Technique of the Week: Easel Cards

Last week, I received this card for my graduation. It was made by a family friend but sent from my Nanna. While I’ve seen easel cards several times in magazines and on websites and other blogs, I hadn’t actually come across one in real life. Easel cards never really seemed my kind of style, mainly due to all the borders and peel-offs and all sorts of embellishments and images, while mine tended to use paper piecing technique and a generally simpler design.

It’s not that often that I receive handmade cards so when I do, I like to examine every detail – how did they do that? what paper was used there? I’ve never done it like that before! – and this card was no exception. While I admit, it took me far longer than it should have for me to realise how the card worked (getting it to stand up), I was inspired by the simplicity of the structure and how effective it was. Cards like this are perfect for special occasions (significant birthdays, wedding anniversaries, weddings, graduation, etc.) because they are more than just a card and become a keepsake of sorts.

I decided to have a go at making an easel card and was surprised (although I really shouldn’t have been) at how easy it was to make. I chose to use a card blank that I already had rather than make it from card stock but all I had to do was trim it down to make it into a square blank and fold the front diagonally to make the easel. To make the front of the card, I cut a square of white card to match the size of my easel. The nice thing I found about using a card blank was that it had different colours on each side of the card and by turning the blank inside out, I could have a coloured base.

In honour of the Great British Bake Off starting tomorrow (who else is as excited as I am????), I chose to do a cupcake themed card. The papers were courtesy of Papercraft Inspirations (of course) and fitted my theme perfectly. Another great thing about using card blanks is that they come with matching envelopes, which saves me having to root through my ever growing pile of recycled envelopes trying to find one that is both the right size and colour. Because the card blank has been trimmed, it does leave space in the envelope but this can be taken advantage of by not restricting the design of the card to the dimensions of the front – I added a little tab as a final flourish.

Having seen for myself how simple these cards are to make and having a few more special occasions coming along soon, I will no doubt be giving easel cards another go in the near future.

Technique of the Week: Tassels

This is the first of who knows how many posts talking about the different techniques I use on my cards. My aim is to write one every week sharing either a tutorial or just some inspiration from techniques I use regularly and maybe a couple of new ones. 

This week's technique of the week is tassels. It wasn't what I originally planned to write about but with current happenings, it seems to fit quite well. As you may have seen in my previous posts, its graduation time and yesterday it was my turn to stop being a graduand (my new word!) and become a graduate. I made a few cards for some close friends of mine who were graduating with me, which is where today's technique comes from. The tassels made would then form part of a cap embellishment to go on the front of the cards. I originally found a tutorial through Pinterest (where else!), but having used it as a starting point, I chose to make my own.

Tassels are really straightforward to make but can be fiddly depending on the size of the tassel and the length of you fingernails! (Shorted makes life so much easier I found out). All you need to make a tassel is:

• Some thread/string/wool. I used black thread for mine as they were only going to be small but obviously, to make bigger tassels, you would use a thicker material.
• A piece of cardboard. My tutorial uses foam board as clever me had a clear out earlier in the week and this was all I could find. Cardboard would work better but essentially you need something that is thin and stiff. The size of the cardboard will determine the size of the tassel.
• Scissors.

To start, cut a short length of thread and lay it across the top of the cardboard. This doesn't need to be too long but needs to be long enough so that it can be tied. The tail will also be used to attach it to the cap itself.

Next, its time to start winding. Starting at the bottom, wind the thread around the board, making sure that you wind over the piece of thread at the top. How many times you go around is up to you, for this one, I went around 20 times. Once you are back at the bottom, cut the thread from the spool.

That thread I mentioned in the first step? Tie it.

Try and make it as tight as possible. I double knotted it just to make sure.

Flip the card over and cut the thread at the bottom. This makes the tassel and also lets you remove it from the card.

This is where it can get fiddly.

The next step is to tie the middle so that it actually resembles a tassel. To do this, wrap some more thread around and knot it. I try to wrap it a couple of times before tying the knot. It can be messy when you are wrapping but once it's knotted, it's easy enough to neaten and arrange. The ends can then become part of the tassel as well once trimmed.

When attaching it to a black card cap, I threaded the tail through a needle and poked it through the centre of the cap, securing it with a bit of cello-tape and trimming the ends.

Three tassels made three caps for three cards. I chose to use my school colours as we are part of two universities. I didn't want to make three identical cards which also let me try out different ways to place the cap.

Having the owl throw it up in celebration was a very simple way to us it: the tassel doesn't need arranging or sticking down.


The second card was for a fellow Welshman, and having found this foam dragon in my stash, it was just crying out to be used. I should have however, trimmed the cap down to compensate for the foreshortening (see the third card). The other thing to remember when actually putting the cap onto a figure is to stick the tassel down - otherwise it'll get in the way! Although it would kind of fit in with this goofy looking dragon.


The third card is probably the most traditional of the three. I added a bit of glue to keep the tassel off to the side. This card was also embellished with a degree scroll. This was simply made by rolling a bit of white paper around the end of a paint brush, using glue to seal the end of the strip. To finished I used a bit of red thread to tie a bow around it and flattened the scroll slightly so that it adhered to the card front easily.

The Minions Are Taking Over!

Most of us have come across Despicable Me, in particular, those little yellow minions. The minions are very popular with my friends and recently I have been commissioned cards featuring them. Because they are some crazy characters, it opens up a whole load of ideas and essentially anything works, the madder, the better.

The first card was actually from last October and was a personalised birthday card. I wanted to imply the chaos wreaked by them so rather than having one minion on the front, I chose to show minions all over the place. These were paper pieced and the card was finished with a hand written sentiment and lots of stars.

My second card, more recently commissioned, was again for a birthday. The specification ("a purple minion doing something stupid please") was a little more specific but still gave me a lot of free reign over the design. As the birthday girl was a mutual friend, I was able to design something suitable. I don't think this minion actually looks that out of place slumped in this cocktail glass . . . .

The third card, for the friend who commissioned the previous one, was for graduation rather than a birthday. In a similar way to the previous cards (and almost all of my cards), this one was paper pieced and featured a purple minion wearing a mortar board. My friend, Min, has been regularly referred to as a minion, so this fit well.