Ethical Cardmaker

Make-up card

2009-05-10T01:36:00.005Z

This is a card for a very glamorous friend of mine, who nevertheless is very kind about my scrappy efforts! It's an excellent card for using up scraps of card, paper and fabric. The white palette for the 'eyeshadow' and the case for the 'lipstick' are made from an old shower curtain as it's slightly shiny and plastic-y. The brush is actually the stripe from the leg of an old pair of tracksuit bottoms, and the brush end is from the padding of a hat, both courtesy of the rag-bag. The makeup itself can be made from any suitably coloured card, paper or fabric, and further adornments can be any old leftover glitzy bits really.
I now have a mammoth task on hand. A couple of friends who are getting married have asked me, for their present, to hand-make them something useful. As the only things I can claim to make remotely tolerably are cards, that's what they're getting; thank you cards will prove useful after a wedding, and I'll do some other kinds too. So now I just need to clone myself a couple of times so that I'll have enough hours in the day....
Much love,
Jehanine x

In Sympathy - Sarah Richards 1962-2009

2009-03-01T21:49:00.005Z

Sarah Richards was a vegan, cat-loving bookcrosser....guess whether we got on?! Her bookcrossing name was 'Veganknitter' which I always thought was pretty wonderful. Anyway, she got inflammatory breast cancer and died recently. I have no idea whether or not the card on the right is any good as I was an emotional mess while making it, but I *think* it has a suitably crafty, textily feel to it that's appropriate. I think that's the key with sympathy cards - rather than have a black cross on a purple background, have an image that fits and celebrates the person. Although this is basically assemblage, I spent a couple of hours finding the pieces that felt right for her. Ach, who knows. Anyway (incoherent whimpering).
I also have a card to make for someone with terminal prostate cancer. Is it me, or does 2009 suck mightily?

Odd Message

2009-02-28T21:11:00.002Z

Part of my post-Christmas craft haul was some funky foam - odd letters and various shapes. When Neil the Nomad moved yet again I wanted to make a card that said, 'Welcome to your New Home, Neil!' but unfortunately I didn't have any Ws or Ns or Ls or....well you get the picture. So I remembered something I saw in an old craft mag, and made the cheesy card on the left. Neil likes it.
I have a load of sympathy cards to make, which is very sad. Also, Sarah Richards (1962-2009) was not the sort of person that one celebrates in traditional purple and black...hmmm. Expect some unusual sympathy cards on here soon.....

Special Christmas Card, and how to make card blanks

2009-01-30T01:58:00.014Z

Amongst my post-Christmas craft trove was the piece of card on the left, with the exquisite design featuring gold and black lettering and diamanté decorations. Ideally I'd have a friend called Noel to whom to send it, but I am not so blessed, so it got made into a Christmas card.
I began by sticking it to another piece of same-sized card (from packaging - it was going to be completely covered so the printing on it didn't matter) to form the basic card. Then I collected together all my scraps of gold paper, card and ribbon, even the tiniest, and frowned thoughtfully at them for a while with my mouth open.
The next step was to cover the back of the card with gold scrap card bits, to be covered with gold snowflake and flower and heart shapes in a sort of collage/montage/mosaic-y thing. (Soundtrack: South Park 'We Need a Montage'). At this stage it looked terrible. I started sticking stuff to it randomly more in faith than in certainty, and was rewarded as it started to look kinda cool. I think. I spilled the scraps over on to the front of the card too.
Then there was the matter of the inside, which had various things about BT technology printed on it. So I covered that all over too, with wrapping paper and ribbon and torn pieces of paper edged with gold eyeshadow.
I was moderately pleased with the result, though I'm never happy with cards when I've finished them - making them is the fun part. It's all a bit flawed and obviously handmade and amateurish, with bits that don't quite fit and uneven bits and, like Neil's snowball card from last year, it actually sheds over time.... however, I can't help being quite pleased with it. At some point, when I find the right card or paper, I shall make a large envelope for it.

And so to the next project, which happens to be a gold one too. I received some packaging recently that included pieces of gold rectangular card, white on the reverse. Perfect! well nearly. There were small printed areas on the card, but these could be covered up easily enough.
If you need to cut your card down to size, scissors should be your third choice after Madame Guillotine and a craft knife, though they will do. The other choices give better, straighter, neater edges though. The next part is folding the card, which may sound simple, but if you fold it without scoring it first then it will probably buckle and craze. Most cardmakers will tell you to use a bone folder, which is neither vegan nor necessary. There are many alternatives: the blunt side of a butter knife, an embossing tool (the sort used with stencils, not the heat type) or, best of all in my experience, a biro that has no ink left in it. Score very firmly down the centre of your card (or a third and two-thirds along if you're making a trifold card) against a ruler or other hard straight edge, and then fold. It should be perfect. Even I can do that bit.
After that it was a simple matter of covering up the printing with co-ordinating card and ribbon - or I could have used an embellishment, or cut them out to make an aperture. With an envelope made of an old calendar, these will be completely re-used cards - except for the glue. I tried using flour-and-water paste, but that led to collapsible cards with a best-before date. Everything else, though, is re-used.
Have a golden year, all!
Jehanine x

