Paper Cuts & Needle Pokes: April 2013

For a while my mother would give me a calendar for Christmas each year. And she would really find some uber cute ones that I would love to hang up and gander at as the year passed by. But when it was time to take it down I was just a little sad that the pretty artwork was going away and went into pack-rat mode and tucked it away in some obscure spot. I had that "I-know-I can-use-this-for-something-in-the-future" anxiety attack and my house was one more item closer to being on the tv show "Hoarders".

BUT... I was recently blessed with a new ScrapBox and while transferring all my cra(p)ft items over I came across this cute calendar again! My mission: to find a crafty something to do with this item to justify keeping it five years.

I took this...

And turned it into this...

This is two sets of four cards with matching envelopes and holder. You need a pretty calendar that is at least 12x12, some coordinating card stock, embellishments and some creative mojo (even if you have to borrow the mojo).

First, take the staples out and cut it in half. Take two of the full sheets and make the holders:

Fold it in half to make a triangle. Score at 5 1/4" on each end.

Then score down the folded edge at 3/4". My calendar paper was pretty thick so I had to open it up and make about four turns/passes before it was sufficient enough to fold neatly.

Now, with the middle score line horizontal, bring in the left and right sides and set the folds.

Then bring the bottom up and set the center fold line with your bone folder. It's starting to have so many layers that this tool will really be a huge help. It should be the solid paper side of the holder facing outward.

You technically have an inside-out holder at this point so all you do is set the two score lines that are along side the center fold by bringing each side right-side-out. I hope the pictures will make some sense if my description is lacking.

Now you can put a little adhesive on the tip to make it easier to embellish.

I used a 1 1/4" circle punch to make the handle. I've done it a little different in the past where I just simply used a brad or a grommet. It's really up to you and what you have on hand so be confident in choosing your own method.

I embellished with a scalloped circle and a piece of ribbon.

So on with the envelopes...

Start out with a 8 1/2" square. Then my Martha Stewart scoring template told me what to do.

Score two sides (opposite each other) at 3" and then the remaining two sides at 3 5/8". Use your bone folder to make nice, neat, crisp folds. Decide which is the top of the envelope and snip those little triangles off. This picture should adequately describe it:

I looked at my envelopes that I had in my supplies and based my folds according to that. But I don't think it really matters *that* much.

I chose to take that notch off so I used my scoring tool and ruler and folded it under.

Then put the adhesive on the edges...

A pretty legit envelope, wouldn't you say?

I put a white label on the front of the envelope and tape without removing the backing on the flap. This way there is no need for random supplies if I give it away or if I use it myself - ready to go. I did use my corner rounder to trim the tip of the flap just to give it a detail of intention.

Cards always take me a loooong time to design. But once I have my layout it's pretty quick. My method was to use a 1 1/2" circle punch to choose little scenes from my calendar scraps and then mounted them on scallop circle mats with dimentionals. I gave the scallops a little sponging on the edges to get some depth.

Paper piercing is a nice way to add more texture/interest/detail to cards.

I cut 3x4 1/2" more plain scene rectangles for a back ground. I embossed the card and then set off to put them all together. I like to use more than one texture for cards to keep them interesting so I added some ribbon pieces to the front and just a couple little pearls to that.