Going to use before I buy any more. Stage one, make some tags from the bag of bits. Also used the double sided adhesive sheets to make attaching the sentiments a bit easier.
Use it up
papercraft
Diy gift wrap, when a bag isn’t big enough
A roll of white paper, neglected stamps and ink. You could also diy wrapping paper by stencilling, splattering, writing or adding stickers. No need to buy and much more personal.
I assembled the stamps on the biggest acrylic block I own ( not that big but am in a no buy mode) and rotated them irregularly.
I think monochrome looks classier and will also use blue washi tape to secure. A coordinating gift tag to finish!
Bag bonanza
Whoops! I seem to have ordered lots of 12 x 12 paper pads before using up my considerable supplies, so spent a couple of afternoons making gift bags.
Pictured are some I made from a roll of remnant wallpaper which is also demanding to be used.
A simple formula: trim paper to 12” wide by 7” high. Score along the 12” at 1/2”, 2 1/4”, 6 1/4” and 8” then turn the paper and score at 3/4” (for a top reinforcing fold) and 5” (for the bottom) Trim out the score lines and tape as shown. bottom tape not shown.
I used red liner tape for strength and popped in a piece of card to reinforce the bottom before punching holes to thread ribbon or cord for handles.
For the 12” by 12” sheets I used the trimmed spare to make labels and bows on the scan n cut.
Hand stitched cards
A labour of love but deeply satisfying. Inspired by the excelllent Craft World blog I sketched, punched and stitched on to some strong paper.
This is a great ‘use what you have’ project especially if you have time!
Tag it Tuesday
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.
Papercraft society January 2020 wobbly handheld review!
Party hats
House of cards
Inspired by the consistently innovative ‘mixed up crafts’ site, this house-shaped gift box is a great way to present a selection of home made cards I am giving. Any combination of cardstock could be used for flowery, plain or sparkly houses but I really love this geometric paper ‘mandala dreams’ from paper addicts.
This is a basic box made from two sheets of cardstock scored and cut to make the walls of the house 8 x 3.75 inches by with two additional pieces offset and stuck over the top flaps of the basic box to form the roof. To decorate with windows, door and chimney – and a few little tulips – I used white card and scraps from the same paper pack.
Transparent gift bags
Use what you have for quick make bags…
I have a roll of book covering plastic doing nothing in my stash, so cut rectangles from it and headed to the sewing machine
I folded copy paper (yes I also have a lot of coloured copy paper to use up) over the short ends and stitched it in place with a long zig zag.
The covered ends were folded together and the open sides zig zagged together to make a bag. I even boxed the bottom of the bigger one shown but am not sure it was worth the effort.
Two tips: use an old blunt needle as the plastic will ruin a new needle and long stitch lengths will minimise problems with the plastic slipping.
Mind your head, dangler
A low newel post is a peril for taller visitors to our home so I tend to dangle seasonal ‘creations from it to avoid bumps. This month’s version uses one of my less used die sets.
The pirate ship die alone is 4 inches square (about 10.5 cm) so works well as part of a dangler.
Each element from the set was cut from card two or three times and stuck together to give it some stability and to sandwich in the thread hanger. I tried to use most of this fun Docrafts die set but couldn’t quite work the palm tree, desert island or octopus into this version. Next time maybe.
janecrafts 