Crafting with my niece and nephew – one of my favourite things to do

 

When I visit my sister and brother who both had kids, we often end up doing some crafting which I love.  It is one of my favourite things to do.  Both my nieces love making things and have a fantastic craft kit which we can raid and make things from.  I sometimes take over kits and things I need to try out to get them to help me and let me know what they think.  They are also different ages so I get a 10 year old and a 7 year old’s opinion.  My nephew’s also like joining in and will sometimes get crafting with us.

On a recent visit to my sisters I needed to make a card for some friends who have announced they are expecting a baby.  My niece got her craft box out and we got busy making cards as she wanted to make one for our family dog whose birthday was due at the end of the month.  My nephew also joined us and decided to make sign for his bedroom door.

On a visit to my brothers I took some kits I had and we got busy making masks and stick people, which we all really enjoyed.  They were suitable for a 3 year old, a 6 year old and a grown adult!

 

  

 

 

Handmade cards – lots of fun to do and much cheaper than heading to the card shop

I haven’t provided an update on homemade cards for a while so I decided it was time to share some pictures of the cards handmade so far this year.  You can make a card for any occasion – birthday, anniversary, good luck, congratulations and much more.  If you like to have a verse in the card but are not very good at coming up with them yourself you can use the internet to search for ideas and verses you can then copy into your card.  If you struggle to get going with ideas for the front of your card again using the internet is a fantastic way to gather some ideas and designs and you can always purchase a card making book which will take you through lots of different designs and techniques you can use.

Below is a gallery of cards I have made using all different techniques – layering, simple pen work, glitter sprinkling (I actually used sugar instead of glitter as it was to celebrate my 6^th wedding anniversary and sugar is a representation for that year!), cutting out shapes to create pictures and designs, patterned paper and much more.

Card topper kits creating a beautiful homemade card

I am slowly working my way through all the stock I have in the Hours of Fun shop and testing it out.  The latest item to be used and reviewed are the card accessory packs.

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The pack contains the card toppers, craft wire and beads.  You are given a card topper already made so you can see how it can be done.  You can then play with the rest of the kit to create the same designs or come up with your own creation.

I had some cards to make and as often it was rather last minute!  I often use long car journeys for a crafting session and for this journey I had the card accessory packs, some card blanks, sticky pads, scissors and some printed paper.

I had a lot of fun making these and they produce some beautiful cards that are simple to make.  I am officially a fan of these card accessory kits and will be using them again yeay!

Card topper kit

My super talented best friend and her card making skills

If you are reading this post through the Hours of Fun online craft shop, please CLICK HERE to visit the blog site for the full post and a gallery of pictures.

If you have ever met my friend Lorraine you will know she is not only amazing and gorgeous but she is super talented and can turn her hand at most things from card making to replacing broken windows in your house!

Every year she makes me a spectacular card for my birthday and her card making skills over the last few years have developed to produce some beautiful cards and some unique and complex designs.  One of her work colleagues is a passionate card maker and she shares with Lorraine all sorts of wonderful card designs, testing her to try something new.  Lorraine will often show me the latest cards she has been given to try and if she passes them on to me they usually require a short training session to understand how to make the template!

This years card was amazing.  It arrived in an envelope and felt quite thick with a bit of weight to it.  I opened it up to see a folded design with a ribbon tied in a bow around it.  I untied the bow and revealed a beautiful concertina style design that opened up and went all the way round so the ends met at the other side.  The ribbon could then be tied in a bow to hold it in place.

It was beautiful.  The attention to detail was perfect as she had matched front colours to backing colours along with different stamped designs on each side with different shapes cut out.  The pictures were made using ink stamps and embossing powder, along with a heating tool to produce the finished embossed texture.

I loved it a lot and it stood well in the lounge on display for over a month after my birthday.  I have kept it as I keep all handmade cards I receive, however I need to leave this one in the craft room for a while so i can ensure I take on the challenge of making one myself!

Made by Lorraine

 

Hours Of Fun Craft Countdown To Christmas – Christmas cards. 7 Days To Go!

Hours of Fun are counting down the days until Christmas by sharing a different Christmas activity each day.  Starting on the 13th December with the last post being published on Christmas Eve.

On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me………A handmade Christmas card!