Calendars to envelopes, and the Magic of Vince

2009-01-11T14:35:00.006Z

Hello all and Happy New Year! Time for ethical crafters to use all those beautiful calendars up in one way or another - for instance turning them into envelopes, as in the photos. I use kreate-a-lope stencils because they're brilliant. One doesn't even need a pair of scissors (though I tend to edge mine with crinkly scissors because I'm like that).
I also put a request out on Realcycle (similar to Freecycle - both are pretty good) for used Christmas crackers, bits of ribbon and so on, with this December in mind - organised huh? - and was sent a beautiful little parcel of ribbon by one woman, given a pile of shiny gift bags and bows by another, and then there's Vince. After asking a few questions about what would be useful, this complete stranger turned up with a whole Honda-full of wondrous craft treasure of exactly the right kinds! Hurrah for Vince! So I've been like a little kid on Christmas morning, sorting through all the glittery detritus making wonderfully adult and erudite comments such as, 'Ooh! Ooh! Shiny!' and such-like. I've also made a start on this year's Christmas cards, and I have to say that with all the free goodies they are going to be miles better than last year.
The only problem is that I can't tell you the source of all the elements. The card in the middle, for instance - the silver padded card came from where, I wonder? And the central image, in wire with diamantés - was it a decoration? The ribbon on the right-hand card is utterly beautiful - this card is going to someone special.
Isn't it sad that so much of this stuff gets thrown away, while cardmakers pay through the nose for card, glitter, ribbon and so on?
The more conventional elements - peel-offs for instance, came from a crafter who is losing her sight and giving away her stuff for small prices and charity donations. What a star. Good luck to her in her difficulties. It's worth joining a craft group of some sort - virtual if you're not that mobile or sociable - to help and/or benefit in these sorts of circumstances.
I'm happily crafting away, anyway - and I'm very glad that the world has brilliant people like Vince in it. Happy, happy, crafty, ethical New Year!
Jehanine x

More Christmas cards

2008-12-12T08:19:00.003Z

Another few cards here - one made of fabric, including the holly! A great substance out of which to cut stars and other shapes is the humble polystyrene tray - as mentioned before in this blog they can be made into stamps, too. Not that it's a good idea to buy products packaged in them, as they're so environmentally unfriendly, but if you know anyone who does, nab their trays.
The white and silver card is made from a Christmas cracker, a favourite craft material of mine. Don't let anyone you know throw them away! This one yielded two co-ordinating types of card for a nicely icy card, with some ribbon from a present as edging and a polystyrene star. Stars can also be cut from beercans, washed, cut up and flattened - see instructions in a previous post.
The centre card is supposed to look like a present but smacks rather of a cross instead, so may go to a Christian. It's so hard to get everyone's beliefs sorted out....anyway, it's fabric and ribbon again - always remember that ribbon isn't just for bows, it's for everything!
Have a merry time whatever you're up to this winter,
Jehanine x

Necklace card and looming Xmas

2008-11-05T10:31:00.007Z

Technical difficulties have prevented me from uploading photos for a while, so many thanks to Neil for sorting things out. The first card gives me a slightly weird feeling - I could have sworn that I've already uploaded this and written about it at length....anyway, it's a nice card. I used a 'necklace' theme and used up loads of bits. Living in a university town means that on any Saturday or Sunday morning one is guaranteed to find pieces of broken costume jewellery lying on the streets; cleaned, they can make good card elements, like the purple necklace in the first photo, which became the focus of the card. After that I just fiddled with layouts until I had one that I was happy with, and stuck everything down. The result is a pretty card that used up all kinds of scraps. Sadly the scan of the final card is a bit dark and rubbish, but you get the idea.

Ah, Xmas. Sigh. I've made quite a few cards, largely because I was supposed to be having a wrist operation in September. However the hospital had cleverly booked me in for an operation I'd already had, instead. Woo! Go NHS! Anyway, here are some cards - one using scraps of fabric and yarn, which always look nice; one pink girly angel one for a friend who likes that style; and one with 'snowballs' all over it for that touch of silly fun. No sophisticated techniques here, just assemblage really, but one of the things that I think is really undervalued in the culture of cardmaking is the mighty skill of sticking stuff to other stuff.
Merry whatever,
Jehanine x

New Hovel, Graduation, Ribbons, New Home

2008-07-25T15:52:00.007Z

Hidely-ho, carddiddlyardmakers. This month I've made a couple of 'Welcome to Your New Home' cards; the first is for my best mate Neil, who's moving in just down the road. Hurrah! His new hovel is about eight minutes hobble from mine, which is excellent. As we were both big fans of the Simpsons back when it was good, he got this Flanders-themed card. It's just an image of Ned cut from my tv guide, stuck to a load of Flanders quotes (which continue inside and on the back), with some illusion yarn scraps stuck down with brads round the edge. Very simple, but the idea is to make Neil chuckle, as he's very stressed at the moment.

