Hanafuda Card Necklace

After showing you hanafuda card tags on a previous blog post, I started to think about what else I could create with the colorful rectangle Japanese playing cards.  I decided that they might make unique jewelry. I began by using a hand drill to make two small holes on the top of a card. Then I strung some brass wire through the holes and formed hanging loops.  Next, I coated the front of the card with one minute UV LED resin (Padico (sold at HM Ben Franklin Crafts)). I used a LED light (available at HM Beb Franklin Crafts) to set the resin.  I applied the resin to the back and edges of the card as well before setting it with the light.

 It took a long time to select just the right beads from my stash and wire them together to form a 24 inch beaded chain.  I didn't put a clasp on the necklace because it is long enough to slip over my head.  I am so happy with the outcome of this project that I am making another necklace using the resined hanafuda card in the photo below.  I hope that you will look around and see what non-traditional items you can incorporate into your crafts. I'm sure you will create something wonderful because you ARE so crafty.  Happy Creative Crafting!

Everything Pumpkin Spice Card and Tag

You know it's fall when the pumpkin spice flavored drinks and desserts start appearing everywhere.  Although I'm not a fan of boba tea, I do like the Lawn Fawn Build-A-Drink-Bubble Tea Add-On die set.  I thought it would be fun to make a shaker confetti element out of the bubble tea cup. I thought about the construction for a long time and then decided to just cut the plain cup out of another piece of vellum and then glue it to the back of the cup using Fabri Tac glue. Although this shaker confetti element doesn't have very much room for the pumpkin pie and green sparkly confetti, they do move around enough. Because I used vellum for the cup lid and straw, it was necessary to adhere them to the card with a special tape that doesn't show through very much.  (I'm not sure if the tape dispenser I have in the supplies photo is a brand sold at HM Ben Franklin Crafts, but the store does carry other brands which I'm sure will work under vellum, too. The Whimsy character hugging the cup actually was holding on to another cup that I fussy cut out. The words and image was stamped with permanent dark brown ink before coloring in with Copic pens. The background of the card was made from the front and back of a printed card stock sheet which is probably no longer available, but HM Ben Franklin Crafts has stacks of 12x12 two sided printed autumn themed card stock so I'm sure you can find something to please you.

With the leftover paper scraps on my work table, I fashioned a matching Everything Pumpkin Spice tag.  At first I was going to deorate the doughnut with colorful sprinkles but decided I wanted it to look like it came from a fancy bake shop so I applied Nuvo white Crystal Drops to look like a sugar glaze and then sprinkled on some gold flakes (sold as craft confetti) so that it appears to be edible glitter like the type used in some classy bakeries.  Although I'd love to linger longer and play with my autumn craft supplies, it's time to move on the Christmas craft goodies. I can't wait to get started.  HO HO HO! Time to be JOLLY!

     

Autumn Leaves Blessings Card

Even though we don't really have an autumn season in Hawaii, it still is my favorite time of the year.  I love the colors of autumn and the idea of the trees dropping their leaves....so pretty.  In honor of this gorgeoius display of nature, I made a card with golden, sparkly leaves. The leaves were cut with metal dies from Cutter Bee and Spellbinders.  I used Japanese washi papers that were crinkled and came in really large sheets.  I think they are available at HM Ben Franklin Crafts (Mapunapuna).  One sheet was green with gold/copper/silver flecks of foil and the other one was crinkled white with colored spots.  Before die cutting the leaves, I sprayed the washi paper with Tim Holtz Distress inks. (I only had green and golden yellow sets but a reddish rust color set would have been a good addition.)  Once the inks were dry, I used the leaf dies to cut out crinkly leaves with vein details.  Using a Hero Arts (old wood handled one), I stamped the saying on a small rectangle of paper that coordinated with the card.  The edges of the rectangle were rubbed with the same ink color.  I used my Misti stamp aligner to make sure my TPC Studio  (Autumn Harvest) clear stamp images would end up exactly where I wanted them to be.  The final step for this card was gluing down the golden, speckled leaves.  Once I was satisfied with the arrangement I applied the 3 in 1 Fabri-Tac glue (from HM BFC) to get a quick, secure, clear adhesion.  This card was super fast and fun to create and I think I'll use the leaf technique to decorate other items like tags, boxes, and calendars.  I think you should try making your own autumn leaves. It will make you feel a little like Mother Nature (LOL) and result in a pile of lovely, sparkly, leaves!

