Parcel Bow

 

Make a beautiful paper bow to decorate your gift

I love decorating my gift parcels, so this week I thought I'd try and make a bow.

I've made this bow out of a piece of A4 printer paper that I printed some Christmas patterns onto, but you could use some wrapping paper - just as long as it's not too thick. If it was too thick, the paper wouldn't curl as well. This particular print was part of a digital scrapbooking kit I purchased from Nitwit Collections - click here to be taken to the website.

I've used Tombow multi liquid glue to hold the bow together. It's my favourite glue as it sticks almost anything together. You could use staples, hot glue gun or double sided tape. It needs to be a really strong glue to ensure your bow does not uncurl!

Follow the below link to find out how the bow was made

Decorative photoframe

 

Make a decorative photoframe as a gift or just to decorate your home if you have a favourite photograph

This is a really simple gift to make and you can use whatever you have in your craft stash to decorate the frame. I have made a Christmas photoframe for a photo of my dog to decorate the living room. At this time of year in the UK, we often have our children's school photo's that we give to relatives - how nice would it be to decorate the frame as well?

I've just used a little bit of coloured card, a few dies and some random buttons I had in my stash. Below I'll show you lots of ideas that you could do to make a Christmas photo frame. It doesn't have to be a Christmas photo frame - you could use flowers, leaves, balloons, stars or any other stamps or images you have.

I have used a cheap photo frame - it really doesn't need to cost much and you could even slightly sand it and paint it before adding your decorations. The great thing with this gift, is you can play around with the decorations and keep changing your mind until you are happy with the composition. Once happy, then just glue everything down.  

Follow the below link to find out how the frame was made

Photo Greeting Card

 

Use a favourite photo to make a greeting card - It's just like scrapbooking

I've made a Christmas greeting card with the main image being a photo that was taken last year of our dog - she doesn't look very impressed does she? :) I didn't get many photo's before she knocked the antlers off!

I wanted to show you that you could easily make a Christmas card using the same skills as scrapbooking. For those that have not heard of scrapbooking - it's a way of making a photo album but you use special acid free patterned papers and decorate the page with your photo's, buttons, ribbons, tickets, die cuts, stamps and finish it off with a bit of journaling to describe the photo.

My card is relatively plain compared to most scrapbooking pages. But scrapbooking is very personal - you make it to please your eye. If you made your card without a greeting on the front, it could always be framed after the recipient has received it.

I've used a picture of my dog, but it could easily be a lovely snowy scene, your children, family or photo's of food! I've also used a digital photo that I have made smaller using a free piece of software called Gimp (You can download it here). I'll show you how easy it is to make your photo's smaller. You could just as easily use a pre printed photo if the sizing of the image works for your card.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Snowflake Snowman Card

 

Cut a snowflake from white paper to create a snowman's tummy

This card was inspired by the snowflake paper cutting technique that you normally do as a child - where you fold a piece of square paper then cut out shapes from the edges. I haven't done this for some years and it was very exciting to unfold the paper to see what sort of snowflake I had created.

The snowflake then becomes the snowman's snowy tummy. His head is made in a similar way to the gift wrap I made in last weeks blog. (If you didn't see that, click here - it makes such a fab gift wrap for a small gift or some chocolate)

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Snowman Gift Wrapper

 

Create this gift wrapper in the shape of a snowman to hold a small gift or some chocolate or sweets.

This cute little character is made from mainly white card with a few scraps of coloured card and some random buttons. I thought it made a lovely wrapping solution for a small gift. It's another one of those items I remembered seeing online or in a magazine somewhere and have always wanted to make one. I think he turned out really well and is very cute.

 
If you don't have random buttons or some of the dies I have used to decorate him, then just use what you have in your craft stash. Why not add snowflakes instead of the buttons or holly leaves?

 
You could add the recipients name to a tag coming out of his hat band and use them as name places for your Christmas table.

Follow the below link to find out how the gift wrapper was made

Christmas Gift Pocket

 

Make a simple cute pocket for gifts out of a piece of 12 x 12 scrapbooking paper

How cute is this little gift pocket? It is made from just one sheet of 12 x 12 inch scrapbooking card and only requires minimal folding.

