Black & White Number 3

My black & white mood continues with my 3rd sentiment in the free Making Cards & Papercraft download papers in the month of May. I still have not used the paper featuring white stars on black background, and decided to use as much of the paper as possible by making a larger A5 card instead of the smaller squares previously.

Instead of burlap paper, I decided to try out the DCWV Corrugate Neutrals stack I’ve bought at the same time as the Burlap Paper squares. There are 6 different colours in the stack, and the cream versions seemed to match the kraft papers the best. But the 6″ papers are too short to fit the length of the card, so I had to modify my sketch and turn the card to a horizontal configuration instead.

A strip of strong double-sided tape held the twine near the bottom edge. I found some wooden buttons as embellishments, choosing those that look suitable for male cards too. But then the right half of the card still looked too empty to me. I guess I really am not comfortable with CAS card styles yet.

So I added some wooden flower buttons to the right of the sentiment – the dark brown colour isn’t too obvious and adhesive golden pearls provided just that bit of colour to fill up that area. Another 2 black adhesive pearls in the top right corner completes the card.

Now just one last sentiment to use up from the collection!

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DIY Iron-on Patches

Last week I brought my boy to attend a 90 min parent-child craft session, hosted at The Art Faculty in Enabling Village. It’s our first trip there and I love the cosy environment the simple Starbucks and shop is located in. Definitely would go again.

Workshop was held on a big table within the area, and I must say, the 2 instructors were very patient in handling the active boys who came for this workshop! My boy was eager to participate because of the Star Wars theme, and with a full demonstration and explanation conducted beforehand, I gladly let my boy try making the whole thing by himself.

We were given pieces of white canvas cloth to work on, tracing the templates onto cloth with carbon paper. I had printed a picture of a Porg at my boy’s request, which he had no trouble dealing with. The workshop also prepared some cartoons of Star Wars characters to trace from – my boy modified the stormtrooper design on his own, though I can’t remember which character he’s creating now – all the soldiers look the same to me after so many movies!!!

After going over the traced outline with a black fabric marker, we coloured in the pictures with the fabric markers provided, then cut out the design and used a hot iron to seal the colours in. A hot glue gun was then used to cover the back of the canvas with wriggly glue. Apparently this would melt when ironed under a thin piece of cloth and thus serve as an iron-on patch, and the instructors assured me it would be strong enough to withstand multiple washings.

Normally at home I wouldn’t dare let my boy use the hot equipment, but he seem confident and the instructors kept an eye on everything, so I gave him free rein. And yes, at 12 yrs old, he was fully capable of completing everything correctly and safely without monkeying around, thank goodness!

At the end of the workshop, my boy had completed 3 separate patches. The legs of the Porg were too thin and almost came off, but my boy managed to glue them back properly from the back! The girlish owl, needless to say, was mine – the shop manager had kindly photocopied the sole girlish iron-on patch sample for me to have something to trace from, so I didn’t have to deal with another Star Wars-themed item as I had expected.

But of course, none of these are on any cloth items currently! I’m still thinking of a suitable place to keep my cute owl; my son had, upon reaching home, stuck his patches on his bedroom walls with blu-tack as decorations!

Black & White cards

This month’s free download papers from the Making Cards & Papercraft website consists of 4 toppers and 2 papers, all in black and white. This is great news for me as I only have a B&W laser printer at home!!!

I love the free papers from this magazine, as there’re good for quick cards. Just match a background paper with a topper image and you’re halfway there! Of course, there’re plenty to do to create variety, but being still in a crafting rut, I found these simple papers soothing and easy to do.

Unfortunately I had forgotten to turn off the “draft” mood of my printer, so the black colour on the papers wasn’t smooth and uniformly dark. But I didn’t want to waste the papers. Besides, I thought a bit of colour gradient on the papers would provide some variety!

I decided to pair the papers with brown kraft and burlap, and to keep the layouts simple so that with the colour scheme, it would work well as cards for men too. So I created black square card bases and used 1 of the papers to serve as the background for both cards.

I selected 2 toppers to use as the central image, and simply arranged squares of kraft and burlap papers at an angle behind them. The burlap was cut from the DCWV burlap 6″ Burlap Paper stack, so for my 2nd card, I placed the cut-off panel as a horizontal bar behind the sentiment topper, adding several rows of twine on heavy-duty double-sided tape on the panel.

A twine ribbon and adhesive pearls are all I used to finish the 2 cards.

Now that my crafting mojo is awaken, I’m wondering whether I should use the remaining 2 toppers on simple quick cards too, or if I should create something a little more fancy. Will update again when I’m done with them!

Triple Butterfly Cards

Continuing my cardmaking using the toppers and packaging from Issue 318, May 2018 of Crafts Beautiful. The free card bases provided are of such sweet pastel colours, I’m determined to use them up as far as possible. But after the first 2 cards, I have less materials to work with; still I’m unwilling to break out my stamping supplies.

That’s when I remembered my wooden butterfly buttons, and yes, they’re a good match!!! I rummaged through my supplies for matching laces and ribbons to form a border for the pink packaging, and filled up the background with other embellishments from my stash.

For the next card, I decided to follow the style of the card sample provided in the magazine, using what remains of the toppers and the other green packaging from the free stamp set. A bit plain, but simple is sometimes good too!

