Busy Making Cards

I was unable to post anything here for the past few days. I was so busy making last minute Christmas cards for families and friends and for my daughter's classmates.

I hope to be able to get my regular "life" back once the holiday season is over.

Arts Stock

My hubby gave me an early Christmas gift when he came back from San Francisco few days ago. He bought me so many 3-D ready-made stickers which I can use on my handmade cards craft. Not only that, he bought card stocks and some patterned papers for my Valentine's Day cards.

Isn't he the sweetest?!?

Christmas Card - Felt Mania's Mr. Frosty

This is the very first Christmas card or should I say, the very first handmade card I made (apart from the trial and error birthday card).

I call this my Felt Mania's Mr. Frosty. Why Felt Mania? Because I used felt for the main topper which is Mr. Frosty the Snowman.

Do you want to make one? Here's how and what you need:

Fabric felt - white, black, brown, orange and red
Fabric glue
A4 Green cardstock or other Christmas hues but dark tones for the base
Red and light green cardstocks as mat for the Christmas sentiment
Permanent marker with fine tip (I use Pilot brand. They have various felt tip sizes.)
Shape-cutting scissors - small scallop
Gel pen for the handwritten sentiment
Glue stick

Instructions:
Fold the A4 card stock in half. Use it as your base card.
Cut with the scallop-blade scissors the light green and red cardstocks and glue together. Set aside.
Use gel pen to write the Christmas sentiment on the center of the red cardstock.
Cut the white fabric felt in 3 sizes of circles for the Mr. Frosty. Glue together using the fabric glue.
Cut out long triangular shaped nose from the orange felt.
Cut out red fabric felt for the scarf and gloves.
Cut out small twig-like shape from the brown fabric felt to be use as arms.
Glue the nose, gloves and scarf using the fabric glue to Mr. Frosty.
Cut out black fabric felt to the shape of a top hat and glue on Mr. Frosty's head.
Dot the eyes and mouth (to look like coals!) of Mr. Frosty with the permanent marker.
Glue the cardstock mats slightly off-center and glue Mr. Frosty on the sentiment.

There you have it, your felt Mr. Frosty card.

What Type of Card Will I Make?

This question keeps nagging me? What type of card will I make? The answer is pretty simple, do whatever pleases you. Christmas is in the air so I am making tons of Christmas cards. I make other occasion cards too but not as much as the Christmas cards at this time.

My tip will be is to always follow your heart when you make cards. It doesn't really matter if you make a Halloween card in the middle of summer as long as you have the idea and the desire to make one, go for it. Don't let that creative juice run dry.

Tools I Use

I am quite behind when it comes to the tools most advanced crafters use for their handmade cards. For one, I have no budget to buy those die-cutting machines. Second, I have very limited space to do my craft. Third, the country where I reside at the moment has only 2 scrapbooking supplies store and that leaves me with very little option.

I am resourceful so what I can find being thrown and lying just about anywhere in my home and somewhere else which can be used for my cards, I use!

So, to start with the card-making process, one should have at least the basic:

• Crafter's scissor (This is a small but sharp and pointy scissor. So if you need to snip of intricate patterns, you should have this)
• Big scissor
• Card stocks
• Glue Stick
• Transparent Glue
  
• Tape glue
• Foam adhesives
• Some patterned papers
• Embellishments (I normally use the ones meant for scrapbooking!) - beads, glitter, stickers, chipboards, ready-made stickers, ribbons, brads, sequins, flat-back gemstones, florettes, etc.
• Felt pens
• Gel pens
  
• Pencil
• Cutting mat
• Paper cutter
• Crafter's knife
• ...and lastly, tons and tons of creative ideas!

I mentioned earlier about die-cutting machines. Well, I am dreaming to have a Cricut Expression machine but I cannot afford it so I am doing the shape-cutting the old fashioned way.

Anyone can make cards. Try it!

Extra Tools

I had a ball of a time scouring shelf after shelf of craft tools in Daiso at the Arabian Centre today. I bought extra border scissors, tape glue, ready-made stickers (Christmas Theme) and eyelet puncher. i actually got the eyelet (4mm) puncher at the hardware section.

Now I have extra tools and stuff to use for my Christmas cards.

I'll post the pics soon!

Why Do This?

Even when I was a kid, I love making handmade stuff to give to my family and friends. My relatives told me I have the knack for creativity involving arts and crafts. That has long been forgotten until one day, I chanced upon a magazine of handmade cards. Seeing the magazine rekindled a flame in my heart. I really love doing this kind of things so I decided to embark on making handmade cards out of love...and out of scrap materials around me. LOL!

Welcome to Handmade with LOVE

I have great fascination with handmade craft. Even when I was young, I would make handmade gifts to my families and friends. I didn't realize then that my hobby would become a passion.

This blog is borne out of my overflowing love to create cards (and possibly other craft aside from polymer clays). Each card or craft that I will feature here is made of love. Since I have this enormous amount of love to give, I am imparting a bit of that love to my creations.

I hope you will like my craft and hopefully one day, I will find you ordering my craft :)