They can be made to hold your gifts or maybe make a batch of them for table gifts. I also made one out of a piece of 6 x 6 inch paper and added a piece of string so it can hang on my Christmas tree - this one is super cute and I'll attach a photo to the bottom of this blog page.

Follow the below link to find out how the gift pocket was made

Snow Way! It's Christmas already?

 

Create this multi aperture card and decorate with cute characters

Create a card with real depth - yet it folds flat for easy posting. Your recipient will be surprised to see what's inside :)

The main reason for doing a blog on this card, is to show you how to make the base card itself. I've decorated it with stamped characters from 'Snow Place' by Stampin Up, however once you have made the base card, you can decorate it with whatever you have.

I made this card using two different sized oval dies but you could just as easily use shaped or plain rectangular dies. They just need to be different sizes. I made a second card using shaped rectangular dies and there is a picture of this one at the bottom of this page.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Tidings and Trimmings Tag

 

I'll show you how to make this glorious Christmas gift tag using Stampin Up's Tidings and Trimmings set

This week I have made a gift tag for a Christmas present, however it could as easily be used on the front of a greeting card instead as a topper.

I love the papers that match with this stamp and die set - 'Tidings of Christmas'. It may only be a 6 x 6 inch designer paper pad but you can make it go a long way by using a few tricks. This time I have used a fancy rectangular die to cut the tag shape and the second one which looks bigger as it sticks above the first one, is actually the same size - just cut it in half and glued to the top and bottom of the first tag shape. The back is covered with just plain white card for your greeting. No-one is the wiser that you haven't used a bigger piece of card!

The colours of the paper pad all match, so you don't have to use the exact papers I have, just go with which ones you prefer. Why not make a bunch of them all slightly different.

Follow the below link to find out how the tag was made

Merry and Bright Star

 

Use Stampin Up's Tidings and Trimmings stamp and die set to make this cut out star card

This die set from Stampin Up, has two large star dies, one just an outline and the other a filigree style star. I used the outline star die to cut a window in the card and then hung a gold filigree style star within the window. The star then floats and spins catching the light.

The star is the centre attraction for this card so I felt the rest of the card just needed a little extra decoration of a greeting and a few little stars which all come in the stamp set that goes with the die set. If you have gold embossing powder or gold glitter you could use these to make the little stars and maybe the greeting, sparkle even more.

If you have nesting bell shape dies or even stocking dies, you could make a similar card using them instead of the star.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Peek-a-boo Cracker

 

Make a cracker and decorate with the Crafters Companion 'Peek-a-Boo Snowman' stamp and die set

This week I have made a decorative band to fit a cracker using a Peek-a-boo stamp and die set. Thought I had better start preparing my Christmas items as the time is just flying!

The instructions below are to make the decorative wrapper that is sitting around the middle of the cracker. To make the cracker itself, follow my instructions here to make the longer cracker. I used a sheet of 12" card from Let It Snow scrapbooking paper pack by artstudio to make the cracker base and some thin white ribbon to tie the ends.

You can get several different Peek-a-boo character sets such as Elf, Deer or Santa and they would all work in the same way I have used the snowman. You can make these crackers as table decorations and fill with hat, motto and sweets or to wrap a gift. 

Follow the below link to find out how the cracker wrapper was made

Peek-a-Boo Cat

 

Use Crafters Companions clever Peek-a-Boo Cat stamp and die set to create this unique card

I fell in love with this set as soon as I saw it. There are lots of different animal sets to choose from and you get lots of sentiments to match the character. 

What I love the most is that the little character is peering over the window in the front of the card but if you open the card you can see their back inside the card - as if they are looking out. 

It just adds that extra depth and something special to your card. I've only just got this stamp and die set so have made a basic card with it to show you today but hope to play with it soon to see what else can be done with the one set.

In the stamp and die set you get lots of stamp sentiments plus the dies to cut out the word 'purrfect' and the cats head. In order to cut out the rest of the window you will need another die set called 'Window Arches'. If you are clever with a craft knife you could manually cut a window shape. However, if you intend to buy several of the little character stamp and die sets, you could invest in the window arches set too, as they work with all the characters.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Circle Shaped Card With a Difference

 

Make a card using circular nesting dies

I've decorated my card with a really cute gnome from my stash of stamps but todays blog is really to show you how simple it is to make the base card. You can then decorate it however you wish.  

