Cascading Card and Gift box

Cascading Card

Cascading cards look so complicated but are rather easy to make! [Link to cascading card tutorial].

Cascading Card

It is funny how we bloggers inspire each other. My blogger pal Lisa Jane shared a gorgeous cascading card which she linked to me and I love her card so much that I in turn used her MS punches idea on the layers of the cascading card.  

Cascading Card

I kept the side panels simple with flower stickers in colors to match the rest of the cascade card.

Cascading Card

Dangled a clover -heart charm [for good luck!] in the center of my cascading card.I used  the same gorgeous baby theme stickers [which my daughter won from Khalindi] to make a gift box.

Handmade Box

I had an absolute blast making these paper boxes.

Paper Box

The box lid is attached to the lower part and opens in the style of a hinged box.

Handmade Box

Here is the tutorial to make these easy gift boxes: Hinged Box Tutorial

Cascading Card

Edited: This card came top 4 at BGC and I have been invited to Guest DT!

Pram Shaped Box tutorial

Pram Shaped Box

When my little one saw the Pram shaped box I had posted yesterday, she also wanted to make one so we made this pink and purple 3 D paper craft Pram

How to make a Pram or Pram shaped Box

The basic 3 D pram is surprisingly simple to make .You need just 2 large circles, 4 small circles and a rectangular card strip to join them to make a pram shaped box. 

Pram Shaped Box

Materials required to make a 3 D paper craft Pram or Pram shaped Box

Card stock- sturdy thick card works best if you want your pram to be strong enough to act as a box

Scissors and Glue- I use white glue [ Fevicol MR]

Something to make circles for the body and wheels of your paper craft pram

3 D Paper craft Pram

To make 2 large circles and 4 smaller circles, you can use

1.Saucer and bottle cap

2.Compass

3.Dies & a die cutting machine

Cut off 1/4th from your 2 large circles to get the basic shape of your pram

Pram Shaped Box tutorial

Crafting with my kiddo got  easier after I got my Big shot and we end up recycling even more as now even my little one can easily cut up boxes and thick card using the machine. Here you can see my little one using scallop circle dies and the Big Shot to recycle an old card to make her Pram!

Pram Shaped Box tutorial

To make the pram body take a strip of sturdy paper :My paper strip is 2.5 inches x 11 inches.

Width -will depend on how wide you want the box compartment to be.

Length- depends on how big your pram circle circumference is!Roughly roll it around the circumference of your pram [3/4 circle] to see if you have enough length for your pram box!

Pram Shaped Box tutorial

Score around 1/2 inch from either edge lengthwise [using a scoring tool or a blunt pen point/knife].Make zig zags on these edges as shown [no perfection needed!]

Pram Shaped Box tutorial

Fold over the zig zag teeth and apply glue on all the zig zag teeth on one edge as demonstrated by my little one!

Glue  the zig zag teeth to  the inner surface of your pram circle. This is quite easy if you have an extra pair of helping hands--you can see the tiny fingers helping to hold the zig zags as they dry !

Snip off the extra length of paper if you have more than the circumference of your pram or just bend,fold and glue it in as a horizontal shelf for your pram box.

Pram Shaped Box tutorial

Once one side has dried a bit ,apply glue on the other row of zig zag teeth and glue to the other 3/4 circle just inside the edge. Getting it perfect is tough for little ones so our Pram is not all that symmetrical but I guess the smile on a little face compensated for that!

Pram Shaped Box tutorial

Stick on the wheels on the outer surface or inner surface of the pram . Glue gently wheel by wheel so that all wheels touch the ground when the pram stands.

Pram Shaped Box tutorial

Glue card strips as shown inside the wheels to act as additional supports [ the paper wheels by themselves wont take much weight] so that it can take a bit of weight without toppling over when you put your goodies inside the pram box.

Pram Shaped Box

I didn't add a lid for this one as my daughter wanted to keep her dolly inside but attaching a lid as in my first version of the pram box just involves gluing a piece of card stock inside the pram and letting it overlap on the ledge already made.

Pram Shaped Box

I used MS punches for a lacy effect and hung a heart charm from the roof of our pram .

Pram Shaped Box

We used glittery foam flowers and butterflies again as my little one didn't want much variation from our first pram shaped box .

Pram Shaped Box

I hope you enjoyed my daughter's pink and purple overdose [her fav colors of the moment !].Do share your views as my kiddo has become quite an ardent blogger and is keen to read comments too!

Links to some awesome Prams and tutorials: Loz, Michelle, Suzie.

