Art Cards

This week at work we've put up the end of year art exhibition. On Tuesday night we had the private view where some of the students get awards for their work this year. The Head of Art asked me if I had some handmade cards we could give the winners, so I made these 6 especially for them. 

The starting points for most of the cards were these paint experiments that the students made throughout the year and then abandoned in the 6th room. I scooped them up and put them to good use. 

For these cards I cut out a geometric pattern using a craft knife and layered the patterned paper underneath. I stuck pieces of coloured paper on some of the triangles, picking out colours from the patterned paper.

For this card I used a Sharpie to draw mandala style doodles over patterned paper, which I spray mounted to a folded piece of red card.

This was the quickest card to make. I just made water colour paint splodges and when they dried I drew feathers using a fine liner on top.

Which card is your favourite?

Embroidered Knitting

I've had this project from Good Knits of embroidered 'knitting' favourited for ages and I finally got around to trying it to make a birthday card for my Mum.

I used the same heart pattern as in the tutorial and made the holes with my pokey tool.

I followed the instructions to do chain stitch and I think it turned out quite well. The holes could have been a little closer to really make it look like knitting, but it still looks good.

Greetings Cards

Here's a few greetings cards I've been working on.

The first set are some last minute Christmas cards I made for the art teachers I work with using the stag lino cut I made a couple of months ago. To make them more Christmas-y (and cover up the slightly messy prints) I added gold paint and red noses.

The second set were cards I wanted to get printed for a while but was just waiting for the right offer. £5 credit combined with cyber Monday deals made printing these cards with Photobox more affordable. I used this scanned paper image from a while ago. I think it's really fun and it will work as a birthday card or congratulations card.

Confetti Printed Cards

One of the teachers I work with recently became a Dad so I made this card for him.

I was quite impressed with what a bit of tissue paper and the fonts in Word can produce.

So I decided to make some more cards using that style to sell at the craft fair I've got next week.

My circle paper punch is still my favourite thing and I used it to make the tissue paper confetti.

I randomly stuck the circles to blank cards which I sent through the printer to get the message printed on, which I created in Word using Word art. Nothing fancy here.

Cards Using Paintings

I've had my paintings printing on greetings cards by photo websites before but you have to buy in bulk and have at least 10 printed of each design. When the only person buying your cards in your Grandad this can be a problem. So I've come up with a way of creating cards using my paintings that are one offs. And they start to use my ribbon stash and my blank cards.

I printed some of my paintings, like this one and this one, onto paper them stuck the picture onto white card and trimmed it so it left a small border. 

The part that took the longest was deciding which ribbons to use and how to place them. I put a few small bits of double sided sticky tape on the ribbon to stick it on the front, then a used selotape to stick them to the inside. I think I will cover the end with a sticker to neaten it up.

I used glue dots to stick the card to the front.

I think the ribbon adds to the image as it picks out the colours.

I can see myself making lots of these using all my different paintings.

This Week I...

...mostly worked and mass-produced things for upcoming craft fairs, which doesn't make for very interesting photos.

I did however receive some interesting deliveries in the post which I'll share with you.

I'll start by saying that I wasn't sponsored or anything by the companies mentioned - I wish, right! - I'm just a regular customer.

The first thing was these new business cards I ordered from Vistaprint. I only have business cards with a photo of one of my miniatures on so I thought it was about time to get some with a painting on. Since my Beach Feet painting was so popular at the recent exhibition it was in I chose that image for the cards.

Vistaprint had a great deal on where I got 250 business cards for something like £14, and free delivery. They even threw in a free business card holder.

They do try to sell you more things at every stage of the checkout process which can get annoying, as do the many emails after purchase with more offers and things to buy, but it's worth it to get the great deal.

I also got some greeting cards printed with three of my paintings on. This one, this one and this one.

I looked around on a few different photo sites and found that Photobox had the best deal as they had a 3 for 3 offer on card packs. 

This meant I got 3 packs of 10 A6 size cards, for about £23, and that includes the delivery.

