Tea Gift: Swing Bag Card

Tea bags are – in my experience – a fun gift to send with a Welcome Home card. This week I’m sharing my idea to send two, by way of what I’ve since dubbed a swing bag card: a double card with a swinging bag hanging from its ‘nook’ fold 🙂

The very sturdy double-sided design paper I used was perfect to use as is, with no cardstock at all. The sheet is called Rooster Row and it’s from 49 and Market’s latest collection, Cottage Life.

I also created a little stand to prevent the card from being pulled down by the weight of the suspended tea pouch.

All in all a pretty simple card, yet with an original design element. Let me know what you think in the comment section below! And of course, like & share! ??

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How to Gift an E-book as a Paper Craft Project

Have you ever tried gifting an e-book to someone? If so then you know there’s not much fun to be had. You either give the person money or a gift card to buy it himself, or perhaps you email them a gift code. Or if you’re really making an effort, you find an online e-book vendor which allows you to buy a specific e-book for someone else. Which requires you to register at said vendor, which you may find very annoying.

Your purchase will then result in an email of the vendor to the recipient, or maybe a voucher will be mailed to you so you can email or print it. Pfff. Like I said, not much fun to be had. No gift wrapping, no happy anticipation before unwrapping the surprise gift, no happy squeals when the present is finally revealed. Welcome to the Digital Age.

Though we cannot change the digital nature of the e-book, we can make it more fun to gift an e-book to someone! The only thing you have to buy is a (physical) gift card that will allow the recipient to buy e-books. You’ll probably be able to buy those in several brick & mortar shops – so no registration required, no annoying emails received.

And then you’ll craft a very festive Mini File Folio like the one I’m sharing with you today, in which you’ll put your gift card and a nicely printed title & summary of the e-book(s) you have in mind for your recipient. And voila, there’s your Very Presentable present.

As an added bonus you’ll probable be able to gift them two e-books for the price of one physical book!

To whom are you going to gift an e-book this way? 🙂

 

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“Every day is Father’s Day” card

So what if it’s not Father’s Day anytime soon! I just wanted to give my dad a special card, just to let him know I love and appreciate him, and I was going to do it right now. 🙂

My father loves his nature, flowers and animals, so I took a sheet of cream-colored A4 paper, added a couple of pieces of the perfectly fitting Flora and Fauna design paper and got to work! Oh, and also, I harvested some of the pears and apples growing in my garden so as to make a cute autumn harvest basket for my dad. Needless to say, he loved it!

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Large pockets & tags card + bookmark – “Mediterranean”

Ah, those beautiful last days of summer… In the Netherlands summer has been short but sweet, with the early September sun trying its best to still give us a little warmth. So before we have to say goodbye to summer definitively, we can take one more look at it and celebrate its vibrant colours with this cheery birthday card!

It’s turned out rather large (A5), has a strong blue (think Mediterranean Sea) for its base and sports several tags and pockets. And, as a special bonus feature, there’s a bookmark too! An actual one, not a digital one – just adding that for the young people reading this and wondering what a paper bookmark might be… 😉

Here’s a little photo shoot I did. The design paper I used is by some nameless Dutch brand, it has no title of its own but I’m calling it Mediterranean. Because it looks……. Mediterranean – but then again, you’d already figured that one out yourself, had you not? 🙂

Front – setting the Mediterranean tone with a sunny flip pocket:

Inside the flip pocket is – of course – a tag. I will personalize it by printing some birthday wishes onto it and who knows, I may even do some stamping!

Inside – Summer landscape on the left, sea-themed pocket on the right, with a dolphin tag hanging from a gold-colored brad and a blue ribbon along the border of the pocket. The pocket holds a bookmark, with a quote from a well-known Dutch literary writer. The quote reads something like: “Good literature has the ability to make us see through another person’s eyes.”

Back – Two matching side-loading pockets with identical dolphin tags/photo mats. On the other side of the tags is room for journaling, or for writing some personal messages to the recipient.

What colors do you associate with summer? And with what craft project are you saying goodbye to this year’s summer season? 

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Summer tag card “Mediterranean”

One of my very first scrapping projects was actually a tag card for my friend. I had found its design on the internet, created by a lady called Elsa, with Justafew Designs (you can check out her Youtube channel here). The tag card is quite easy to make and you can personalize it with photos or beautiful pictures.

My first tag card

I don’t know about you all, but here in the Netherlands we’ve had an unexpectedly hot summer the last couple of weeks. So to inspire your summer craft projects, here’s an alternative version of that first little tag card of mine – mediterranean style!

Click here if you can’t see the video below.

 

Klik hier als je het filmpje hieronder niet kunt zien.

Are you working on any summer-themed craft projects? By all means, let me know and share your thoughts/ideas! 🙂

Until next time, stay creative!

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Birthday mini pocket gift card

Another one of my “August projects” :-), this is actually an alternative rendering of one of my first mini card designs. I used the Sweet Threads paper pad by Basic Grey again because it’s simply too lovely not to use regularly.

Click here if you can’t see the video below.

