Our DIY Wedding: Part 3 - Mail

This is the last installment (I think) of our DIY Wedding series.  I'm anxious to get started on some tutorials. So, that should be coming soon.

For this last installment, I decided to cover the wedding items that had to be mailed out.

First was the Save the Dates.  We actually went rather simple with these.  One weekend, we went out with our tripod, and Eric's new camera, and took some pictures with the camera timer, and Eric doing a lot of running. :)  We picked one that we liked, did some customization on it using Paint.NET (free software), took the image to Costco for prints, and sent them out.  Here's how it turned out.

Next, the invitations.  I did all the design work and printing at home.  I printed the information on cardstock (cheap at Big Lots!) and bought some corresponding scrapbook paper for the outer cover of the invite.  I wrapped it all with a soft mesh ribbon before placing it into the envelope.  Here's how it looked.

Once the wedding was over, I wanted to make something special with the thank you cards. Here's what I came up with.  Also, I wanted to play with embossing powder and a heat gun. :)

And lastly, the announcements.  Since our wedding was on the smaller side and a destination wedding, there were several relatives and friends that we were unable to invite.  So, I created these announcements with a "save the date" / invitation to a local family bbq reception.

That's it.  :)  Hope this helps inspire ideas.

Tutorials are coming soon. :)

Quilted Christmas Card

For me, this is the time of year when I finally decide on what I actually want to do for Christmas cards.    Here is an easy homemade card to sew up.

What you need:

- felt

- ribbon

- fabric

- tape (I used painters tape, but masking tape would work well too.  Not sure about scotch tape.)

- card stock

How to:

1. Cut a felt triangle, it doesn't have to be perfect, but make sure it fits the envelop you want to use, if you plan to place it in an envelop.

2. Cut a fabric triangle about a half inch larger (all around) than the felt.  Place felt on top of the wrong side of the fabric.

3.  Starting with the corners, fold fabric over the felt.  Tape down the corners with a small bit of tape.  Try not to tape on to the other side of the felt.  Fold in the edges.

4. Cut some card stock roughly larger than the size of the triangle.  You can cut it the size of the felt, but I found that it was difficult to sew it in place.

5.  Sew the card stock onto the back of the fabric/felt triangle.  On the very top corner, stick a ribbon loop in before sewing.

6.  Trim the card stock to the size of the triangle.

7.  Glue a piece of ribbon around the card to cover the sew line. 

8.  That's it.  You can write your message on the card stock and send it away.  

Happy Holiday Crafting!

5 minute Valentine's Day Card

Here's a quick card for you to make for Valentine's Day.  Really it can be for any occasion given the design that you choose.  It uses 3 sheets of scrapbook paper (one vellum, one dark color, and one light color), stacked and tied together with a ribbon.

Making them is super easy.  Using a paper trimmer makes it all the more easier. Stack all the papers, choose the height of the card you want, and trim the stack. Fold the stack.

Using an hobby knife, make 2 small slits through all 3 sheets, where the ribbon would go. As long as each slit is equidistant away from the top or bottom.  Slip the ribbon in the slits so both ends of the ribbon are on the outside (vellum side) of the card, and tie a bow.  Trim the excess ribbon and that's it.

You can put whatever you want on the inside of the card, or even just find a nice quotation that you like.

Here's the quote I wrote in this card:

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart
--Helen Keller

I got this idea from the Michael's Book of Arts and Crafts.

Plantable Cards

In celebration of Earth Day later this week,  I thought I'd share this project with you guys.  This is a plantable greeting card.  It's made with used paper, blended to a pulp, with seeds embedded.  The idea is when you give a card to someone, that person can plant the card and get flowers in the near future.  I bet they would make good gift tags as well. 

So here's how to make them.

Materials:

white paper, the more print ink you have on it, the darker gray it is

hot water

seeds

embroidery hoop

screen or tulle fabric

cardboard reverse cut-out of the shape you want.

foil

spatula or something similar to spread

towels for drying.

How to:

1. Tear the paper into small bits. I tore them to about 1 inch squares.

2. Place paper bits in a blender.  Add hot water (enough to cover the water) and blend til it's somewhat smooth pulp.

3. Remove the pulp from a blender, let mixture cool down to room temperature, and stir in the seeds.  (I used a full packet of California Golden Poppies).  The ratio of paper to seed really depends on how dispersed you want the seeds.

4. Take your cardboard and wrap it in foil.  Stretch the tulle or screen on the embroidery hoop so it's taut.  Place the foil wrapped cardboard shape on top of the embroidery hoop. You're now ready to add the pulp and start making the paper.

5.  Place a towel under the embroidery hoop and screen.  Start spreading the pulp mixture into the card cut out.  Use the spatula to lay the pulp mixture evenly.

6. Remove the cardboard top, and place a towel on top and press down gently.  

7.  Transfer onto the towel by turning over onto the towel, and peeling away the embroidery loop. Place a dry folded towel on top and press down (be sure you're on a flat surface).Let dry on the towel for a full day, or until it's completely dry.  Once it's half dry, if you want to transfer it to a dryer towel, feel free to do so.  

