Never Ending Card Tutorial

Today we are making another type of card, this time a never-ending card! These cards are so fascinating and fun for all ages. The actual construction of the card is much simpler than you might think.

You will need:

-         2 pieces of cardstock

-         Adhesive

-         Bone folder (and score board if you have one)

-         Paper trimmer or craft knife or scissors

-         Papers to decorate

Start by cutting both your pieces of cardstock into a square. The size of squares you use will be the size of the finished card. I have used an 8”x8” square but you can use any size you like as long as all the sides are the same.

Then cut your squares in half. This meant I ended up with 4 pieces measuring 4”x8”.

I have used 2 different colours so you can see how to put them together.

Now you need to score each piece. You will do 3 score lines on each.

With your card lying horizontally you will be scoring at both ends.

To work out where you score use the diagram below.

The 2 end pieces equal the size of the middle piece.

So if you are using the same size as me then you would score 2” in from each end, leaving a 4” space in the middle. If you are make a 6"x6" card then you would score 1 ½” in leaving a 3” space in the middle etc.

Then turn your card 90º and score at halfway point – 2” on mine

Now it is time to stick your squares together.

Lay down your first piece and place glue just in the left and right hand corner squares.

Now take another piece and lay it on top 90º to the other piece.

Repeat adding glue to just the outer corner squares until they are all stuck together.

I would recommend using a glue stick as this way you have a little time to adjust the card to make sure that all 4 pieces line up exactly.

You now have the basis of your card!

To make it fold easily you will need to go over each score line. Go through the different folds of the card and press down each scored fold with a bone folder.

Once your card is folding easily you can now decorate!

For mine I used the new Chalkboard Collection pack which has 8x8 papers so they fitted my card perfectly and some Woodware flower stamps.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and if you make a never ending card we would love to see. Feel free to share links below or on our Facebook Page :)

Happy Crafting,

Maxine xx

Waterfall Card Tutorial

Ok, ok I know it's supposed to be tutorial Tuesday but we can have tutorial Wednesday for once right?!
Sorry I didn't get the tutorial up yesterday, I was waiting for some new stamps and papers to come in to make this project, and gosh am I glad I did wait! I absolutely LOVE the new stamps and the papers are gorgeous *swoon*, just look at the prettiness!

So today we are making a Waterfall Card.

You will need:

- White Card

- Card Blank (or you can fold your own with the white card)

- Patterned Paper and matching coloured card (I used the new Chalkboard Collection Pack)

- Brads x2 (or you can use eyelets)

- Stamps/die cuts/stickers

- Ink pads (I used Memento Black ink to stamp my flowers)

- Glue 

- Optional flowers for decoration

If you are using stamps then start by cutting yourself out 4 or 5 squares of white card. Mine were about 4.5cm. Stamp your images onto them. I also inked the edges of my squares but this is optional.

If you are using die cuts or stickers then you don't need to do this step, as you can see I used stamped images and 1 die cut. 

Now cut yourself 5 squares in your coordinating coloured card. These will want to be approx 0.5cm bigger than your white squares. Or if you are using die cuts or stickers then they will want to be just bigger than your shapes, but make sure they are square! Stick your stamped images/die cuts to the coloured card.

Cut yourself a new piece of white card the full long length of an A4 piece and the width of your squares. So mine was 5cm wide by 29.7cm long.

Measure up from one end the size of your square and mark it. This is where you will put your first score line. Then you will make 4 more score lines 1.5cm apart.

Now you can start to glue your squares to the scored length of card. Add one square to the bottom so that it covers the whole space. Then you want to add some glue to each of the 1.5cm sections and adhere just the top of the squares. 

Get your card blank (or fold yourself one with some more white card, mine measured approx 10cm x 21cm) and decorate the front. I have used another piece of pink card and some patterned paper.

You will also need to cut yourself a piece of coloured card the width of your card by 1.5cm. So mine was 10cm x 1.5cm.

Attach the extra piece of card to the front of your decorated card using either brads or eyelets just at the edges. You will need to leave the middle of the piece of card unstuck so you can slip your waterfall part through it. You need to place it so that the waterfall has enough room to sit above it. Mine was approx 1/3 of the way up from the bottom.

Now adhere the bottom of the waterfall part to the piece of card you just attached and fold the top part of the white card back and under the strip.

