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

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

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

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!

Storage

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