30 December, 2012

Thank you cards

It's Debbie here with a few thank you card ideas, which come in really handy all through the year especially just after Christmas. It's so nice to receive a little thank you card.

So what did I use: 3 A4 sheets of papers from the 'In Sympathy' collection from 'Wishes and Kisses Cdrom' scissors and glue
To create the sentiments from the cdrom I picked a paper, sent it to the workspace, clicked templates, dragged sentiment panels over, clicked writer and typed in 'thank you'. You can alter the font and size, click view, drag it to where you want it to go then print it off. For the other two sheets I just printed them off.  It's as easy as that...

I made 3 cards:
 

1st card - I cut a couple of panels, matted and layered onto black thin card, cut some flowers out, added glitter with a glue pen and a little bit of decoupage. Then finish off with a  chopped down sentiment panel.

2nd card - I used a dotty embossing folder, cut & embossed 3 postage stamp shapes using spellbinders dies and inked it to highlight the embossing. Next I  added a black panel to matt them onto it, added some card candi and a sentiment panel.

3rd card - I embossed the card front using a swirl embossing folder, cut out the scallop shapes on the backing papers to make 2 shaped edges - you don't need to be precise with the scissors either. Last but no means least add a sentiment panel.

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas.  Don't forget we'd love to see anything you've made using any Funkyhand product.  Just add your pic to the link below:

Bye for now 
Debbie x



27 December, 2012

Lou sneaks in with a digi layout and SALE news :)


Papers- Christmas Tree from funkyhand.
Afternoon Peeps!!!
Ok so I am sneaking a little post in over here today because.......


 There's a sale going on over in the Funky Hand shop :) :)

Sale. 50% off everything!*

There's a whopping 50% off all online purchases until 2nd Jan 2013 so quick!! go shopping!! and just to give you an idea of the bargain prices, that makes the download I used for this layout just £1.25!!

I just had to share the digi layout I made with the photoshop elements 11 we treated ourselves to this morning. As soon as we got home from Staples I got busy on a little layout of my fav christmas piccies.

I have to warn you all I am completely addicted to this now!! its so much fun! and how cute do those papers from Funky Hand look?! I am so excited about finding a new way to use these stunning digi papers that Anice designs, I can't wait to do some more layouts!!!

Right, I am off to eat a few ferrerro rocher choccies and watch the men of the house playing on Lego Lord of the rings!! its too much fun to miss!!

Huge hugs Lou xxxx

26 December, 2012

One word sums it up!

Hello :) Sammylou here and I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and been thoroughly spoiled. It's been quite hectic in our house, thanks to my three-year old son, and I have been working into the wee small hours all this week finishing off Christmas gifts for the family.

The card I would like to share with you today encapsulates what we should all be feeling at this time of the year: Happy.

As we turn towards 2013 and all the promise a New Year contains, it's nice as a cardmaker to move away from the Christmas themes that have filled my craft room since August and make something a little different.

Happy - made using the Daisy Day download
 
My card was made using the Daisy Day download. I just love the palette of colours in this set and the alphas with it are so versatile. All I added were the three brads and the card was done! It's a cheery card and evocative of Summer days. And while I have absolutely no desire to wish my year away before it has even begun, the thought of some sunshine is a welcome thing in this terribly wet weather.
 
I promise that my next blog for Funky Hand will contain a tutorial and I was thinking of showing you all how to image transfer onto candles: a simple yet incredibly effective technique. If it's something that you would be interested in seeing, please let me know.
 