The base card is made with a few circle dies from a circular nesting die set.  If you do not have the nesting dies, you could always print circles and use them as templates or see what circular items you have around the house that could also be used as templates.  Draw around them on your card then cut them out with scissors.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Colourful Happiest Birthday

 

Use your stamping aid to stamp a line of greetings

I use the Stamparatus stamping aid and it has a base that has a grid in it - this can be used to create an evenly spaced line of stamped greetings. If your stamping aid doesn't have a grid, put a sheet of lined paper down on the base plate first and use these lines.

I have used Happpiest Birthday as a greeting stamp, but you can use any greeting and any size greeting. You may be able to stamp more times or less depending on the height of your stamp.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Tag Shaped Card

 

Make a tag shaped card for any occaision using my template

I really like shaped cards, so this week I've made a really simple tag shaped card.

I've made a birthday card and I have used Stampin Up's Party Pandas stamp set but as tags are a universal shape it could easily be converted to a Christmas card, Graduation card or wedding card. I may also make a couple of them into Thank you cards and attach them via the ribbon to the gift.

I've made a template that you can download and print onto plain paper. You can then use the template again and again. The link to this is under the 'You will need' section below.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

3 Candles Concertina Folded Card

 

How to make a card of birthday candles for your recipient

The folds of the concertina folded base card make the candles - you just have to decorate it. You can use any patterned paper or card to decorate it and just a black pen to add some detail.

This card folds quite flat so is ideal if you have to post it

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Happy Birthday Star

 

Make a template and then stamp within it to create this unusual birthday card

I've created a star template and rather than just sponge some paint into the template to create the shape, I have stamped 'Happy Birthday' several times. Remove the template and you have a star that's made up of 'Happy Birthdays'. How cool is that?

It doesn't have to be a star, it can be any shape but for best effect try and keep the shape a simple one. Likewise you could use any greeting within your template. For example you could do the star with 'Merry Christmas', a balloon shape with 'Happy Birthday' or a bell shape with 'Congratulations on your wedding'.

I've stamped all but one of the greetings in blue and used a contrasting red just for one to emphasise it. You could just do them all one colour or maybe do them all different colours, maybe going through the rainbow, top to bottom.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Scalloped Circle Stamping Aid Template

 

How to make and use a scalloped template to create a fabulous design for a greeting card

My mind got thinking after last weeks blog (a square template for a stamping aid), whether I could do other shaped templates. Well the answer is YES! I got playing with a scalloped edged circle die and created this really fab card:

The circle really needs to have a scalloped edge so you can move it round methodically and equally to stamp the same image again and again creating a pattern. You could possibly use a plain circle but you would need to draw feint pencil lines breaking it up into slices like a cake so you can get equally spaced stamped images around it - then rub out the lines when the ink was dry.

I had help this week with my crafting - or should I say hinderance - it's very difficult to stamp one handed! This is my dog - she's over a year old now but does like a cuddle!

Anyway I did manage to get her settled in her basket so I could continue with the blog in hand ..... If you missed last weeks blog on the square template you can click here to have a quick read.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Stamping Aid Template

 

Make a template and use it in a stamping aid to create a circular stamped image

This weeks blog will show you how to make a template that can be used in your stamping aid (such as Stamparatus or Misti) to create wreath shaped images using any small stamps you have. All you need is some card and a square die to make the template. I have used an 8 cm square die but you can go bigger or slightly smaller.

I love this floral wreath. It doesn't have to be floral - you can use any small stamps and I will add a photo, at the bottom of this blog of a Christmas card I have made using Stampin Up's Tidings and Trimmings stamp set.

Its quite easy to make the template which can be used again and again.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Bike Ride

 

How to use a stamping aid to create a card using stamps with multi layers

Sometimes stamp sets have 2 or 3 layers - for example there may be one stamp with an outline of a flower and another stamp that colours in the petals. You have to stamp them one ontop of the other to get the finished flower. It produces a very pretty result but can be a bit fiddly to get them to line up.  I used Stampin Up's Bike Ride stamp set to create this weeks card to show you how it's done.

