Chewing Paper - Confessions of a Paper Addict

The Yellow One

Just a bit of fun, but one of those widgets that you just can't not play with!!  Try making your own Simpsons Character - just like me (I've got even bigger hair in real life - swear :)).  Just go to the Simpsons Movie Website and click on "Create Your Own Simpsons Avatar" and choose from a great variety of hair colours, types, and everything else!  If you're a fan of the oh-so-addictive Facebook, they're getting tres popular over there too. 

Don't forget to add your comments to the post below to be in with a really good chance of having a card making magazine come through your letterbox next week!

Free Craft Magazines up for grabs!

I'm stealing an idea from the great U-Handblog here and running a little competition to give away some free card making magazines!!  Three winners of the very latest editions of the magazines below will be drawn on Tuesday 4th September.  Click on the mags below to find more information on the contents of each one.

All you need to do to win a magazine is comment on this post and answer the following two questions:

• What article would you most like to see on the blog?  (see below for some ideas)
• Which magazine would you like?

That's it! 3 winners will be drawn on Tuesday 4th September and the magazines posted out to each.  If you need a little inspiration for articles, here's a few ides (but original answers most welcome :)

• How to price your crafts to sell commercially (including cards, wedding stationery)
• How to package and position your crafts to sell wholesale to shops
• A guide to rubber stamping/embossing/another technique
• Wording for your invitations (including difficult scenarios such as divorced parents etc.)
• What do you need to set up a wedding stationery business?
• Using Wax Seals
• Introduction to Scrapbooking
• A glossary of all the crafting terms (including ones you were never sure about :))
• What glue to use when

...and so on.  Can't wait to hear from you!!

Pop-Pop-Pop Culture

Oh. Wow.  The new Pop Culture Scrapbooking papers from KI Memories are to *die* for. Elisa and the girls on our Crafters Forum gave us the heads up on these - fingers on the pulse as ever. 

Unfortunately for us, they're not available until mid October but we'll be adding a pre-order section for it (and other goodies) soon.  In the meantime, feast your eyes and you can check out a sneak preview of the range here.

It's all about new lacy die-cut cardstocks, fun chipboard alphabets, new "softies" accents and buttons and great ribbons and shimmery patterened papers.  Phwoar!!!!

Full Moon, Half Moon, Total Eclipse

We just launched this new wedding invitation on our sites this week and we're very much in love.

It's not a Jaffa Cake, but it is called a Half Moon Enclosure Invitation with Pull Tab Insert (ok, it's not succinct, but it's descriptive!!), and it's imported from the USA from one of my very favourite paper shops from when I lived there. It's simple, it's classical, and it's divine.  Best of all, it's only £1.15 to buy (€1.65) and that includes what you see in the picture and a matching envelope as well.  Click here to buy in the UK or here to buy in Ireland.  It comes with a huge choice of ribbons so you can co-ordinate with your bridesmaids and colour scheme too.  If it goes well, we'll be adding several more enclosures to the line - we're working on a petal-fold range right now, and some other ones too!

It's super easy to make - it requires only to print out directly on the insert (an MS Word Template is provided as ever), punch a hole in the top of the insert (using the Single Hole Punch (one of our Top Five Tools)), thread the ribbon through, trim and voila!! 

We like it when they're super easy like this!!  When designing our ranges, we only use techniques and methods that we know anyone can do.  That means just printing, cutting, sticking down and threading through or tying bows! Our goal is to make it easy for people to make their own professional looking, handmade wedding invitations.  There's already enough to worry about when planning a wedding!

What to include with your Wedding Invitations

It's no harm to have a checklist for what to include with your wedding invitations - to save a giant "Doh!" after the invitations have gone out!!  Below is a general list of what people may, or may not, wish to include in their invitations to guests.

• Map/Directions to get to the church/wedding venue and reception venue.  Try Google Maps (http://maps.google.co.uk or http://maps.google.ie ) for maps of your area.  They zoom right down to even show a satellite picture of the buildings!  (you may get waylaid and end up looking up your house while you're there like I did). The AA's websites also have great route planners to give guests directions - AA UK Route Planner or AA Ireland Route Planner. 
• A list of local hotels/guesthouses/B&Bs for people needing to stay over.  If the hotel is providing a special rate for guests at your wedding, make sure to mention it.
• An optional gift list for those attending the full wedding and reception
• Transport options to get to the area - train, bus, airports.
• Information about Car Parking if required
• Local Taxi numbers for the evening or those without cars
• Whether smoking is allowed
• Whether confetti may be thrown at the church or not.  Confetti usually has to be bio-degradable.

