Technique of the Week: Paper piecing

This week, I’m sharing my favourite technique, or at least the one I use the most often: Paper piecing. If my favourite magazine is anything to go by, its quite a popular one in the world of card making but I particularly enjoy it as it allows me to combine my sketching and drawing with my paper craft and gives me freedom to create my own designs and styles. It’s also a great way to use up scraps of paper!

I tend to use my own sketches at templates but I do occasionally use existing ones so its no biggie if you aren’t as skilled with  a pencil. This post however is going to go through my process from sketchbook to greetings card.

 

The first thing I do is sketch out my design. I have a small sketchbook especially for my card making where I can jot down a new idea or sketch out a design. My book is A6 which means that even if I fill the page, it will still fit onto the front of my preferred size of card blank. It also means I can actually draft out a full design. (I’d love to say it was planned that way but unfortunately it was just a happy coincidence). I do occasionally use bigger sketchbooks.

 

 

Once I’m happy with my design (and this can take a couple of attempts and quite a while depending on how carried away I get with the sketching. I have been known to completely finish and shade in with extra details before now), I get out my trusty tracing paper. As an architecture student, I used this almost as much as normal paper so I always had some lying around whether a clean sheet or an old drawing or even just scraps. I then trace over the line drawing, not necessarily in very much detail – some things can be added in free-hand later.

 

With the basic template done, it’s time to start transferring the different shapes onto coloured paper. I flip the trace over so that the design is reversed. This is for two reasons. The first, so that I can transfer the design simply by drawing over the template again; the second, so that pencil marks will be on the back of the paper and out of sight without me having to rub them out. When tracing the shapes onto paper, I make sure to leave a little extra in order to glue the layers together, occasionally using on piece for a couple of sections – here, the face and the ear were one piece, with the hair placed on top. Once all the pieces are cut out, the picture can be assembled (this bit can be a bit messy!)

 

To finish off my paper piecings, I add detail with a black pen. This depends on the style I’m going for and can range from simply outlines to more detailed shading.

While I tend to keep the more detailed ones for the frames, simpler designs are great for greetings cards. This Iron Man birthday card was made with very few different shapes. The hand was stuck on using foam pads to give the design some depth but all of the detail was done with black pen and a sharpened white pencil in order to mimic the comic book style.
In contrast to this, the Suits themed birthday card focused on mainly the silhouette of the character, with very little detail added to the hair. I was unsure how obvious this design would be to the recipient but as she is an avid Suits fan, she understood the reference immediately (phew!).

 

Would love to know what you think of my Technique of the Week posts so leave a comment below! Any suggestions for future posts more than welcome!

Scraps

Last night, after a day of clearing and sorting through all my craft stash, I decided to reduce the amount of scrap paper I had in my box.
I hate throwing away paper which could still be used so I keep it in one of my shoe boxes (these are perfect for storing anything and everything!). I wasn't until I had this sort out of stuff, that I realised that I couldn't actually get the box closed. So I set myself a challenge which was to make a series of cards only using paper from my scrap box. I allowed myself to used toppers and stickers etc (I found I had an excess of those as well)
I ended up making five cards and unfortunately barely seemed to scrape the surface of my scrap supplies.


My first card was my first Christmas card of the year. I used the left over of a silhouette I used on a Christmas card a couple of years back. I created the card in a very similar way and finished it with some stars and a Christmas message.



As well as scrap pieces of paper, I had gift tags and patterned paper from my magazines in my box. I used some of these gift tags for my next three cards. For the pink flower card, I just used strips of patterned paper and card and finished it off with a 'best wishes' sticker. The cat topper was a label of some pj's, I think, and so had a hole in the top corner. I tied a little piece of ribbon around it and added a strip of paper and some butterfly stickers to finish.
My fourth card used the backing card from some bath smellies. I added the plastic 'bubbles' and a peel-off message to finish.

My last card used some patterned paper from my magazine. I backed the letters onto some gold card and added a piece of beaded thread as a final touch. I was hoping to used a heart shaped bead or charm but I didn't have anything like that.




I think, in order to keep up with keeping my scraps low, this is going to have to be a regular occurance. Otherwise, at this rate, I'll have more scraps than actual sheets of paper!

Crafting in the Sunshine

Today, I was left with a dilemma. I don't know how the weather's been where you are, but here, it's be gorgeous. I have also just finished all of my university work so I have nothing to do except chill out. My dilemma was this: enjoy the sunshine, as I should seeing as the sun is rarely seen in the UK, let alone Manchester; or, spend the afternoon making cards. In the end I decided that if I couldn't bring the sunshine into my room, I would take my craft stash out to the sunshine. So, grabbing my beach towel and my kit and went and sat out in the garden at the front of my uni digs. 

 Overall, I had a rather pleasant and productive afternoon. The six cards I made today included an anniversary card for my parents, a new baby card (made using some of my German stash) and another card made using recycled materials, this time a Flake Easter egg box. 

 I was particularly pleased with the butterflies card. I had seen cards using little butterfly embellishments and only attaching the body of the butterfly to the card, leaving the wings stood up from the front, almost as if it was about to fly away. For the two butterflies, I used peel-offs on some patterned paper and then cut out the shape. I actually use foam pads to stick them to the card to really make them stand out. The smaller butterflies were made using a shaped punch and there were some other peel-offs as well. All that was left to do after that was glue a nice piece of paper to the front and add a message. 

Inspiration

As I was heading into the city centre yesterday, people kept trying to hand me all sorts of things whether it was newspapers as I was walking up Oxford Road or student giving out leaflets for various causes ( I was even handed a bottle of Powerade!). I am pretty sure that I hadn't been ambushed like that since freshers week. As a student, you learn to ignore it - if you didn't there you would probably have enough bits of paper that would have come from an entire rainforest. All day I had been having creative thoughts about my portfolio for uni and, of course, my cards. 
I was finally heading home after stopping at the library when, once again, (and ironically, for the last time that day) someone thrust yet another leaflet in front of me. It was only when I politely declined (I admit, I don't always. It depends what kind of a mood I am in) that the idea suddenly struck me. I am always spending waaaay too much of my student loan on craft supplies such as pretty paper (I am one hell of a sucker for gorgeous papers). Why didn't I use leaflets and recycled bits of card etc on my cards? Sure I would still have that draw full of supplies etc but I realised it would add an edge to my designs. I always keep scraps of paper (anything I consider to be useful anyway). 

So, last night, I put my theory to the test. I did make a couple of cards using recycled materials. In this case, it was a Flake Easter Egg box and a Cadbury's Chocolate Fingers box but you get the gist and I have to admit, it was a success.

As I was making the aforementioned cards, I also had another wave of inspiration. I am sure that many of the younger generation are more that slightly familiar with 'memes'. This latest craze has taken the internet and, I realised after spending an afternoon with my younger brother and his two friends, the teenage language by storm. Not only are they an excellent source for procrastination (even I myself have fallen prey to the likes of '9gag' and 'tickld') but also provided me with my next inspiration. For those among you who are unaware of this chap, he is normally followed by the phrase 'like a sir' and so, the sentiment of the card is revealed. Of course, they are very audience based but it has opened many doors for my creativity to go exploring.