Making Your Own Greeting Cards & Gift Wrap E-Book

Vivienne Bolton

• Herausgeber: CompanionHouse Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 133

Beschreibung

50+ step-by-step projects for cards, gift tags, wrapping paper, and envelopes. · Ideas for all occasions: birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, new baby, and new home. · Teaches a wide variety of papercrafting techniques. · Vivienne Bolton is the author of 20+ successful craft books.

Leseprobe

Making Your Own

GREETING CARDS& GIFT WRAP

Making Your Own

GREETING CARDS& GIFT WRAP

More Than50 Step-by-Step

PAPERCRAFTINGPROJECTS

for Every Occasion

Vivienne Bolton

Dedication

For Michael, Zolii, Bianca, Sophie, Chloe, Ben and Joshua.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to the editor of the first edition of this book, Clare Hubbard, who is always calm, supportive, and organized. Thanks also to Shona Wood, whose photography complements my work so well, Rosemary Wilkinson, and Corin and Chloe for dreaming up names for the cards. Thanks also to Fiskars UK Ltd (Newlands Avenue, Bridgend CF31 2XA) for supplying equipment for use in this book.

Making Your Own Greeting Cards & Gift Wrap

CompanionHouse Books™ is an imprint of Fox Chapel Publishers International Ltd.

Project Team

Vice President–Content: Christopher Reggio

Editor: Colleen Dorsey

Copy Editor: Anthony Regolino

Design: Llara Pazdan

Index: Elizabeth Walker

Copyright © 2019 by IMM Lifestyle Books

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Fox Chapel Publishers, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

All text and card designs: Vivienne Bolton

Photographer: Shona Wood

Template illustrations: Stephen Dew

ISBN 978-1-62008-346-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bolton, Vivienne, author.

Title: Making your own greeting cards & gift wrap / Vivienne Bolton.

Description: Mount Joy [Pennsylvania] : CompanionHouse Books, [2019] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018039282 (print) | LCCN 2018039657 (ebook) | ISBN 9781620083475 (e-book) | ISBN 9781620083468 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Greeting cards. | Gift wraps.

Classification: LCC TT872 (ebook) | LCC TT872 .B65 2019 (print) | DDC 745.594/1--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018039282

This book has been published with the intent to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter within. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the author and publisher expressly disclaim any responsibility for any errors, omissions, or adverse effects arising from the use or application of the information contained herein.

Fox Chapel Publishing

Fox Chapel Publishers International Ltd.

903 Square Street

7 Danefield Road, Selsey (Chichester)

Mount Joy, PA 17552

West Sussex PO20 9DA, U.K.

www.facebook.com/companionhousebooks

We are always looking for talented authors. To submit an idea, please send a brief inquiry to [email protected].

Printed and bound in Singapore

22 21 20 192 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

INTRODUCTION

I have a clear memory of sitting at a newspaper-covered table in my grandmother’s sewing room surrounded by scissors, tape, shiny candy wrappers, and a pad of deckle-edged writing paper. I was squeezing runny, brown glue through an orange rubber lid with a slit in it onto a silver doily. I couldn’t have been more than six or seven years old when I proudly presented that birthday card to my grandfather.

I haven’t changed much since. I still love paper—be it gift wrap, brightly decorated foil candy wrappers, handmade paper, or a child’s rainbow-colored writing pad. My range of adhesives has certainly improved. I am now the proud owner of a wide variety of tools and craft materials and I’ve tried just about every craft there is, but inside I am still that little girl getting a thrill from creativity.

I have thoroughly enjoyed designing the cards and gift wrap for this book. So many different things—colors, textures, materials, and memories of places, friends, and family—have inspired the designs. Some of the cards were originally made with specific friends or family members in mind: for example, Memories (see page 74) was made as a Mother’s Day card for my mother, and Magic Number (see page 160) was inspired by the theme we thought up for my youngest grandson’s birthday party.

I have particularly enjoyed coordinating gift wrap and greeting cards. It has given me the opportunity to make good use of stamps and stencils. There’s something extremely satisfying about a group of cards, tags, bags, pouches, and boxes that all match. It’s also an interesting way of developing your design skills.

I am fortunate to have an amazingly well-stocked craft shop just a short drive from my home, along with a variety of art material shops, department stores, and cake-decorating shops (yes, you read that correctly; they are a great source of material for the card maker) in my local town. Experience has taught me to always keep my eyes open when searching for inspiration, new materials, and information.

I store anything that I think might be useful one day, and with card making as a hobby, I have the perfect excuse to save almost everything. In fact, my stock of craft materials is only limited by my available storage space. Get into the habit of looking at everything as a potential material for use on a card; you’ll surprise yourself with the ideas that come to you.

