FOLDING EMBOSSED PAPER

ORIGAMI CARD AND BOOKMARKS

I love paper folding so this is not the point of this weeks post - its was, rather finding out whether this highly embossed and somewhat stretchy paper could be folded.  The answer is "yes" although I wouldn't try models that involved a lot of sharp creases as the embossing tends to tear, nor any models that need too many folds as the embossing adds thickness.  HOWEVER.......simple folds like this are fine.  Just make a waterbomb base (a square folded in half with the sides squashed in (http://www.origami-instructions.com has clear diagrams if you need them).  The next step is to lift one side on the front and squash it flat, turn over and repeat on the other side.  That's it!  Place four side by side to make the motif on the card.  Make and package a few more to give as a gift - they slip nicely over page corners to make bookmarks.

PRINTING ON BOOK PAGES

PAGE TAPED TO A4 PAPER 

CLOSE VIEW

Its easy enough to combine images using software such as Elements, but it never looks quite the same as the "real thing".  I have a few old books that I use for various projects and wanted to experiment with printing out some clip art onto the pages.  The only problem was that being a very old (and cheap) paperback, the quality of the paper was poor and I didn't want it shedding "bits" in the printer, plus it was an odd size which isn't a major issue but still a bit annoying.  The solution was to use a couple of tiny pieces of thin double sided tape to secure the book page to an ordinary piece of white A4 copier paper,  The floral picture was placed in the middle of an A4 document, and then printed out onto the taped book page.  It all worked rather well except.........I knew which side of the paper the printer printed on but obviously now realize that I didn't know which way up it printed as it ended up being upside down - something you can't get away with when using text!!  Oh well, the point of this blog is to try different things each week and work out how to improve my efforts the next time around!!  (P.S. The pretty picture of the lily was free clipart but I didn't reference where it came from - sorry- I'd love to add the appropriate attribution if anyone recognizes the source).

PAPER EARRINGS-

Here are some earrings made with cardboard and paper and I think quite wearable.

I cut six circles of the same size out of very thick card with my Cuttlebug. I then stuck some text scrapbooking paper to another piece of the the card with double-sided Jac paper, and cut two more circles.

The circles were then divided into two groups and stuck together with Jac paper to form a really thick base.

A thick coating of Dimensional Magic was put on top of the patterned paper, and when it was dry, and earring post was glued to the back.

I decorated the top of a paper mache box with a book page, and smudged some brown ink over the top.  The rosette is made with layers of punched  flower shapes secured in the middle with a split pin, and the packing is scrunched up book pages.

PAPER COVERED BOXES

BOX WITH EMBOSSED PAPER AND PAINTED EDGES

BOX WITH HANDMADE PAPER WITH LEAVES AND FIBRE

 Marvin has been out in the shed making me some MDF boxes so I can experiment with different finishes.  I'm not totally happy with any of these examples but I have learnt quite a bit along the way, and they aren't so bad that they can't be used.

The first box was edged with gold paint and covered with a highly embossed paper. I used doublesided Jac paper to stick the paper, which worked really well.  The only issue was that as the paper was quite highly raised, it didn't sit nicely on the bits where it joined the wood.  A lot of sanding with an emery board and retouching helped a lot but I think gorgeous as this paper is, I'll use a flatter one in the future.

The second box was a real surprise.  I had some small squares of  different coloured handmade papers with leaves and fibre that were not big enough to cover any of the panels.  I didn't think obvious joins would look good so I ripped it into small pieces (with hindsight not the easiest thing to do to paper with so many "solids"), and stuck them to the box with Mod Podge, each slightlty overlapping the other.  The "surprise" element was that whilst the coloured papers covered the surface, the the white paper disappeared completely once the glue was applied, so that the "raw" box was visible with the leaves etc appearing to sit directly on the surface.  It added a really interesting element.  I finished off with about three coats of Mod Podge.  I hadn't really factored "disappearing paper" into my plans but will now test all papers if I'm gluing them on to a particular surface.  If I can find enough of the paper I might have another go at this one as it has potential.

The third box is painted, and decorated with a Kaiser wooden flourish.  The "paper" bit of this one is the lining - simply suede paper applied to very thick card and cut to a very snug fit so glue is unnecessary. I did this in case the lining needs to be replaced at some stage.  (Its not sitting quite straight in the photo but it just needs a little push on the front edge to fix it).  The edge of the cardboard looked surprisingly brown (I just used packing board) so I ran around the edge with a marker (permanant) in a green to match the box.

PAINTED BOX

SUEDE PAPER BOX LINING.

COLOURING VERSAMARK STAMPS

VERSAMARK AND KAISER PENS

Yes I know this is very "ordinary' colouring of an otherwise very nice Kaiser stamp HOWEVER fortunately I wasn't trying for a masterpiece of  colouring technique.  I was, rather,  experimenting with the idea that if I stamped in Versamark I'd be able to see the outlines clearly enough to colour without them being too obvious afterwards.......in other words, to make the images look more "drawn"  and less "stamped".  It works best on coloured "dyed through" papers but it does work, as shown in this example

WOVEN PAPER BABY CARD

PAPER WEAVING

 I hate to see things thrown away that could be useful, but began to doubt myself with these little strips that were in the paper bin at work, until I began to weave them together.

The end result reminded me of old-fashioned white wicker baby bassinets, so I put the panel under a Regal teddy bear cut-out  to make an interesting base for a baby card

I soon worked out that the easiest way to do this was to anchor one row of strips with double sided tape on one side of the aperture of the card with a small space between each piece.  Then run another row of tape at right angles and anchor each of the subsequent strips (running the other way) as I went, leaving the ends of each  unanchored until the weaving was completed to make it easy to adjust . When everything is neatly in place, run normal tape around all the edges to secure (It will be hidden under the third panel of the card.)
I will probably add a bow to the teddy's neck and an appropriate greeting to complete the card, and for the time being, the the little white strips have saved themselves from a second trip to the rubbish.

