TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Quick Little Tags from Valentine paper scraps

 Now that the Valentines have all been made and delivered, it was time to clean up before starting a new project.  The one thing I like to do while cleaning is make some tags from any of the usable scraps that way I don't just store a ton of scraps in the craft room.  Many times it I just box up the scraps into a basket to be used later I usually never get to them and that mountain just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  So I found that if I actually just sit and make some tags after my card project most of my scraps will be used.  Of course I also whip up a few embellies while I'm at it.  You're probably thinking "ok but what do you do with all those tags?".  You are first correct in also thinking that there is no way I could go through all the tags I make.  Well I give them away.  I pack some all occasion packs as gifts, leave some with friends and mail some out in Happy Mail.  They eventually get used and I am always looking for opportunities to spread them around.  Often I have thought of just leaving a small pack on a table at a restaurant where we would have lunch.  So now it's time to clean up after the last project I did and that was the Valentine cards.

If you remember I made quite a few for a community project here and then of course for my grandkids.  I also had a gathering with my card group where we also made Valentine cards so needless to say I had alot of scraps.  I had made alot of embellies from quite a few of these scraps and now I'll make some tags.  I decided that the tags will probably just be "girlie" type tags.  Honestly folks....how many Valentine tags does one really need? LOL  This way they can be Birthday, Thinking of you, etc.  Oh and maybe I'll use that Teacher Day stamp I bought! So that was the plan along with a couple Valentine tags.

Here's what I came up with.  Most are 2.5" x 5".  A few are 2.5" x 4"and I used heavy weight card stock from Hobby Lobby for the bases. Scraps will be from the pink double-sided papers I bought for all the cards I did for the community project and the teacher Valentines as well as some g45 paper scraps from the cards I had my group of ladies make when we had our gathering.  All the embellishments will be the ones I made with some of those scraps though I will be adding things like sequins etc where needed.  Otherwise I hope NOT to bring out ANY new supplies.  So how did I do?  I stuck to my guns and I'm pleased.  What do you think?



15 extra tags just out of scraps.  Not bad.  Oh and I was still able to make another 8 cards.  It's almost as if this paper pack will never end.  Did I ever tell you that there were 24 sheets of paper in this pack and I only used half of them?  I put the rest away for when I need pinks.


Now I'll add these to my box of finished tags and cards so I can  get ready to begin my next project. 2 Birthday cards. 

Til next time.......................................................................

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Teacher Valentines and More

 Hello again!  Well as per last post I have made teacher Valentines.  All Fancy Fold of course.  Now your probably wondering why I am making the cards for my grandkids to give their teachers instead of them making their own.  Well here's the story.  These kids are active in a ton of activities.  2 of them at the moment are in the school plays (2 different schools).  So there is running around to a zillion rehearsals nearly everyday.  Plus they are all in chorus, 2 in band and orchestra, the third in swimming.  YIKES!  I get tired just thinking about it.  So I thought I'd do them the favor and make the cards instead od them taking one out of those boxes of Valentines every other mom buys from a local store.  Plus........I might have a few leftover supplies hahahahaha.

One thing that excited me a bit was while on Amazon looking for a phone case a pop up came up.  It was of a stamp and die set that of course I assumed I didn't need.  But wait!  What did I read?  A stamp that read "Happy Teachers Day".  OMG I have got to have that!  So there I go.   Forgetting my phone case and buying dies and stamps and I don't usually stamp.  LOL  Anyway for only $8.99 I couldn't' pass it up.  Oh ok I could pass it up if I had will power but what fun would that be?  LOL.



What a great set of stamps.  I am sure I will be using these alot.  I'll have to ask my daughter in law when teachers day is.  Ok back to the Valentine cards.

Once again Fancy folds were the thing an since they were teacher cards and teachers have desks, I decided they should be cards that can withstand the bumps a desk takes.  So tall cards are out.  I thought a regular one would blow over too so my choice was an "Easel Card" .  for a sturdier platform I thought a 6"x6" might be a good choice.  So here's what I came up with.



Aren't these adorable?  They are pretty simple and though I don't usually do duplicates for the kids to hand out I had decided it was best this time to just assembly line the cards so I could get them done and move on to other projects I have planned.  I was able to use up a few more embellies and unlike most projects I had very few scraps left so maybe I have slowed down on the Valentine Embellishments LOL.

Well that's it.  They are now off to the kids to give their teachers and I am on to the next project.

So until next time................................................

Saturday, February 3, 2024

A Call For Valentines


Hello.  It's almost Valentines Day and I have been working on a few different cards these last few days which have given me quite a few scraps.  Seems to be the story of my life LOL.  As usual I turn to tags to use up my scraps and this time is no different as I turn many of these scraps into tags and embellies.  Here are some I had been working on.  Some tags for Valentine gifts but some tags I just made as pretty girlie tags.  The embellies were all used for the tags and of course I just kept making embellies until the pieces were just too tiny to use.

Then my Village News Letter came.  One of the articles was about our State Representative and a Dist. Representatives working together in our community to collect Valentines for local frontline heroes in my community.  The drop off location is actually just down the street from me across from the fire dept.  Well now........do I have any Valentine supplies that I could whip up a few cards with?  Hahahahaha.

Do I ever!!!!  So I pushed those embellies aside (they will be used for sure now) and got to work on card bases.  Now you know me.  I can't just do regular card bases.  I have to go a little fancy.  I mean they won't be overly embellished but they can at least have a fancier fold right?  And no piece was wasted.  The angled accordion card?  Well the piece cut off actually measured 4" x 3" when folded closed.  Well in my book that's still a Valentine sized card, so I went with it and made it a card too.  So I started with a few angled accordion mini slim cards.  Very simple with 4 saying Happy Valentines Day inside and 4 saying Thank you inside.  Then with the cut off pieces I made mini cards that say Happy Valentines Day inside.   Here are the beginning ones partially decorated.

I then started making another mini slim card though I have no idea what it is called.  I know I've seen them somewhere but for the life of me I can't remember where. It too is pretty simple and uses just scraps.  So then I also found that the simple triple fold (I think that's what it's called) would also work as a slim card but I had decided to glue down one of the folds so it still opens like a regular card.  Another day and another time I will go more in depth with some of these cards but for right now I just wanted to share the ideas.  Below is the first batch to be boxed up and I still have papers leftover and quite a few more embellies.  Because?  Well....more scraps....equals more embellies!!  I guarantee by the end of this project I will still have a bunch of Valentine Embellies.


I had decided to stick with the mini slimline cards because I can use Dollar Tree envelopes for them.  I just stamped a postage cancellation on all the envelopes so they didn't look so business like.  Now those short little cut off cards I had to make the envelopes for them but having the envelope punch board from WRMK makes that an easy task.

I'm going to keep making until I run out of paper from this generic paper pack I have.  There will probably still be extra tags out of these scraps too.  I'll let you know.  This is such a fun project.  I think I have really found my Mojo.  I need more local projects like this one. With still a large amount of paper left I think I'll also make some Valentines for the grandkids to give their Teachers.
 


Til next time.......................................................................