They also come with envelopes which is incredibly useful as I don't have to worry about finding envelopes to match the size of the cards. 

And the images came out really well on the glossy card.

So how was your week?

Anyone making their own merch?

Colour In Cards

For my friend Lizzi's birthday card this year (You know Lizzi. Helped me dye my hair? Yeah, her) I used the colour-in images I'd made previously. I stuck a box of crayons to the inside of the card with an additional orange crayon so she could colour in her hair.

When I told my sister about this, she wanted one too.

Her birthday is only a couple of weeks after Lizzi's so I got to work.

I used the same method as before - which you can read all about here - and used a photo taken off Facebook of my sister and her friends all costumed up.

The picture looked weirder with the faces drawn in, believe me.

And this is the finished card after it had been received and coloured in!

Mother's Day

Did all you Brits remember Mother's Day yesterday?

I did, here's the card I gave my Mum.

I drew out the word Mum on the inside and filled it in with pattern. Then I grabbed my craft knife and got to work cutting out all the shapes. I finished it off by sticking some coloured paper behind to make the word show up.

There's a hole in this card!

I recently found this photo of greetings cards where the image is made of holes. (I can't remember the source, if anyone knows, please let me know)

So I thought I'd give it a go. 

It's not the easiest thing to photograph but here is a celebratory balloon for my sister's birthday. I drew it out on the back first and then went to work equipped with a large needle and a thimble.

Different effects can be created depending on which side you make the holes through. Fancy.

What a hoot

My friend was raving about this card from M&S so I decided to make my own version for her birthday. Which is today; Happy Birthday Robyn!

Owls + buttons + googly eyes = Awesome

I've discovered that owls are very big at the moment (big as in popular, not giant owls- that would be weird)

Check out these owl cushions at RJB Stone

These cute owl pom poms are super simple to make. Find out how at maedchenmitherz

Owl cupcakes! Nom nom nom. From Catching Fireflies

And speaking of fireflies...

:)

Garden fence greeting card

This project came about when I wanted to find a use for the packets of little bits of wood that come with canvases. Does anyone know what they're actually for? I think it's got something to do with the corners. 

Since I don't use them for their intended purpose, whatever that may be, I've got a lot of these little packets lying around. Then one day I realised they looked like planks of wood on a fence, and thus; the garden fence greetings card. 

Start by gluing the wood pieces onto a plain card. I used blue card so that it looks like the sky.

Conveniently, there are the right number of wood pieces in one packet to make one card.

Put a few heavy books on the card while the glue is drying to keep the wood stuck down.

Gather lots of different flower shapes. I used flower sequins, beads, paper flowers and bits taken off Christmas decorations.

Stick the flowers onto the wood.

Add green paint with a cocktail stick to make the stems of the flowers and added foliage.

Add it's as easy as that. I think they work quite well as Fathers Day cards, cos Dads tend to like garden fences, right? But they could also be birthday cards, or just general best wishes.

This project has been featured on All Free Holiday Crafts. Check it out!

What To Wear birthday card

For my friend's birthday I decided to make her a fun card based on old-fashioned paper dolls. There are three sliders on the card which move to create a new outfit!

To make this card I started by drawing a body outline which would be the base for all of the outfits so they would be the same size. I split up the body into three sections; one for tops, one for bottoms, and one for shoes.

I then cut three strips of paper with the widths matching those of the outfit sections.

Next I traced the body outline onto the strips three times, as this card was going to feature three different outfits.

I drew the items of clothing onto the strips, using the body outline as a guideline, and coloured them in. Alternatively, if you didn't want to draw the clothes, you could cut out clothes from magazines and stick them on, making sure they're roughly the same size.

I then folded a piece of A4 card in half and cut four slits of equal length on one side. The length is the combined size of the three sections.

The widths relate to the spacing of the outfits on the strips of paper.

I then slotted the strips of paper in the card. They can be slid from side to side to reveal a new item of clothing.

As finishing touches I drew two piles of clothes either side of the figure and added a photo of my friend's face. I hope she likes it.