You can now pull on the white card that comes out the bottom to make sure your waterfall works. 

Now all you have to do is trim down the white card pull tab to a length you are happy with and add a flower or other embellishment to finish it off.

All done :)

I love how effective and fun waterfall cards are and I hope you do too. These cards are especially good for children. Have fun and if you make a waterfall card we would love to see. Feel free to share a link here or pictures on our Facebook Page.

Happy Crafting,

Maxine xx

Tutorial Tuesday - Hand Stitching on Papercraft Projects

I am a huge fan of hand stitching on projects. And when I looked through my scrapbook layouts to find some examples of this I was amazed at just how many of my layouts do feature sewing in one way or another! I will show you different examples of how I have stitched on scrapbook layouts but most of these can also be transferred onto cards or other papercraft projects too.

When getting ready to do some hand stitching it’s best to have a surface to rest on, such as a cork-board, piece of foam etc so that you can pre-punch your sewing holes.  There are special paper piercing tools available on the market but I have found that it is easy enough just using regular notice board pins! There are also lots of different types of stitching templates on the market but you can also make your own or use regular household items.

Lets start with a very simple design – simply stitching a boarder around the page, simple but effective.

Here I have just used a regular running stitch. This design can simply be achieved by drawing a faint line around the page where you want your boarder to be and putting a hole at certain measurements. You can then do a simple running or backstitch to create a border.

You can also use a boarder stitch for creating different shapes on your layouts.

For this layout I used a dinner plate to draw round and then pierced my holes as evenly as I could by eye and then used a backstitch.

Of course an even simpler type of stitching is the button! I don’t very often glue buttons onto my layouts, I normally stitch them on, ok it may take a bit more time but I much prefer the look.

This layout below took a very long time to sew but I love the result.

To create this I drew a heart on some card the size and shape that I needed it and then cut it out. I stuck down my photo where I wanted it then placed the heart template on the top and lightly drew around it. Then I arranged the buttons around the shape where I wanted them and pierced all the holes. I then had to remove all the buttons so that I could sew each one on individually, so I took a quick photo so that I could refer back to it and see where I had put the different buttons. However it would probably be easier if you just stuck each button down and then sewed them on, as this would save you time!

Of course you don’t have to use quite so many buttons on a layout to get an equally stunning effect! You will probably notice other buttons in more of my layouts.

Next we have simple cross stitches This is easily achieved by drawing some faint lines and piercing the holes like before.

Another simple thing that can be done is to stitch through plain ribbon to give it more of a pattern and make more of a feature of it. Here I have used a simple running stitch and cross-stitches though the centre of the ribbon.

Something else that I often do with ribbon is to create a ruche/ruffled effect by stitching the ribbon in place. I can see that some people may not like this because in some cases you can see the stitching but if you use a colour that matches the ribbon well enough you don’t notice. It doesn’t bother me though as I like the effect once finished.

For something a bit more unusual you can also have a go at stitching fabric onto your layouts as I have done here. I used a simple running stitch and it creates a unique layout.

Or how about cutting our fabric letters and using different stitches to give them more texture and interest.

Now we move onto templates.

You can get stitching templates from companies such as We Are Memory Keepers, however you can also create your own. I use a piece of acetate and either draw, print or stamp a design onto it. You can layer this over the top of your layout and as it is clear you can see where you are going to be piercing. Then pierce your holes evenly along the image to create a custom stitching template! As acetate is quite strong you can keep your template to use again and again (as long as you have used a permanent ink!)! You will probably notice that many of my flourishes below are the same ones just in different colours!

Another thing I love when stitching is to bring the design over onto the photo or over several layers of paper as this seems to integrate the design into the layout more and connect different elements. Also though when using very large flourishes they can work very effectively when taken from the centre out to the edges of the paper.

 And don’t just stop at using one colour! Why not alternate every other stitch with a different colour or wind 2 different colours together. I find embroidery floss is the best to use as you can decide how thick you want your stitching to be. Also you can incorporate buttons into your stitches as I have done or add gems and pearls. You could create your title using a backstitch, or why not use a stamped image and pick our certain bits with stitching? There are so many possibilities!

I hope you have enjoyed this little tutorial and it has given you some inspiration. Why not share your favourite hand stitched paper projects with us?

Happy Crafting,

Maxine xx