Last-minute handmade Christmas cards

I'm so late with all my Christmas preparations this year. Well, actually, when I think about it I'm always late with my Christmas preparations. This year, I decided last minute to send out some Christmas cards, plus I always love to add a handmade card to any gifts I give out, so I sat down yesterday evening, gathered all my card supplies (which I fortunately left here in Estonia), and got to work.

For the first set of cards, I used some Christmas-themed patterned paper I had, glued a piece of that to the blank card. Then, I sewed a piece of plastic over that paper, leaving the top open, and poured some star confetti into the pocket, then sewed the top shut. Last, just trimmed the edges of the plastic around the seams. I love this card, because it's like playing with a snowball - you can make a snowstorm or some shooting stars by tilting it.

For the second set of cards, I used some patterned paper as the background again, but this time I added a holiday wish using wire. First, I wrote the word on paper without lifting the pencil in the size I wanted the wire word to be, and then used that as a template to write the words with a crafting wire. It's actually way easier than I had thought. I think it's all about using a soft wire, which can be easily manipulated. I sewed them onto the card by hand, just a stitch in 4 places to secure it.

And, then I made some gift tags from the left-overs. I'm sort of obsessed with using every little scrap I have left, whether it's paper or fabric. I keep everything that I think can be used in a future project. It's a curse and a blessing - on the one hand, I always have something I can make last minute cards/gifts from, but on the other hand, I simply have too much stuff I'm not sure I'll ever use.

I hope you got some ideas for your own last minute card making. Now I'm off to make my room a livable place before hubby gets here.

xo. Hanna

Cardboard Magazine Folder Restyle

Hey, guys! You know the feeling of excitement when you first start decorating a new apartment or house? Man, all the possibilities! It's like staring at a blank canvas before starting to paint. Not that I've ever done that, I don't have a clue about painting. The point is, you can choose whatever you like. But, ay, there's the rub, ha? Every tiny decision suddenly becomes this big thing. Do we leave the colors white or repaint? If we paint, what color? Oh, that opens up another Bandora's box. Then there's furniture to pick out, curtains, throw pillows, wall art. Too. Many. Possibilities.

And what do I do? I choose black and white. Every. Single. Time. It's become my biggest obsession lately. Black and white pictures. Black and white (and gold) decor. Black and white outfits (wanna guess what colors I'm wearing at the moment?). So, there's no need to act all surprised when I tell you I restyled some white cardboard files with black watercolor. Apparently it's genetic, because my Mom just told me my Dad used to me obsessed with black and white when he was my age. Wanted to do our whole house in black and white (you go, Dad!).

 Despite my mild worry about this new obsession, I love how these magazine folders turned out. Way better than expected. At first I thought about doing gold polka dots on all of them, but then I channeled my inner Elsie Larson, and just went with black watercolor and a different simple pattern for each. And, I'm so glad I did. I like how there's variety in patterns, but how the color scheme binds them together. Plus, of course I had to add a touch of gold.

Here's my process in case you want to repeat:

 1. I started with the IKEA Flyt magazine files (my first IKEA hack!). They are super cheap, so right up our alley, and they are just the perfect white canvas I needed. Also, really easy to paint on. For the paint I just bought some black watercolor. I wanted to buy a cheap kids watercolor set, but then I found these colors that you can buy one by one, and I bought just the one, because I honestly don't know when I'll be using watercolors again, so buying a whole lot seemed unnecessary.

 2. Then, I played around with the patterns on a scrap piece of paper. I tried to find patterns that would be easy to draw (cause I suck at drawing), and easy to repeat. Something I could easily repeat during the whole process.
I settled on different formations of single brush-strokes. Shorter and longer ones, at different angles, and I had to do one with dots as well.

 3. When I had my patterns selected, the only thing to do was to paint. When I was done with one side, I let it dry, and painted the other ones in the mean time, then came back to the other side of the first one. Rinse. Repeat. Let dry. Fold. All done.

I also added some gold tags which I made by painting regular white sticker tags gold with a marker.

All of my Burdas almost fit in the 5 folders, but I think I need to make one more set. These would make great storage for our sheet music and documents as well.

My little sewing corner is coming together nicely. Now, all I need is a couple of shelves to put all my crafting tools on and pretty storage for those as well. I'm sure I can figure something out. It will probably involve some recycled packaging and a gold and a black marker. Really, gold and black AGAIN? Well, what can I say...

xo. Hanna

DIY Gift Tags/Stickers (and free printable tags)

Today is a two times first for me. I'm going to share my first ever video tutorial and my first ever printable with you guys. Like I wrote in my handmade gifts post, it's really easy to create you own stickers at home, and today I'm going to show just how to do that. This tutorial also doubles as "how to make your own printable gift tags". So, it's a 2 in 1. 

