Quick Sticker Art Cards

It's impossible for me to walk by a sticker display without picking up a few packs of delightful miniature paper art.  Whether here (HM Ben Franklin Crafts and Daiso) or in Japan, the quality and unique styles of stickers has exploded in quantity and been elevated to mini artworks.  I decided to see if I could use stickers to design some quick cards. This is my first attempt.  I included some cool stickers that look like old fashion wax seals, a misty acetate large floral rectangle, and some tiny people Daiso stickers. The addition of a Heiko ribbon on the lightly printed card blank finished off the super quick and easy sticker card.  Because everyone is short on time, I think you'll be excited to see how quick and easy it is to create a card that looks like it came from a fancy stationery store. I know once you start making these sticker cards you'll be stuck on the beauty of the artsy stickers available at our HM Ben Franklin Crafts and Daiso stores. 

 

Double Happiness Wedding Card

 When I create a wedding card, I always think elegant, simple, and minimal colors.  I had planned to use a sheer, wispy paper with gold and silver flecks but I couldn't find it in my stash...sigh....a hazard of hoarding.  My substitute paper was a sheer vellum-like piece with light blue watercolor colors and gold flecks.  The main background paper is a piece of washi paper with flying cranes printed in a silver color. The golden square with the double happiness characters is a sticker purchased from Japan.  I tried my best to match the gold colors and shine on the card.  Luckily, I had just the right gold washi paper to use for the cranes.  Because the washi sheet is rather large, I ended up cutting origami squares with a 2" square die from a Hero Arts die set. I then folded the cranes...it's one of the few origami folds that I can do without instructions. To assemble the card, I used Fabri-Tac glue, double stick adhesive tape, and a tape runner.  Washi paper is a bit tricky to glue down because it often has loose fibers that don't want to adhere to other surfaces, which is why I had to try several adhesives (sometimes in combination).  Also the sheer vellum paper makes it difficult to hide some adhesives.  The layout of the washi papers on the card blank was simple as I put the emphasis on elegance.  I wish I could tell you exactly where to purchase the papers I used on this card but hoarders don't remember where....we just buy more!  I suggest you try finding specialty washi papers at HM Ben Franklin Crafts in Mapunapuna.  I saw some beautiful sheets there.....hurry up and shop before a paper hoarder adds them to her stash!  LOL!

'Baby On The Way' Shower Card

I wanted to craft a baby shower card that was a little unusual because the baby-to-be's mother is a graphic designer. Making the card upright to fit into a standard shape envelope seemed like a good  starting place.  The standard envelopes sold at Daiso are not only budget-wise but come in a good assortment of pastel colors.  I have a lot of baby-themed card stock scraps so I chose a partial sheet of Bella BLVD to form the card base.  Next I searched through my stash of letters because I wanted to spell 'BABY' on the front of the card.  Since I didn't have any letters of the right size I decided to die cut some but I didn't have any letter dies of the right size either.  Finally, I remembered a We R Memory Keepers gadget that I purchased years ago. It is capable of cutting any letter in a large basic font.  After cutting out the appropriate letters, I glued them onto the card front from which I had earlier clipped the corners with a Corner Cropper tool (We R Memory Keepers).  Since I didn't buy stickers to match the 12x12 Echo Park baby themed paper, I decided to fussy cut out some of the images to attach to the card front with foam dot adhesives.             

                                                

Inside the card I attached a gift card pocket made with a Lawn Fawn diagonal gift pocket die. For an element of motion, I made a confetti pocket using a Heiko cello bag and a word panel cut from a 12x12 Echo Park Special Delivery printed card stock. (Surprise! I didn't put the confetti shaker on the front of the card.)  Again I added some fussy cut creatures and the BABY shower card was complete. It was fun to design a card in a different format instead of the usual 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 standard size.  Sometimes size does matter and will make your card stand out as well as challenge your creativity.  I think the card looks original and perfect for a soon-to-be born Baby Boy!

Sweet Hair Clips and Decorative Jar

As I was browsing the new items in the Japanese Crafts area of Mapunapuna HM Ben Franklin Crafts store, I spied some cute and whimsical plastic charms that I thought would look adorable as hair clips.  Not only were the pastel colors super sweet, the charms had flat backs and no holes....perfect!  After purchasing two bags of charms (about 12 in a bag), I headed to Daiso to find some plain hair clips.  I found just what I needed... polka dotted pastel colored clips with four different colors in a pack for only $1.75!  I purchased two packs so that I could fashion four sets. It was easy peasy to use Fabri-Tac to glue the plastic charms to the clips.  I like Fabri-tac because it has a good consistency and doesn't dry too quickly so there is time to adjust the placement of the charm.  To add extra strength to the hair clips, I added a little Padico resin on the back around the charm and set the resin with a UV light.  

After pairing up all the charms for hair clip sets, I decided to the extras on to a Daiso glass jar with a wooden lid.  As with the hair clips, I used FabriTac glue first and then applied Padico UV light resin once I was satisfied with the arrangement of the charms.  (The little plastic hearts are beads from Daiso.)

I think any little girl would love a decorated jar like this filled with sweet pastel colored hair clips.  The jar would also be great for holding candy, cosmetics, hair ribbons, etc.  The next time you need a gift or party favors, I know that you can easily and quickly craft some sweet and charming girlie-girl pretties like these. Give it a try!