 

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Mini Pocket Fold-out card

The ancestry mini album of one my previous blog posts was commissioned as a birthday gift for my aunt. So I decided that the birthday card I would send to her, would be a companion piece to go with that album. I chose Kathy Orta’s design for what she’s called a mini pocket page and added my own styling – and of course some printed tags (for what I would I do without at least a couple of those!).

This fold-out card is created with only one piece of cardstock!

Anyway, very pleased with the result – this Ancestry paper is so gorgeous btw, I love it!

Click here if you can’t see the video below.

Happy scrapping, until next time!

 

How to create a mini wallet birthday card (for a guy)

There’s of course many different ways to create a mini wallet. Here’s one that I designed and created myself, and I’d like to show you how I did it – since it’s so simple it would be a shame not to share! (and it will only take about 5 minutes of your precious time!)

I used Graphic 45’s design paper stack A Proper Gentleman to decorate, since it is perfect for creating a birthday card (or any kind of card) for a guy.

Click here if you can’t see the video below.

 

Klik hier als je het filmpje hieronder niet kunt zien.

Dutch translation:
Leuk kadokaarthoudertje, prima als verjaardagskaart te gebruiken. Ik was al een tijdje op zoek naar papier dat voor een man geschikt zou zijn (geen bloemetjes, vlindertjes en felgekleurde sierpatroontjes) en was dan ook blij met de ontdekking van dit papier van Graphic 45: A Proper Gentleman. Ideaal om naar een man te sturen!

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Two birthday photo wallets (and hosting my first workshop)

Recently I used the design of the Uptown Flair birthday photo wallet to teach my first scrapping workshop! I received three ladies into my home to show them the first steps of scrapbooking techniques. It was super fun having to actually lay the table, only this time using cutting mat, craft knife, bone folder and ruler for plates & cutlery 🙂

The ladies had great fun creating their own photo wallets, and once the creative juices started flowing each of them came up with some pretty great ways to embellish their cards!

Each photo wallet was created using two olive green envelopes & cards, plus an extra piece of lime green card stock. We matted with Basic Grey’s lovely Sweet Threads design paper, using the 6×6 inch pad. Although none of the photo wallets were completely finished, they were done by about 90%, so here’s the results after a little over four hours of scrapping fun:

And here’s some extra shots of my own photo wallet, which I’ll send to my aunt for her birthday in June. I finished it a couple of days after the workshop. I put some flower seeds in its middle pocket, by way of “sending a bunch of flowers” – with a wink 😉

On the inner right page I will put a nice photo portret of my aunt. The two small pink tags (Beautiful and Feminine) will be put on top of it, by way of “positive commentary” on how I think about my aunt.

Now, I can’t leave you guys without a video can I ;-), so here’s the video (English and Dutch versions) of the photo wallet that I used as a model during the workshop, to show the ladies what we were going to create, how it was going to look, how it could be used, etc. Enjoy your paper crafting!

Click here if you can’t see the video below.

 

Klik hier als je onderstaande video niet kunt zien.

Cute summer booklet

Here’s a cute little booklet of my own design, in the bright summer colours of Uptown Flair design paper by The Paper Studio.
Useable as a gift card holder, or simply as a card holder just like I’m doing here, just using the entire thing as a birthday card.

No distressing this time, just a few embellishments without overdoing it.

Click here if you don’t see the video below.

 

Klik hier als je het Nederlandstalige filmpje hieronder niet kunt zien.

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Explosion box with “Fiddlesticks” design paper

I really love this western-like jeans, lace & wood design paper by My Mind’s Eye. This 6×6 inch (15×15 cm) paper shows fascinating combinations of colors, fabrics and textures and also comes with two sheets of tags. Check out my paper walkthrough to see what I mean; I loved working with it!

This is my first explosion box. The most difficult challenge was probably “how not to use the entire paper pad in one explosion box” – but I managed 😉

An explosion box is a lot of work but its rewards are as great: it really makes its recipients happy, their eyes widening with wonder and glee when they lift its lid! :-)The one I made here is probably its most simple form; I’m already contemplating more layers, more pockets, more doors, more… everything! So keep an eye out for my next design! 🙂

Click here if you don’t see the video below.

 

Klik hier als je het filmpje hieronder niet kunt zien.

Een explosiedoosje is veel werk, maar het is ook wel superleuk om aan iemand te geven door de verrassing die het doosje in zich bergt, en die tevoorschijn “springt” als de nieuwsgierige ontvanger het dekseltje optilt 🙂

Ook eentje bestellen? Kijk in mijn Showroom.

Flora and Fauna Photo wallet / gift card

A couple of weeks ago I found a nice little Youtube tutorial for a photo wallet made of only one piece of doublesided 12×12 inch paper (30×30 cm). So I chose a beautiful, stylish piece of design paper by K&Company, Flora and Fauna, and got to work.

Keeping a bit low profile with the embellishments, I tried to make the wallet as flat as possible. Assuming the person who receives it might want to keep her business cards nicely together in her handbag, any 3D embellisments or bling would run the risk of coming off and getting lost in said handbag. So I kept it nice, flat and simple and just used some ribbon and a border punch.

Here’s the minimalist yet still very feminine end result!

Click here if you can’t see the video.

 

En hier is de Nederlandstalige video!

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