When I first started writing, I wrote greeting card verse, predominantly for a company called Oatmeal Studios. It was fun thinking up clever and mildly amusing text for greeting cards, but it wasn't really much more than a hobby (I had other writing goals), so I moved on to fiction. That said, I still love the idea of making up my own cards rather than buying them. So here are some more ideas for greeting cards, courtesy of YouTube and all the fine craftspeople who post there. So get out your scissors, glue, pretty paper and any other supplies you might have, and let's see what kind of unique cards we can make.
Here's a very simple one that you can embellish any way you'd like.
Another pop up card
I like this shaker card, because you make your own shaker materials instead of buying glitter or confetti.
Enjoy making your own cards (and, hopefully, saving money)!
Who doesn't love bubble wrap? That popping sound practically begs us to attack it, right? But of course bubble wrap is also madly useful, and bubble wrap mailers have given me peace of mind more than once (I just know that whatever I'm mailing will arrive intact).
Still, I don't always have a mailer lying around, and besides, the ones I use are just the usual business yellow type. How much more awesome to send bright, colorful ones whenever it's appropriate to be a bit less formal. And they can be bought. Here's a link to some on Etsy.
But they tend to be sold in bulk, and sometimes I want just one. Also, making things is just so darn much fun, so of course, there are people online explaining how to make your own bubble mailers. Here's a website with all the instructions you need to create your own one of a kind decorative bubble mailers. She used scrapbook paper, but another instructional mentioned card stock or pretty (I'm assuming heavier) paper as options.
And, as usual, I've included an instructional video as well. This one was very interesting (with nice music) even though the envelopes she's making are a bit smaller than what I tend to use.
I've also seen videos where the crafter used double sided tape to hold things together (and also made larger envelopes), but all of them were very long and not particularly well made, so I hope the website and video above are enough to give you some ideas about how easy this is. I think I'm going to find this really useful this Christmas when I'm looking for package sending ideas (I think I'll reinforce Christmas wrapping paper with either heavy paper or white card stock).
I've mentioned it here before (several times, I'm sure), but I'm not much for fancy gift wrapping when it comes to my own gift giving. That's because I'm a)lazy about some things, b)usually forget/put off gift wrapping until the last minute and therefore am short on time and/or supplies and c)a fancy wrapped gift is more difficult to transport than something less crushable.
That said, I used to love decorating gifts and I am still in awe of those who can and do create works of art when it come to gift wrapping. I'm a little bit fascinated by gift wrap artists in the same way I'm fascinated by street artists, television painters (Bob Ross, anyone?) and cooks (The Great British Baking Show is a current favorite). So, here are my latest finds on the internet (not all of these are new, just new to me).
A cute way to wrap a t-shirt or other article of clothing:
A mini-bag (this looks like something you could easily dress up):
I love this next idea. It's simple (so simple even I could pull it off), but also rather elegant.
Well, spring keeps trying to show its face here in the Chicago area. The tulips are pushing up, my lilacs look as if they intend to leaf out, and I even saw some snowdrops in the area the other day, even though it was still February.
So, in the spirit of spring, I decided to check out some spring crafts. Paper butterflies, that is. The ones I made look like this (note that while these were easy and quick to make, if you were able to examine them closely, you'd see that I did have to tape a couple of them in strategic places). I think they might be nice if I punched holes in the tops of the wings, threaded some ribbon through and created a butterfly banner. I might try that next.
Here's the video with the instructions. It's pretty short and easy to follow, but of course, I had to pause it and rerun some parts several times. The important thing to remember is when you fold up that very last part, the bottom wings will curl under slightly (that's the way it is supposed to be). Don't try to make it flat. If you do, you won't have enough material to bring up and over for that final step, and you won't get that lovely 3D effect. (I'm not sure what size paper she was using in the video. All of mine except for one were 6 x 6 inches).
Here's another butterfly that's even simpler to make. I think these would look nice if there were a lot of them and they were hanging from the ceiling.
So...just a little something to tide us all over until spring is here in earnest.
