The Man Who Won - Wendy Makes Mini Postcards and Ephemera

                                   

Making Mini Postcards and Ephemera

 Hello Everyone and welcome!

 This month our theme is 'The Man Who Won' and we are using the marvellous collection papers DAPPER from Tim Holtz. I know alot of us in the crafting world can feel overwhelmed when thinking of a male themed project but I think if we just relax and start small with our ideas then something bigger and exciting can come from it. And, there are a lot of men that do love handmade crafts.

This is what I've done with my first project this month, started small and then built something from it.

I used the 3 by 4 cut aparts from the Dapper paper collection from Tim Holtz, worked out which side of the cards I wanted to stamp and/or emboss on, then mixed the embellishing on each card with some stenciling, die cuts, washi tape and adding some ripped coffee dyed paper where needed and anything else I felt like putting on the cards.

 My main objective was to use the 'Postcard' stamp on the top of each card and then decorate the card from that point. The first image below shows what I have used in making my postcards and  from then on, I have shown the finished Postcards. I really enjoyed the whole process.

Some cards have very little embellishing and some have a lot of embellishing but the main thing is to relax and enjoy your process,  place things together and see the final outcome.

Using the spanner from the Kaisercraft TOOLS die set, below.

I have a 'craft with me' style process video below. So you may like to grab some supplies from Aunty Vera Scrap and Craft and craft along with me...

You all have a good day!

Wendy xox

Beautiful Day - Wendy's Matchbook Ephemera Holder

Matchbook Ephemera Holder 

 With all the ephemera I've been making recently, I needed a lovely way to store and send it to some friends. So, this 'matchbook' styled holder was the perfect thing to make for that purpose.,,and of course I had to make it a vintage themed after seeing that beautiful patterned sheet from Maggie Holmes Heritage "Generations". The photo images are so beautiful and made gorgeous focal images on the front of the matchbook.

 To start you need a piece of cardstock cut to 3 1/2 inches by 12 inches. I decided to use three sheets of the Maggie Holmes Heritage papers: they were Daughter, Album and Portrait. This is for the matchbook itself. You then score it at 1 inch: 6 1/4 inch: 6 3/4 inch and final score at 7 1/4 inch.

*TIP- if you are using a one direction patterned paper, turn it upside down to score your lines. Then when they are folded the front of your pattern will be upright. *

Then fold score lines, the one inch being the bottom of your matchbook. Fold the middle score line of the three close together. This makes the front of your matchbook.

Fold the bottom one inch flap up and staple it closer to the bottom so you leave room for your cover flap to be placed inside the bottom flap.

On the inside of the matchbook place a strip of double-sided tape between the lowest score line and the middle score line, press together. This gives you a nice fold on the top.

When folded over, punch a hole on the left hand side corner where you place a ring. The ring is used to add more matchbooks together. You don't need to do this step if using the matchbooks seperately.

Your matchbook is now made and ready for you to decorate it as you like. I chose to go vintage using the photo prints from Maggie Holmes Heritage Generations Paper sheet. Each matchbook I decorated was similar, slightly different in construction but using mainly coffee dyed paper, music sheet papers, text paper, cheesecloth, fibers, eyelash trim, lace, small bead trim and anything else I could get my hands on at the time...lol...just NOT the kitchen sink...hahaha!!!

I also added a phrase from the Tim Holtz Small Talk on the bottom flap which covers where you put the staple.

I put three matchbooks together on the one ring.

On the inside of each matchbook, I placed some handmade ephemera in a small 3 inch wide plastic bag. Opening at the bottom. This bag is taped to the inside top of the matchbook with double-sided tape.

Below: stamped/ die cut ephemera

Below:Handmade Faux stamps

Below: Handmade flowers

I love the end result and I'm pretty sure so will my friends when I send them one as Happy Mail.

You can view my easy process by clicking the video below.

I hope you all try and make some for yourselves and enjoy it as much as I did!

Wishing you all a great start to the year!

Happy Crafting!

Wendy xox

Beautiful Day - Wendy's Easy Ephemera and Faux Stamps

Easy Ephemera and Faux Stamps

What a better way to add to your own supplies by handmaking some ephemera. It doesn't need to be intense and send you into a tizzie!..make it simple, easy and fun by buying yourself  the Kaisercraft Happy Life Die/stamp set and a sheet of the Maggie Holmes Heritage POSTMARKED patterned paper and also the Kaisercraft DIY Flora Daisy Die then use your imagination...stamped images make wonderful ephemera especially if the person you are sending it to doesn't have the stamp set you have...and cutting up an already beautiful patterned paper full of stamps makes a wonderful start to making some faux stamps. Then making some beautiful flowers to pop into a Happy Mail to send to a special someone!

This is on my table right now. It may look like a mess but in reality it is a scrumptious display of handmade ephemera...

This scrumptiousness includes stamped images and sayings from Kaisercraft DIY Happy Life Die/stamp set, then cut from the matching dies.

Flowers made from The Kaisercraft DIY Flora Daisy 

...and what I'm going to show you now is just how easy it is to cut up the Maggie Holmes Postmarked patterned paper and make some faux stamps.

