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
- Graduating circles.
I used a white DL card and stuck a piece of purple card 9 cm by 21 cm to it leaving a white gap either side. Using circular nesting dies, I then cut 3 circles out of the wrapping paper - one about 6 . 5 cm diameter, one about 5 cm and the smallest one about 3 . 5 cm - ensuring I picked out particular images from the paper. To work out where your greeting can go, loosely lay the circles on the card with the largest at the top working down to the smallest at the bottom. I put my greeting between the largest and the middle sized ones. I stamped 'Happiest Birthday' (from Cool Treats stamp set by Stampin up) using versamark ink onto the purple card, covered it in white embossing powder, knocked off the excess and then heated the lettering using a heat gun. Stick the circles to the card using double sided foam pads. - Stripes.
I cut a piece from the wrapping paper measuring 10 cm wide by 12 cm high - pick a nice coloured bit or a bit with a particular pattern or picture in. Cut the paper into 2 cm high strips - you will end up with 6 strips. Glue the strips to a C6 base card trying to leave a small but even gap between them. I then stamped a greeting and banner onto white card and die cut out (I used Happy Birthday and the banner from Birthday Banners stamp set by Stampin Up). I stuck the greeting to the bottom of the card using double sided foam pads. - Half covered.
I started with a white 5" square base card. I then stuck a 12 cm square piece of silver card to it. On top of that I stuck a 11 . 5 cm square of purple card. I cut a rectangle from the wrapping paper measuring 11 . 5 cm wide by 6 . 5 cm high. I die cut out a fancy border from silver card and stuck it to the top edge of the wrapping paper rectangle. I then stuck this rectangle to the lower half of the purple card. I die cut out 'Happy Birthday' greeting from silver card and stuck it to the top left of the card and cut out a butterfly from the wrapping paper. I glued the body to the card and put a double sided foam pad under it's wing so it looks more 3d on the card. - Three Squares.
Again I used a DL card, this time it was purple and I had it horizontal (To make your own DL card cut a piece of purple card 21 cm by 19 . 8 cm and fold in half so you are left with 9 . 9 cm tall by 21 cm wide.). I used a 6 cm scalloped edge square die to cut out 3 pictures from the wrapping paper. Stick them across the middle of the card, evenly spaced with double sided foam pads (I laid a ruler across the top of my card so I could line the squares up against it). I then added a happy birthday peel off to the bottom right of the base card. - Easel card.
I've made these circular easel cards before - see my Easter Magnolia card here for instructions on how to construct it. I made the base card out of purple card then cut a slightly smaller circle to cover the top circle out of the pretty wrapping paper. I left the bottom circle plain purple and created a greeting square from another piece of wrapping paper - stamped my greeting on it and attached it to the bottom circle with double sided foam pads. I then cut out a butterfly that matched one on the top circle. Glue the butterfly's body to the card ontop of the one in the circle and stick a double sided foam pad under it's wing to make it look more 3d. (unfortunately you can't see this very well in my picture)
There you go, 5 quite basic but very effective cards using some wrapping paper you managed to save.
