Handmade cards and other crafts, templates & tips

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.