Friday 9 December 2016

ABADID 9...bunting, bookmarks and cards...


I make a lot of stuff. On the higher shelves in my artroom are boxes of handmade cards, handmade necklaces, tree decorations made from vintage brooches and more. It's inevitable that a lot of my Christmas gifts are handmade. 


I have a friend who likes bunting (you know who you are) and I'd had this idea about using up the old Christmas cards I've kept. So this evening, while watching the remainder of Rita (Danish series about a teacher with attitude) and then the North and South mini-series (I'm working my way through Netflix), I made some bunting. 


I like to use scissors rather than a paper cutter for small projects. It took a few 'go's before I was happy with the size of the bunting pattern which had to be small enough to work with the sizes of the Christmas cards. I settled for a 13x15x15cm triangle. Choosing cards that had red in their cover I began cutting and glueing. Each pennant was made from collaging 2 or more cards. I covered seams with red washi tape and glued card on the back to strengthen. Small holes were punched at the top corners. Green garden twine worked well to string them together with knots at the front to prevent the bunting from bunching up. As a final touch I added some Christmas card decorations to a few of the pennants.


I had half a dozen book mark fittings which I wanted to attach to beads with chain-link. Beads used were odds and ends left over from days of jewellery making, some from recycled necklaces bought at charity shops and car boot sales. Using both small jewellery pliers and round-nosed pliers I used headpins to attach beads to each other, snipping off the heads and curling the ends into loops. I was out of fine silver plated wire so needs must. 


Small pre-made jump rings were used to make fine chain. Finished bookmarks ranged from tasselled, shell animals, and semi-precious. 


I had picked up a gorgeous paper pack from Easons called Kaleidoscope containing glittered, pearlescent and patterned sheets of card and heavy paper. 


Using pre-folded white A6 card stock and a LOT of Pritt stick I glued two different papers to the front of each card. Strips of washi tape covered the joins and finished the edges of each card. As a gift, 5 card with envelopes were placed in a poly bag and when I pick up some fine ribbon or thick butcher's twine I'll wrap the packs and attach a gift tag. I love making simple cards that stand out on their own because of beautiful patterns. And it's nice to sit and watch/listen to a movie on my laptop while making things.



Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
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