My niece Laura graduated from Hull with a 2:2 in Psychology - very impressive considering she's had her father's leukaemia to deal with in her final year. I made her a scroll card. Use any suitable paper scrap for the scroll - I had a bit with latin words on it, so it looked suitably scholarly. Then I nicked a bit of red and gold ribbon from my Xmas stash to tie it with. As the backing paper had gold swirls on it, I cut similar gold swirls down the edge, and added Laura's name in gold lettering. A very textural card which doesn't show up well in 2D, but there you are. Pleasantly posh in the flesh, I promise.
A word about ribbons. Hopefully you'll get plenty from birthday and Christmas presents; but if you're recycling clothes, there may well be good ribbon to save there too, along with buttons, zips etc. Also when buying new underwear, it often seems to come these days with long ribbons, as if you're going to hang it up. I can't imagine ever being the sort of person who hangs up underwear, so I cut it off, wash it and stick it in the ribbon bag before I ever wear the items. You may wish to erase this thought from your minds if ever I send you a card with ribbon on, but I promise it hasn't touched me anywhere it shouldn't.

The other Welcome to Your New Home card is for my brother, who has moved to a different part of New Zealand and bought a beach house, so he has a beach hut sort of card. Remember the Capital One vellum-type envelopes? They are here as the sea! Then some yellowy, glittery stuff that was part of packaging makes a good sandy beach. A friend had given me an old craft magazine that had a page of 'the ten best beach papers' on it, so I cut shapes from those to make the hut roofs and doors, the sun and message. If you have shaped scissors then you can make fake lace/edging easily - cut plain white paper up both sides and punch little holes in the middle (I use a Victorian awl - good for putting holes in belt buckles and so forth - but you can use any poky tool, eg a used biro, small hole punch).
That's all for now folks, much love,
Jehanine

Unwanted Catalogues

2008-06-19T21:21:00.008Z

Irritating when unwanted catalogues arrive, isn't it? All that dead tree turned into a thick book of tat that you didn't ask for. Sigh.
Well, I have fun dismembering them for paper of useful colours and textures. A friend of mine turned 60 recently, and as he's a fellow member of the Vegan Organic Network I decided to make a card with a Growing theme.
I wanted to make some carrots and some peas in pods, so I needed orange and various shades of green, as in the picture. I cut strips of the orange paper and rolled them up to make nice textural carrots, cut bright green carrot tops, and used a hole punch to make little green peas. If you work in an office which has a hole punch then it's worth making lots of little circles with paper scraps - they come in useful for all sorts of cardmaking projects, from peas to Pacman to polka dots. And it has the agreeable effect of making your colleagues think you are mad.
I had a bit of a play with the layout - I found a nice third-of-a-page in the catalogue that was a nice soft green to use as a background. The photos don't really show how nice and textural the card is which is a shame, but it still looks nice. I just added the words 'to Peter' and it made a nice card that went down very well.
The rolling orange paper to make the carrots is the closest I get to 'quilling' - rolling little strips of paper with a quilling tool, to make little curled shapes of paper. It's a beautiful art and quite satisfying for the patient. Quilling makes a very textural card, which always adds class. I was quite proud of my little carrots!
Enjoy your vitamin A,
Jehanine x

'Collectable' cards, a handkerchief box, and a folded arch card

2008-05-10T09:21:00.010Z

Strewth! It's been a while, hasn't it? Well shortly after my last post I was bereaved - my venerable cat Wittgenstein (Vicky) died in February, which stopped me in my tracks for a while. Then my next card was a High School Musical themed card, which was mainly composed of exhortations to the recipient to get his get his get his get his get his get his head in the game, and stickers. Recently there's been a huge spate of birthdays, though, so I'm back in business. I forgot to scan a couple of them (and they were reeeeely good!) but here are a few of the others.
The one on the left is an image lifted directly from another card. An oriental image handpainted onto transparent fabric, it was too good to cut up or throw away, and for once I broke my own rules and used it in its entirety. The other has some old butterfly cards that came with tea many years ago. People often hang on to these things in the hope that they'll be worth something in time, which may be true if you have a complete set in good condition. I decided to just use these though, as I only have a few, on a scrap of fabric. Pretty cards, both, I think.

