Christmas Cards : Button Edition

I don’t know about all of you, but I have lots of buttons.  LOTS. OF. BUTTONS.  Jars and jars of them.  Despite this, I can never find the one I need for a particular project.  I think every crafter knows this dilemma.  You need a pink one, but it needs to be a rosy pink, not a baby pink.  You need a green one, but all you have is yellow-green when you really need a forest green.  Or you need big buttons when you only have teeny ones.  Or visa versa.  It’s a conundrum and wastes lots of time.

So why would I decide to make lots of cards featuring this nemesis of quick crafts?  Because I am a crazy person and I enjoy having a floor that is covered in buttons (which mine now is).  Because my hands can be dicky (thanks again, Meningitis), I often drop things, so for every button I successfully pick up and glue down, there’s at least three that have escaped and are rolling about under tables and in between couch cushions.

I have been scouring Pinterest and other internet sites featuring all things craft-tastic, and have been very inspired by the clever designs people have come up with, using buttons as the main element.  And then I basically copied them.  Because I am, as I said before, very short on time and energy right now.  I’m also not selling these cards so I don’t feel so bad about purloining a few ideas.

Buttons are an easy way to add interest, colour and dimension to cards and can be just the right finishing touch.  Most of these ones below were made simply by drawing on lines with a pen, gluing on a button and then doodling some little details like bows and the tops of the baubles.  A stamped sentiment completes the look.  If I was feeling extra energetic I punched out some circles of pretty Christmas paper to stick down before the buttons to make them more colourful and chunky.

So now, after mammoth card-making sessions, I now have to get stuck into mammoth card-writing sessions.  There’s only so many ways you can say “Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year…” but I try to mix it up a bit.  By 11pm last night I was getting my words all doolally and not making a lot of sense.  Plus I had a blister on my finger and a cramp in my hand.  AND my pen ran out!  Gah!  But, I am lucky I have so many people in my life to give cards to – so I am not complaining at all.  I know a lot of people don’t give cards any more, but I still like to.  It’s a way of telling people they are cared about and wished good luck and health and happiness.  I know quite a few people who are on their own, not just at Christmas but all the time, so a little card is the least I can do to show them they are not alone, and are being thought of fondly.

Hope you are having a crafty, creative day today and are surrounded
by people that make you smile x

Christmas 2017

Easy Christmas Trees

I am still madly making Christmas cards and am trying to have lots of different ones so there’s a decent selection for me to choose from.  I don’t like everyone to have the exact same card and I get fed up with making the same ones over and over.  But I am running out of time and “oomph” and so I am getting simpler and simpler in my designs.

These cards were inspired by some I saw on the internet, where the artist had used buttons on a stamped image of a tree.  It looked very effective, but I don’t have a tree stamp and I knew I would drive myself nutty trying to find the right buttons and then having to glue the little buggers on to multiple cards.

So, I decided to draw the simple tree shapes and use Liquid Pearls instead of buttons.  It worked a treat.  Even when my drawing went a little bit bodgy and my trees were weirdly deformed or botanically incorrect, it still looked pretty good with the liquid pearls dotted over it (to represent snow or leaves or, um, I don’t know, dots).

Very easy to do and something I could whip up sitting in front of the telly, which is the only space I currently have left (the rest of the house being covered in craft materials, Xmas gifts and wrapping paper).

Thanks for dropping in 🙂

Fingerprint Reindeers

Earlier in the week, I was ranting about being unorganised for Christmas and panicking about not having time to get any cards made.  I wanted to have handmade cards but needed a super quick design that I could get done in an evening and make multiples at once.  Solution : these adorable little reindeer cards made with fingerprints.

That’s right – fingerprints.  So easy.  A little messy, yes, and don’t do what I did and use archival ink that doesn’t wash off (brown fingertips – so attractive), but really easy and quick and surprisingly effective.  I’d like to be able to take credit for them, but I nicked the idea from cards I had seen on the internet.  If you search “fingerprint reindeer cards”, you’ll get about a bazillion hits.  There’s lots of different designs and ways of making the deers – just choose the one that appeals to you.

It’s basically just two fingerprints for each reindeer – one for the head and slightly larger one for the body (I used my ring finger and index finger) – and then a few details added with marker pens.  SO SIMPLE.  And freaking adorable.  Each little guy has a different expression or attitude.  I added a scarf here and there as well as a heart over their heads.  I made about 25 of them in under two hours.  And then made another 2o the following evening. Let’s remember that I normally can’t even make one card in two hours normally.  So these little gems are a lifesaver for me and will take some of the stress and panic out of my pre-Christmas chaos.  I’m kinda in love with them.

So, give them a try and have lots of fun making a mess.  I certainly did 🙂