That's where a stamping aid such as a Stamparatus or Misti comes in. These stamping aids have magnets to hold down your piece of card and a plastic tab that your stamps cling onto. The plastic tab folds across your piece of card and allows you to ink and then stamp your image as many times as you want in exactly the right place.

If the image doesn't stamp very well, you can open the tab, re-ink your stamp and re-stamp your image. As long as you do not move the stamp off your tab or move your card, the tab will always align your image up in exactly the same place. So you can keep re-stamping until you get the perfect image.

I use a Stamparatus to create this card but all stamping aids work in a similar way. I have used Stampin Up's Bike Ride stamp set to show you how to use a stamping aid as it has lots of stamps to create a bigger picture.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Doodle Birthday Wishes

 

Doodle on your card to add extra interest

This weeks card is quite simple but you can add extra detail and interest if you use a black pen to doodle details onto your card. In this instance, I started off with a dashed line around some of the patterned paper, then added extra doodles to the central flower.

Don't worry about your doodles being perfect, straight or neat - it is meant to look a little hand drawn and shabby, that's what gives it interest.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Animal Birthday Cupcake Card

 

Use some digital stamps from Lili of the Valley to create these bright and cheerful birthday cards for children

If you love the effect of stamping but do not like the colouring in, then why not use some digital stamps. In todays blog, I will show you how to create a bright and colourful child's birthday card using some digital stamps by Lili of the Valley.

For a small cost you can download these images to your computer and use them time and time again. They come in different sizes and you just print out what you need. Lili of the Valley also do digital stamps that you can print and colour.

I show you how to make a tiger birthday card but if you go to the bottom of my blog page you will see how the same card can be done in different colours with a dog cupcake image instead.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Stained Glass Card

 

Use dies to create a stained glass window effect card

I used Stampin Up's Stylish Stems die set to create this card. The die set includes dies to cut out the outside of the stamped image but also includes the dies to cut out the inside and it's this that I used in the card. It cuts out the inner part leaving a frame around each petal. I cut it out of black card so it really resembles what I think is traditional stained glass leading, however you would get different effects using other colours.

I then filled the petals within the stained glass image with petals cut out of different coloured card but this can be a little fiddly. Instead you could just colour in the different petals or just mount it on coloured card. I was originally thinking an ombre card would look lovely behind the black stained glass image or even silver or gold.

Tip - I cut my petals out of card as it is thicker and easier to glue in place than cutting it out of paper.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Peachy Flower

 

This greeting card all revolves around a circle that's cut out

I really like using beautiful patterned paper and love how cutting out part of that paper creates a focal point for your card. The really easy card I made a couple of weeks back is another example of this type of card and can be found here if you missed it.

I've used patterned paper from Stampin Up's 'You're a peach' designer paper pack again - absolutely love the colours and patterns. But as usual, I am hoping this blog will give you an idea on how to make your own card, using your patterned papers in your stash. I've used a flower stamp as the main focal image but this could be anything to match or coordinate with your patterned paper.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Quilled flowers

 

Make some pretty flowers that can be used on cards or gift boxes

These pretty quilled flowers need just a little bit of equipment to make - you don't even need special quilling papers. I used coloured A4 paper from my stash. It's best to use paper rather than card as the petals of the flowers if made with card are a little rigid. However the darker coloured flowers I made in this project were made using very thin card, so give it a go, if that's all you have, and see what the end result looks like.

I made them to decorate a gift box, however they can also be used on greetings cards or how about decorating a photo frame. My flowers are about 3 cm in diameter and you can change the size of the flowers by adjusting the width of the paper you cut.

Follow the below link to find out how these flowers and gift box were made

Quick Card

 

A super quick card to make for urgent occasions or for beginners to have a go at

I needed a card urgently for an old work colleague this week and just didn't have the right card in my made stash.  So I made a quick card like this one.

It is very effective because of the gorgeous patterned paper and can literally be made in a few minutes. If you are new to crafting this might be a good card to have a go at and if you are nervous about stamping, you can always use peel off's instead.

