Category: Craft

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Craft Origami

Need a little gift box? Make one!

Having had a look in a few shops for little gift boxes to put my handmade chocolates in, I found myself disenchanted with the ones on offer. So of course I decided to make my own!

There are quite a few simple boxes that can be made out of paper/thin card; I opted for this box of triangles. I chose one without a lid, so the chocolates can be on display, looking fancy.

This one really is very simple and also very effective- just a bit different from your average cuboid!

You’ll need three squares of paper/thin card, all the same size. I know this is obvious, but do think about the size of box you need! I used 3″x3″ squares. It turned out too small; I forgot I had 8 chocolates to fit in. 6″x6″ was perfect.

Firstly, fold your first piece of paper in half from corner to corner, creasing firmly with a bone folder/thumb nail/scissor handles/similar.

Next up, fold the two corners in to the centre point. Crease firmly and unfold.

Lastly, fold up the middle point, crease firmly, unfold. You should be left with a triangle with three fold marks, like this:

Repeat with the other two squares, so you have three the same. Then slot them all together…

…and then join them up. At this stage, it should become obvious how it all fits together and the bottom forms.

Ta da!

The perfect way to present my chocolates.

Merry Christmas!

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Craft

The art of gift wrapping

A nicely wrapped present is a happy present. I like to make a thing of present wrapping, get everything ready, stick a festive film on and do it all in one go.

Here are my hints and tips.

Firstly, get everything you’ll need all in one place and within reach. Then you don’t have to keep getting up to fetch things. On my list are scissors, tape (with lots of pre-cut bits stuck around), ribbon, tags, old cards to make tags from, and of course wrapping paper.

Next, a very important point- make sure you’ve taken any price labels off!

Now to wrapping. Try not to use gift tags that are a similar pattern or colour to your paper; they’ll just get lost. You can cut pictures or shapes out of old cards to make fancy tags- just be careful when sticking them on. For instance, in the picture below, you can’t lift the star tag up to read the label. Error. The bauble is fine.

 

When it comes to ribbon, I like to keep it simple but (hopefully) effective. Start with the ribbon on the side where you want the bow to be, twist it round at the back, then bring it round across the other way to tie:

 

One last tip: be wary of fancy brown paper wrap. I got this from Paperchase last year (I love you for everything but this, Paperchase!) and it is mighty pretty but tape just does not stick to it. In the end I have to plaster it on then disguise with a huge bow. Which I actually really love.

Happy present wrapping!

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Craft

Festive craft stall

Well. Erm. So… yeah. It was a bit poor. However, it was the general consensus amongst all the stall holders that it was a particular naff fair, no one was buying or indeed looking, and exhibitors weren’t making money. Good to know it wasn’t just us amateurs!

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Craft

Over the weekend I made… a mess

As the craft fair is next Sunday, last weekend I took a few extra days so I could prepare without panicking. I set up a little ‘activity centre’, as my husband called it, and got to work. Basically I spent 4 days surrounded by bits of paper, card, envelopes, inks, pens, more paper, there was a ruler there somewhere (never to be found when needed), some silver thread, stamps and stencils, paint, and good old PVA glue.

 

 

 

I reckon I made good headway though, mostly my stock for the Christmas Craft Fair is done!

Categories
Craft Origami

Origami candy cane- gift tags

I’ve been busy busy folding and sticking this week.

These origami candy canes are simple to do and I think they look great. You start with a sheet of 2-colour origami paper, blank side up. Fold, crease and uncrease corner to corner, both ways, so you end up with this:

I’m afraid I’m using my old camera; aside from it not being very good, I keep putting it on the wrong settings!

Step 2. Fold the bottom corner up to a little way below the top point, like this:

Next, turn the paper over and fold up from the bottom… like this!

 

Then all you have to do is fold the top bit twice to make the hooky bit at the end:

 

Press the creases reeeeally well, so it sits as flat as possible.

Yippee! Finished.

Categories
Craft

Whittlebury Park Magical Christmas Fair

The Craft Fantastic’s next craft fair is:

Cards! Cakes! Christmas decorations! That’s us, that’s us!!

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Craft Origami

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Started on the stock for the Christmas craft stall. Cards first!

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Art Craft Inspiration

Weekly Inspiration- Anissa Lee: Hand Cut Paper Art And Design

It was a blog post on the awesome Rock ‘n’ Roll Bride (yes, I still look at it, even though I am married) that brought the marvels of Anissa Lee to my attention. And ohmygosh I love, love, love what she does.

Check out Paper Wonderland. I think this heart and rose dress is my absolute favourite.

Looking at the site makes me want to just sit and cut things out of paper with scissors or a scalpel. Which is kind of what I do anyway, only usually I’m doing origami or making cards or something. I want to cut out pretty things, like Anissa Lee. Or Rob Ryan.

Sigh! And this hand-cut paper bird card I found on Etsy puts my attempts at cut-out cards to shame…

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Craft Inspiration

Weekly Inspiration- Kirstie being back on 4!

Kirstie’s back, hurrah! I have missed having a weekly craft show to watch, I really have.

I loved Kirsty’s Homemade Home. Ooh, and, Kirsty’s Homemade Christmas. And now there’s Kirstie’s Handmade Britain.

Not only are the shows great to watch, the websites linked above are a great resource for crafts/ideas/projects/events/contacts.

So excited am I that next week’s episode is paper crafts, I am actually thinking of blowing off awesome live jazz for £5 at Ronnie Scott’s to watch it.

Categories
Craft Origami

Simple origami Christmas tree tutorial with pictures

These paper trees are incredibly simple and ever so cute. They look great made from patterned or plain paper. Use them to decorate your handmade Xmas cards, or make up some small ones for gift tags.

  • Ok, so to start this off, it’s a bit like making a paper plane. Fold the paper in half, side to side, and unfold.
  • Fold the top corners in to the crease you’ve just made, so the tops forms a triangle.
  • Repeat this step, making a narrower triangle at the top.
  • Fold the bottom up, at the point where the bottom of the edges meet (see bottom middle pic).
  • Unfold.
  • Fold each of the bottom points up to meet the crease you made in the last step.
  • Fold this bottom section up again, along the existing crease.
  • This next and final step creates the ‘trunk’ of the tree – take the section you’ve just folded up and fold the top part of it down.
  • Turn the model over so you can see how much you’d like it to stick out from the bottom of the triangle.
  • You may find it doesn’t lay quite flat, so use a dab of glue to secure if you’re going to be using this in other crafts.
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