paper-craft kit // pastel & neon decorations
Hello lovely people! I have been putting together a paper-craft kit which is now for sale on ETSY…yay! The kit costs only £6.00 (approx. $9.60 USD) and makes 8 decorations which you can hang up.
The idea came about because I have always struggled to buy kits I actually like. And also because I hate having to buy a whole pack of paper when I only need a few sheets for a particular project.
I’m really hoping that this is the start of a range of craft kits that will be available through my shop…let’s see how it goes! (I actually feel quite nervous about pressing the ‘publish’ button on this post!).
OVERVIEW:
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MAKES: 8 decorations (+ additional model which you can practice on)
DIMENSION: Approx 5cm³ – 6cm³ (depending on model)
MAKE TIME: Approx 2.5 – 4 hours
KIT INCLUDES
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+ Materials to make 8 hanging decorations (+ materials to make an additional ‘practise’ decoration)
+ 9 sheets of pre-printed card (colour: pastel blue)
+ 9 pieces of pre-printed neon paper (colour: yellow, green, pink & orange)
+ 9 lengths of ‘DMC Light Effects’ neon embroidery thread. Each length is 15cm long (colour: yellow, green, pink & orange)
+ Full printed instructions
YOU WILL NEED:
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Scissors or craft knife
Ruler
Cutting mat
Needle (for scoring)
Double sided sticky tape (recommended)
Glue-stick or white glue
If you have any comments or ideas do leave a message ^_^
By the way the font in the top image is called Knewave and it’s free! Go to theleagueofmoveabletype.com. (Love every last font on that site!)
Printable wrap {halloween edition!}
Do you give people presents at Halloween? If so, here is some printable wrap you might like to use. The templates are A4 so only suitable for small presents. (As you can see I hijacked pacman again ^_^)
We have had a terrible year in the UK for rain…it has been coming down by the bucket-load for months on end…hence the raindrop sheet!
The templates are at the end of the post. Have a great week ^_^
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TEMPLATES
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Raindrop wrap
Pacman wrap
Lightning wrap
Book news and a bit of chat!
Hello! I thought I would write a post to let you know what I have been up to lately. I don’t often write about my day-to-day life for fear of boring you all to death!
My youngest son started school about a month ago which has been a big occasion for us all He’s settled in really well which is just fantastic (although I have to peel him off the floor when I pick him up because he is absolutely exhausted). So, for the next year at least, I have my days free. I am planning to return to ‘proper’ work next September-ish! Between now and then I will be concentrating on all things minieco.
I signed another book contract last month which I am over the moon about. I’m going to write a craft book for grown-ups and this time I am working with a different publisher, called Cicada Books. Cicada Books is a small British publishing company and they have been producing some really lovely books over the last few years (see images below). So if I am not putting posts together for minieco then you know what I am up to. I’ll keep you up to date with progress ^_^
BTW I am very very late at getting the responses up for the questionnaire I did a while back. I am hoping to do that next week!
I do hope that you are all well and happy wherever you are in the world. It’s great that you all still stop by (and lovely to see lots of new faces stopping by too).
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You Are Awesome by Abbey Hendrickson is hot off the press and well worth getting your crafty mitts on. Abbey has a lovely blog too.
I bought State of Craft last year and just loved it. It’s a great read and features many big names in the crafting world like Tatty Divine and Hello Sandwich.
Ghost treat boxes
Just a bit of housekeeping before I begin. I have been making a few changes to the layout of the site so, if this page looks odd, right-click and select reload. (If you are still having problems please email me, or leave a comment, and I will get back to you).
I saw these ghost milk bottles and thought they were very cute and easy…however I couldn’t get hold of little milk bottles so made some milk cartons instead which I’m going to stuff with Halloween goodies for the kids (& my hubby!).
There are seven simple designs in all (including a few pac-man inspired ones) so you can print out your favourite one/s.
HOW-TO
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You will need:
// White paper or thin card
// Glue stick or double sided tape
// Scissors
// Something to score your paper with. I use a needle and metal ruler.
// Treats to fill your box with
STEP-BY-STEP
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1. Print out one of the following templates then cut, score and fold along all the lines (see the ‘cutting/scoring plan’ below for more details).