It's a great way to use up some really pretty patterned paper and can be used for notelets, party invites, thank you and save the date cards to name but a few. The list is endless - you just need the patterned paper !

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Border cards

 

I show you two different ways to use border stamps to create greeting cards

Border stamps are quite versatile so this weeks blog I have used them to make a border for a card and also as a background. I've used Borders to Backgrounds by Stampin Up but you can use any long border stamps that you have to create a similar effect. For example if you've got long lacy stamps such as Delicate Details by Stampin Up or maybe a greeting stamp that is straight and long.

I have made two different cards this week and you may not have the stamps I have used but it will give you an example that you can change to incorporate stamps that you do have. For example, the card with Happy Birthday bunting can be changed to have a greeting stamped across the front or use a peel off greeting. Likewise, the cat birthday card uses a cat stamp that I got from the front of a magazine and this could be replaced with any stamp whether it be a flower or another character for example.

Follow the below link to find out how the cards were made

Axolotl Shadow Box Card

 

Learn to make this really fun little scene that is also a greeting card

It's my sons birthday soon and as he really likes axolotl's, I thought it would be fab to make him a little tank with some axolotl's in. He can keep it forever and never has to feed them !

The little shadow box makes a great display item but also can be used as a greeting card and it can fold flat to be posted. I've used axolotl's but you could put your recipients favourite animals or objects into a shadow box if you have a suitably sized stamp.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Ice Cream Shaker Card

 

Use Stampin Up's Sweet Ice Cream stamp set and matching punch to create this sweet treat shaker card.

I thought it might be quite fun to create an ice cream shaker card where sprinkles can be shaken on your ice cream. So here is this weeks card:

If you have other stamps or images you wish to transform into a shaker for a card or decoration, just follow my instructions below. Just remember to cover the aperture with acetate so your sprinkles do not fall out and you leave enough gap around your aperture to the edge of your image to fit in some double sided foam pads which create the pot to hold the sprinkles. Sprinkles can be anything small such as mini gems, sequins or tiny shaped pieces of paper.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Thank you Tree

 

Use Stampin Up's Beautiful Trees Die set to make this pretty thank you note

I Made a male based birthday card last week using the Beautiful Trees Die set by Stampin Up and said how versaitle it could be - so this week I've made a pretty thank you note from the same die set.

Unlike the last card I made where I used the trees DSP to create the foliage colour, this week I made my own using several shades of green ink pads and a finger dauber. You could get a richer colour using distress inks but I didn't have enough shades of green for my liking.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Special Day Tree Card

 

How to use Stampin Up's Beautiful Trees dies set to make a beautiful greeting card

I just got myself the Beautiful Trees die set from Stampin Up as I think it will be a classic die that I can use lots to make a variety of greeting cards. This week I needed to make a card for a man, so had a play with the die set to see what I could do.

This is the card I came up with. I've been wanting to do a square card with part of it cut a way for a while and this fit perfectly. I've used the dies and the corresponding designer papers which make it really easy to create the leaves of the tree.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Cross Stitch card

 

Make a lovely greeting card from a small cross-stitch

I do many crafts , so this week I thought I'd show you how you could make a greeting card from a small cross stitch. 

I downloaded the pattern online and as it had no back stitch in it, the cross stitch was quite quick to do. The hedgehogs measure 7 cm by 3 cm but you can use any smallish cross stitch and just adjust the aperture that you cut. This blog isn't really to show you how this particular card was made but instead to give you an idea how you can mount your own cross stitches.

If you don't do cross stitch, the same principle of this card could be used to frame a picture on a piece of fabric or maybe even a pressed flower 

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Birthday Bunting

 

Make your own bunting for a special occasion using beautiful patterned card

It's nearly my birthday and I thought I'd make myself some bunting - good excuse to make something for me using my favourite scrapbooking papers ;)

I picked out all of my favourite patterned papers and made this bunting to reflect things I like, so it's a complete mixture of colours and patterns. I will give you a pattern you can download and use.  I'll talk you through how to make a basic bunting flag but then you can adjust it to your or your recipients preferences. You could use papers from one paper pack so they match or just go wild like I have and pick out your favourite.