Be inspired by the designs in this book, and use them as a springboard from which to create your own designs. I hope you get as much pleasure from using this book as I had from designing and making the projects.

Best wishes,

Contents

Getting Started

Paper and Cardstock

Pens, Pencils, and Paints

Cutting and Scoring Equipment

Adhesives

Stamps and Punches

Decorative Materials

Card Design

Scoring and Folding

Tracing Templates

Decorating Envelopes

Gift Wrap

Basic Gift Pouch

Basic Gift Bag

General Greetings

Ship Ahoy

Friendly Frogs

Indigo Blue

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Pastimes

Sew Simple

Eastern Promise

Peacock Feather

Bead Dolly

Olive Branch

Bookmark

Memories

Elephant Trails

Star Surprise

Balloon Magic

Kaleidoscope

Say It with Flowers

Flower Power

Pink Gingham

Paper Roses

Daisy Rainbow

Green Blossoms

Funky Foam Flowers

Topiary

Cherry Blossom

Pretty Peonies

Bead Magic

Special Occasions

Patchwork House

Silver Streamers

Sparkling Hearts

Bunch of Hearts

Roses Are Red

Wedding Cake

Turtledoves

Tiny Onesie

Rocking Horse

Teddy Bear

Witches Abroad

Happy Halloween

Magic Number

Time to Celebrate

Chick Chick Chicken

Easter Bunnies

Nest Egg

Easter Eggs

Christmas Trees

Robin Redbreast

Holly Berries

Winter Wonderland

Star Bright

Hark the Herald Angels

Festive Garland

Galleries

Daisy Punch Gallery

Indigo Blue Paper Gallery

Peacock Feather Stamp Gallery

Paper Rosebuds Gallery

Stickers and Motifs Gallery

Rubber Stamps Gallery

Stencils Gallery

Handmade Paper Gallery

Templates

Index

When starting any new hobby, equipping yourself with the basic tools and materials is part of the fun. This is particularly the case with card making, as there are so many wonderful things now available for the card maker to buy. Start small with good-quality cutting equipment, a selection of paper and cardstock (card), and adhesive tape and glue. As you work your way through the projects in this book, you will find that your collection of tools and materials will grow and that your scrap box of bits and pieces will begin to burst with all of the interesting things that you’ve found.

Search out good suppliers, both local stores and mail-order companies (a reliable mail-order supplier is invaluable). As well as checking out craft suppliers, look in cake decorating shops and art material outlets. Small stores are often better, as they have time for customers and often specialize in certain areas.

If you are fortunate enough to have the space, create a permanent work surface for yourself and devote a cabinet or shelf to the storage of your materials. If space is an issue in your house, make yourself a portable “craft workshop”—a couple of boxes to hold materials and equipment, along with a protective surface cover and a large cutting mat. Decorate and label your storage boxes, and keep things filed for easy access. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to keep your tools and materials in good order and condition. No matter how much time you spend making a card, it won’t look good if the paper is creased or marked or your craft knife is blunt.

This section of the book examines all of the materials and equipment that you will need to complete the projects in this book. Also demonstrated here are the basic techniques of scoring, template tracing, and folding. There are sections on card design, decorating envelopes, and making gift wrap. By the time you finish reviewing these pages, you will be totally prepared to tackle any project in this book.

GETTING STARTED

“Cardstock” is the US term and “card” is the UK term for thicker crafting paper. The term “cardstock” is used throughout this book.

PAPER AND CARDSTOCK

A wide range of paper and cardstock is available in good stationery and craft stores, as well as through mail-order suppliers. Paper and cardstock comes in standard sizes. In the United States, common sizes include letter (8½" x 11" / 216 x 279mm) and half letter (5½" x 8½" / 140 x 216mm), which is half the height of letter (easy to cut yourself by cutting a piece of letter paper in half); many square sizes are also common. In Europe, paper is sized in the A series, with A4 (8¼" x 11 11/16" / 210 x 297mm) being the standard size for most letterhead and copy/printer paper, the equivalent to US letter paper. A5 (5 13/16" x 8¼" / 148 x 210mm), the equivalent to US half letter, is also common. Although I occasionally purchase paper in larger sheets, I find that letterhead and smaller sheets are easiest to handle and are less likely to be damaged in transit or storage. Most of the projects in this book start out with letter/A4 or half letter/A5 papers. It doesn’t matter which one you use; just be consistent and don’t mix US system paper sizes with European system paper sizes, as they are very close in size but not identical.

