Re-using made Cards, and Lettering

One very obvious source of craft materials and ideas is the greetings cards that you receive. Some might have a design that you might want to imitate or adapt, or there may be images and elements that could be cut out and re-used. This can be a boon for those of you, like me, who are somewhat challenged when it comes to lettering. A good fountain pen and a little practice at calligraphy can go a long way - you can find examples at http://www.learncalligraphy.co.uk/ . However, cutting the messages off received cards before recycling them is a great way to get professional lettering. Keep them in a bag together so that when you need one, you can pick something suitable.

I've put a few examples of re-made cards here for you to see - a couple using the angel stencil from the fabulous www.spraypaintstencils.com, and various others using card components. This is not just cutting the front image from a card and sticking it on a card blank - that usually looks awful anyway. Think in terms of elements and materials - bits of coloured card, gold or silver borders, messages, or a special image.
Many of the stars/Christmas trees you can see on my cards came from other cards. Of course I keep special cards.

Ooh, another way to use images - if you are lucky enough to get a whole A4 sheet of paper that is plain on one side, then print greetings messages on it (hopefully a friend will help with the printing if you don't have a printer). For the snowflake card I used the phrase 'snowmen fall from the sky unassembled'. I can't remember where I first heard this, but I quite liked it. You can check the internet for other sayings if a suitable one doesn't come to mind. I tore carefully round it, and used silver eyeshadow to mark the edging. For the pink/lavender card, I used the central image from a card which had very gaudy shocking pink card as a base. I thought it would look good on something a little more subdued, set off with a few gold Christmas trees from another card.

The 'present' card in red and gold is entirely scrap. Virginmedia, that cracker box, drinks ribbon, a greeting from another card, stars from another card. The right border is on the inside of the card - the outside cut to show it. It's an easy way to add interest. The one next to it is the odd mixture of deep rose and lilac - not particularly Christmassy but somehow it works. I like this simple card; a reminder that you don't need loads of bits on a card to make it look good.


The white, silver and gold card is an odd mixture of bits and pieces of leftovers. If things are colour co-ordinated, then having different materials and textures can look unexpectedly interesting. Experiment! Put different selections of things on a piece of card and see how it looks before gluing it down. Arg, you can see the glue on that one a bit. Never mind. It's vegan glue and that's what matters!

Feel free to use any of the designs that I've used. And for one final project, I received a card from some friends a few years ago, which had individual sachets of salt and pepper on the front. The message? 'Condiments of the Season'. If you have a good idea, use it!
Best wishes,
Jehanine x
P.S. Do you like the pics? My spanky new scanner is an improvement on my old blurry photos! here's of a pic of it being used for its main purpose, including whisker-touch controls and integrated tail-rest.

Wallpaper, Christmas, and free stencils

Hi all,
One thing I forgot to mention in the last post was to check out your local charity shop. Check the sale rail for unsellable clothes that might be great for craft, but also see if they sell reject wallpaper rolls. My local one does, for 25p each! That's lots of paper. Here's a pic of a few that I picked out - the pink one with gold sparkles is especially useful.
Right, Christmas looms, as do Yule, Kwanza and, well, every culture/religion's winter festival. It's a Festfest, basically, and that means lots of cards for the people you aren't emailing. The card on the right is made entirely from some crackers that were pulled last year, and some of the box that they came in. So it's all co-ordinated and looks quite traditional. One for a respectable friend, I think. If you don't use environmentally-unfriendly things like crackers, you probably know someone who does - ask for their waste, and make them a card as a thank you.
The next card is a design I came up with when my cat attacked my Christmas tree. The person I'm sending it to has a feisty marmalade cat, hence the colouring; the trimmings actually came from a crafter who said rather shamefacedly that she kept buying things but never got round to using them. Thankfully she gave quite a few bits to me rather than throwing them out. If you see what looks like a corporate-made embellishment or paper, that's where I probably got it from. I thought these bits were a nice way to finish a card that is otherwise made of scrap. It tends to get a giggle from cat-lovers - I know lots of those. If you aren't good at drawing shapes then I'd suggest using the shapes from Christmas junk mail as guides - for instance one gets loads of Santa, reindeer and sleigh images, and plenty of stars too. Cut them out and simply draw round them. Or check the internet for copyright-free images to download; there are quite a few sites offering free stencils. This one is utterly brilliant and if I ever become rich and whimsical I shall send them wads of cash: http://www.spraypaintstencils.com/ . Really, a great crafting resource.
Love to all,
Jehanine x