8.  After it's fully dry, carefully fold the paper into a card, and begin to decorate it.  I chose to use simple colored pencils to draw a picture of the flower that the seed represents.  The paper can be planted just like regular seeds.  Just place it on the ground with a  layer of dirt. The card can also be cut into pieces and planted in different locations.

I placed a small piece of the seed paper on top of a sponge in a small saucer with water, so I can take a picture of the seeds sprouting.

That's it.  Enjoy giving out your card. 

Happy Earth Day! Remember to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Chicharon Adventures Turns Two! Fabric Stitched Piggy Card

As I have mentioned before (around this time last year), my cousin and friend have a clothing company named Chicharon Adventures.  Well, this past weekend they celebrated their 2nd year anniversary.  This past year seems to have just flown by, and a lot of good things came their way (collaborations with stores, bands, an awesome new look, and even more cool designs)... proving to be yet another successful year for them.  I'm quite proud of their accomplishments and wish them further success in the future.  Since, I couldn't make it to their anniversary bbq this past weekend, I decided I'd make a card to send to them.  I made a card last year too.

Anyway, here's what I came up with. It's a the fabric CA pig, machine stitched onto a card with hand embroidered details.  Here's what I did.

Materials:
- card stock and /or blank card.
- CA pig or other design that you want to put in a card
- heat n bond fusing material
- fabric
- dmc thread and needle
- button for the nose

1.  Adhere fusing material to fabric. Cut a small piece of the fusing material. Keep the protective paper on one side, and iron together.  Cut the fabric if you'd like.

2.  Transfer the pattern onto the fabric.  I just drew it on.

3.  Cut out the outline of the pattern. Remove the protective paper from the fusing side, and iron pattern onto card stock.

4.  With a sewing machine, sew the outline of the pattern using a zig-zag design.

5.  Put some tape on the back so the thread doesn't come undone.

6.  Use a needle and pre poke holes near where you'll be embroidering, for instance the eyes.  A few holes on the bottom side of the eyes and a few holes on the top side of the eyes were sufficient.

7.  Thread the dmc thread and sew thru the pre poked holes so the eyes look like they should, on the right side of the card.  Don't worry to much about the wrong side of the card, because it can be covered up. Embroider the other face details.

8. Place the button on the card at correct location and make marks for where the button holes are.  When buying the button, remember to get a button with 4 holes.  Use those marks to pre poke the button holes.

9.  Attach the button to the card using only vertical lines for attaching the button.

10. On the wrong side of the design, tape down the dmc thread so it doesn't come undone. 

11. Cover the wrong side with a cut out piece of card stock.  Do the same to the other inner face of the card.

12.  Write your message, place in envelope and send it off. :-)

Happy Anniversary, Chicharon Adventures.

LED Lit Birthday Card

Today is my sister's birthday. We had a grand time celebrating her birthday this weekend, out and about with family and friends. For her birthday, I wanted to make something cool and geeky. :-) I saw this idea during the last Christmas season, from a post on evilmadscientist.com (I wanna explore that site more).

This is actually pretty easy to do if you get past cutting the acrylic sheet to the appropriate size. This one is about 2" x 3" and probably took me about an hour to do because I was using an exacto knife then moved to a box cutter to try to score it deep enough before I eventually snapped the piece off. This was definitely not as easy as it sounded on the site. (Or I did way more work scoring than I needed to do).

Anyway, here's what I did.

Materials:
- Acrylic sheet 2" x 3"
- 1 or 2 LED bulbs
- 1 battery (cr2032 - I just bought one of those flickering LED candles from the dollar tree and grabbed the battery from it)
- black electric tape
- Design you want to etch out (something simple with not too much detail works nice).
- Sharp hobby knife
- Cardstock to make card

How to:

1. Cut the acrylic sheet to fit the design with a bit of space around (maybe half an inch of edge space). I scored it with the hobby (exacto) knife and broke it off. When breaking it off, please be careful to not cut yourself. Use gloves to be safe.

2. Place the acrylic sheet over the design you want to etch out and tape it together to avoid much movement.

3. Using the hobby knife etch in the design by tracing it thru the sheet. It helps look directly above the design you're trying to trace. Also, nice and slow does the trick. It's not a race - so take your time on the curves.



4. Attach the LED light bulbs so the bulb is against the edge of the acrylic. Make sure that the leads for the LED bulb are aligned... positives are on top and negatives are on the bottom or vise versa. You'll want to make sure that the battery will fit okay and the LEDs will light up. I've found success putting a small strip of electric tape along the bottom of the acrylic, turning it over, then positioning the LEDs on the sticky side of the tape.

5. I added a small piece of tape on one half of the battery and insert the battery between both LED leads with the piece of tape end in first. (see picture). Pull up the LED leads on top of the battery just slightly so it doesn't touch the LED unless gently pressed. This will create a make-shift switch so the battery doesn't drain too fast. Tape the battery to the LEDs on the side that you didn't pull the leads up on. Tape the LED bulbs down as well so their position doesn't move and you're covering the stick part of the tape you placed the LED bulbs on in the first place.