Here's a bit of recent scavenging: I bought a few handkerchiefs (I've always preferred them to tissues - much softer on the nose, more environmentally-friendly and agreeably old-fashioned) and saved a silver frame and a few bits of silver card from the packaging.

Last Christmas I gave you my heart, and the very next day you...no hang on....last Christmas, my best mate Neil gave me some recycled dark gold arch cards from eco-crafts, and I've finally got round to making some glorious cards with them. Two of them I forgot to scan - one was floaty images of Victorian women, and on another I used up all my pink and flowery scraps, and it looked surprisingly good. The final one, however, I remembered to scan. I used an oriental-type paper and a cat motif. On the left is the front with the 'doors' folded and tied with blue ribbon. The inside almost refused to scan, for reasons best known to itself. I had several goes, and hopefully the odd image on the right is sufficient to give you an idea of the inside of the card. I did little more than cut shapes and paste them in, but the end result is very striking and much prettier than the photos suggest.
Happy creating, all!
Much love,
Jehanine x

Stamping - rubber (and cabbage, and polystyrene, and carrot, and potato....)

2008-02-03T11:39:00.000Z

Rubber stamps are very appealing. They come as a block of lovely light maple wood, with a rubber image attached that produces a perfect image every time; or they come as a lightweight set of acrylic stamps for perfect placing. All very pretty and helpful - but also expensive and not environmentally friendly. So it's time to have some fun with stuff and do it the Ethical Cardmaker way.

I'd been eating this cabbage for weeks. It had begun as a huge green tasty thing, and was now a pale, limp Lump. Time to splosh paint over it, methinks. A friend of mine had some poster paints left over from making flags for a Eurovision Party (I have a wide variety of friends) and had kindly donated me the leftover paint, so I got sloshing.
As you can see it looked distinctly odd, but the result, when pressed on paper, was a surprisingly sophisticated Jackson Pollock-y type thing. I was well pleased - a background paper of a unique kind!

The weird pink thing that scanned oddly on the right is actually a polystyrene tray that someone had bought peaches in. My friend Cathy Park (see previous posts) had told me about polystyrene tray stamping - you draw/write with biro on the inside of the tray, ink up the raised image this produces on the bottom, and away you go. This peach tray saved me any effort at all - one peach has a sunburst pattern on it, another has the number 4, and there are also the two letters V and M. Readymade stamps from someone else's rubbish, which is one of my favourite kinds of craftiness.
You probably remember potato printing at primary school with some fondness. One hacked away at half a potato until one had produced a rough cross or circle shape, and splodged away until one had produced a nice splotchy mess for your teacher to fake-smile at encouragingly. Well, you can still do that. It's more fun when you're a grown up and can do whatever shape you want. For small motifs or shapes, carrots are even better, being harder. Go for it!
There's another item, however, that you'll probably have at least one of in your house, if only on the end of a pencil. I mean a rubber. If you've ever had a stationery set and you aren't a small child or a draughtsman, it's probably unused. Even the one on the end of the pencil can be used - slice the top off neatly if it's uneven, then you have a small circle stamp for the centre of flowers, cartoon eyes and so on. But with a bigger one, you can make your own permanent, rubber rubber stamp! (Note to American readers - I believe that you call these things erasers, rather than rubbers. I'm not talking about condom art - yet.)
Take your rubber and draw a shape on it. I've chosen a teardrop. Then cut away the excess (remember - the raised part is the part that will be the finished image) with a kitchen or Swiss Army knife. That's it, really. And it's yours for years.
Now you can stamp! I made a rain shower backing paper which I think is rather pretty; then I played about a bit more with various colours, and used the shape for petals and leaves. So the end result is a 'flower in the rain' topper which is now awaiting the right recipient. Very sweet. The paper, incidentally, came from a letter I received yesterday. The letter informed me that a shop I had never heard of was moving premises. Why was it sent to me? How on earth did I end up on their mailing list? Strange. Ah well, at least I found a use for it.
So the paper, the paint and the stamp all came from things lying about my hovel, and other people's waste.
One further idea is to do a section of a repeating pattern, so that one can use the stamp as a border pattern. For instance, a section of Greek key pattern or celtic knot could be repeated down the edge of a card, if you've the patience to draw and cut it out once. Or even a simple heart or random swirly shape could be repeated as a border. As always, have fun and play!
Love to all,
Jehanine x