Backing Papers

I was delighted to get this IFAW mailing through the post - look at that expanse of usable paper! It's a soft green with stars on it. Inside there was also a nice piece of red glossy paper. TIP: always *open* your junk mail - it might not look promising, but there may well be craft treasure hidden inside! Keep all the bits of plain white paper of a decent size, too. I can't believe how much people pay for backing papers that they could make themselves easily and uniquely with scrap paper.
As I had some plain white paper (left over from the minutes of a Vegan Organic Network meeting!) I decided to make them into fancy backing paper for a couple of cards I wanted to make. You will need: a flat waterproof surface. I'm using a tile, but a plate or platter is fine. Water-based paint of some kind - the colours from a child's painting set are fine, as are some felt tips. Lots of bits of card and paper. Glue. Scissors.
I started with some backing card, with a co-ordinating colour torn across and placed over a half (readers of previous posts may recognise Virginmedia and Capital One bits used there)! Always remember TIP: tearing *towards* you exposes the fibres of the paper - tearing away from you conceals them. Now get those bits of white paper ready and shaped to fit roughly over the top of the backings you've made.
Paint watery stripes of colour on the tile. Do the next bit quickly - don't let the paint dry on the tile! Drizzle water on it if it does. Put the bits of white paper over the paint to soak up the colour. Make as many as you like/need, then leave them to dry. I have to say, they look pretty darn funky, don't they? Wash the tile clean.
I then tore the papers round the edges TIP: tear them just before they're completely dry. the tearing will be more accurate. Tear them into whatever patterns/shapes you like. I've done a backing, then made a diamond stuck on co-ordinating card scrap, stuck on with 3D foam for texture. I don't think that the photo does them justice, but I'm sure that you can see that what we have is better than the VON minutes, Virginmedia and Capital One mailings, and various bits of scrap that we started with.
Then it was time to personalise the cards. Caroline wears a lot of red and other bold colours, so she gets the red one. The red/gold ribbon came off a bottle of something nice, if I remember rightly. Janet is more delicate and wears light blues and aquas, so she gets a silvery approach. I also made Janet's asymmetric, and the two cards have a very different feel, despite using the same techniques. Oh, and the cost of making the cards came out as ninepence each! You can also marble paper easily, if you have oil-based paint rather than water-based. Just drizzle a few bits into a bowl of water, and let the paper catch the resulting swirls from the surface.
I really enjoyed this. There's nothing my inner child likes more than sloshing paint about and dipping stuff in it. It was so much more fun than going to the shops to *buy* papers, made from virgin forest and designed by someone else. Make it yourself, and it's unique! More environmentally-friendly too, of course.
Lots of love, until next time,
jehanine x

Horribly Belated Hallowe'en Special

I don't actually make Halloween cards, but I just had to share with you this delightful witch made by a good friend of mine, 'constantweader' , who is the queen of the bookcrossing world (see www.bookcrossing.com for details of what that is).
Gorgeous, isn't it? It was made as an ATC, or artist's trading card, so the actual size is 3 1/2" by 2 1/2". The bristles of the agreeably vibrant broom are actually made from one of those net bags used to store oranges, teased out; the broomhandle is a cocktail stick, artfully painted, and the witch's hair is the wonderfully-named 'eyelash yarn'. I particularly like the fact that the moon isn't a flat white disc, but a creamy textured affair. I recommend checking out constantweader's other work at http://flickr.com/photos/constantweader
(By the way, to find out where the name 'constantweader' comes from, read Dorothy Parker's review of a Winnie-the-Pooh book).
Happy Halloween!