I first came to this idea, when I was brainstorming packaging ideas for my shop. I really wanted to make a custom "Thank you!" sticker, but I didn't want to invest a lot of money into it. Also, I wanted to control the quantity myself, so I wouldn't have to order hundreds, or run out with a small batch. So, I came up with the solution of creating the stickers in Photoshop and printing them on self-adhesive office paper. I love the result!

This is the font I used in the tutorial. And, you can order the self-adhesive paper (which I referred to as sticker paper) right here: in Europe, in USA. It's also available as self-adhesive photo paper (in Europe, in USA), if you'd like to make photo stickers at home.  

Also, you can download the gift tags I created in the tutorial as a little gift FROM: Me TO: You (see what I did there). I made an English version (download) and an Estonian version (download). Just click on the link to download. Since I don't have a home printer here in Leverkusen, I could't try these out myself, so let me know if there are any problems with printing them.

I hope you like the printable, and the tutorial! I'm definitely going to be sticking some tags on the gifts I wrap this year.

xo. Hanna

DIY Up-cycled sheet music notebooks

When I was sorting through my things while packing, I had two goals - reduce and reuse. I knew I could only take with me so much, but I also didn't want to just throw away things. So, after sorting through my pile of sheet music that I had collected over the last 3 years, I came up with an idea to use this cute card stock I had and the left-over sheet music to make some notebooks. I love a good notebook to scribble ideas in and I always carry one with me, so I knew this was the perfect solution.

You could use any paper waste you have for these, but the sheet music does add a little beauty, I think. Much prettier than looking at pages of, lets say, spread sheets or articles. Nevertheless, it's a great way to repurpose that waste and make it useful again.

 This is what you will need:

• Sheets of paper
• Card stock
• Double-sided tape and ribbon, or Washi tape
• Scissors or rotary cutter (and cutting mat)
• Ruler and pencil
• Thread
• Sewing machine

 STEP 1
Cut the card stock in the size you want your notebook to be. My card stock was the standard 8.5"x11", so just a little smaller than A4. I cut that in half.
Then, cut the paper in the corresponding size. For this standard size you need to cut your A4 size paper into two 13cm/5.5" pieces (the width stays the same). For each notebook, cut 10 sheet of paper, resulting in 20 sheets of pages total.

 STEP 2
Time to assemble the two page-books that go inside the notebook. Take 10 sheets of pre-cut paper, and fold them in half. Start stacking the sheer one at a time.

At the 3rd sheet, you'll notice that the edge becomes uneven. After every time you insert a new sheet of paper, trim the edge to be flush with the 1st sheet of paper.
Make 2 of these little notebook of 10 folded sheets.

 STEP 3
Lay one of the page-books on the cover so that the longer edge is flush with one of the shorter sides of the cover, and fold it. It's hard to explain, but you're creating the spine for the notebook. Since the card stock is a bit wider than the A4, we can create a slightly wider spine than a simple fold-in-half.
The take the other page-book, and do the same with the other side of the cover. See below for the finished result.

STEP 4
Open the page-book in the middle and use paper clips to secure it to the cover, so it stays flush with 3 edges of the cover on one side. Sew the page-book to the cover in the middle.
Repeat with the second page-book and the other end of the cover.

STEP 5
On my notebooks, the sewing wasn't that pretty on the outside. I guess sewing through 11 sheets of paper is not what my sewing machine was made for. What ever. So, I used ribbon and double-sided tape to cover the spine with pretty ribbon. Just apply the tape to the ribbon first, and the attach the ribbon to the spine of the notebook. I also covered the corners of the notebook with the ribbon, but that's totally optional. Also, I've noticed that the corner tend to come loose from the inside, but the spine hasn't. So, I suggest doing just the spine, or using washi tape for this step.

As you can see, I was so hooked, I made 4 notebooks in total. These would make great gifts as well. You could personalize them with name tags or title tags like "Hanna's Best Thoughts", "The Million-dollar Idea Book", or "The Big Book of Thought".

I've been using mine to write down my daily to-do lists, and I love it.

Happy crafting!
xo. Hanna

DIY Wall calendar / chore chart

I've been trying to get more organized this year, and setting up a blog content calendar has been on my to-do list for months now. When I took the Blog Life e-course this June I realized how sporadic I was with my blog content planning and how much blogging-stress it caused me. I have a million ideas in my head at all times, so having a place to put them all on to see the bigger picture was what I badly needed.

