Circle greeting card tutorial

Well how do all!  Hope you have been enjoying the weather.  Myself and my lovely family went exploring East Sussex.  Such a lovely place filled with so many childhood memories.  As I was away I didn't blog but as I did three before I left I do hope you will forgive me!

Since being back I have been playing constant catch up but managed to find a little me time to create a greeting card.  I loved it so much I thought I would share it with you.

Circle greeting card DIY (I really struggle with names for my DIY's sometimes!)

Well here is the finished thing.  Such a pretty card and at first I thought...oooo easy peasy!  Well it wasn't hard after I thought a little while about it but I was momentarily stumped on how to get all the circles to line up.  I f I had done it by eye I am sure I would have ended up with a few slightly out.  Anyhow, here is my answer!

I used a blank kraft A5 card.  I measured the height and width and cut out a piece of white card the same height but only 2/3 the width.  I also used a piece of scrap paper the same height as the card and a couple of inches wide.

Step 1 - take your piece of scrap paper and fold in half widthways...

...now fold in half again

... now take the section you just folded over and fold it back on itself and then unfold.  (Do this to create a guide)

Step 2 - making sure the last little fold you made is in the centre of your punch punch through all 4 layers of paper.

You should be left with this,

Now open up your paper.  Here is your cutting guide.

Step 3 - I laid my paper onto my card and using a pencil I gently scribbled so that the edges of my circles were clear.  I did try with an ink pad which worked well too.

Once I did one side I reversed the paper and repeated it down the other.

You should end up with this.

Step 4 - Line up each of your pencil circles and punch them out using your circle punch.

Step 5 - Next I fixed foam pads around the card with the holes in it (make sure you stick them on the back that you drew on so that the fresh white side will be nice and clean.)

Attach your white card to the front of your greeting card.

Step 6 - Next I fixed a foam pad into the centre of each circle and removed the tops.

Now you can stick in your decorations.  I used little flowers but hearts look fantastic too. 

The last thing I did was stamp Happy Birthday on the side and Hey Presto! 

As always you will find a supplies list on the link below if you wish to see exactly what I used.

I will also be popping round to Handmade Harbour tomorrow for a crafty swim. 

Shrinky Plastic Bracelet Tutorial

Crafty recycled workshop
Today I had the privilege of working with one of my WI groups again.  Today's workshop was to create a charm bookmark or bracelet.

Here is the result of my demo tutorial i gave to my very lovely friend Janey (she is so fab!  I even had to talk to her like I was presenting to a large group! needless to say there was a lot of giggling!)  Anyhow, mine is on the right and hers on the left!  They are just so pretty.  

Well to break it down here is what we made.

1 - charm from cereal boxes and paper offcuts

1 - flower made from plastic bottles

2 - charms made from old envelopes

2 - charms made from shrinkable plastic

several charms made from upcycled beads.

After constructing our various charms and heating where necessary we assembled them on a short length of chain with large jump rings.  I love the colours of these, I have always disliked orange terrible but I have quite a liking for it now!

Here are some of the lovely creations the WI ladies made today.  Unfortunatly I only remember to take a couple of pics so there are no images for the lovely bracelets.

 I thought I would share a quick tutorial with you, not to make these bookmarks (all these techniques would take a while) but just to make the shrinkable ones!  I will no doubt do tutorials for the others at some point!

Shrinky bracelet

To make this bracelet I used - Artist grade shrink plastic, permanent markers, Stazon ink, clear stamps and acrylic block and a heat gun.

In the interest of recycling you can use plastic container and bottles, however the only ones that will shrink are plastics with a 6 on them.  Also always work in a well ventilated room when heating plastics.

Step 1 - I cut some 2x2.5" rectangles and punched holes in the short ends using a hole punch.  I also used a corner punch to round my corners so that it wasn't all sharp once heated.

Step 2 - colour your squares with permanent marker.  I only coloured one side as the other will be against my wrist.

Step 3 - Now for some highly ridiculous reason I forgot to take a picture of this bit.  But you will need to stamp your stamps on each piece.  I used two different sets for mine.  Remember your designs will shrink down 45% so bigger designs usually look good.  You are best using a permanent ink here, I used Stazon.

Step 4 - As I had so many pieces I put mine in the oven on 200`c and watched them like a hawk until they finished shrinking and were lying flat, however if you want to you can use a heat gun (not a hair dryer or paint stripper)

Here they are!  I discovered that using the lightest colours I could produced the best results, this is because as the plastic shrinks the colours intensify and darken.  If you start out with a dark colour you can't see your stamping so well.

Step 5 - using large jump rings I attached the sections together.  As you can see above I did more pieces than I needed, however this meant I could choose the best for my bracelet and I learnt about the colour differences so win win!

So here is the finished piece.  I popped a claw clasp at one end and joined the rings on the other end together with another jump ring.

As always do pop by my shop on the link below if you would like to see exactly what I used for this tutorial.

Look forward to hearing any of your shrinky plastic news or makes xx

Mini Album 1 - tutorial

Mini Album ~ 1

I thought I would take some time out in my busy preparation for my next workshop to share another tutorial!  I love this little book and I have used it in scrapbooks, as brag books and even as sentimental cards.  It is very simple to make, using very few materials and demonstrating how not a lot can make something wonderful.

To start, you will need 1 sheet of double sided 12x12" paper (or 4 6x6" sheets)  I also used up a few scraps in coordinating colours.  You will also need a bone folder (I use lollypop sticks) Double sided tape or glue (I use both to be extra safe!) length of ribbon to wrap around your final book, pens and photos and embellishments (I use punches to create mine so that they always match my work)

Step 1 - You will need to cut up your 12x12" sheet into 4 6x6" (I know what your thinking.... why did I bother saying 12x12"? well I like to save paper where I can and I love the idea of creating this from one sheet! )

step 2 - take one of your squares and fold in half widthways and then lengthways.  Now fold it diagonally (but only one way)  Now make sure all folds are well folded (use bone folder or lolly stick for this)  It is also a good idea to fold each fold in both directions as it will help with folding later on.

Repeat with another 2 sheets so you have 3 in all.

Step 3 - You will need to fold up each sheet so that they look like this.  (very hard to explain so I am hoping the picture tells all!)  I have made sure that the pattern is on the inside of one and the outside of two.  You can experiment with this and if you used all different papers then that's even more to play with!.

Step 4 - Place double sided tape in the bottom right square of one of your sheets.  I also put a few dabs of glue on my tape for added strength.

Step 5 - Now stick the top  left square of a new sheet over the top of the bottom right square you just taped.  As you can see I have turned my paper around so that the pattern is showing on my second sheet.

Step 6 - Repeat the last two steps and fix the last sheet in place.  You could always add more squares here if you wish or even just stick to 1.  I do suggest however that you work in odd numbers as it looks far neater when closed.

Step 7 - I have just folded up my album so far.  It takes a little practise but you are aiming for the pages to all flatten into a small 3x3" square.

Step 8 - Turn your book over so that the bottom is on the top. (until you decorate this doesn't necessarily matter but you may have one side you like more than the other)  You need to stick your ribbon in the center of the back panel like shown.  I used tape and glue!

Step 9 - Cut a 2.5x2.5" square and stick it over the ribbon to tidy it up and cover the glue.  ( I rounded my corners....Just because!)

Step 10 - Now get creative!!!  make sure your ribbon is to the right of you, start at the left and have fun!  I put pictures on the flat squares and on the mountain folds I placed large flowers (if you do this only stick half of the flower so that it can still fold.)  You can always put more pics on the folds.  DO NOT put anything on the valley folds, your book won't fold if the valley folds are covered.

Here is my book all folded (you may notice that the ribbon isn't in this picture, I actually put mine on last but decided that it would have been better to do it earlier!)

Step 11 - Pop a tag or scrap of paper on the front with a title so you know what is in side it!

Tie up your ribbon and Ta Dah!!! 

Other variations on keeping your book together could include elastic popped over the top going down the back and then popping over the bottom.  I have even used magnets in the past.  I would love to see what you create from this!

As always here is the supplies button to take you to my website so you can see the materials I used.

Hope it goes well

Off to dip my toes at the Handmade harbour, do pop over and say hi!

xx