Love and best wishes for the New Year love Sammylou xxx
 
 

22 December, 2012

It was (almost) the Night Before Christmas

.......and all round the Funky Folks' Houses everything was wrapped and serene and ready for the big day....
or maybe not....
because if you're anything like me (it's Kathy here btw)  you'll be crafting and tweaking things right up to the last minute.  In fact, while I was writing this I was just thinking that all I had to actually make now were a few pretty things to decorate my parcels when I remembered a gift card holder of some sort that I still need to make.  And it's for my MiL, so forgetting wouldn't be a good more.  ooops!
Anyway, I hummed and ha'ed about what to share with you this close to Christmas and then decided a little reminder of  a couple of packaging ideas might be a help for last-minute wrapping, plus a couple of ideas for making your parcels look just a bit special when they are sitting under the tree - it's always amazing how adding a bit of something made from paper really makes a gift look extra special
First though here are those ideas for the actual packaging
If you've got the Funky Hand Papercraft Factory CDs then don't forget to check out the templates sections for some great ideas;
Slice of cake shaped box template -  Happy Happy Birthday CD
Pillow box template - Twelve Crafters Crafting CD
Gift card holder - Wishes and Kisses CD
Exploding box - Wishes and Kisses CD
There are also a couple of envelope templates on the CDs - great for making presentation envelopes for gift vouchers or tokens and so much nicer than a plain envelope or dull card.
Don't forget to check out the shop site too for Anice's wonderful "how to make..." videos!

The pillow box template is one of my favourites and is soooo easy to use.  I've made a shamballa bracelet for each of my three nieces
This pillow box will be for one of them

Pillow box template:from Twelve Crafters Crafting CD
Designs from "Presents Wrapped" download, Printed directly onto thin card
Flower topper made using the flower template from Wishes and Kisses CD

This little origami box will be perfect for another of the bracelets - fabulously easy to make from a couple of paper squares!
You can find the link for how to make the box, along with instructions for how to make the flowery topper HERE
Papers and flower image all from the Daisy Day download

I do love to make a few "pretties" to put on my parcels - add a bit of ordinary curling ribbon, or even a scrap of tinsel and they really add some sparkle to your gifts.
Rosettes are just the simplest way to add pizzazz - you can make them from wrapping paper, or choose one of Funky Hand's fantastic papers to make it even easier as there are so many colours and designs you're sure to find something to match your wrapping!   I often just hand fold a strip of paper, but better still is using a die such as those from Memory Box and my trusty Cuttlebug!
I#ll be making loads of rosettes for my parcels this year, but I thought I'd show you a tag I've made  instead - these are fab for using up any paper scraps you have left from all those cards you've been making!
Papers are  from "Santa Baby" download

This multi-layered star looks complicated but is really easy - so easy that in a previous life I made them with a class of 6 year olds.  Use them "flat" with some curling ribbon and maybe a tiny offcut of tinself in the centre for a gift topper, or add more layers on the back then pierce a hole right through the centre and add some ribbon or cord to make a fabulous bauble
I've used the Winter Wonderland download for this one

Start by printing on both sides of your paper, then cutting a bunch of circles - either by hand, with a punch or with a die cutter - there are 4 circles in the star I've made
Fold one circle as shown in the diagram, then holding the four circles tightly together on top of each other, use the fold lines as a guide for making the cuts - stop cutting about 1.5cms from the centre
Each circle will now look a bit like this
Now curl the ends of each section inwards - you could use the pointed end of a pencil to help form the shape if you wanted.  Add a dab of glue to hold them in shape, the next photo shows one being made
Once all your stars are made all you need to do is add a dab of glue in the middle of the first one and stick star 2 in the middle, repeat with the other stars - they will take up the rounded shape as you go and you'll end up with something just like the one in the first photo.  

Here's another "star" decoration, this time made using 8 squares of paper.  I've used the Winter Wonderland download again for this one too

I used 10cm squares and the resulting star is quite large - great to put on a big gift box - but for my next one I'll start with smaller squares.
Again, you need to print on both sides of the paper before you begin
Cut 8 squares then fold each in half 4 times so there folds going straight and daigonally, and going each way. 
 Making these folds makes it easier to do the next bit


 With the square folded on one of the diagonals, push the corners (of the long side) in to form a square - or diamond shape if you prefer ;) crease firmly

 Now fold in the two sides of the top square so the top bit looks a bit like a kite shape like this:

Do the same thing with all the squares then join them all together by tucking each one under the "kite" shape of the previous one - use a dab of glue to hold them in place.  Eventually you get a shape like this, which you can decorate with ribbon, tinsel, glitter etc  Add a hole in one of the "points" if you want to hang it up
Looks complicated but really isn't, the folds are really easy quick and you'll have your star finished in no time!