There may be other things you yourself with to include - it's up to you.

A note re. gift lists - traditionally speaking these are not included with invitations but rather made available should one be requested.  This is to ensure that the guest does not feel obliged to purchase a gift in order to attend the wedding.  In modern times however, most couples do include a gift list with invitations and feel (rightly so) that it makes guests lives easier should they wish to purchase from the gift list rather than choose a gift themselves. Gift lists are not usually included with invitations to evening celebrations only (not to the reception).

Questions, questions

The blog is getting lots of reads which is *great* but what we're really love to see is more comments and ideally *QUESTIONS* from brides-to-be and crafters out there!! Also send us *your* creations - invitations you made yourself, or cards, scrapbook pages - and we'll post them up!

Coming up in the future we're planning articles on everything from what to include in your wedding invitations, choosing fonts, using wax seals, rubber stamping to ribbons, pricing cards and wedding stationery to sell, and lots, lots more projects.  We'd love to hear from you what queries and questions you have - so send them to us!!  You can comment here or mail us on info@weddingdiy.co.uk or me directly at aisling@craftsupplies.ie.  Can't wait to hear from you!

P-P-P-Pick up a Punch

Paper punches are a staple in every crafter's tool box.  For making wedding invitations, we always recommend the Long Reach Single Hole Paper punch (right).  You can use it to reach right up along the spines  of wedding invitations to punch two holes and then thread a co-ordinating ribbon through to bind the pages together.

Chatting in the office today however, we were talking about the various "features" of punches that can sometimes make punching difficult.  I felt a blog article coming on, so here's a few facts and tips about using and maintaining your paper punch collection.

1. Paper punches in general are only suitable for punching through normal paper or light/thin card.  Because they punch vertically rather than cutting horizontal like a scissors, they are not usually suitable for using with soft papers, fibrous papers and in some cases, tracing papers.  Something to bear in mind.
2. If the paper is a little fibrous, we often find that when we punch the shape out, the punched piece has a few little fibres along the edge of the paper.  This is pretty normal, and to fix it we usually just run a slight wet fingertip along the edge to smooth it down.
3. If your paper punch gets sticky or stiff, try punching through some wax paper to loosen it up again.  If you have no wax paper at home, run a candle over some paper to make your own!!
4. If your punch has gotten blunt (this can happen if soft papers are used or if the punch has been used a lot), try punching through some tin foil to sharpen it up again, or alternatively some fine grain sand paper.
5. It can be really effective to buy the same punch in several different sizes to use for layering up, shadowing and other effects.  This works particularly well for shapes like flowers, squares/circles/ovals/recatangles.
6. Probably the Queen of all the Punches is the Crop-A-Dile from Memory Keepers which we sell   on our Irish Craft Supplies Site.  It punches 1/8" and 3/16" holes, sets eyelets (small, medium, large, cone shaped) and snaps.  Rumour has it the next version is going to do the washing up as well.
7. Stello added a comment on the blog (thanks Stello!) about a technique I forgot to mention - if punching through thinner tissue papers (not fibrous) it helps to put a layer of stiffer card underneath. 
8. Below is a list of some of the most popular punches we sell on the Crafts site all  year round.  The one at the left of the list is the most popular, going down in popularity along the line!      

Handblogs at Dawn

If you're at all crafty with your hands, and can sew a little, AND you love handbags, you have to check out Lisa Lam's U-Handblog and her brilliant Handbag craft supplies site - U-Handbag. The bags are to die for - and the best part of it all?  You can tell someone when they ask (try not to be TOO smug) that you made it yourself. Our favourite one is the one to the left.  You can learn how to make it step by step on Lisa's site - it's one of her many projects she has for people to follow.

Most of the bags have a really retro feel which we love.  Right now I'm making a quilt but when I'm finished putting together the 182 nine-patch blocks I have to make, I'll be looking to start on handbags :)