Origami and Spirelli

2008-01-04T23:19:00.000Z

Origami is the art of paper-folding; spirelli is the art of winding thread, yarn or wire around a shape to create a pattern or picture. Both are great for using bits of card, paper and string. Ooh by the way, I hope you kept your Christmas wrapping paper, even if crumpled? It can still be used for origami or other craft techniques. I'm planning to do most of this year's Christmas cards with origami.
Anyway, the cut up cereal packets on the left are spirelli templates. You can buy packs of spirelli templates in the shops, but it's more environmentally-friendly to make your own. You can print off a page of free templates here: http://www.cardmaking.circleofcrafters.com/spirellitemplate.html
Then stick them to cardboard, e.g. cereal packets, and cut them out. If you have no access to a printer, draw a circle, square or triangle and mark even small spaces around it. Cut these into notches or spikes, to wind round. Then whenever you get a spare piece of white or coloured card in the post or elsewhere (my best friend's mince pies this Christmas came in a box with lovely expanses of red cardboard), you can draw round your templates and do some winding to make an unusual, simple and pretty topper. Simply wind the thread from one section to another one about six along, move one further on from where you started to one past the second one...this sounds complicated, but the second you start you'll realise how easy it is. You can see one I've done here, ornamented with a few sequins. After the initial printing out, you need never use non-waste card again.
TIP: when crafting in a group, cut the large sides from cereal packets to make craft place mats. They're good for stamping on and absorbing various craft spills.
The shirt it's next to is of course origami, but don't worry if you don't know your valley folds from your bird bases - we have the internet now and there are free anime instructions as well as photos and diagrams. To make the shirt, start with any rectangle of paper and follow the folding instructions here:
http://www.tammyyee.com/origamishirt.html
There are several origami sites that are really good - for brilliant, simple designs great for cards, see http://www.origami-club.com/en/ which has great anime to watch of most of the designs. It's perfect for beginners. If you're ready for something a little more advanced, try http://www.draftsperson.net/origami/diagrams.php
I now have a shameful confession to make. I've just made a card to someone else's design, and used a whole sheet of scrap to print out the orange squares. But look at the cats - they're so sweet....you can see the original here: http://www.cardmaking.circleofcrafters.com/anyoccasionproject6.html
This is all very normal and respectable, isn't it? Not like me at all. My next post I'm planning is how to make your own unusual stamps, from items you probably have lying about doing nothing. Oh, and cabbages.
Happy New Year!
Much love,
Jehanine x

Re-using made Cards, and Lettering

2007-11-22T21:51:00.000Z

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

2007-11-15T22:22:00.000Z

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

2007-11-07T13:01:00.000Z

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

2007-11-02T22:43:00.000Z

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!

Storage

2007-10-21T19:48:00.001Z

The trouble with found objects, recycled and reused bits and bobs is that they don't come with boxes to store them in! The problem is usually easy to remedy, though.
However careful we are to buy only environmentally-friendly packaged food, there are usually a few items that can't be had without glass or plastic jars. Instead of putting them straight into the recycling, get into the habit of thinking, can I craft with this, or use it to store craft items?
I'm a big fan of sojasun vegan desserts (the lemon one tastes like cheesecake). The glass jars (on the left in the photo; sorry it's blurry, my arms are rubbish) come with a little cap that is *very* reusable, and I keep loads of these with drawing pins, sequins, tags and all kinds of other stuff in. The jar on the right had Butler's sugar hearts in it; it has four compartments and so is ideal for keeping different colours of gems, sequins etc in. You almost certainly have similar items in your kitchen from time to time.
Larger items can be kept in shoeboxes or other cardboard boxes; if you work in an office or have a friend who does, get them to keep suitable containers for you. If you have a friend who works in a warehouse, they may be able to get hold of fantastic containers, even big wooden boxes, for you - and it's all other people's waste.
What if you need an actual piece of furniture to keep your craft stuff in - a chest of drawers, a filing cabinet, or a desk? Your best bet, both for the environment and your pocket, is freecycle. It's a genius idea - basically people give away items they no longer need or want, to people who do need or want them. Fantastic! you can find your local freecycle group here if you live in the UK: http://uk.freecycle.org/ . If you don't have a local group - start one! A word of warning, though - some groups are so busy that you can get hundreds or thousands of emails per day, so it might be worth signing up with the Daily Digest option. Personally I've got rid of all kinds of odd things, from some bottles of Diet Pepsi to an exercise ball, and I've received all sorts of useful things - most recently a 21" TV! Try it to clear your own clutter and get the things you could really do with.
What if you need something even larger - a new flat?! My books and craft bits are taking over! If anyone has the solution to this (apart from ridiculous ideas like getting rid of books, craft stuff etc), then please let me know....
Happy storing!
Jehanine x