You could make the bunting without using the lettering so it could be used all year round as decoration. Or maybe put your child's name across it to decorate their bedroom. But most of all just have fun decorating each flag. If you get bored of a flag or get some new paper that you prefer, just take off that flag and add the new one.

Follow the below link to find out how the bunting was made

Window Birthday Card

 

Use Stampin Up's Welcoming Window stamp and die set to create this card

This week I needed to make a birthday card for a male member of our family - I find male cards so difficult to make. He likes gardening and often potters in his garden, which made me think of the Welcoming Window stamp set by Stampin Up. The main feature of the stamp and die set is a window but you can decorate it up with a window box, pots and plants.

I started making it in beige and brown colours but just wasn't very happy with the colour combination. I changed to a grey tone and I am really pleased with the end result.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Poppy Card

 

Use some really decorative paper with a simple die cut to make an effective greeting card

I needed to make a birthday card this week and the recipient loves poppies so hence this card. I love the really decorative poppy paper and all of the papers in this pack are double sided with a plainer back to them. I found a matching blue stripe pattern to back the poppy die which makes it pop out. Paper packs are a great way to have corresponding papers for a project.

I really debated with this card to put the die cut poppy on double sided foam pads or the poppy paper that surrounds it. After playing around with them for a while I decided if I raised the paper rather than the poppy, the lovely patterned paper stood out better than gluing it flat onto the blue striped paper. It also then worked well as I shaped the centre of the poppy to give it a bit of a 3d feature.

If you don't have the same dies or paper it really doesn't matter - I'd like to inspire you to make a similar card just with what papers you have and a simple die in a shape within the front of the card. Just adjust the circle you cut out to fit your die cut.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Concertina Flower

 

Create some pretty paper flowers either as decorations or a greeting card

These are versatile little flowers that can be used to decorate many items. They can be made in any colour and you can vary the size too. You can buy special dies to make these flowers that cut and score at the same time, but these instructions show how you can make them with a scoring blade and a guillotine or a score board.

I made three sizes of flowers. My largest ones are about 11 cm in diameter, the middle sized ones are about 8 cm in diameter and the smallest one was about 6 cm in diameter.  The above photo shows two largest flowers and one medium sized.  I used the smallest one to make a greeting card which you can see at the bottom of this blog.

Follow the below link to find out how these flowers were made

Hanging ornament

 

Change a photo or favourite image into a hanging ornament that you can even add to a greeting card

I have some nice photo's that I thought would be lovely to turn into a hanging ornaments. You can either hang them around your house or send them as or in cards.

This is a photo of my puppy when she was really young, chewing a stick in our garden!

I'll show you how to turn a photo into a hanging ornament but you could use any image as long as it's the right size. I do cross-stitch aswell and this can be turned into a hanging ornament using the same process but use felt for the frame and backing and instead of gluing the layers together - sew them (Felt does seem to cut nicely with dies).  There's a photo of one I have done at the bottom of this blog.

The ornaments are made using nesting dies. I use circular ones but you can use any shape nesting dies. You can also adjust the size if you would like a smaller or larger ornament by using different size dies. I use a digital photo, so I will also show you how you can adjust the size before printing it to fit your ornament.

Also, if you wish your photo ornament to last - use acid free card to mount your photo as this will help it stop turning yellow.   Scrapbooking card should be ideal as this has been made especially to protect your photo's.

Follow the below link to find out how the ornament was made

Wrapping Paper Cards

 

5 easy to make cards using wrapping paper.

Do you find yourself watching people opening gifts thinking, that's a really pretty piece of wrapping paper? I am a dreadful hoarder, so I am afraid I do. I open presents neatly to save a beautiful piece of paper for a project. What led to this weeks blog was some absolutely beautiful wrapping paper that we had for mothers day. I then wondered how best to turn small amounts of wrap into a lovely card you'd be pleased to send.

This particular paper came from our local garden centre and was quite thick. You may need to glue some wrapping paper to a piece of card first so it holds it's shape when you cut it. This is particularly important if you intend to raise it off the card with double sided foam pads. I always glue the paper to the card first then cut rather than cut the paper first then glue to card to re-cut as this doesn't always ensure you are glued right to the edges.