For the last card, I painstakingly cut out the outlines of the butterfly toppers to use – a suggestion from the magazine and something I’ll be doing from now on too! It means I have more butterfly motifs to work with! I found matching butterfly buttons and puffy stickers, and so now I have 3 different types of butterflies on this one card!

All the sentiments are from Issue 181 of Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine – I’m still trying to finish my magic window cards using the free paper from that issue, and so I didn’t have to search far for matching sentiments.

I still have 1 pastel blue card blank left, and parts of the green packaging. But I’m running out of steam here. Think will keep those till I’m in the stamping mood, then I’ll finish up with the stamp set provided!

Cross stitch Keyring Strap

Have finally finished assembling my keyring strap from Issue 330 of CrossStitcher magazine. I chose to stitch the simplest design provided: V-shaped strips of different shades of blue, as I’ve been rather lazy in crafting recently. Still, on the faux-leather strap provided in the free kit, the results look good enough!

I used some of the excess threads to create a plaid to wrap around the top of the strap, and attached a faux-leather tassel to it. I also dug up some blue ribbons from my stash and made a double bow to decorate the back of the strap. Can’t wait to hang this from one of my bags as a bag charm!

Butterfly Kisses

Haven’t been crafting much for the past 3 weeks, first busy with son’s exams, and then with work. And when I’m tired after work, I find it more relaxing to just laze on bed and binge-watch drama serials!

But now that school holidays have started, my crafting mojo is back after a restful weekend (meaning I got to sleep all the way till nearly noon, and not have to do any housework!). I have been diligently buying all my favourite craft magazines over the past few weeks though (shopping IS, of course, a relaxing past-time!), and the May issue of Crafts Beautiful this time (issue 318) has a lovely set of toppers that got me pumping without having to dig out my stamping supplies.

The issue came with a lovely set of butterfly stamps, but best of all – for a lazy crafter – 2 sheets of toppers and 5 pastel-coloured card blanks! I love one of the sample cards shown in the magazine, and so, by adding some adhesive pearls & stickers, I made my own version over a couple of hours. I added a border made using a tracing wheel to add more interest.

It was a surprise to find that the packaging for the free stamp set was printed with butterfly motifs on the inside, and that sample cards were made with the resulting paper! What a good idea to reuse the packaging for crafting!! I modified the accordion sample card provided in the magazine to make this Z-fold card:

Due to the orientation of the butterflies on the packaging paper, I made my card such that it would open vertically. The glittery toppers were layered on a paper dolly and lace motif to make a central focal piece for the card. Quick and simple!

I still have some butterfly toppers and part of the packaging paper left, enough to create either 2 more cards, or to decorate the envelopes of these 2 cards I’ve just completed. I’m still in two minds about it, will post again once I’ve used up those supplies!

Wedding Card cum Cash Envelope

I will not be able attend the wedding of a colleague’s daughter this weekend, so I thought I’ll give the new couple a little token in a handmade card, instead of the usual red packet (monetary gift for such happy occasions, usually placed in a red envelope for good luck & blessings).

Thankfully, I had received a set of Kaisercraft P.S. I Love You paper collection from the Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine team earlier in the year, for participating in their Cardmakers Around the World feature. So this became an ideal choice to make the card with, as I wanted something romantic but not too pinkish.

I selected a large but not too busy print to use as the card base, dividing it into thirds, so that I can make a pocket to hold the cash. Fortunately the papers are all double-sided, so I didn’t have to worry about decorating the inner flap. On the outside, I selected a suitable phrase from another paper, and created a frame for it using a darker patterned paper and the WRMK Frame Punch board.

The inner piece of of the frame wasn’t wasted – I simply flipped it over and punched some corners and borders and tucked those under the frame as decorations. The scalloped strips were punched from the paper collection too. The accompanying sticker sheet provided the butterfly and Happiness stickers. Only the sequins, wax seal & lacy heart came from my own stash.

Thanks to my enthusiasm, the card is now too thick to handle easily, and I had to make an envelope box for it. This wasn’t difficult using the WRMK Envelope Punch board, but now I worry the card will have trouble fitting into the typical money box at the wedding reception table.

Nevertheless, the damage is done, and I’m too pleased with the card to redo it. So I decorated the envelope box with the initials of the happy couple, again using a WRMK product – the mini alphabet punch board. I’m becoming reliant on these tools to take the guesswork out of my crafting! More stickers to embellish the initials, and the scraps from the frame created earlier are used to decorate the corners of the envelope.

For the inside of the card, I kept the design simple, to include a message from me – printed from computer so that I won’t have to ruin the pretty card with my ugly handwriting! I wanted to include a metal clip to hold the cash in place, partly as an excuse to play with my new toy – the WRMK Happy Jig!

Turns out that all the heart designs in the booklet or on the official Instagram account are unsuitable for my needs, as much of the heart pokes above the paper clip portion. So I decided to create my own design, based on the basic heart shape provided in the booklet. Fortunately the wire I cut was long enough to maneuver an additional small heart, so that it becomes a double heart shape.

The wire got a bit wonky after all the reworking, but I think overall it’s not too bad, and it does serve its purpose well of holding the cash in, so I guess it’ll do for a first attempt!

Hopefully the young couple would like this card and live happily every after!!!