Make your own Christmas cards

Making Christmas cards is one of my favourite things to do for Christmas, although I often leave it a little late in starting them, it then becomes a race against the Post Office posting dates to make sure they get to people in time!!  I set a reminder this year at the start of November to get going on them, but it seems I ignored it!  I need to come up with a more effective reminder system for next Christmas!

You can have a lot of fun making Christmas cards and you don’t need to be an expert artist or crafter, you just need some glue, scissors, old Christmas cards, card blanks and some coloured paper or card and off you go!

You can recycle your old Christmas cards and make some fantastic new ones.  Cut out the pictures on the front, you can also cut out the verse or greeting printed inside the card and use this on your  new card creations.  Layering a card up is a simple technique that produces a fantastic finish.  Using sticky pads for this works really well to give it depth.  You can cut out a shape a little smaller than your card in coloured or Christmas printed paper, then using your recycled card topper build up a picture. 

Recycle your old Christmas cards by cutting out the pictures

One thing I have learnt recently is that some of the layered cards can become too thick to send as a normal letter and you will have to pay the extra to send it as a large letter.  It is worth baring this in mind when you are sticking them together.

My favourite purchase last year was a pad of Christmas printed paper.  I have used it for loads of things and it has been cut up and stuck on lots of cards.  Printed paper brings a stylish look to any card, and you can layer it up with a pieces of plain coloured paper or card to produce an effective design. 

Use Printed Christmas Paper on your cards

I have used rather a lot of felt shapes for this year’s cards.  I have a little felt obsession and can cut through felt using my Big Shot cutting machine and am slowly building up a fab Christmas cutter and embossing selection to use with the machine.  With the combination of Christmas printer paper, a simple purple heart can be made into a feature on a Christmas card.

This year I have also had a lot of fun making Christmas characters with pipe cleaner and then attaching them onto cards using a needle and thread.    You can make snowmen, reindeer, Father Christmas and anything else Christmassy.  If you then cut out a piece of card or paper slightly smaller than your card blank, attached the pipe cleaner figure on to this sheet using a needle and thread, don’t forget to stick the ends of the thread down with some sticky tape.  Once attached you can then stick your pre-cut card/paper onto you card blank and der der!!  You have hidden your sewing leaving a neat finish and have made a super fun card to give someone.

Felt snowflakes and shapes and pipe cleaner characters

I love receiving hand made cards and always keep them as I have a box upstairs that I put all hand made cards into.    Each year the number we receive seems to be increasing too which I love even more.  Apologies to those of you who will be receiving a Christmas card from us as there is a chance you will see it here before you receive it!!

Hours of Fun Facebook page getting lively!

I have been on Facebook for some time now and love that it makes it so easy to keep in touch with people although I am not the best at using a lot.  I will have a look at in on my phone and browse the news feed page and whenever I blog on here it gets posted to my wall.  I was super impressed when I set it up to automatically update my Facebook and twitter accounts – amazing feature especially for someone who is not the best at keeping things up to date!

With the online shop well under way for a proper launch it is time to improve my communication on all social media outlets – prepare to be bombarded with fantastic pictures of sewing accessories, crafts and hobby supplies.  Along with handmade delights all made by Hours of Fun and friends.

So I invite you to visit my Hours of Fun Facebook page and take a look.  I would love your feedback on any thoughts and ideas for improvements and any likes and dislikes.  If you have a Facebook page send me a link, if you know of a fantastic crafting website or have some amazing crafting ideas let me know.  I will be spending some time later this week exploring other like-minded crafters on Facebook.  I am looking forward to meeting new people and learning about new crafts – yeay such fun to be had woohoo!

Never Ending Birthday card for my Sister

My sister was turning 40 and the event deserved a special card.  I had found the never ending birthday card last year when making my best friends card and fell in love with it immediately as it is simply fascinating.

The theme of the card was on this day and looked back at events that had taken place on my sister’s birthday and in the year she was born.

The card folds into 4 different views and provides entertainment and interest, along with being a fantastic birthday card.

If you want to have a go, enter never-ending card into google and there is a selection of sites and videos to watch that show you how it is done.

more cards

 

Cards from the sizzix big shot machine!

 

Cards

More cards and gift tags using the Machine