Stamp for mailed cards

Another attempt to empty the patterned paper remnants bag…

This time I used a stamp die for the bigger stamps and my scan n cut for the smaller ones. I finally chopped up pages of butterfly, floral and birds paper and used long neglected franking stamps and some old paper distress ink to create the collage on a sheet of magazine paper.

Which came first?

In this case it was the chicken.

A pair of paper cut outs (calligraphy paper aplenty in my drawer) were sewn to sandwich a crème egg inside. Ready for little Easter gifts and tucked away so we don’t inadvertently nibble them.

Then a few eggs were made using up magazine papers and washi tape (will I never use it up?) again sewn shut and packed away for Easter.

The basic shapes were cut from my scan and cut to the maximum size of my papers. I can see this working with other stock shapes for single sweet treats throughout the year – hearts, cars, stockings …

Must remember to keep the sewing machine needle with my papercraft projects as the paper blunts the needle quickly.

Vinyl signage

I over-ordered some exterior vinyl for 2021 Christmas projects so was pleased to use some on this lovely piece of wood we received at Christmas this year.

I used the scan n cut inbuilt font for the lettering. The font was stretched up to make it fit the wood fully.

After carefully applying the vinyl, resident DIYer drilled holes for the cord loop which he stained to tone it down.

Rainbow cards

I used my scan n cut to make a few cards that weren’t too quick but neither too fussy.

Pleased with the drop shadow on the ‘happy’, pleased I used scraps and bulk cut the letters, and love the embossing . Maybe I went overboard with the mica misting but everything is sparkly.

Sunday Scan n cut project

I have been wire wrapping sea glass found on a nearby beach and wanted to present them nicely, so turned to the scan n cut.

I drew an outline of where we live and scanned it in to the machine’s memory. I then resized it to hold some of my decorations and cut out just enough from sturdy white card. Before writing my message, I inked up the coastline in blue and faintly inked the land in green.

I can, in the future do tiny versions or go up to 12” wide versions for any home made crafts. It has taken me three years of playing with this machine to do what I should have thought of on day one!

Tag it Tuesday

From the Crafter’s Companion ‘Cute as a Button’ kit

I cut tag shapes (with the scan n cut) from scraps of card and tried to use up embellishments as part of a ‘Use What You Have’ drive. This was so successful that I have batched and bagged sets to give away.

Die cut flowers, butterflies, ribbon and twine all used, hurrah. Not quite used up yet though.

Into each batch went some not so girly tags as well, not that many though.
How is that for forward planning? I even have some Christmas tags ready.

Heat transfer vinyl

Remnants from a ‘remake the outdoor blinds’ project have been transformed, thanks to heat transfer vinyl …

This premium vinyl is much better than the economy version I have used before and I am surprised how well it melds into the canvas fabric. Let us see how the boat flag survives its outdoor life.

The other projects created from this crafty session with the trusty scan n cut (the whale is a standard supplied svg) will remain a Christmas surprise for the lucky few!

Mini gift basket

A quick cut project using  the scan n cut based on Applelover53 berry basket (free from her blog cut files).

Ready for Easter or biscuits or to present home made goodies when filled with crumpled tissue paper. I used red liner tape to fix the two top ‘holding strips’ to the sides and the handle to the basket but it won’t be weight bearing. I also added a little felt tag tied to the handle as I have a pile of them to use up somehow …

I guess you could devised your own pattern and hand cut – pieces shown below – but I am grateful to find the file ready to use. For this version I used some Kanban light card which has a two tone pattern on one side and is plain on the other.

No measure gift bags

You tube easy gift bag how toimage need a gift bag but no time to fuss?

just fold a rectangle of paper as below … or watch the video

place the paper face down and landscape (long sides north and south)

fold  a small border on the west edge of the paper, just wide enough to later run some tape or glue along, then fold the remaining width of paper in half and  in half again to create four equal panels. With the paper still folded in four, crease up from the south a panel that will  form the base of the bag. An optional last step is to open out the sheet then fold down a little collar along the top this is only needed if your paper is flimsy and you want to strengthen it a bit

cut – cut out the little rectangle at the south of the border fold then cut up the three bottom creases just as far as the first width crease – if you are being smart you can cut either side of the creases to make final assembly even easier

stick – if you have a collar  stick it down

then fold the little border over so a little bit of the pretty side of the paper is facing you, run tape or glue down the border and then fold the eastern side of your sheet over and on to the sticky border. once the glue is set wobble the paper to form a floppy box,  crease each of the panel folds to encourage the paper to set in the final shape

now fold each of the bottom panels up, you may need to crease them with your fingers to set the folds in the right direction, add some tape or glue on the plain side of the last two bottom pieces. You may need to put your hand inside the bag/box to ‘set’ the adhesive.

close and decorate with paper clips, pegs, stickers, brads, staples or ribbon threaded through punch holes