Hello m'darlings,
I've been meaning to do this entry for ages, so apologies for the delay. Anyway, it's time to pay tribute to my friend Cathy Park. You don't expect your ex-boyfriend's mum to be a helpful friend and great craft (and personal) inspiration, but she is! From gifts of craft magazines and various bits to useful tips and positive encouragement, she's been a craft mentor to me and a mine of knowledge. Cathy also told me the most important craft TIP of all: Don't throw anything away!
Keep a scrap bag. I keep several, colour-co-ordinated. That sounds very organised - it's really just a case of putting things in different sections of a folder or a different plastic bag. You might think, what on earth am I ever going to do with an inch of ribbon, or a centimetre square of cardboard? Well one answer to that is the stack of presents card, which Cathy made for her son last year.
I've made a version here. Basically, you start with a card blank and a heap of scraps. I decided to do a Christmas version with red and gold bits - I used paper, card and fabric from a Virginmedia promotional leaflet, a Christmas cracker and the box it came in, a paper hat, an old postcard and the wrapping from a pack of fudge, among various other bits I can't remember. By the way, if you're thinking that you don't use un-environmentally-friendly things like that, I bet you know someone who does, or could ask people on your road to save you their Christmas wrappings, boxes and so on.
Decide on a background for your card blank - Cathy used a gold stamp pad on a red background for a lovely shimmery effect, whereas
I've used bits of voile. Then cut out some cardboard shapes for presents, and arrange them in different layouts until you're more or less happy. I've done the stack of presents in the shape of a Christmas tree, but you could easily make a present birthday cake or Easter egg. Next, tie your ribbon, string and wire scraps round th
e 'presents'.
I have to make a confession here. I just don't have the gene that enables people to tie bows, wrap presents and put up hair with any semblance of style. I just can't do it. My solution is to use glue dots in the places that the card recipient won't see, and put little nicks in the card for the string or wire to sit in place. It sort of works, but you may well do better than me. Though I think that imperfection just makes the card more obviously handmade and perso
nal (come on, give me a break)! As the late great Bob Ross says, we don't make mistakes, we just have happy accidents.
Anyway, use all kinds of different bits for as much texture and contrast as possible. Finally stick everything on to your card, adding a peel-off or a handwritten message. I'm currently trying to edit this so that the pic of the finished card is the right way up...sorry! Anyway, it's a lovely, bright, textured card that will go to someone special - Cathy Park maybe?!
Love to all,
Jehanine x
P.S. Well here's a pic of the card the right way up - I just can't work out how to delete the other one.