Party Invitations

2007-10-21T18:56:00.000Z

Look at most craft advice re. the making of bulk invitations, and you'll be told to keep embellishments to a minimum and to make them all the same. Congratulations - you just became a production line! I can sympathise with the idea, particularly when making cards to sell or for a charity event, but not really the creative or environmental ethos. I have to admit that for my recent 40th birthday, I sent most invitations by that most environmentally friendly medium, email. For people not plugged in or whom I wouldn't see in person, though, I made invitations - and not by buying embellishments and making identikit cards. Most were designed for the recipient,with images I'd saved that I thought suited him or her. For instance the arty image above on torn scraps of fluffy waste paper and textured with 3D foam, went to my friend Caroline who is incredibly artistic and creative. The lady with parasol on the right went to my friend Mysty, who has a strong connection with the Victorian era. And so on and so on, as you can see by the pictures. It wasn't all about art, though - I used up many odds and ends to make the cards - you know, those scraps of paper (they were mostly turned into wine glasses or bottles), single brads and pins that don't really go with anything else - it took me several days straight and was quite intense, but the results were much praised and appreciated. For the lettering I decided to do simple calligraphy (I adapted my renowned 'struggling with arthritic fingers clumsily' font) for the most part, which looked nice - a decent pen and ink can be a good investment for the crafter. Even if your handwriting isn't gorgeous, it adds such a personal touch.
Ooh, and if you're one of the guests (as I know a few of you readers are!), many thanks for coming! the party was one of the happiest nights of my life, and being 40 rocks!
Love to all,
Jehanine x

Old Keys

2007-09-21T11:25:00.000Z

What do you do with your old keys? Whether they are the keys to suitcases that fell apart long ago, bike locks that didn't deter the bike thief, diaries that have long since been relegated to the bin, or just plain old housekeys from places you haven't lived in for decades - what do you do with them?
Well, don't throw them away! Keep them in a Key Box with the rest of your craft stuff. They're great for 18th, 21st or New Home cards, and add a nice textural touch to cards. And it's the only way yet I've found to re-use them! Here are some cards that I made for my twin niece's and nephew's 21st birthdays. Helen, my utterly fab niece, wrote back: 'Thank you so much for the gorgeous card, (with a "key to the door" on it, yay!)' Hurrah!
Oh, and if you keep your Key Box by the door, it can confuse the hell out of burglars! Have fun, love to all,
Jehanine x

Free re-used 'vellums'!

2007-07-21T15:50:00.001Z

Hi all,
Capital One, the credit card people, have been sending their mailshots in pale blue, vellum-like envelopes! Remember to ask your neighbours nicely if you may have theirs, too. This is an excellent craft material, as many of you may know, but very expensive to buy. So grab these envelopes if you get the opportunity - the colour will be great for sky or seascapes, or any 'blue' project. And you're re-using junk mail to make something beautiful, which is what ethical cardmaking is all about. Have fun!
Love to all,
Jehanine x

Odd-shaped paper and blemished cards

2007-07-21T15:37:00.000Z

Hi all,
I suppose the answer to these 'problems' is obvious - make the odd shape a feature of the card! The weird shaped bits of paper that I used for Neil's card were perfect for images of cats playing with the letters of his name. It made for a lively, asymmetrical card that looked personal rather than factory-made.
For Linda's and Tam's cards, the card blanks themselves were the problem, as they were made from card that didn't make a perfect blank (not surprising as they came from a teabag box and a waste paper basket)! I put Linda's name down the inside of the card, matching the decoration to the outside so that it looked like a cutaway card. On Tam's card there just a few little torn bits, so I cut these out into neat(ish!) squares and put the letters of her name there.

Happy Homosexual Birthday!

2007-05-28T15:39:00.000Z

Hi all,
The marketing of craft equipment often disgusts me. Men like beer, golf and football, and cards in brown or black, whereas we women like everything to be bright pink and think of nothing but shoes or bags. This is rubbish, and if your social circle reflects those stereotypes then I suggest you get out more and experience the rich diversity of humanity!
Papercraft Inspirations magazine often gives away great free gifts, and the last issue was no exception - 10 plastic craft templates. One was a woman and one was a man, and in the magazine they suggested that you make a lovely wedding card with them holding hands. Well, maybe I will, but in the meantime I had a birthday card to make for a gay friend. No problem - I used the man template twice, on a pink background (remember those Beatjuice flyers?) and finished with a peeloff and a few silver stars. This is the answer - subvert!
A film I can't recommend enough is Yes Men. One of their greatest subversive acts was to buy Barbie and GI Joe dolls, swap the voiceboxes, and place them back in the shops. So when the children opened their presents, they found GI Joe saying, 'I just love shopping with my girlfriends!' and Barbie saying, 'I leave dead men where I go'. The kids loved it - children are perceptive and have a sense of humour - and it was a peaceful and original way of making a point about toy marketing. I'm not saying I do the same, but I make unconventional cards with pride! Love to all,
Jehanine x

Present Stack Card - a tribute to Cathy Park

2007-05-28T15:10:00.000Z

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 the '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 personal (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.

Craftbits!

2007-05-27T17:57:00.000Z

Hi all,
This is just a quick entry to plug one of my favourite craft sites: http://www.Craftbits.com .The reason that they are favourites of mine is because their recycling section doesn't just have a few recycled items for sale, but has cool projects such as making a recycled plastic bag purse (or, in English English, a carrier bag handbag), a bra bag or newspaper slippers! Also they have a comp at the moment, and if you link to them, you stand a chance of winning an overlocker.....:D More soon. Ooh, before I forget, here's a TIP to make vegan-friendly, animal-friendly, wool-free felt - take an old polyester fleece jacket and wash it on the highest temperature that the machine will go, for a long time. It should shrink loads, and when dry should have taken on a felt-like appearance for use in vegan felt projects.

...the finished article!

2007-04-01T18:50:00.000Z

Hi all,
It's been pointed out that I didn't show you any finished cards using the beercan embossing/shaping technique, so here's the card I made for my friend Anthony's birthday. He's fond of birds and so I made some swans swimming on a blue satin background, edging it with some spare ribbon (I can't remember for the life of me where I got this - if you sent me the present it wrapped, sorry for forgetting the wrapping - it must have been a great present)! It's a very textural card, which doesn't really come across in the photo; anyway, I hope it inspires you to have a go yourself.
I've also taken some photos of envelopes I've made with the Kreate-a-lope - it's repetetive but quite therapeutic to take a pile of junk mail/scrap paper and make something useful and pretty from it. I tend to finish the envelopes off with animal-friendly glue and decorative edging scissors so that they look nice as well as being practical. You may notice that I'm also continuing my run of promising a post and then doing a different one. ;) Ah well - artists are allowed to be a bit unpredictable, aren't we?! Love to all, Jehanine xxx

Beercan Embossing and Embellishments!

2007-03-09T10:31:00.000Z

Hello all! As promised I'm showing you how to turn beercans into art. SAFETY NOTE: Because of sharp edges and scissors, this project is NOT suitable for children. Adults should wear protective gloves, and undertake the project at their own risk.

Right! What you will need:
empty beercan
scissors
cutting mat or knackered old table
biro, old knitting needle or posh embossing tool
any stencil (or some ideas for drawing)

Step 1. Wearing protective gloves and using kitchen scissors, cut the top and bottom off the beercan. Cut up the seam if there is one. Trim the edges and round the corners, for safety. Wash and dry it! You now have a sheet of aluminium to work with. The can is vegan cider, in case you're wondering ;)

Step 2. Pressing hard, use a biro, knitting needle or embossing tool to go

over a stencil design, or draw your own, on the printed side of the can. It will give a raised effect on the other side. Cut out this design. I've done a couple dancing for an anniversary card. A biro actually works better than the posh embossing tool in the photo!

Step 3. You can also just cut out shapes from the aluminium to make little metal embellishments - this is a 'silver' heart that is going on some blue satin for a wedding anniversary card. The simple silver heart looks stunning on the dark blue satin background.

Step 4. (not shown) To 'age' the metal and make it look like old silver, put some black paint (preferably acrylic but any will do) on a bit of tissue and rub over the embossed design. It should stick to the raised bits, giving a tarnished silver appearance. If you're lucky enough to have a brass/gold-coloured can then you can use brown or even green paint for a verdigris effect. Experiment! Mistakes don't matter because this is really cheap!

PLEASE NOTE: Do bear safety in mind - don't give children cards with small parts, and make sure no edges are sharp.
I often stick these metal bits and pieces onto fabric for a textured effect. They go well with the dark blue satin shown in the heart picture - this is an old shirt that had a big tear and a huge stain on it (I know, you can't take me anywhere), and you can expect to see a lot of it as it's done me a fair few cards!
Right m'dears, that's it for the day. My next post will be about one of my crafting inspirations, a bit of a star in the world of textile crafting, who has given me loads of help, advice, and bits and pieces. She also designed a cunning card that uses up tiny bits of leftover card, fabric, ribbon and wire, and I'm going to do a version here! See you soon!
Much love,
Jehanine
P.S. Oops, nearly forgot - these metal medallions, if embedded in some candlewax, make great 'seals' for envelopes.

Funky flyers make funky cards!

