Tag: Paper craft

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Craft Craft fairs Notebooks Origami Paper Stationery

Updates! Recent makes, stall bookings, latest Etsy stock

Lilac guest book spine

 

I’ve been busy making Coptic-bound notebooks lately – and they’re all up for sale in my Etsy store. All hand stitched, I’ve done an A6 one and a couple of A5 books; use them for what you will – notebooks, sketchbooks, guestbooks, journals – they’re all very versatile! Here’s a peek at the newbies:

As well as stock, I’ve been playing with my new origami paper – making these gorgeous gingham elephants!

Origami elephants

I’m thinking they’ll make lovely greetings cards – what do you reckon? What other things do you think I could use them for?

Last but not least – I’ve booked a summer fete for later in the year. It’s a local affair for a good cause; my stall fee went straight to the hosts Just Giving page for SWAN – syndromes without a name, supporting undiagnosed children. It’s on July 24th at The Elgar Centre in Northampton, more details on their Facebook page.

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Craft Craft fairs Notebooks Origami Paper

Festive Craft Stall: Northants Christmas Sparkle Fair

Sunday’s Christmas fair at the Benham Sports Arena was really fun and festive! Lots of different stalls and music throughout the day.

Here are a few pictures of the stall and my handmade goodies. The first one was taken early on… I’d only just got my coffee!

Stall

Key books        Tree decs       Mini books

Tags & masks

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Craft Craft fairs Notebooks Origami Paper

Northampton Christmas Sparkle Fair

This fabulous event is ticket only and y’all will want to book up and get the date in your diaries, I’m sure. Yes, it’s the Northampton Christmas Sparkle Fair and it’s only just over 3 weeks away!

Northampton Christmas Sparkle Fair

There are going to be loads of fabulous stalls there, music, food, festivities… and of course handmade goodies from The Craft Fantastic! I’ll be there with a stall full of festive paper creations, including gift tags, decorations, and present ideas. Please come and see me on November 29th!

 

Tickets are only £2.50 adult, £1.50 child and are available here.

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Craft Paper

New paper to play with

Awesome new paper stock from Micheals!

image

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Craft Paper Tutorial

Paper balloon mobile – handmade gift idea

One of my favourite Christmas presents this year was this book: Everything Oz, The Wizard Book Of Makes & Bakes. Ever eager to have a reason to try out new craft projects (though sometimes no reason is needed!) I chose the paper balloon mobile to make as a gift for my friend, who’s just had a baby boy. Armed with some adorable but subtle blue pram-printed paper from good old Paperchase, I set to work.

I’ve decided that I’m not going to post a full tutorial on here, because I really think that if you like crafts then you’ll love this book- it’s a great investment. However, I’ve done little pictures of my progress, so you can get a good idea of how these are made.

So. Here goes. Basket first:

The base is a circle with tabs round the outside, which are attached to a long rectangular strip of paper (nice surface on the outside!).

Next, I made the swags to go around the edge of the basket:

I did 4 of these, evenly spaced. Ish.

Then on to the balloon! Using a variety of papers works well. I used blue printed, sometimes inside out, plus some plain silver.

I adapted the balloon bit slightly, using the method from the paper beads I make.

All that was left to do then was to attach the basket to the balloon:

Ta da! I’ve added a few embellishments, a silver paper bow to cover up a gap in the swags, where the string was glued on and also some teeny triangles for bunting:

Categories
Craft Paper

Lesson learned: The £1.99 circle cutter

Ah, The Works. How you tempt me with your cheap products. Many an hour have I spent standing gazing at your overstuffed shelves, pondering whether to purchase 6 packs of card for £5 and if I really need more pretty paper just because it’s very cheap.

After the success and delight I got from making the paper beads recently, I decided a £1.99 circle cutter from The Works might be a good investment. It looks very much like this:

In theory, this compass design is good idea. It does work and with a bit of practise cutting perfect circles is easy. The only problem I have is that you’re left with a teeny hole in the centre. Why not use the handy ‘paper saver’ it comes with? I hear you ask. Well, I would, says I, but it doesn’t stay put. Unless you put lots of pressure on it… and then not only does it make it harder to turn in a clean circle, it leaves little grooves in the paper. Instead of a little hole.

I am still debating whether it’s not just easier to cut circles out by hand with good old reliable scissors.