Pretty Papers + Famous Swans

Did you do anything crafty this weekend?

I spent lots of time sorting through my craft supplies as part of my ongoing effort to tidy, declutter and generally organise my studio (I'm making progress, but slowly!)

I also did some nice relaxing paper crafting...

All these decorative papers were cover gifts with issues of docrafts Creativity magazine. I've designed several projects for the magazine over the past couple of years and have always been very impressed with their cover gifts.

The docrafts team have featured my free felt swan brooch tutorial in this month's issue (#67) and they kindly sent me a copy of the magazine - thanks guys!

 

There were three cover gifts included: a roll of craft tape, some little paper notes for making cards and tags, and a paper pack from their new Geometric Neon range.

I loved the neon designs so much (those little metallic details! omg!) I knew I had to schedule some time to craft with them asap.

(The other paper packs are from the Owl Folk and Simply Floral ranges.)

I spent several happy hours cutting and sticking these pretty papers, while while catching up with episodes of shows like Gotham, Supernatural and the X-Files. A highly enjoyable way to spend some time!

Scraps, Colour Samples and a Crafty Cake

This week has been very hectic as I've been juggling a bunch of different projects - brainstorming ideas and pitching designs for a couple of deadlines, stitching and photographing things for another, plus doing all the usual crafty, bloggy, emaily stuff that goes on in my working week.

One of the projects I'm working on involves pretty Liberty fabric. The scraps are so pretty I can't bear to throw even the teeniest of them away! I must think up a way to use them for something crafty... hmm...

The dark weather this time of year makes photo-taking a challenge. There's just so few hours of usable daylight and sometimes it's so gloomy that "light" seems like too strong a word to use! I am currently dividing my schedule into "daylight" and "non daylight" tasks, so I can make the most of the light that is available before it fades.

A particularly tricky thing to photograph even in good light = neon colours, which I was working with this week. I did lots of experimenting with different backgrounds to get the neon shades to look right.

 

 

One of my "non daylight" tasks was to sort through some old sketches and project proposals, adding unused ideas to my box of "project idea" index cards. One set of sketches has some colour samples attached, which I thought were much too pretty not to photograph before I threw them away:

It has mostly been work work work work work here this week, but there has been time for cake (check out those button-shaped berries and "knitted" leaves!)...

... and for a flick through some copies of the wonderful UPPERCASE magazine.

I've been meaning to buy some copies of UPPERCASE for simply ages but after listening to this interview with the editor I could resist no longer and treated myself to some back issues plus the lovely Work/Life illustration directories.

They are going to be perfect reading material for evenings when I want to relax and soak up some inspiration away from the internet (I love you, internet, but too much of you is a bad thing!) and for when our yowly cat decides it is time for me to STOP WORKING AND GIVE HER CUDDLES THIS INSTANT :)

How To: Minimalist Neon Christmas Cards & Tags

Today I'm sharing an easy "how to" for making simple Christmas cards and tags from neon felt.

  

This is a super simple design but the bright colour + the texture of the felt = a great combo. Of course, you could use any colour of felt for this project but the neon colours work so well!

 

I used acrylic felt for this project, the same type sold at Fuzzy Fish (as "lime" and "punk pink"). Cloud Craft also sell neon pink felt. (Full disclosure, these shops are currently sponsors of my blog but these are in no way sponsored links... I just love neon felt!). If you've spotted other places selling neon felt, please share a link in the comments :)

 

You will need:

Blank card & tags - I used these recycled cards from Paperchase
Felt
Fabric scissors
The templates at the bottom of this post
Glue or double sided sticky tape (and scissors for cutting the tape)
A black marker or other pen
Optional: a pencil, ruler and eraser

To make the cards:

1. Use the large template provided to cut out your Christmas tree shapes, one for each card you want to send.

2. Stick one tree to each card. You can use craft glue or pieces of double-sided tape. Peeling off the tape can be a bit fiddly but it's mess-free and sticks felt to card really well with no lumps or bumps. Make sure to leave space at the bottom of the card to write your greeting, if you want to add one.

3. Use a marker or other pen to write a simple greeting under the tree. It's a good idea to write the text in pencil first to make sure you get it nicely centred. You can also use a ruler to give yourself a straight line to write across. Wait until the ink is totally dry and then erase the pencil lines.

I tried using a silver marker for the card with the green tree but it didn't work at all as the silver didn't show up well on the brown card. Oops! However, silver lettering would look great if you were using black cards.

For a super minimalist look, leave the cards text free!

To make the tags:

1. Use the small template provided to cut out your Christmas tree shapes. If needed, resize the template to fit your tags. I used ready-made blank tags but you could make some yourself from blank card, a hole punch and a piece of string/twine/yarn/etc.

2. Stick a Christmas tree to each tag. You don't need much to attach the trees - I just used one piece of double-sided tape. 

And that's it! Quick and easy tags ready for dressing up your parcels. These tags would look great paired with brown paper and silver ribbons... or with other neon gift-wrapping supplies. Neon London sell a great selection of neon ribbons and wrap. 

Click here to view the template sheet in a new window or tab. Make sure you're viewing it full size, then print at 100%.

This tutorial is for personal use only. You may borrow a couple of photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to this page on my blog, and do not reproduce my entire tutorial / share my templates on your site. Thanks!

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