So, one afternoon I took some time and some scraps of wavy golden cardboard I had laying around, and made this simple wall calendar. I've been using it for about 3 weeks now, and it's been a game-changer. I'm so much more organized and it's really helped me blog regularly without stressing out about what to write. Why didn't I do this sooner?!

Although I use it to create a content calendar for my blog, this type of wall calendar could also be used as a chore chart, or a way to keep your goals and to-do lists organized. So, if you'd like to make your life a little easier, here's what you'll need:

• A2 size black paper (card stock weight)
• golden wavy cardboard for the letters
• silver or gold sharpie or ball-point marker
• ruler
• scissors
• glue
• printed letters (optional)
• poster gum or other poster fixers to mount to wall

The main thing is to get the grid in place. First, measure the outer lines: 4 cm from the bottom, 3.5 cm from the sides. Then, start drawing the inner gridlines. The first horizontal gridline is 11 cm from the top edge of the cardstock, and then draw a horizontal line every 7 cm. Lastly add vertical gridlines every 9 cm inside the frame. As the end result you should have 6 rows and 7 columns.

Next, cut out the letters for the weekdays. I cut mine out using the waves as a grid and then just eye-baling the proportions of the letters, but you could also print out letters with the height of 6 cm in you favorite bold print and use those a template to cut out from the cardboard.

Finally, glue the letters inside the first row of boxes. I'm used to the Estonian way that the weekly calendar always begins with Monday, so that's why I have my letters in that order.

Last, but not least, mount your brand new calendar to the wall using any type of poster fixer (thumb tacks or poster adhesive or something like that)

This is by far been the most practical thing I've created lately. I tried using google calendar before, but I love to write things down on paper and put it where I can see it all the time. I'm old-school like that. Plus, the calendar is a great way to decorate my studio space (which is now also my bedroom, but studio sounds way better).

I hope you're excited to add some organization to your life. Happy crafting!

xo. Hanna

DIY Golden Table Numbers

Our wedding was very much a handmade one. From my dress to the wedding favors - everything was DIY. Since I made a lot of the decor myself, I thought I'd share a few of the DIYs here on the blog as well. So, today I'll be sharing the making of our glittery golden table numbers.

 I tried to keep all of our wedding decor in the our chosen color-way of navy blue, pale pink and golden, and my other rule was to use as much recycled materials and my existing stash as possible. So, the golden table numbers were sort of a no-brainer. I already had the cardboard, the glitter glue and the glitter, and I knew I wanted to make simple table numbers that could be attached to the vases.

If you'd like to make your own glittery table numbers, here's what you need:
1) cardboard
2) round bowl
3) pencil and scissors
4) golden glitter glue and a paint brush
5) golden glitter
6) paper and printer (optional)
7) acrylic paint
8) golden rope

Step 1
Trace circles on the cardboard using a small bowl and pencil. Cut out the circles.

Step 2
First cover the circle with glitter glue, and then with regular glitter. Let it dry completely, then use hairspray or clear lacquer to set the glitter. Let dry again and then put them between some heavy books to flatten them.

Step 3
Print out your numbers, or draw them on a paper. Cover the paper with adhesive plastic to prevent the paint from running through the paper. Cut out the numbers. Prevent my mistake, and leave small connections between the outer line and the inner part of the number (like and 8, 4, 0).

Step 3
Use the number stencil to paint numbers on the circles. Just place the number in the center of the circle and paint carefully inside the stencil using a brush and some acrylic paint. Afterwards you can touch up the edges. Let dry.

Step 4
I used golden rope to attach the numbers to the vases. Just cut the rope to size, punch two holes and put the rope through from back to front and tie some knot to the ends of the rope. And done!

I love our table numbers. It was one of my favorite projects for the wedding. I hope you like them, too.

Thanks for letting me share!
xo Hanna

DIY: How to turn a chocolate box into a jewelry box

I've been looking for a better way to organize my jewelry for a long time. All my earrings used to be bundled up in one jewelry case which made it hard to find a pair and made me loose track of the earrings I owned. The fancy jewelry boxes with compartments they sell over at the jewelry store are too expensive for my taste, so I knew I had to make something myself. And then it hit me in the middle of eating some chocolate candy. A chocolate box could easily be turned into a jewelry box!

A little glue and pretty paper, and I got myself a perfect organizer for my jewelry. Here's how I did it: