Recycle

Hi everyone, thanks ever so much for dropping by. I know it's been a while but I have lots to show for my absence, I haven't just been sat in the garden sunning myself although I do have an outdoor studio now :)

It's my turn today to host the post(!) over on the Get Funky & Craft blog so I decided that I would make a gift bag. Now read on to see how I did it.

"I have mentioned previously my mission to reduce my wallets of paper off cuts so I should really have concentrated on that in this post. However, our lovely leader, Anice, keeps feasting us with lots of lovely paper collections and digi downloads and it's such a shame not to use them.....so on my project today I have used one of each :)

If you have ever needed a gift bag at the 12th hour and can't find one, well this is the post for you. It takes about 15 minutes to make and anyone (even non crafters) eill be able to find materials to use around the house. Oh, and when I mention a 'bone folder', a spoon handle does just as well.

This is my make for the month

                                               

and here is how I made it

                                         

You will need an old (or a new) envelope of any size.....and this tutorial works for top opening envelopes too.

Tape down the flap making sure that you don't tape the back of the envelope to the front!

Trim approximately 1/2 cm from one of the short sides.

Next you need to score each of the other three sides at 2.5cm from each edge and fold making sure each fold is crisp using your bone folder or spoon.

Now is the time to decorate your envelope with whatever you have to hand. I used the paper #7 from the new Spring Wedding Collection on the Funky Hand web site.

Pop one hand inside the envelope and use the other hand to pinch along all of the creases and watch your envelope turn into a gift bag :)

Fold the pointed end and glue to the bottom of the bag. I weight mine down with a punch while it sticks. Fold and tuck in about 2.5 cm from the top. Not only does this make the bag look professional, it makes the top sturdier to take the ribbon handles, see the next picture.

Now finish decorating your bag.

I used a selection of die cut flowers and printed off a smaller version of the mug from the I'm a mug for you' download to use as a gift tag.....Job Done!

These are great fun to make, I must have shown loads of people how to make them. They are great to make with the kiddies too now that the summer holidays are upon us, especially if they have a birthday party to go to. So start saving your envelopes in different shapes and sizes and it doesn't matter what colour they are (mine was from a bought birthday card, I didn't buy it ;)) You can even use the ones with the see through window on the front, just stick some pretty paper over it.

We would love you to have a go at my tutorial and add it to the linky thingy so we can come back and take a look.

Star Card, Star Album

I'm not exactly sure what these little books/albums are called as everyone seems to call them differently, I call them an album as I put photos in mine :)

It's my to host the Get Funky & Craft blog post for this week and as I had a commissioned album to make I decided I would use that as my project.

Cover 2 pieces of thick card with patterned paper and decorate the front. Make sure the paper is cut large enough to overlap on the inside by about an inch but don't decorate it as the first card will be stuck to it to form the first two pages.

Place tape onto the outer edges of all of 5" and 51/2" cards and to all four edges of the 6" cards..

 The cards which will form the album pages  

Some of the 6" cards will need tape on all four edges these form the 'star' and will be stuck onto the front and back covers

Decorate as you wish, I used off cuts of Funky Hand papers from a vast selection of papers, off cuts of lace and ribbon and bits which always seem to 'lurk' on my desk :)

 and start adding a collection of your favourite photos,

 journalling,

 and verses.

 These little albums make wonderful gifts

 and keepsakes

  and are appreciated by all who receive them.

 Happy crafting and thanks for dropping by :)

Funky Flower Power

It's my turn to add my project to the Get Funky And Craft so I made a card using the beautiful Just For Jen download which is available from the Funky Hand web site. I've added a folded flower to the front of my card so I thought I would do a quick picture tutorial to go with it just in case anyone fancies making one :) The sketch used for the card is the new one for April from the Kathy's Waffle Sketch File challenge blog which I have used upside down....

I used a punch to punch out 16 x 2.5 cm squares in total as my flower is double layered. Fold all of the squares in half to form the triangles you see in the picture below

 The bottom row show the sequence in which the 'petals' should be folded. You also need to cut a small circle from either card or paper. As you will see, I cut mine by hand :)

 Snip the ends of the flower petals, this just makes them easier to stick together. Using a dab of wet glue, stick the first eight petals onto the circle then at this stage cut a larger part of the pointed end from the next 8 'petals and stick them over the first layer and leave to dry.

 

Pop a large gem or a brad into the centre of the flower and attach to your project.

 

 The finished article :)

Thanks for dropping by, back soon xx

On a mission (Part 2)...

the first part being my post on the Get Funky & Craft blog this morning :) and it was about using up our leftovers/off cuts/scraps. What ever you like to call them it remains the same problem, they mount up pretty quickly. I used some of my left overs on five different cards this week and I haven't even made a small dent in them!
My Funky Hand left overs folder

and the cards I made from it :)

I've used other little bits found on my desk too (sorry Anice :)) The papers and the digi stamps are really handy as I make c6 cards for hubby to take when he is dj'ing to give to his brides and grooms so left overs get to good use and I always make sure I have a sheet of precoloured digi stamps in the folder too then I can make a card in minutes.

I hope this gives you a little inspiration to use up your scraps ( you can  always take part in Di's Snippet Challenge too.

Take care and come back soon :) x  

Funky Friday

I feel so lucky this week as I have had so much beautiful goodies to play with that it is sometimes difficult choosing what to use first......it's so difficult being on manufacture's design teams. Only joking, I feel truly honoured to be able to work with some fantastic team mates to bring you a little bit of inspiration for when you buy the products yourself.

This weekend will see the release of some fantastic products from Funky Hand. Anice has made a really beautiful collection of papers and alphabets in shades of pink and grey and it is called "Just For Jen". It is our little reminder that Breast Cancer affects so many of us at some time in our life and it only takes seconds to check our breasts on a regular basis. You are never too young and you are never too old, just be safe and if caught early it can be completely curable.

So onto my first card made just using the papers alone, oh and a piece of ribbon and a flat backed pearl, how easy is that.

I've used four of the papers on this card, the band and the flower are from scraps from other cards. The flower is made using a Tim Holtz die but it can easily be made without. Cut a strip of paper about 2cm wide and 30 cm in length and pleat it at approximately 1/2cm intervals. Tape the ends together and squash it down onto a smaller circle of paper covered in glue. Decorate as required and hey presto....a flower made to match any of your projects :)

I've used the same papers to make the following cards (and still have plenty left to make more cards) but have used a couple of new digi stamps which are also due for release shortly.

Both coloured in an assortment of pink and grey Promarkers to match the papers.

My lovely team mate Kathy posted some of her DT makes using the same kit, on the Get Funky And Craft blog yesterday and as always, they are amazing!

Well, I'm now off to try to use up the rest of my papers, thanks for dropping by. xx

It's a date!!

It was my turn to write for the new revamped Get Funky and Craft blog today and as I wanted to make my lovely mum in law a new calendar I thought this would be the perfect post, the only thing is.....I forgot to add it here too. I must have got it into my head that I'd written it for today and that was it lol

Anyway here is the picture of the finished version

I won't bore you by adding all the details here, if you would like to see how it was done or even just what papers I've used then please take a look at the Get Funky and Craft blog.

Thanks for looking, back soon. xx

Funky Friday

I know it should now be Funky Sunday but I haven't known what day it's been all week, I've thought it has been Saturday since Thursday!!! Hubby works a lot at this time of year and mix that with my 18 and 19 hour days at the mo and it sort of throws one a bit :)

I had a slight accident this morning too. I'm working on a largish project for my first post on the new look Get Funky blog which is now called Get Funky & Craft! I got myself to a strategic point this morning and photographed the pieces I'd done and moved them off my desk onto my open top drawer which, at the moment is an extension of my desk.....and promptly tipped my coffee everywhere. It missed my lap top, thank goodness, but went all over me and some jewellery components which were on my desk so I had to move everything to mop up and clean the desk down. I'm just thankful that I moved my mystery project :)

My cards this week were made on Thursday ready to go out on Friday as part of an order for 21 assorted cards.

Papers used are from the fabulous new Christmas down load section of the Funky Hand web site and all of the images are from last year's Christmas section which are on the Twelve Crafters Crafting cd

That's it for this evening folks. i'm up at  six and have another busy day ahead of me so I will playcatch up shortly.
Take care and thanks for reading.

Funky Friday

It's all change on the Get Funky blog as we move from being a challenge blog to a blog that is full of inspiration and great ideas, Get Funky And Craft! :) There will be post from one of the team each Wednesday and another over the weekend so if there is anything you would like to see or then please let us know. Anice will also still be giving away her 'freebies' on the Funky Hand website so you will have to keep an eye out for them and here is the current one. We have a fabulous new logo too

So, my card

I made this card for the Boss' s birthday:)

Materials used: Stylish Tree #3 and Christmas Tree #3, both from the O Come All Ye Crafters collections available on the Funky Hand web site as downloads, gold mirri card, die cut flowers and a few crystals. 

I made a birthday card to show how versatile this collection is, there are papers throughout the sets which can be used for any occasion.

Thanks for looking, back soon x