away before checking if there's anything you can use on your own cards. For instance: nice pictures, sentiments, embellishments and even the card itself can be used to punch out shapes.

7 - Sequins / beads

Again you can cut sequins/beads from old clothes, slippers, jewellery you no longer use, etc.

8 - Bubble wrap

If you sell your cards and need to send them by mail you'll need bubble wrap to help protect the card so it doesn't get damaged in transit. One way of getting free bubble wrap is by using the one that comes in any padded envelopes / packets you receive yourself.

9 - Boxes for storage

Whatever it is you make you'll need storage to keep all your supplies organised. Again you don't need to spend money on storage boxes for your craft supplies. Why not use shoe boxes, jars or any boxes / containers you already have at home.

I hope you find these tips useful.

Jen from Kool Crafts and Arts has asked me to to make her another wall hanging, this time for her office. Her only requirements were that I should make it in creams and browns. Below you can see the finished item made using the crazy patchwork technique.

It's all been hand sewn and the main reason for that is that my very old Singer sewing machine wouldn't sew through all the 3 layers of fabric even though I only used lightweight cotton. Also all hem lines were embellished with some new embroidery stitches I learnt with the help of a brilliant book I borrowed from the local public library, its title is "Very Easy Crazy Patchwork"
by Betty Barnden, ISBN 978-0-7621-0672-1

The funny thing is that I always had this idea that embroidery was something very difficult to learn and master but it's actually not, although I must admit try as I might I can't get the hang of those blasted French knots!! But I'll get there eventually...

So, if you're into crazy patchwork and embroidery or you'd like to give it a go the book I mentioned above is a good starting point as it's full of lovely projects and useful information on techniques, equipment, etc.

Regarding embroidery, there's an excellent website called Needle N' Thread with an extensive video library of stitches.

On the pictures below you can see the embroidery stitches I used and their names in case you'd like to try them for yourself.

Other books you might want to have a look at:

"Bright & Breezy Patchwork"
R. Norum and H.A. Krohg
ISBN-13: 978-0-7153-2917-7
ISBN-10: 0-7153-2917-0

"The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Patchwork, Quilting and Appliqué"
Elaine Hammond
ISBN:0-7153-0479-8

 

Today I want to share with you 2 cards made last week and which I think are perfect not only for Valentine's day but also for any romantic special occasion.

This card is based on a card design I saw on Flickr. Not only is it very easy and quick to make but also allows you to use up some of your paper scraps and best of all the end result is gorgeous.

To make this card you'll need scraps of paper in matching or contrasting colours but which will go well together.

Cut the strips of paper by hand so you have irregular edges and assemble them on the card. You can either glue them or sew them.

Cut 2 hearts, one larger than the other and in two different colours. Crease them down the middle and sew them together. Glue onto the card but only along the middle so they're not flat against the card.

My apologies for the bad quality of the picture, for some reason I could not get a photo I was happy with so this one will have to do just to give an idea of the end result.

This card was made using the Hearts, Paisley die cut from Sizzix. The first step is to choose the paper you'll be using as background and then the one for the paisley shapes.

Cut several shapes and place them on the background paper, when you're happy with the layout start glueing them.

Add a little sparkle to your card by adding sequins, beads or other glittery bits.

Tip: You don't need a die cutting machine to cut these shapes, you can either draw them or download them from the Internet and cut them by hand.

I've just finished these and wanted to show them to you, one of the cards is for a Christening and the other is for a Birthday.

The Christening card is for a 3 year-old girl, I thought she might like a pretty dress which I made using a template I found on Activityvillage. The dress was hand cut out of white card stock and embellished with beads, ribbon, lace and a little flower. The Birthday card is based on a card I once saw on the Internet and to make it I used some stickers, raffia, buttons, card stock for the background and peel-offs.

Thanks for your visit.

 

I made this bunting for my niece Mariana who'll be 2 next month, she likes flowers so I hope she'll like this.

 

This was a great project to use up some of my felt scraps, the felt I used is 100% acrylic and comes in A4 sized sheets. Apart from that I only needed buttons to make the centres for the flowers and ribbon to sew them on to.

 

I used the Sizzix die cut below and the Sizzix Big Shot to cut the 3 layers for the flowers, you can use all the layers or just one or two, it's up to you.

 

 

I also used this die cut to make myself a brooch. This time I used fabric layered onto felt for more stability.

 

You don't need to have a die cutting machine to make something like this although if you do have one it will take you a lot less time to cut the flowers. You can either draw your own flower templates or you can look for them on the Internet. In Google, choose Images and then type "flower templates". You'll get lots of templates you can use, some are already in different sizes but others will need to be resized in case you want to create layers in various sizes.

 

This is my first card of 2009. It's been commissioned for the birthday of twins a boy and a girl who will be 1 year old next month.

To make the castle I used a template I found sometime ago on the Internet. I wanted to give you the link to the site but unfortunately I can't find it now so I'm leaving you with the template, if any of you knows the link please let me know so I  can give credit where credit is due. 

You can find other similar templates on the following web sites:

Circle of Crafters

By Donovan

I first read about a yo-yo maker a few months ago on the Susie Can Stitch blog.

I must admit at first I was a little sceptical about it because after all you don't really need much to make a yo-yo: a pair of scissors, some fabric, sewing needle and thread and that's it, for a template you can use anything round you have at home like a CD, a plate, a cup, etc.

However, I do find that tracing the circle onto the fabric, cutting it, sewing it and gathering the yo-yo takes more time than I'd wish...I am very impatient and like to have quick results.

If you're like me then this simple, little device is great as it allows to make a series of yo-yos in no time at all. If you're considering buying a yo-yo maker yourself, shop around as prices vary. I bought mine from Purplelinda Crafts, a set of 4 cost me just over £10 which I think is great value.

There's a very good tutorial on how to use the yo-yo maker here.