Christmas Lantern Cards

Each month I make five Christmas cards to avoid the last minute rush in December. I generally play along with the challenge over at Christmas Cards All Year Round, which helps to keep me inspired with fun ideas and lots of great sample cards. This month I made five cards using this image of a Christmas lantern nestled among pretty flowers and holly branches.

Poppies

 

Originally Designed: March 2011

Remastered: March 2018

Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved. Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.

Sunflower / Gerbera

Free Printables #140
I've used these flowers both as gerberas and as sunflowers by colouring them in the appropriate colours for the flowers I want.

These are the leaves for sunflowers...

And these are the leaves for the gerberas or daisies...

Copyright Beccy Muir 2011

Gerbera Card

Yesterday I posted a sunflower card using the same flowers that appear here. By colouring them differently they now look like gerberas... or at least they do to me!

Sunflower Card

I have been working on several new floral designs lately, including a set of three sunflowers with matching leaves. To make this card, I coloured the three different flowers with distress inks, cut them out and layered them on to a piece of brown card. Some of the flowers have foam tape beneath them to give a little extra dimension.

Fabric Bunny

Free Printable #139

Here's another little bunny to use with your Easter cards and crafts, or perhaps on a baby card, shower invitation or Christening card.

Copyright Beccy Muir 2011

Basket of Eggs

Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved.

Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.

Technique Class - Woven Baskets Part III

Today's section of the tutorial will cover the plaited handle for the little woven basket. For this section you will need to cut nine 12" x 1/8" strips from the same cardstock you used for the weaving and two 1/8" strips from the off cuts you reserved from the base section of the basket. Use the longest pieces you have for these little strips.

28. Gather the nine 12" x 1/8" strips into a bundle. Thread them through any gap in the top weaving of the basket, leaving about an inch hanging into the centre of the basket as shown below.

29. Fold the strips together so they all point upward as shown.

30. Wrap some double sided tape around the entire bundle two or three times making sure the tape doesn't cover the short ends of the strips. Remove the backing paper.

31. Wrap one of the strips you took from the off cuttings of the base of your basket around the bundle of longer strips completely covering the double sided tape. Add a spot of glue or tape at the end of the strip to hold it in place and to secure the bundle. Now divide the long strips into three groups of three ready for plaiting.

32. Plait the strips together until you are about 1" from the ends.

33. Thread the loose ends of the plait through a gap in the other side of the basket as shown below.

34. Fold the ends up and gather them with the plaited piece. Finish by wrapping the bundle with double sided tape and then with another strip of off cut in the same way you started on the other side (steps 29 - 31). You can now trim any excess cardstock from the handle to tidy it up a little.

35. Now for the fun part... embellishing! I added some handmade flowers on one side of the basket, a ribbon criss crossed over the handle and tied off in a bow and some paper doilies adhered on the inside of the basket.

Now you know how to create a basic basket, why not have a go at changing the shape of your base to an oval or a square and experiment with different colours for your weaving and handles? Try out lots of different embellishments for different themes and occasions. I hope you've enjoyed the tutorial and would love to see some of your finished creations. Have fun!

Technique Class - Woven Baskets Part II

Today we will be working on the weaving around the top of the basket. Instead of glueing and snipping off the ends, we are going to work them together around the top to give a more realistic effect. At this point your basket should look like the photo below... this is where we finished off yesterday.

14. Using the side of your scissors or your bone folder, soften the spines by running the tool edge firmly along the spine as you would if you were curling ribbon. This will help to break up the little fibres in the cardboard and make it more malleable and easier to work with. I do this two or three times on each side of the spine.

15. Begin at the shortest spine. Fold it toward the right, keeping it behind the next spine as in the picture below. Note that the side that faces out (the textured side) is still facing out. I did not twist the spine when I folded it.

16. Take the second spine backwards over the top of the first spine, then through the gap between the first spine and the top of the basket. You will need to refer to the picture for the correct method.

17. Work the second spine down firmly against the first spine so that it holds it in place.

18. Fold the second spine toward the right and lay it with the first spine. Both spines should now be behind the third spine as in the picture below.

19. Bring the third spine backwards over the top of the first and second spines and down through the gap between the spines and the basket, as you did earlier.

20. Work the third spine down firmly against the first and second spines to hold them in place.

21. Fold the third spine over to the right with the first and second spines. They should all lay behind the fourth spine. Now you just repeat this same process right around the top of the basket, working all the spines in together.

