Christmas Hearts

I was in a bit of a christmassy mood last weekend, I found some mdf hearts tucked away in the back of a drawer and decided to decorate them. I used last years  Graphic 45 Twas the Night before Christmas collection and some gold stickles, ribbons and berries from my stash and made these:
                                      

Cascade Card Swap

The theme for the August card swap was a "cascade card made without using the colours: Pink, Blue, Orange, Yellow or White and without the use of Butterflies or Flowers. I thought I was really going to struggle as a) I had never made a cascade card before and b) how was I going to cope without using some of my favorite colours and elements?

Once again I watched a lot of very useful videos tutorials on YouTube and managed to make the base card. They are a lot easier than they look to make.

I used a selection of papers and cut aparts from the Graphic 45 Magic of Oz collection to decorate the card and was quite pleased with how it turned out.

I also made a tag mini album to go with the card.

The photographs below are courtesy of the wonderful Bibiana Cameron who was my swap partner and who kindly gave me permission to use her amazing pictures! Thank you once again Bibiana. Hope you like it xx

Waterfall Card Swap

I was recently invited to join a monthly card swap group on Facebook.

I don't usually join a lot of swap groups as there are too many swaps in a short spacce of time, But this lovely group only requires you to make one card to swap in a month, so I thought even I can cope with that!

The theme of July's card swap was a "male themed waterfall card". I do sometimes struggle a bit with male cards but I thought I'd give it a go.

I watched a lot of very useful videos tutorials on YouTube and after making a practise card, I decided to adapt the idea a little and turn my card into a mini album using what is called a "hidden waterfall".

The pictures below are what I came up with, and I was a little nervous as it was my first swap in the group and I was worried my recipient (the lovely Sue Ralph) wouldn't like it. But I need not have fretted as Sue loved it so much she actually videoed it.

I've never had one of my creations videoed before, so a huge thank you to Sue for taking the extra time to do that and and for the lovely comments you made. xx

Tutorial for Notepad and Pen Holder

Cut 2 pieces of cardboard (or grey board or mount board)  measuring 5 inches by 7 inches

and 1 piece measuring 7/8th inch by 7 inches

Glue the pieces to a piece of 12 x 12 paper, remember to leave a gap of approximately 1/8th inch between the covers and the spine, so that your paper does not tear when you fold the covers

Add caption

Trim off the excess paper 

Trim the four corners as shown, don't cut it right up against the board, leave about an 1/8th inch of paper showing in the corner.

Fold all four edges up around the board

The glue the edges down with a wet glue, You can use double sided tape if you wish, but if you do use a strong one such as red line tape.

You should end up with something that looks like the picture below

Next using a second sheet of 12 x 12 paper, cut a strip that is 6 3/4 inches wide. The from that strip, cut 2 pieces that measure 4 3/4 inches x 6 3/4 inches. You will then be left with a piece that is 2 1/2 inches by 6 3/4 inches.

Using the thinner strip, cut a narrow slit in the middle about two inches doen from the top (I cut a larger slit shown  in the photo below, just to show you where it goes) The cut a piece of ribbon or seam binding approximately 3 inches long. (This will be used to make the pen holder)

Fold the ribbon in half and thread both ends through the slit, Then secure the ends on the reverse using strong red line tape. Make sure the loop is big enough for your pen to fit through

Glue or tape the paper to the middle section (or spine) of your notebook holder.

Take one of the other pieces of paper that you cut and glue it to the left hand side of the inside cover

Take the other piece of paper and fold about half an inch back on itself

Then glue the folded strip down (using glue or double-sided tape)

Place a line of glue around three edges of the paper as show , don't put any glue on the strip you have already glued down

Then glue this piece of paper to the right hand side of the inside cover. This will then form a pocket into which you can slot your notepad

Depending on what type of pen you have, you might want to decorate it to match. I simply cut a small strip of paper to cover the central section, wrapped the paper around tightly and glued it into place

Then add your decorated pen to your holder

From the paper you have left, cut a square  4 inches by 4 inches, and cut in half - corner to corner - making two triangles

Glue one triangle to some coordinating cardstock

Trim leaving an equal border of card stock all around.

Place glue or tape on two side of the triangle.

Then attach to the bottom corner of the inside cover to form a small pocket

Fold your cover and close your notebook holder 

Decorate the cover how ever you wish

Hope this tutorial is easy enough to follow. If you get stuck please feel free to message me via the comments box below and I will try to help you.

Notebook and Pen Holders

Having been inspired by watching one of Claire Chavills fabulous videos, I thought I would try to make some notebook and pen holders.

The notepads are just cheap A6 notebooks from a supermarket (50p each) and the pens come in a pack of 10 for 80p, (8p each). I recycled the cardboard covers from an A4 notebook - one cover is enough to make one note book/pen holder. The papers are a selection of odd sheets of 12 x 12 Graphic 45 that I had left over from other projects. I used 2 sheets per notebook/pen holder. So for a little under £3 you can make a really lovely gift. Hope you like what I have made.