6. Using the electric tape, tape up all the edges. This will help the light from "escaping."

7. Attach the acrylic onto some cardstock then attach to a card however way you find.

8. Put a small button or piece of cardstock on the area that is just above the pulled up LED leads with a small note that says Press Here. Make sure to test it out.

9. Put the finishing touches on the card, and place it in the envelope. Placing the card in where the "Press Here" sign is on top is the best way, I found, to put the card in without turning it on.
(Note: for mailing, I'd place a small piece of paper with a pull tab between the leads and the battery to keep it from being on during the entire trip.)


That's it. Pretty easy, right? Enjoy giving out these LED lit cards.

And Happy Birthday, Frida. :-)

Christmas Card Designs 2008

Okay, so Christmas is over. So you might ask, why in the world am I putting out a Christmas post. I'd like to say that I love this season so much I'm trying to prolong it as much as possible. I do love this season but the truth is, I've been holding on to this post so it would be a surprise to the people I give the cards to. Since I've given the majority of the cards, it's about time to share my other designs. Besides, it's never too early to start planning for the next Christmas season, right? :-) Anyway, hope you guys like them.

Tie Dye Envelopes

First I should apologize for not blogging for a whole week. I can't believe how fast this week has gone by. Anyway, I had done this project last weekend to make the envelopes that go with the homemade Christmas cards a bit prettier.

I first got the idea from this site. Instead of dyeing regular paper, I dyed envelopes.

Materials:
aluminum pan
shaving cream
food coloring
lots of paper towels
skewer (or something to stir with)
foam brush (optional – just for smoothening out the foam)

Instructions:


1. Spray some shaving cream into pan and spread it evenly onto the pan. Go easy, that stuff spreads a lot.

2. Put a couple drops of food coloring, whatever colors you'd like to use.



3. Stir the food coloring around some. I found that going in circles one direction works well for some really good designs. Also, don't over do the stirring, the swirls will not be as defined.


4. Put the envelope onto the foam and gently tap down so the foam/color hits a lot of the envelope.


5. Remove the envelope from the foam and blot the shaving cream off. Don't worry if you don't see the swirls when you first pick up the envelope from the foam. Once you blot, you should see the design. I've tried to wipe it down, and it smears the color – so I wouldn't suggest it. Blotting seems to work the best. Did I mention that you'll be using a lot of paper towels?




6. Once you got the shaving cream off, you just need to let it dry.

As an added bonus, the paper feels smooth and smells pretty good at the end of it all.

Pop-up Piggy Card

Today, Sunday, October 12th, my cousin's company is celebrating their 1st Anniversary. Her company, Chicharon Adventures, is a T-shirt company geared towards embracing and expressing diversity and culture. As their name may suggest, the company's logo happens to be a pig with an X on the forehead (Chicharon = pork rinds = pig).

To commemorate the event and the company's success as well as blessings of continued success, I decided to make her a card, and what more enjoyable than a pop-up card. I started with a design from this site: http://robertsabuda.com/popmakesimple.asp , one that I listed on my World Card Making Day post. The design was listed as their Happy Chinese New Year Pig Card... close enough. :-) After making the card as shown on their website, I decided to morph the Happy New Year Pig to the Chicharon Adventures pig. It worked out pretty well... above is the outcome. I also packaged it up with a nice ribbon as shown below. The pink card is where I held the message, as I was afraid I'd mess up the card by writing in it.



CONGRATULATIONS again cuz!

Card Making - Christmas Cards

Here are some of the cards I made this past weekend. I used scrapbooking paper for the card stock, and cut them to fit regular letter envelopes (~3 3/4" X 6 1/4").

World Card Making Day - This Saturday!

The first Saturday of October marks World Card Making Day. That day this year is this coming Saturday, October 4, 2008. In recognition of this day, I've compiled a few urls to help you celebrate.

I plan on making a couple of cards this weekend for christmas or maybe a 'just because' card. (I haven't decided yet). I'll post some of the cards that I make here... so look for them soon (in a couple of weeks). In the meantime, enjoy spending time with your crafting friends, make some cards, and make someone's day by giving them a homemade card.

While you're at it, you can make envelopes too. Below is a link for Envelope Glue (maybe it'll taste better than the normal envelopes).


Official World Card Making Day website.
http://www.worldcardmakingday.com/

Envelope Glue Recipe
http://www.craftbits.com/viewProject.do?projectID=574#rate

Card Making Crafts
http://www.craftbits.com/viewCategory.do?categoryID=PAC#Card%20Making

Pop-up Lotus Card
http://zakkalife.blogspot.com/2008/09/pop-up-lotus-card.html

Joann's Fabrics Card Making Projects
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat13878

Michaels Card Making Projects
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/projectlist?categoryid=104

Simple Pop-up Cards
http://robertsabuda.com/popmakesimple.asp