I hope you've enjoyed my little bit of gift wrapping inspiration - even if it's a bit late for Christmas the ideas might come in handy for other gift giving occasions.

We'll be back soon with more ideas for using your Funky Hand stash - but please remember that we would really love to see what you make with yourss - the Linky Gadget is there to be used so please come and share your creativity with us soon.
Wishing you all a Very Happy and Creative Christmas
 

 The linky that you see below is for you to add pictures of anything you have created using Funky Hand products recently or what you have made using the latest Funky Freebie download available on the Funky Hand website www.funkyhand.com.

19 December, 2012

It's a date!

Good morning everyone, it's my turn (Jackie) today to bring you my little bit of inspiration using the fab goodies from Funky Hand I hope you are all ok and in high festive spirits :) 

What do you think of our new look, inspirational crafty blog? We would love it if you let us know what you think.

If you are looking for a last minute gift for someone and you would like it to be lovingly hand made then look no further! I hope you are sitting comfortably as there is quite a bit of reading going on here :)

Right, peeps, this is what we are going to make....a 2013 calendar. :)
 Materials:-
13 x A4 sheets of card (I used 300gsm)
114 sheets of patterned paper
12 off cuts or 3 more full sheets of paper for the pockets
1 x Silver mirri card or 12 off cuts
12 printed labels - NOTES
48 large tags, I used the large Sizzix Scallop tag die
Assorted large flowers (for photos) + corresponding circle die cuts
Die cut flowers
Bind It All or book rings
So first things first....you will need to download a "FREE"page per month calendar template
and print it out. The next step is to sort out which of our wonderful papers you are going to use. For once I didn't stick to a specific colour scheme, I chose my papers by pattern and used the Wishes and Kisses Papercraft Factory cd from Funky Hand
Trim the calendar pages leaving a 1cm gap at each side and a 2cm border at the top and bottom of the pages. Trim the patterned paper down to fit the card again leaving a border all around and stick it to the back of the 'month' sheets. When you get to the December sheet, just add paper to the back of the month, you don't need a pocket on it.
We now need 12 pieces of patterned paper measuring approximately A6 which is easy as you just need to cut A4 sheets into four. Once the paper is cut it needs to be folded to make a pocket to fit a large tag into.
Crease the pocket on three sides as above, making sure that the pockets are just slightly wider than the tags. Cut off the excess and stick (on 3 sides only) to the patterned paper on the back of each month. 
Ink the edges of the flowers before you add them to the page, to add definition and make the flowers 'pop' from the page. Add the "NOTES" labels to the front of the pockets and your calendar should look like this
Stick some of the flower die cuts to the patterned paper so the recipient can add photos to the calendar. You will also need to add the circle die cuts to use as templates to cut out the photos. Fasten your calendar together using a Bind It All or book rings and decorate as required. I just put the tags and the photo templates into a separate envelope with a note on the front about how to use them. The tags can be used as shopping list, appointment cards or anything else and once they have been written on they are simply popped into the pockets .
And that, my lovelies, is all there is to it :)

I hope you have enjoyed my little bit of inspiration and that you will come back and let us know if you have made it.

Merry Christmas from all of the Funky Hand design team, we hope it's a good one for you. xx

09 December, 2012

Christmas Presents Wrapped

Morning bloggers, I hope you are enjoying the new style of the blog and today it's me, Ni, taking my turn here to share some inspiration with you all.

I have been creating Christmas cards since July for work and (although I love the traditional red/green colour combination or a blue/white one too) after 5 months of crafting I was about ready for a change!
So I was really pleased when Anice launched the Presents Wrapped download as part of the new 2012 Funky Hand Christmas collection, Oh Come All Ye Crafters. This collection features "an interesting colour palette of blue, pale green, purple and pink". Thanks Anice, perfect!