Design 1, Design 2, Design 3, Design 4, Design 5, Design 6, Design 7
2. Cut and score along all the lines (see the ‘cutting/scoring plan’ below for more details).
3. Fold into box shape and secure tabs with a gluestick or sticky tape.
4. Carefully press the sides of the carton in to create the tetra-pak style top.
5. Fill your boxes with treats, confetti and even a spooky joke!
6. Tape the top closed. I used washi tape but you can use a paper-clip, split pin or anything that comes to hand.
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SCORING/CUTTING PLAN
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- Cut along solid lines
- Score and fold along dotted lines
Hope you all have a fab weekend ^_^
Donkey Piñata // Handmade Living
I made a donkey Piñata for Handmade Living last month and here are the results. He’s pretty cute eh?! My kids love him so much that they were horrified to think we were going to beat him with a stick….so he’s been adopted by them and has become their newest pet!
This issue is out on the 28th Septemeber. You can buy it online here, or you can buy it from WHSmiths in the UK.
Halloween craft coming up next week. Have fun until then x
I ♥ marbling
I saw these chocolate wrappers on Oh Joy ages ago and they completely changed my mind about marbling (I always used to think marbled paper looked a bit dull and assumed you needed loads of equipment).
It turns out it’s not so hard…and the results can be really colourful (Yay!).
HOW-TO
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You will need:
// Marbling paint. I used Marabu Easy Marble (not a sponsored plug!)
// A tray (I used a recycled foil food container)
// Paper (make sure it fits inside your tray)
// Water
// Cocktail sticks (a twig will do!)
// White spirit for cleaning up (or cooking oil…see comments section below for details)
// Newspaper
// An old top or Apron
STEP-BY-STEP
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1. Fill your foil container with some water….a few inches is fine. Then pop some drops of marbling paint onto the water. Limit your palette to three or four colours.
2. Give the water a swirl with a cocktail stick.
3. Shake a few more drops into the water if you fancy!
4. Once you are happy with the pattern gently lower your paper on top of the water and leave it for a few moments.
5. Then carefully lift the paper off the surface of the water.
6. Pop your design, face up, on some newspaper to dry.
HINTS & TIPS
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- Use a scrap of cardboard to ‘scrape’ the top of the water in-between each go. That will get rid of any paint residue from your previous attempt.
- I used coloured paper. Because of this, one of the marbling colours I chose was a transparent colour (crystal clear), that way you get to see the colour of the paper too.
- If you are doing this with kids I would definitely recommend using some gloves and an apron…it gets a bit messy.
- Have fun!! I found marbling incredibly relaxing so grab a bit pile of paper before you start…you will get through it.
- When your paper has dried, press it under some heavy books to make it flatter & smoother! Make sure you sandwich it between greaseproof paper just in case it leaves a mark.
- If you want some more inspiration then check out my Pinterest marbling board ^_^
- This particular marbling paint is oil-based so you will need white spirit to clean up any spills.
gems & crystals // printable paper
Hello! The gem obsession continues and I have been working on some printable paper that you can download and use for wrapping gifts or scrapbooking etc.
I’ve also made a few of my paper-cut gems in black which I prefer (I think)….I want to make about a 40 or so and stick them on the wall (in reality this might have to go onto the future projects list)!!
My youngest son started school yesterday which was a very happy/sad occasion. He’s doing half days for a few weeks and then I will be spending all my time on the website (and a new book which I’m keen to tell you about).
Hope you are all well & happy ^_^
- All I need… (my mum's blog x)
- Arvindgupta Toys
- Beci Orpin
- Chez Beeper Bebe
- Colossal
- Craftgawker
- Crow roosters crow
- Curly Birds
- diy or die
- Fine Little Day
- Handmade Charlotte
- Hello Kiddo
- IDN Magazine
- Kickcan & Conkers
- Kireei
- le dans la
- LMNOP
- Lullatone home orchestra
- misako mimoko
- Officers (my cousins band)
- Papercrave
- Piles of washing
- Poppytalk
- Red Ted Art
- Sausage Jar
- Swiss Miss
- Tattly
- Wabi-sabi wanderings
- What I Made
- Whipup