22. When you get back around to the start point you should have several spines all folded down toward the right.

23. Now it gets a little fiddly. Carefully slip the first spine out from the second spine.

24. You will see a little loop is left in the second spine where you removed the first spine.

25. Stand the first spine straight up. Gather the last spines and lay them to the right behind the first spine. Take the first spine backwards and through the gap between the other spines and the basket as you have been doing all the way around. Work the first spine down firmly over the other spines and lay them all to the right.

26. Now you need to work all the loose ends back through the loop in the second spine. Some tweezers are useful for this process.

27. On the inside of the basket you may have a loose spine or two. Continue slipping these into the loops around the basket edge until they are all secured. You might want to finish with just a spot of glue.

And that's it for today! Now you should have a little basket with a lovely woven edge that's just waiting on a handle. You could use the basket as it is if you don't want or need a handle, or you could tie a piece of string, wire or ribbon across the top as a handle if you wanted to. Tomorrow we will be adding a plaited handle that is secured to the top of the basket to finish off the project.

Technique Class - Woven Baskets Part I

Today I'm going to show you how to make the base of your woven basket using two sheets of cardstock and various tools. These little baskets are great for Easter, but would also make lovely gift bags for birthdays, Mother's Day or even Christmas.

Requirements: 2 sheets of cardstock 12" x 12" Scissors Craft knife Cutting mat Double sided tape Compass or circle template (no large than 3 3/4" diametre) Pencil and ruler Bone folder / scoring tool 3 small brads / split pins - if desired Piercing tool Matching ink - if desired Embellishments - if desired

1. With your compass and pencil (or circle template) draw a circle in the centre of one piece of cardstock. The circle should be no more than 3 3/4" in diametre. Draw a number of radiating spines out from the centre of the cardstock to the edges. These should be no less than 1/4" in diametre and should be relatively evenly spaced. Don't worry about getting these perfect, it doesn't matter too much, however you do need to ensure that you have an even number of spines.

2. Cut out your circle and spines in one piece as shown below. DO NOT even up the length of the spines, just leave them as they are. RESERVE THE OFF CUTS.

3. From the second piece of cardstock, cut five 12" x 1/2" strips. Ink the edges all the pieces if desired. RESERVE THE REMAINDER.

4. With the base flat on the table, fold all the spines up toward the centre of the basket.

5. Choose a spine as your starting point, anywhere is fine. Add a thin piece of double sided tape no longer than 1/2" to the outside of the spine as shown in the picture below.

6. Adhere one of the long strips to the piece of double sided tape as shown. Since I am right handed I find it easier to work to the right, but you may want to do it in reverse if you are left handed.

7. The next spine to the right should be laying down on the table as shown. Add a small piece of double sided tape to the second spine at the position indicated. This will hold it in place as you work, but won't be strong enough to cause you problems if you need to shift the spine for any reason.

8. Now let the weaving begin! The first spine is behind the 12" x 1/2" strip, the second spine is in front, the third spine will be behind, the fourth spine will be in front... continue this pattern until you come back to your starting point. NOTE: I added a small piece of double sided tape on every second spine (those spines that are on the outside) to hold them in place as I worked.

9. When you get back to the starting position, add a bigger piece of double sided tape to the inside of the 12" x 1/2" strip as shown and adhere it over the starting piece. (If you used the same measurements that I did you will find that the 12" x 1/2" strip will be the perfect size for the basket. If you used a different diametre circle, then you may need to trim your strip or add a little more.)

10. Use a piercing tool to make a hole through both ends of the 12" x 1/2" strip and the first spine, then push one of the small brads through. Open the brad on the inside of the basket and flatten the ends with your fingers or a pair of pliars. This step isn't strictly necessary, but I like how it looks! Get your second 12" x 1/2" strip of cardstock and this time apply a small amount of double sided tape on the outside at the end as shown.

11. Adhere the second strip to the same starting spine, but this time it will be behind the spine as shown in the picture below. Start weaving again, this time in an alternate pattern to the strip below. I again applied double sided tape to the outside spines in order to better hold everything together as I worked.

12. To finish the second strip, apply a bigger piece of double sided tape on the outside at the end, then adhere it behind the starting spine.

13. The third 12" x 1/2" strip of cardstock is woven in the same way as the first. The fourth strip of 12" x 1/2" strip of cardstock is woven in the same way as the second. The fifth strip of 12" x 1/2" cardstock is woven in the same way as the first. NOTE: I only added brads on the first, third and fifth strips for effect.

By this stage you should have a basket that looks like the picture above. Remember not to trim any of the spines despite them being different lengths as you will use those lengths tomorrow when we weave around the top of the basket.