Wedding Card cum Money Envelope

The son of a good colleague of mine is getting married in a couple of weeks. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the wedding reception has to be kept small (100 pax max), so she couldn’t invite any of us at work, but I thought it’ll be appropriate to give the new couple a little something. Originally I had planned to make use of the 8″ square papers in The Perfect Fit kit (free from Papercraft Essentials magazine Issue 194) to make a Wrap & Reveal card with a gift card enclosed, but with the pandemic the construction of new housing generally got delayed. The new couple wouldn’t be able to move into their own place for at least another year. I couldn’t find any shop with a gift card of validity of more than 2 years (and the assurance that the shop will still be open then), so I decided to be more practical and give a cash “ang bao” (red packet) instead.

When I started making the card, I was still searching for suitable shopping vouchers to present to the newly wed, so I decided to make a longish card measuring 8″ x 4″. This should fit most vouchers or the eventual cash present. I started with an A4 size 200 gsm card sheet, trimmed it to 8″ x 10″, then score at 4″ and 8″ along the long side. The resulting 2″ flap would be folded in and glued along the short edges, so as to form a pocket.

Following the examples in the magazine, I used gold foil card to mat the papers, creating 1/8″ borders. This would complement the gold foiling on the toppers provided in the kit. I chose the brighter striped paper to form the background, and 2 different contrasting patterned jigsaw toppers to form the main image. From my stash I found a suitable burlap lace to complete the look. The sentiment topper is further raised on foam pads for more dimension.

For the inside pocket, I used the same papers and lace as the outer cover. Then I thought I might as well decorate the inner flap of the card too, and make use of the sentiment toppers in the kit so that I don’t have to write and spoil the card with my ugly handwriting!!

For the envelope, I turned to my trusty WRMK Envelope Punch board. The remaining paper scraps are used to decorate the envelope to create a matching set.

Originally when I started with The Perfect Fit kit I had a lot of difficulty trying to decide how the 4 seemingly different papers could possibly complement each other. But I’m glad I didn’t fall to the temptation of buying papers of a more typical wedding colour scheme. By keeping the design relatively clean & simple and using a basic card sketch, I found a way to make the whole thing work!

Easy Hygge Flip Book

I decided to make use of part of a set of quote cards from kikki.k to make a flip book of quotations for a friend. To retain the simple calm hygge feel of this collection, I rummaged through my craft stash and found some complementing coloured corrugated card that would add texture & interest without too many embellishments.

Straw coloured raffia string and some lace was all that’s added to decorate the sturdy box the quote cards are sold in. Since the base of box is in a pretty blue dotty print, I added one of the blue quote cards – this can serve as a simple standalone quote display.

For the flip book itself, I folded an A4 cream coloured 200gsm card along both sides, then cut along one half of the length, to make a simple 4-page album base with a pocket. Then I simply trimmed the corrugated card to various sizes to complement the quote cards.

Matching stickers from the same paper collection serve to decorate another page easily.

For the pocket, I inserted 2 of the shaped quote cards that are a tad too cute for the rest of the album, but would provide an interactive surprise. I also added a butterfly paper clip, both as an embellishment and as a little gift.

I kept the book closed with more raffia string and added a tag from the sticker book. From the paper scraps, I created another tag to write my well wishes. The inner box lid is simply embellished with another quote sticker from the sticker book.

Hopefully my friend will find this hygge-style flip book a calming present.

ATC Cards from Paper Scraps

After completing the Wrap & Reveal cards using the Paper Posies decoupage cardmaking kit from Issue 354 of the Crafts Beautiful magazine, I made use to the remaining paper scraps to make a few Artist Trading Cards as a form of record to this particular project.

The first 2 ATCs are created by joining some card scraps on the reverse side, then trimmed to size of 3.5″ x 2.5″. Then I simply added the unused foiled toppers from the kit. As the paper scraps were the result of a couple of failed attempts in creating the wrap & reveal cards, the folds on the paper now serve as additional details on the ATCs.

This last is by far my favourite: I fussy cut the hearts and circle from the remaining thick paper in the kit, with the circle raised on foam pads for a bit of dimension. This simple flower is then placed on the remaining paper scraps, the edges roughened with scissors for more texture.

More Wrap & Reveal Cards

I made 4 more Wrap & Reveal Cards using the sturdy double-sided papers in the Paper Posies decoupage cardmaking kit by Dovecrafts, from Issue 354 of the Crafts Beautiful magazine, following the same steps I did with my previous Wrap & Reveal card from the same kit.

But for this set of cards, I made a slight modification to the basic form: instead of a plain design inside the card, I made use of the single-sided thinner papers in the kit to make an origami square base for the centre portion. I decorated the top of the base as usual but kept the inside blank, so there’s a lot of space for personal greetings. I plan to use these cards as little letters to my friends. A short video of opening such a card can be seen at my Instagram post.

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One of the patterned thick papers in the kit was too colourful for me, fortunately the reverse design is that of pretty blue & white hearts. So I basically fussy cut the hearts for additional decorations.

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The decoupage kit is basically self sufficient, with papers matching the decoupage elements, which serve beautifully as card toppers. I just had to add some ribbon and an adhesive pearl to 2 of the cards (following the examples in the magazine).

Wrap & Reveal Birthday Card

I love the pretty the thick double-sided papers in the Paper Posies Decoupage Cardmaking Kit by Dovecrafts, the free kit with Crafts Beautiful magazine Issue 354 . And thought they would be perfect for the Wrap & Reveal cards I’ve learnt recently.

I made a birthday card following the steps from Papercraft Essentials magazine. But because the papers in this kit are about 1/16″ smaller than 8″, I couldn’t get the edges to match up fully. I gave up trying to calculate how cut the papers to a suitable size and simply made do with the little gaps when the card is folded close.

Fortunately, the rose gold foiled decoupage toppers make beautiful bands that (hopefully) takes the focus away from the centre gap.

The inside of the card is kept relatively simple due to the bold and bright inner paper print. I did not glue the centre square to the bottom of the card this time, so that I can write my greetings on the back of it without destroying the pretty front with my handwriting.