The patterned paper is 'chock a block' full of stamp images.

I cut out a few of the stamp images and then inked around the edges with a vintage sepia ink (my supplies).

I then glued each stamp onto a sheet of craft paper using art glitter glue.

Once the stamps were glued down, I used some zig-zag scissors and cut round each individual stamp, leaving a small border.

I then inked around the edge once again.

They started to look quite vintage by now, which is what I wanted.

To make them look as if they had already been through the post, I used a stamp from the Kaisercraft DIY Happy Life set which had a registered post mark image and stamped it on either the top or bottom of the faux stamp. I covered the top of the stamp with masking tape and removed the masking tape before stamping. This stops the ink from getting on the full stamp and keeps it to the part you want to stamp.

the part of the stamp where ink is...

Below: the finished faux stamps.

Showing the image you started with to the finished faux stamp ephemera.

They really turned out to be quite vintage looking and would look great added to one of your vintage styled junk journals.

You can view the process of making the faux stamps by clicking the video below:

There are so many stamp images on the Maggie Holmes Heritage Postmarked paper I'm sure you are going to have hours of fun making some faux stamps to send out in happy mail.

Wendy xox

On Such a Winter's Day - Wendy's Ephemera Storage Folder

Hello Crafty Friends!

Winter time is such a great crafting and arting time - staying snug and warm inside and creating.... maybe with a hot chocolate by your side..... doesn't that sound perfect?

Kicking off our month of winter projects is Wendy's ephemera storage folder - I really need some of these in my life!!

Ephemera Storage Folder

Where I live in Australia, we really don't have the full effect of the cold cold winter, that others experience around our beautiful country. We have cool and cooler days and slightly cooler nights. So, I have always found it rather hard to relate to making winter crafts or painting scenes. To me when someone mentions winter, I think of the winter of Christmas from overseas. I would love to experience that snowy Christmas one day.

Anyway, with the theme of winter staying in the forefront of my mind, I decided to make an easy Ephemera Storage Folder. Somewhere to keep all your little bits'n'piece and something to fill with ephemera and send it as a gift to a crafty friend. 

Above: Ephemera Storage Folders

Here is what I used to make the folders:

* One 12x12 piece of Authentique Solitude Six paper

* Authentique Solitude Elements sheet for decorating

* 6 pieces of A4 125gsm grey shade paper and/or coffee dyed paper

* Aunty Vera washi - Silver Lights

* Eyelet Outlet Snowflake Brads

* Scoreboard

* PVA craft and hobby glue

* Jute Twine

* Small snowflake Die from Kaisercraft Snow Crystal Die Set

* an awl

* White Embossing powder by Ranger

Okay, so let's get started.....

Starting with making the cover of the folder. I used the 'Solitude Six' piece of 12x12 and cut it down to 11 inches by 8 1/2 inches. Then with the long side at the top of my scoreboard I scored at 4 1/4; 4 1/2; 8 3/4 and then at 9 1/4.

I then placed that to the side for a moment and grabbed the A4 sheets of paper. I cut them to 8 1/4 inches square. I really only had to cut the length from them because that was there width already. I just made sure they were square in shape. I folded each individual sheet in half, which is going to give me my inside pockets.

Once I cut my six inside papers down to square and folded them in half, I then used Aunty Vera's Washi, Silver Lights to tape up the sides of each folded piece of paper. Thus, giving me my completed pocket.

When I had all my pockets made by using the washi at bothe sides, I glued down the center of each pocket and adhered each pocket together. So they are joined at the center and not the ends. They look like the picture below when opened out.

Then going back to the folder cover. I glued down one side of the pockets, with the opening to the top flap of the cover. Making sure I didn't glue over the scored lines.

Then going to the front outside of the cover, I marked and made a hole with my awl, where I wanted to put my closure. The closure is a punch 1 inch circle with the snowflake brad pushed through it. I tied a length of jute twine on the backside of the brad stems and put a dab of glue on it so it doesn't come apart. Then just placed the completed brad closure through the hole I marked on the front outside of the cover. I placed a small strip of the Silver Lights washi over the metal parts of the brads. Just so they wouldn't mark the side of the first pocket.

I then put glue on the first pocket and folded over the front of the cover, making sure not to get glue on the small spine part of the cover.

When I finished putting the storage folder together. I decorated the front of each folder using the Solitude Elements, the small snowflake die from Kaisercraft and also handmaking an 'Ephermera' sign for my folders.

I pre-cut some snowflakes out of pale blue cardboard from my supplies but wanted them white. So, I used the Ranger White Embossing Powder on them and they turned out so well. Really looks like piles of snow on them.

My handwritten 'Ephemera" sign written with Aunty Veras' Pen.

You may like to watch the video of my process here:

I really enjoyed making my first 'Winter' themed project for Aunty Vera's Creative Team this much, so much so, I made an extra two and these two will be given away to two lucky winners that have left a comment down below this blog post. The lucky winners will each recieve one of my Ephemera Storage Folders which will have a few bits'n'pieces added in the pockets throughtout the month. Winners will be drawn at the end of July 2019. So leave a comment below to enter.

Thank you all!...and have a good day!