Happy New Year

To those of you who are celebrating the Jewish New Year and Festivals right now,

May your year be sweet and your days be long!

Wedding Stationery Sample

I have been doing some sample wedding invitations for a friend who gets married next June. Here is the design I like the best so far. (Of course the choice won't actually be mine.)

I seem to always lean towards clean designs when it comes to Wedding Invitations. 


Anyhoo, The front design is very simple. I printed the text with a font from here. For the little motif,  I used the crossing hearts paper punch from Tonic Studios.


For the inside I wanted to make slits to slide in the silver insert rather than just sticking it down, so I rummaged through my punches to see what I could think of and came up with this idea. I used this two in one paper punch

I removed the corner punching guides and simply lined up the punch with the edges of the card. To get the right size for the insert, I measured between the top and bottom points, and the outermost points and made the card just a fraction smaller. 

Because I used a contrasting colour insert I think it looks pretty from the back too. 
(I imagine it might be possible to do this with other corner punches that have a removable guide.)

I am thinking I could also use this idea for making small cards for inserting store gift tokens. 

for you birdy lovers out there....

I came across this and thought it was hilarious! 
I love anything birdy, but...well, watch the video and be afraid...very afraid!

blanket box makeover

I finally got around to painting this blanket box. (What do you call these in the States?) 

It had been stripped and sanded ready to paint about ten years ago, but it never was very high on the priority list. But I had some cream  paint left over from another project and so I decided to use it up rather than keeping a small amount in the tin to dry up.

This was what it looked like before!

I used this graphic from the Graphics Fairy. 

I had some carbon copy paper leftover from when my mum was a typist. I printed out two copies, one reversed, and then I traced the outlines on top of the carbon paper onto my box. I adjusted the design a little bit as I didn't want the stick thing that goes diagonally across the basket. I then painted the design with black acrylic artists paint. There are some differences between the left and right one because there was about a month in between each image, but I think that just adds to the handpainted look. 

My intention was not to leave it in this state. My intention was to distress the piece and then antique wax it. But I have chickened out of doing that for now as I have got used to it as it is. However, once the piece starts to naturally distress over time- and it will- I shall help it along a bit. 

At least I finally painted it!

What do you call a whole lot of pencils?

A whole gaggle of pencils wrapped with vintage encyclopaedia pages and old maps, and packaged in my handmade boxes, will be in my Etsy shop very soon...

pencil boxes

This is my latest thing. Vintage encyclopaedia wrapped mini pencils. 

When I get around to it, I'll be adding some to my Etsy shop.

8 to a box - they are so cute!

a handmade box - of course!

I love little things! Don't you?


They even will come with a poem!


Age old book,
Tattered, torn.
Cover loose,
Pages worn.
Ruler, knife,
pencils, glue.
Turn it into
something new.


(Do I need my head examined?)

and another one...

My poor family...they just don't understand why I keep making little boxes!

It gives me great pleasure to design and make them! I don't know why myself!

This is a little gift set I just finished. I think I will pop it in my Etsy shop soon...

It's a little journal with hand embroidered cover upcycled from denim from my son's jeans.

(It's OK- he had finished with them.)

The journal has a pretty bookmark ribbon, and comes with 4 little pencils, an eraser and a sharpener. Everything you need for a little sketching session.

The box is lined with smaller boxes inside- it took a while to get the template just right!

Actual size of the journal is 3" by 2, 1/4"

another little journal

This one is 3" by 4, 1/2" approx.

another box...

Another box !

What's inside?

a little handmade journal...

...to jot down ideas and inspirations

It's only little though...

...so my thoughts better not be too big!

daisy chain

I was fixing a necklace for a friend the other day, so I thought while the beads are out I'll see if I still have my beading mojo. I decided I don't - for the time being anyway! This was my attempt at a daisy chain with seed beads. Last time I made one of these was about ten years ago and I am sure they turned out much better then. I think the problem was my thread was not fine and flexible enough. 

(Bad workmen always blame their tools you know!) 

If you'd like to give it a try, you can find instructions here.

Anyway...back to the paper-crafting for now.

Hello!

I have my parents visiting this week and this morning is the first time the sun has come out. Hope it will stay dry today! 

I am itching to get back to my papercrafting at the moment. Also I just got a sample of fabric with my shell drawing on it,  from Spoonflower and I can't wait to put it at the centre of a cushion, so the sewing machine might be coming out to play soon too.

Matchbook notebook tutorial

Here is how to make a little matchbook notebook.

I'll try to keep the instructions as simple as possible-

it's not rocket science after all ;-)

 Feel free to change the sizes to suit yourself. 

This is the size that works for me. :-)

Cut your card in a 2, 1/8" strip (I'm using A4 card)

I used my Tonic Studios handy Super Trimmer, 
Score your card at 1/2",   3/4",   3,1/4"   3, 1/2"
If you don't have one of these you could always use 
a ruler and a biro that has run out of ink as your scoring implement.

 Now cut to 5, 5/8"

 Tada! Now for the inside..

( This is an additional step you can do if you own a perforating tool like this rotary perforator.)
I like to add this step to my matchbook notebooks so that it is easy to tear a page out neatly from the stack. Each notebook only uses two pieces of paper.

  It takes more time to make, but I think the finished result is worth the effort.
Using the perforator cut longways down an A4 piece of paper at 1/4" , 2, 5/8", and 5".

 Then trim the paper across the way into 2" strips

 and then into 2, 3/8" lengths

 Stack them neatly, aligning them by tapping the edge on a flat surface, then clip together at the end opposite the perforations with a bulldog clip. I use a little scrap of paper to protect the stack from being indented by the clip.

 Using another scrap of paper the same width, make a little hole template with which to mark out the holes. You can see the diagram to get the right idea for hole spacing.

Pierce the holes in the cover using the same template.

 Using embroidery floss sew from the front to the back leaving a little tail to tie, then stitch back over so you end up with a complete stitch and two tails to the front. 

 Tie in a double knot and trim leaving about 1/4" for decorative effect.
I think this effect looks quite Japanese.

 Use a decorative punch for the front cover, or you can embellish any other way your choose.
I used my little birdy punch from Tonic Studios.

and there you have it. A lovely little gift item that could be used for wedding favours, or party bags, or any other reason you choose.

(joined linky party at http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/)