An Important Note to US Readers

All the cards in this book were originally made with European paper sizes. As A4 paper and A5 paper are slightly longer than US letter and half letter paper, a difference could be visible in the final product if half letter paper is used instead of A5 paper whenever A5 paper is called for as a card base. For this reason, in many projects in this book, US readers are instructed to cut letter size paper close to the UK A5 size when creating the card base. Alternatively, US readers can use half letter paper and adjust the size of the decorative elements to suit the slightly smaller size of a card made with the US paper size—but this will usually take longer and result in a squarer card. Also, any time half letter/A5 paper is called for in a materials list, any reader can simply cut from a larger letter/A4 paper, especially if you already have a stash of paper to choose from.

From the finest tissue to the thickest cardstock, paper and cardstock are available in almost any shade, weight, quality, or texture. I always have a selection of textured and plain white and cream cardstock on hand, as many designs seem to begin best with a white or cream card base. I also often prepare colored card bases and store them in a special basket filed by color.

Consider the texture and thickness of cardstock when choosing sheets for particular projects. While you will need good-quality cardstock for a card base, paper or thin cardstock is suitable for framing a central feature or for creating layers. I purchase sheets of gift wrap whenever I see something that inspires me, and I save used Christmas and birthday wrapping paper—you never know when something will be useful. Gift wrap can be used as a card base, but you will need to back it first to give it some stability.

Paper and cardstock are the key raw materials of card making, so you will need a good storage system. Store paper flat and divide it by size, color, and quality so that it is easy to find when you’re working. If paper becomes creased, you can try smoothing it with a warm iron to restore it to near-perfect condition. Never throw scraps of paper and cardstock away—keep a small box of scraps, as they will be useful later for small projects, collages, and layering.

Construction (sugar) paper

This thick, slightly textured paper comes in muted shades and is one of the cheapest papers available. Construction (sugar) paper is best used as a feature rather than a card base.

Corrugated cardstock and paper

This comes in a variety of corrugation patterns and colors. Use it as a card base or in layering. It is also great for making your own cutouts and motifs, and is effective wrapping for cylindrical-shaped objects.

Handmade paper

Handmade paper is available in everything from soft pastel colors to rich, jewel-like shades. The prettiest papers often have flower petals and leaves embedded in them, giving the papers a wonderful texture. Handmade paper comes in a variety of weights, the thicker of which can be used as card bases. Used in layering or to create backgrounds, handmade paper always creates an interesting feature.

Mulberry paper

This is a light, opaque paper that is handmade from mulberry leaves and contains strands of silk. It is available in many colors, is lightweight, and has a slight textured pattern that can be very impactful when used creatively. Mulberry paper can be attached with spray adhesive.

Corrugated cardstock and patterned paper

Metallic paper

These papers are good highlighters and are effective when used to create borders, frames, and cutouts. They come in a variety of finishes—some muted, others glossy. Metallic paper is easily damaged, so it should be stored properly. It is advisable to put layers of tissue paper between each sheet.

Translucent paper

I love the softness and depth you can create with these papers. When layered on other colors or white, they bring a special quality to cards. Translucent paper can be used as a card base, but it should be backed with cardstock to give it some substance.

Vellum

This is a semi-opaque paper, available plain or patterned. It is very useful for layering.

Plastic sheeting

Plastic sheeting (or acetate sheeting) is a versatile, heavyweight translucent plastic. It is very flexible, so it is useful for pop-ups. Attach with double-sided tape or glue dots. If you can’t find acetate sheeting, substitute with a suitable weight of vellum.

Patterned paper

Commercially available patterned paper and gift wrap can be the basis of wonderful cards. You can use them for backgrounds or cut motifs from them. Make bags and cover gift boxes with gift wrap to create coordinated gift sets. Store gift wrap rolled or flat.

Table napkins and paper tissues

These are a delightful decorative material source. I have found paper tissues printed with frogs, umbrellas, and roses, and table napkins are available in a wide variety of designs. Use spray adhesive to attach these materials to cards, and don’t forget to separate the patterned layer out first.

Angel hair paper

This is a stiff, gauzy paper/fabric that is useful for layers. It looks a bit like individual fibers or cotton candy pressed into a sheet. It’s a specialty product that you may have to hunt for. If you can’t find it, you can try making your own by ironing hot fix fibers (sometimes called Angelina or fantasy fibers), used in sewing/quilting, into a sheet. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Angel hair paper

The notes on pages 10–27 are general information on the variety of products and materials that are available to the card maker. You should always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for the specific products that you buy.

PENS, PENCILS, AND PAINTS

Pens

I always have a good handwriting pen and a black or blue fine-tip pen on hand. Fine-tip pens are very useful and come in a wide range of colors.

Pencils