Paper Wishes Blog

How many of you start your holiday craft making early? Making cards, handmade one-of-a-kind items, wrapping paper and gift tags…all those wonderful things that make the holidays special and take time and care to create? I wish I could say I was way ahead of my craft projects, but the reality is, come November I will be looking for inspiration…and time…to make my handmade gifts, which I love to do.

Well, we here at Paper Wishes are trying to help both with the inspiration and savings for your Christmas crafting projects! We have to thank our Inventory Gal, Phyllis, as she has come up with tons of festive items for our Mom’s Warehouse Sale this week. There are amazing deals on everything from Holiday templates and paper to Dazzles™ and punches. I think it’s a great idea to start shopping now, while there are savings to be had, instead of later in the year when everything is full price!

Christmas Images Punch

Wreath Small Stamp

Poinsettia Silk Flowers

As for inspiration, have you ever checked out the Project Gallery section of the Paper Wishes site? If you go to the main page and click Project Gallery on the top red bar, it will take you to something very special…hundreds of project ideas that are totally searchable! If you search “Christmas” or “holiday”, a kazillion scrapbooking, card making, stamping and album ideas will pop up to inspire your creative spirit…as well as introduce you to new techniques. You can also search for non-holiday related items through the categories listed, so whatever the project, check here and you’re sure to be motivated! Not only do you get a great visual, you get full project instructions to know how to make it!

Christmas Card

Inside Christmas Card

Your gift recipients will be very impressed with you this year! Not only did you save big by shopping early, you made some pretty incredible projects after you got some Paper Wishes inspiration!

I love to make jewelry, and have been making holiday gifts and birthday presents for my mom and sisters for years now. The jewelry I was making then was based on beads and chains. I was first introduced to jewelry making with papercrafting supplies with the launch of our Easy Peasy jewelry making books ¬and boy was I hooked!

Vintage Easy Peasy

Pretty & Playful Easy Peasy

The original books came with art and coordinating overlays, so you can collage your jewelry pieces. This is a great look when used with the microscope slides (and the art pieces are designed to fit these versatile sizes!) Simply, sandwich the paper and overlay between two glass pieces, slip into the frame and WOW!

Vintage 1"x3" Slide

Pretty & Playful 1"x1" Slide

The Vintage has been so popular that we reprinted it but, it now has the art and overlay art layered in one paper image. The new style is much easier to work with the glass tiles. Simply, apply a thin layer of crystal lacquer to the back of the tile, place the tile over the cut-out paper art. Let dry, then seal the paper with more lacquer and attach the bail.

The glass tiles are so versatile! So, we wanted to do more and we brought in these beautiful crystals from our friends at Mark Richards, which really sparkle on the tiles! Ann used alcohol inks in most of these projects to color the background and give the crystals an added boost of color. You can also use StazOn® to get a metallic effect.

Large Circle Tile with Crystals

Rectangle Tile with Crystals

What have you done with your papercrafting supplies to make jewelry? Leave me a comment and let me know your ideas!

Since Mother’s Day is right around the corner I wanted to show you some really great projects that use our new Sew Sweet Dazzles™ and all sorts of fun sewing embellishments! These are great ideas for Mother’s Day cards and gifts!

Sew Sweet Card

card inside

I really love the border on the Sew Sweet Dazzles™ ; it’s amazing how much it pops when backed with paper, like LeNae did here. And these clothes Hanger Clips are so cute! They’re perfect for attaching a greeting.

wood buttons

Wood buttons

These wood buttons are so versatile! LeNae chalked them here but she used inkpads on the chipboard pieces below, there are so many ways to embellish these blank pieces, you could even use glitter .

Great Gift Idea–Stretched Canvas

Sew Sweet Canvas Collage

A collaged canvas is a great way to use your cardmaking and scrapbooking supplies for gift ideas. Simply ink or paint the canvas then decorate!

I love these Button and Still Sew Cute chipboard pieces from Maya Road. LeNae colored them with Aged Mahogany and Tumbled Glass Distress inks to get a great color that matches the Heritage Papers perfectly! The mini wooden spools are wrapped with Color Infusions thread to give them a touch of sparkle.

These are great ideas for mom, grandma or even your daughter (who may also be a mom).

Let me know what you’ve made for your Mom, leave a comment or upload an image!