Japanese Crafts at Mapunapuna HM Ben Franklin Crafts

Recently, I had the opportunity to see the new Japanese Crafts being sold at Mapunapuna HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  The department was not fully set up, but I was pleased to see the variety of crafts and supplies being sold. I felt like I was shopping in Japan!

One of the crafts that I was impressed with (and bought) was the fabric kits. The designs were fabulous and it seemed like something I could do.  I'm excited to create the small rabbit wall hanging.

Another section of the Japanese Crafts area that had my eyeballs popping was the origami paper selection.  I've been collecting origami paper for years and I still couldn't resist getting a few more packs.  The area also had some large single sheets of washi paper that I had to get too. (I think some of the sheets were from Celebrations which has now become part of this Japan Crafts area.)

Are you addicted to washi tape?  I especially love the ones that look like strips of printed washi paper.  They make beautiful additions to cards and envelopes.  HM Ben Franklin Crafts in Mapunapuna now has a massive selection and variety of washi tapes just for you!

Of course, I couldn't stop myself from getting some of the new stuffed key chain kits.  They come in so many popular characters. I chose my favorites...Sumikko Gurashi and Rilakkuma.  I think I definitely will NEED to go back to get my other FAVORITE characters.

While at the Japan Hobby Show, I was intrigued by the Paper Theater Art kits so I was delighted to see them selling at the Mapunapuna HM Ben Franklin Crafts store.  These kits enable you to make a diorama-like  scene of some popular characters and stories.  I love the intricate look of the finished products and I think adults and teens will love making these decorative art pieces.  I hope you will take some time to see the new Japanese Craft items in Mapunapuna HM Ben Franklin Crafts store.  I know you will feel like you just walked into a craft store in Tokyo or Osaka and you won't have to fly to Japan to do some exciting crafty shopping! 

 

Bridal Shower Card for a Macaron Baker

This card was made for a niece who will soon be married.  She is an excellent macaron baker. (Macarons are delicate, light French cookies with a sweet cream filling.)  I thought it would be fun to make the bride-to-be a shower card using my cute (Neat & Tangled) Paris stamp set because it has macaron cookie images.  I decided that I wanted the card to have a shaker element...gosh I do love shaker cards!  I began this card by cutting a piece of white card stock slightly smaller than the pink card blank.  I used the House Mart brand of Lucky Money rub on gold to apply the Congratulations! onto the top of the white blank card. Then I stamped the macarons on different colored card stock before I cut out just the top macaron,  Next I used a white gel pen to color in the cream filling.  After the 'cream filings' were dry I placed the macarons and some heart confetti into a Heiko cello bag (available at HM BFC). The shaker bag was then taped shut and double stick tape was used to adhere it to the card blank. 

Next the sweet girl image was stamped, colored with Copic pens and fussy cut (without the Eiffel Tower). One of the double macarons was stamped on pink card stock and the white gel pen used on the bottom cookie.  After cutting off the top macron other colored cookies were glued to the stack before the four macaron stack was glued to the girl's head.  A piece of lace was glued onto the head of the bride for the veil, sparkle gel paint was added to her dress and a pink sparkle enamel sticker heart was applied to her dress.

As usual, I spent lots of time just shaking this card.  It's fun to see where the macarons will land. LOL!  I hope that the bride-to-be will be amused by this card. I think it turned out sweet and charming just like the bride.  Start a 'movement' to shake up the ordinary ho-hum card...make a shaker card today!

P.S.  The gold rub-on 'Congratulations!" was from the graduation set.  I plan to use the Wedding rub-ons to decorate the envelope for the shower card.
 

Circle Scrap Cards

As I was going through my paper scrap pile, I noticed there were some similar themed ones.  Specifically, I found birthday design pieces and sweet frozen treat scraps.  I decided that using my circle dies might be a simple way to design a card from the scraps. (I love my Spellbinders set because it allows me to strategically cut the circles from the printed paper.) It was fun cutting various sized circles and arranging them in a pleasing pattern on a card blank.  I also die cut My Favorite Things word circles from DCVW foil paper and glued them down after the patterned paper circles were glued in place.  The cards still didn't feel complete so I added small enameled dot stickers to jazz up the cards.  I may have gone overboard with the yellow dots on the Happy Birthday card, but I do think they go well with the circle theme of the cards.  Anyway, I hope this gives you another idea of what to do with your paper scraps.  I still have a bushelful of paper scraps (printed and solid) so I will continue to think of ways to use them up (perhaps it's time to make some tags...LOL!).  Happy Scrap Crafting!

 

Quick Cards from My Scrap Pile

What do you do when your paper scraps are overflowing your scrap bin?  Well I decided it was time to make CARDS!  People often send me pretty cards (not handmade) that are just too nice to throw away but I can't keep them all.  My solution is to recycle the best parts of the cards by adhering them onto my 'scrap' cards.  It doesn't take much time to cut (love my Fiskars paper trimmer) the cards and other solid colored paper down and attach them to a card blank.  Voila!  You have a pretty new card to mail (perhaps to the original card sender) LOL!. 

For this card I decided to make a triangular pocket with a floral print piece of scrap paper. I glued it to a white embossed floral print scrap and added some paper flowers.  Finally, I made a small tag card to tuck into the pocket for a secret message. Adding some fancy ribbons and a cute word sticker made it unlikely that the recipient would guess that most of the parts came from my scrap pile.  I hope that you will give the papers in your scrap pile (You are saving those scraps aren't you?) a second look and have fun creating something new and pretty.  'Waste Not, Want Not' is my motto.  Happy Scrappy Cards!