Pram Shaped Box

Pram shaped Box

I find making shaped boxes  fascinating though often challenging.However  it was surprisingly easy to make this pram shaped gift box.

Pram shaped Box

 The inside flap of my pram  has a pearl to help open the lid of the pram box .

Pram shaped Box

Used MS border punches,glittery foam flowers and butterflies to glamorize my pram box.

Pram shaped Box

Hung a heart shaped metallic charm like a mobile on the roof of the pram shaped box.

Pram shaped Box

My most talented friends Loz and Helen are the inspiration behind this Pram shaped box and their versions are much superior to mine so do drop over to their blogs to be enchanted.
Posting soon a pram my little one made and Tutorial of our version

Altered art - Paper weight decoration

Altered Project

Sometimes we all get into the mood to create something simple and quick yet beautiful isnt it!
Altering something is often such a quick yet rewarding craft!
I had these paper weights with some drug company's names on them and though I didnt like how they looked, they were too good to throw away so I decided to try alter them!

Altered Project

I cut out the shape on some pretty embossed paper ,added some pretty flowers and pearls and transformed the paper weights

Altered Project

I sprayed some glimmer mist[from Imaginations] on quilled flowers to match my glittery flower-This stuff really shimmers on the quilling

Altered Project

Added some glossy accents on the glittery leaves.Since this was a paper weight I didnt want the glitter to keep coming off so the glossy accents gave the needed protective coating and the added dimension on my altered project

Altered Project

This was  a super quick yet enjoyable  altered project !

Altered Project

Sometimes even if hours is spent on a card or project the only reaction I get at home is a "ummm!"
Well these paper weights surprisingly received a lot of oohs and wows from all at home ! I guess what appeals to us as crafters are techniques and complicated stuff while to a non crafter the overall beauty appeals! What do you say friends?

Handmade Photo frame- Beaded Photo frame

Handmade Photo frame

Photo frames have held such a special attraction for me even before I started crafting and making my own ! Recently  I picked up a Photo frame kit for my daughter from my local craft shop[Itsy Bitsy]. My kiddo had fun sticking the parts of the frame together and sticking the beads on the photo frame. 

Beaded Photoframe

The kit yielded a simple beaded frame and of course we had to add our own special touches! 

The shiny look is courtesy a generous coating of modpodge over the beads and this helped to really stick the beads which had a nasty tendency to keep falling off!

Also a bit of silver glitter glue here and there gave it a bit of sparkle and glamour!

The hearts border was made using my new Martha Stewart hearts punch [this MS punch is super new but giving me problems as its giving ragged edges which I have to snip off with scissors - a big disappointment and am heart broken !- any suggestions friends?]

Beaded Handmade photoframe

On a happier note ,I made my first ribbon rose !![So happy as fabric crafts and me dont get along usually!] Also made my first fancy pin by recycling beads from a broken bracelet .

Ribbon Rose on Beaded Photo frame

Our photo frame has a hearts theme so added a  heart charm on another handmade pin using the trusty glue gun.

Hearts Pin

Have seen so many lovely pins in blog land and it was thrilling for me to finally make my own for our photo frame

Beaded Photoframe

I hope you liked this glitzy photo frame..do share your views.

If you want to make your own Photoframe : Photoframe Tutorial 1,Photoframe tutorial 2

DIY Photoframes - Foam Crafts

DIY Photoframes

Crafting with young children requires a lot of time and patience and sometimes when you want to just laze around yet have fun, using a store bought craft kit is wonderful.

The basic frame work of this DIY photo frame is from a kit I bought from my local craft store [Itsy Bitsy]

The kit came with a card board tree and foam flower photo frames.  My little one had such fun choosing the photos to go on her tree.

DIY Photoframes

This is how it looks like if you use only the material from the photo frame kit.We later spruced it up a bit using glittery foam leaves and flowers we cut using our big shot [One of the biggest advantages of the Big Shot over punches is it cuts foam and cardboard with ease!]

Foam Crafts

This is the other side of the DIY photo frame.

DIY Photoframes

Each flower holds 2 photos and you can attach metal rings to hang them on the tree.I threaded some lovely butterfly charms [from Aditya’s Imaginations] on transparent twine and hung it on the branches.

Foam Crafts

I wanted a bit of creamy white to balance all the colorful glitter so quilled some fringed flowers to go on the tree.

Foam Crafts

The fun part is that as the little flowers swing in the wind the view keeps changing on this handmade photo frame.

DIY Photoframes

I hope you liked our fantasy tree. This idea can be easily adapted into a completely DIY project by cutting out your own card board tree and flower frames. Do share your opinion