My examples below are to give you inspiration as you are unlikely to have the same wrapping paper, however there are lots of really lovely paper out there and you can focus your cutting on particular images or colours in your paper.

Follow the below link to find out how the cards were made

Hello Spring Tic Tacs

 

Make a lovely little spring gift by making a spring cover for a pack of tic tac's

On a recent walk, my son finished off some tic tac's from a snowman decorated box I made previously (Click here to see that blog). Anyway, he suggested I made one for Easter. I am up for a challenge so here is this weeks blog.

It was a little tricky to come up with a design where I could cut out part of the picture so the tic tacs could be seen through. I am pleased with the result and so was my son :)

My image of a bunny rabbit sitting in a pot came from Lili of the Valley. In the 'You will need' section below it shows you where you can purchase this from. However you may already have a stamp with a similar image you could use instead. The main reason for my blog this week is to show you how you can adjust the size of a computer image to print it for a project. I normally use publisher to do my picture adjustments but I know not everyone has access to this program, so I show you how to do the adjustments in Inkscape, a free package that you can download.

Follow the below link to find out how the gift was made

Special Delivery Easter Card

 

Use Lawn Fawns Special Delivery stamp and die set plus the waving pull tab starter set to make this cute interactive Easter Card

I like to be able to use a stamp and die set for many different cards, so today I am using the Special Delivery stamp and die set by Lawn Fawn to make an Easter card. I previously used it to make a valentines card (click here to see this blog if you missed it).

How cute is that chick carrying his basket of Easter eggs? You can change what the bird is carrying and make it a birthday card or graduation card.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Cup of Cheer

 

Make a gate fold card sending a cup of cheer

Cup of Christmas is a Christmas stamp set by Stampin up, but here I have used it to make a birthday card. It's great when you can find several uses for one stamp set :)

My gatefold card is uneven, larger side on the left and smaller on the right but it's a great way of making a card when you have smaller images.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

MUM Cut out card

 

Use a little bit of paper cutting to make this pretty mothers day card

I printed the word 'MUM' on some paper and then cut it out to make this card. You could use dies to cut out letters or even a computer attached cutting machine if you have one. I used the relief so you can see the pretty paper through the letters that have been cut out. Don't throw out the letters, these can be used as mats to stamp around (click here to see a card made with a mat).

I have made this into a Mum card, but actually you could make a card with any word and hence for any occasion.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Jam Jar of Flowers

 

Make an everlasting bouquet of flowers for mum for mothers day

I love making things from paper and card - not just greeting cards, so this week I was very excited when I made this everlasting jar of flowers. I used Stampin Up's 'Jar of Love' stamp and die set.

It doesn't have to be a mothers day gift, with different coloured flowers it could be table decorations for a wedding. It can be folded flat so can also be posted making it a great birthday gift too.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Dandy Day Mum

 

Use Lawn Fawns Dandy Day stamp and die set to make this really cute Mothers Day card

I really like dandelions and Lawn Fawn have made this cute stamp and die set teamed up with mice. As Mother's day is on it's way I thought I'd make a card using this stamp set.

There are lots of characters, flowers and greetings in this stamp set so it doesn't have to be a mothers day card you can change it to a friend or dad card instead.

Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Love you A Lotl

 

A fabulous little love card with an unusual character

The character of this card is an Axolotl. I couldn't resist buying this stamp and die set from Lawn Fawn as I absolutely love the little creatures. They are amphibians with the ability to regrow legs etc if needed. They always look like they are smiling :)

Lawn Fawn make several cute valentine style mini stamp sets normally with a play on words just like this Axolotl one - I like you A Lotl ! So this weeks blog is a small love card based on this stamp set.

 
Follow the below link to find out how the card was made

Congratulations on passing your driving test Card

 

Use Lawn Fawns 'Car Critters' and reveal wheel add on to create this 'many congratulations' card

I love cards that are shaped or move in some way - so have used Lawn Fawns Car Critters stamp and die set in addition to their reveal wheel dies to create a card that can congratulate someone on passing their driving test. Just turn the wheel and see who's driving!

The Car Critters stamp set comes with various greetings and also several number plate wordings which is great to play with. This means you can make the card for different occasions.

 
Follow the below link to find out how the card was made