WOVEN TEDDY BEAR

DIY COLOUR SCHEMES

COUNTRY LANDSCAPE

SPRING

AUTUMN

I have a bit of a tendency to use fairly "safe' colour schemes, and think that maybe its time to branch out a bit.

All I've done here is use the eyedropper tool in Elements to select a few colours from each photograph, by way of inspiration.

The country and spring colour schemes are fairly conventional but the autumn example throws up some fairly interesting combinations.

The next step of course, is to stop playing with the charts and actually translate the colours into papercraft projects!!!!

CATHEDRAL WINDOW CARD

Pink squares set into blue circles, with the edges folded over, make a faux "Cathedral Window" quilt.  I've added a bit of lace and ribbon to make a new baby card, but I think if I was actually making it "for real", I'd skip the fiddly bits and just cover an entire square card with the folded circle/square units as they are quite decorative enough on their own.

FRAMED WALLPAPER

FRAMED WALLPAPER

A visitor asked me why I had a frame with nothing in it when she saw this picture on my wall.  Had she been wearing her glasses, she would have seen these samples of gorgeous vintage white wallpaper which have pride of place at the top of the stairs.

HEAT FOAM STAMPS

STAMP FROM EMBOSSING FOLDER

I've had a heat foam stamp for ages and was sad to find that they were no longer being made (at least the sort I had).  I was instantly happy again when I read on the back of the new Rub-it Scrub-it packet, that the reverse side of the Rub-it-Scrub-it pad could be used in the same way i.e. you heat it with your craft heat gun and then press something with a texture into it.   After that you use it as you would a normal stamp until you want a change, then just heat it and re-use.

The example on the left was done with the Rub-it Scrub-it and an embossing folder.  The example below was made with my old heat-foam stamp with the imprint of a crystal dish.

STAMP FROM CRYSTAL DISH

TEALIGHT CANDLE HOLDER

TEALIGHT CANDLE HOLDER

We've been playing with our new(ish) forstner drill bits.  Marvin (the pseudonym preferred by my husband for the purposes of this blog....."dreadful, isn't it") made this tealight holder with cut-outs for the candles and for glass cabochons  We put some lovely blue-green paper with silver detail underneath the glass.  The photos don't really do it justice but the metallic pattern glints beautifully when the candles are lit.

FLAG CARD

FRONT OF FLAG CARD

 A flag card is easy to construct and has high impact "looks".  All I did to make this one was to make an accordion fold spine and sandwich it between the covers (using double sided tape to secure).  Stick one lot of "flags"to the top and bottom of one side of each fold and the other to the rear between them.  When you open the card up they pop out in different directions.  You can vary the size of the "flags" and the number etc.
Because I was making this one as a sample, I cheated and used some paper sample swatches for the "flags" and just popped on a punched shape to decorate.  In other words I wouldn't actually plan to give this to anyone, although I do prefer to keep the cover plain when there is an interesting middle.

As I was making it, it did occur to me that a slightly larger version of the flag card would make a great little mini album.

INSIDE OF FLAG CARD

BRUSH MARKERS AND STAMPS

BRUSH MARKERS AND STAMPS - EXAMPLES

I'm still making myself explore different ways of adding colour to images.....who knows it might grow on me.

I have used my new set of Art Stamps Australia brush markers for these images.  These pens are water based (i.e. not alcohol based like the new Kaiser pens or Copics).

They are suitable for colouring straight onto stamps before stamping BUT they work best on rubber rather than acrylic.

The solid "LIFE" (Kaiser) stamp was the worst result - the colour beaded and went distinctly splotchy.....I guess if you're after a distressed result it might have applications.  The butterfly outline stamp (also Kaiser) was a bit patchy but worked OK.

I wasn't overly keen on the results on the rubber (Rubbadubbadoo) trees either - once again the ink seemed to bead.  this might have been my fault, however, as I think I might have used too much ink.  A lighter touch on the strawberry (also Rubbadubbadoo) worked much better.  Finally the result I was seeking!!!!

The best outcome though was actually colouring in a prestamped image (Judikins).  I just put a tiny bit of colour on each petal of the flower and dragged it using a damp paint brush and "ta da"...instant shading!  I think this is how I'll be using the markers from now on.

RUBIK'S CUBE NEVERENDING CARD

I did a demo at work this week with a 70s theme.  I'm not sure that anyone else liked this, but it was my favourite - an adaptation of the "Neverending Card" as a Rubiks cube card (and yes I know I've forgotten the orange!).

There are lots of different instructions available for the neverending card - some can be horribly confusing.
 http://www.victorineoriginals.com/images/samples/instructions/neverendingcard.html has great easy to follow steps.  Obviously there are more conventional ways to decorate these cards.

ORIGAMI SHIRT CARDS

ORIGAMI SHIRT CARDS

Not all origami is highly three dimensional or huge.  There are lots of models that can be either used "as is" or easily adapted for use on cards.

This shirt is one of my favourites as it can be modified in lots of different ways to suit the particular occasion - add buttons or brooches, ties or scarves, colour in various ways etc.  Add a pocket and fill it with various items (hankies, tools, pens etc.etc.  There are a so many things you can do.  I've just made a couple of quick examples.

This shirt pattern is from Start Origami by Mark Bolitho but lots of other variations are available on-line