Chocolate Fruitcake Brownies

                                

As the holiday season quickly approaches, I find myself searching for new recipes that will yield edible gifts for friends and family.  I saw a Martha Stewart recipe (Big Batch Triple Chocolate Brownie Bars) online which seemed tasty but really huge for a pre-holiday taste test. I love fruitcake and brownies and this recipe appeared to be a delightful combination of both desserts.  However, I also didn't want to prepare the recipe because I already had a box of Ghiradelli brownie mix in my pantry.  Mainly, I wanted to taste test out the combination of dried fruits and nuts in a brownie.  What you see on this post is the result of a  box of brownie mix for an 8x8 pan and 2 cups of dried cranberries, golden raisins, dates, walnuts and pistachios.  I think the end product is worth trying again with the original Martha Stewart recipe.  I love the texture and taste that the fruits and nuts add to the brownies.  I think in the future I will reserve some of the fruits and nuts to sprinkle on top of the brownies before baking.  That will make the brownies more attractive and give the consumer a hint of what's inside.  I used a mini nine loaf pan to make the fruitcake brownies and paper liners to make clean up easier.  You can probably find both the mini loaf pan and liners at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  There are lots of baking/candy making supplies available at all the HM Ben Franklin stores. The messy photo below shows why you should use paper liners.  I plan to freeze the brownies and then remove the liners before wrapping them in plastic wrap or decorative wax paper before packaging them for gift giving.  Wouldn't they look yummy in a pretty hand decorated gift bag?

Autumnal Mushroom Fairy Treat Bags

                                     

When we travel on Hawaiian Airlines to places beyond the islands, I look forward to the snack/meal bags they pass out...not because of the food inside but because the bags are charming and perfect for decorating.  This time I chose to use a Penny Black stamp set (Missing You) to stamp out images, color with Copic pens and fussy cut.  I added the images to the bags with adhesive foam dots.

I added some artificial autumn leaves (cut off from a garland purchased at HM Ben Franklin Crafts) and  glued on some die cut fern fronds and mushrooms.  These were made with Hero Arts Mushrooms and Ferns Fancy Dies. Some specialty yarn (from my collection) was added to the bottom of each bag to give the appearance of a forest floor.

For the back of the bags, I decided to add some ribbon and wax seals with mushroom designs which were leftover from my previous post about mini calendars.  These wax seals on the back of the bags, as well as the autumn leaves on the bag fronts, were added for decoration and to cover up the Hawaiian Airlines logo.     

I am hoping that I will continue to receive a supply of the Hawaiian Airlines snack bags even though the airline was bought out by Alaska Airlines. This year my decorated HA bags will be used to hold homemade cookie hostess gifts. If you are a frugal crafter who likes recycling, I hope that you will start saving HA snack bags too.  I'm certain you can create something fabulous from them.

Autumnal Mini Calendars with Wax Seals

I recently purchased a large wax seal tool with a mushroom design. Because I couldn't wait to try it out I immediately started to melt some wax pellets with my hot air gun (done on a silicon mat).  Although the hot air gun blows the pellets around a bit, little pools of melted wax can be formed.  I pressed the wax seal tool into the puddles of wax and after the wax hardened and cooled, pretty, shiny ovals resulted. (You can still purchase wax sealing candles to make the melted wax puddles, but I don't like using fire in my craft area.)

I glued these wax 'jewels' and ribbons to the top of calendars.  The calendar bases were made from 4"x12"  printed card stock folded into stand up forms that can be flattened to fit into an envelope. I admit that I'm a wax seal junkie so I am very happy that HM Ben Franklin Crafts sells both the wax pellets and the handled metal sealing tools.  If your pressed seals don't look quite right you can always remelt the wax or even trim it into a more pleasing shape before remelting the edges.  Using wax seals is a very old fashion stationery decoration, but it is really fun to create and collect all the different metal sealing tools.  I hope you'll give making wax seals a try but be warned, "It's addictive!"  

P.S. I haven't purchased my 2026 mini calendars yet.....hence the use of old 2025 calendar pages for my mini 2026 gift calendars. 

Halloween Bookmark Treats

 Sometimes it's nice to offer trick-o-treaters something other than candy for a treat.  This year I decided to make bookmarks from my Halloween paper scraps and give our trick-o-treaters a sweet no-sugar treat.  It was easy to use my paper trimmer to cut the card stock into bookmark-sized pieces.  I glued two pieces, facing plain sides together.  Next, I added stickers and Halloween ephemera to the fronts.

For the backs I adhered sticker letters, mini cats, and candy stickers.  On the top of each bookmark, I punched a hole and attached some colorful specialty yarn.  It was super simple to make these Halloween bookmark treats but you could also offer mini soap bars (be sure to label them, 'Do Not Eat'), small toys (Daiso and HM Ben Franklin have lots) mini books,or perhaps sticker sheets.  I hate wasting even small scraps of paper, so making bookmarks is super satisfying.  Surprise the trick-o-treaters this year and offer them something that will make the fun of Halloween last longer than some sugary sweets.