2007-02-23T12:06:00.000Z

I know I said I was going to do my beercan art next - soon, I promise! I just had to show you these flyers first. Living in a student area I get loads of flyers - many are low-quality with boring images, but just look at these! Contemporary yet accessible, floral yet energetic. If you can't make out my er, wonderful photography, there's a sort of floral explosion in various pinks, with accents of women's faces silhouetted in black. Very stylish, and at this point I must give my thanks to the designer www.myspace.com/syrupphotography who designed them for a club night - see www.myspace.com/beatjuicemanchester for details. You can also see the flyer more clearly there. They are talented and helpful people - very kind to let me hack about their work and put it up here, and full of creative energy and originality.
So what to do with the flyers? I tend to work in colours and textures. As regards the colours, the preponderance of pink is saved from tweeness by the classy black, and I decided to use the same colours for the cards (as I had some of the right colours). As the design is so strong I decided to do a couple of cards with very little input from me other than creating a background; plus one more adventurous one with a contemporary, funky feel. TIP: If a good flyer arrives through your letterbox, go and smile and your neighbours and ask for theirs too. It doesn't harm the person who made the flyer, as your request may well make your neighbour actually look at it for the first time!
As regards textures, I decided to help the explosive image jump out even more by attaching the layers with 3D foam to give depth.
So - card 1 is for my eldest sister's birthday, which is coming up. As you can see I've let the image do most of the work, simply matting and layering in suitable colours, trimming the edges of the black card with decorative edging scissors for a bit more style. If you're wondering what font I've used for her name, it's my own invention and called Random Struggles with Arthritic Fingers While Swearing A Lot. Expect to see quite a bit of it.....
Card 2 is a funkier card suitable for a young person (or young at heart). I drew freehand retro swirls for the layers, and cut out the lettering from the flyer itself to make the word 'cutie'. The words on the flyer were 'beat juice'. I had a few of them so I could use letters more than once. Fortunately (TIP) I remembered to use another useful free internet tool, the anagram server at wordsmith.org/anagram, so I put in 'beatbeatjuicejuice' and hoped for the best. Ok, I can't imagine that I'm ever going to put 'tie abject beau juice' on a card, but it gave me helpful ideas - 'beau' and 'cutie'. I decided that the latter was more in keeping with the young theme of the card. If only it had been 'beat music' - then I could have written 'mum'!
Anyway, card 3 is again a simple one, letting the image have full play, and this will probably end up as a birthday card for my funky friend Sarah in April. As you can see there's a little black cat on the envelope just as an extra bit of detail.
So if you get a funky flyer through the door - get more from your neighbours ; use lettering as well as images if possible; try different themes and styles; and thank the designer, and ask his/her permission if you're going to show the card on the internet or anywhere.
Best wishes and more soon,
Jehanine x

Materials for Ethical Cardmaking

2007-02-17T21:22:00.000Z

Obviously you want to buy as little as possible - well good news, you may not need to buy anything at all! The only essentials are scissors, glue and an old knackered table or smooth durable mat of some kind. If you buy anything, make it the Kreate-a-lope envelope template from www.eco-craft.co.uk/index as you can then make envelopes from junk mail - it's so great to find a use for them instead of just sticking them straight in the recycling! Follow the instructions and then neaten the edges with scissors before gluing (I'm planning an article devoted to glue soon....maybe I should get out more...) As you can see from the envelope in the photo, adding a little embellishment makes your creation stand out from the dull uniformity of mass-produced envelopes.
Ok, so where do you get cards and things to decorate them with? Here are some ideas: use, and ask your neighbours and friends to keep and hand over, leftover wallpaper rolls (cheaper than special papers) , that card that comes with a new shirt, used greetings cards, empty cereal boxes, any plain card they have, junk mail with interesting images, jazzy clothes in any condition (a ripped silver miniskirt made stars and moons for a year for me!) any old children's paints or craft items, beercans (yes really! I'll be doing a section on beercan embossing soon), torn books or books with missing pages, gold/silver/coloured foil inserts from chocolate bars, cigarette packets and so on......it can really be all be turned to good use. If you like, or you're an experienced cardmaker who doesn't think that eco-friendly projects will be any good, then buy some cards and matching envelopes from www.eco-craft.co.uk . I don't work for them, honestly - I'm just impressed with their products.
Right - my next post will be on project ideas, probably fabric used with beercan embossing. Just ask if you have any questions. Take care, best wishes,
Jehanine

Hi folks! Welcome to Ethical Cardmaker

2007-02-17T21:13:00.000Z

Hi everyone! My name is Jehanine and I'm a vegan and an ethical cardmaker. I use only environmentally-friendly materials for cardmaking (e.g. found objects, other people's junk, recycled/reclaimed materials) and nothing with any animal ingredients (e.g. I use synthetic, non-animal glue). The Valentine's Card in the photo was made with simple co-ordinating layers of re-used paper and recycled card, with a broken Christmas decoration as embellishment. Although ecards are the most eco-friendly way to send a greeting, I can see no wrong in making something beautiful from junk and hand-delivering it to someone you care about. In fact as well as showing them that you care enough to take time and trouble to make something personal for them, it also spreads eco-awareness. I intend to share some of my techniques and tips with you, such as where to get materials and how to use them, and also to prove to non-ethical cardmakers that they really don't need to harm the world in order to make beautiful cards.