Ok so on to the details.....
I used a Kraft card base (yes I'm, still addicted to Kraft right now!) and covered the bottom half of the card with the tree paper and the top with the textured purple design.
The tree paper has fab details on it of snowflakes and what I like to refer to as "icy looking swooshes!", whilst the textured papers in all the colour varieties would be great for any style of card all year round so don't just think of this download as being limited to Christmas, if you like the bright colours I'm sure you will love it as much as I do!

I cut the presents using a die and coredinations cardstock in colours matching the download and the sentiment is a gold foiled, die cut circle I found in my huuuuuge Xmas crafting stash drawer that I coloured with a promarker in a similar tone to the papers to give that cohesive look to the project.
The banner strip was made by hand cutting the shape out of spare purple texture paper and mounting in to Kraft card.

So there we have it, a simple card to make, especially if you want to do a bulk amount, but effective I think. A twist on Christmas colours but don't forget as I said you can use the same download to create non Christmas projects too as many of the papers are not deliberately christmas styled; which is exactly what I will be doing when I pop back to share my January project with you.
Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas and I will 'see' you all in the new year! Ni. X

05 December, 2012

To Have and To Hold


Good Morning
Allison here to show you a bit of inspiration and thought I would do something non Christmas today
This is a circle card with a slight difference
To start off I printed three sheets from the Wishes and Kisses CD- It's the Big Day paper collection- 2 papers and 1 digi image and 1 sentiment 

 The beauty of these CD's is that you can resize on the workspace to any size you want to work with- next I cut out the image using a circle die and inked the edges with the die still in place
I then cut two large circles using my calibur and folded one in half- the half is your base card and is a good way of still making a circle card if you don't have any A3 sized card


To the large circle I added two smaller circles cut out of the papers, I also inked the edges of these
 Added the image to the centre and then glued the large circle to the half circle to form my card, cut out the sentiment and position where you want it on the card
 Cut some various sized circles from the remainder of the papers and pinch in the middle and crumple them up then start to layer them together to form flowers
Cut some swirls from white card and added these with the flowers round the side and finished off with some pearls for the flowers centres 


I hope you enjoyed my card today and remember we would love to see what you make using Funky Hand products or if we have inspired you in some way
AllisonX







01 December, 2012

Jingle All The Way!

Good morning!!!  It's the 1st of December and I hope you're all more organised than me for Christmas!  I'm sort of about getting there but fortunately I've made all the special Christmas cards in advance as I'm delivering some of them today!  At least it means the safe place I put them in won't be forgotten!

I hope you're liking our new look here at Get Funky and Craft; Anice started the ball rolling on Wednesday, and here I am with the weekend post.  Allison will be along on Wednesday with more papercrafting inspiration for you.

Anyway, here is the card I've made for my brother and his girlfriend this Christmas:

I've used the wordbook download Christmas Tree and simply printed out the letters I wanted onto thick card (I think its 240gsm) and then put the card back into the printer and added one of the plain colours from the backing paper collection so that the 'pages' are not blank on the back.

I then cut round each letter and layered them up so that you can see each letter.  I then cut each page so that it lined up as a book would at the spine.  I used a corner rounder punch to keep it looking nice and then added red glitter glue around the edge of each letter (it's Christmas after all!) and finally simply glued each page together and when once dry, I scored so that each page can be opened.

The word 'bells' has been cut with a Sizzix alphabet die - Round-A-Bout and I've used some of the offcuts of card from the wordbook letters and then went to town with some green glitter glue!

And to finish it all off, I found some green satin ribbon in my stash but not enough to make a fancy bow, so I threaded some red, gold, and green jingling bells onto some thin red ribbon and tied it all together.

If you're wondering just how big this card is and if it will fit in a normal envelope, then wonder no more as you can buy wordbook envelopes to fit!

You can show off your Funky Hand creations by adding to the blue frog below!