A handy notepad and pen-holder wallet using Stampin' Up!'s Envelope Paper and Watercolor Wings butterflies!

Hello, today I have a project for you that I think would make a lovely gift - whether as a teacher thank you, for a friend's birthday, or even a "just because" kind of a present for someone who is in your thoughts... 

It is a notepad and pen holder wallet, with a pair of coordinating butterfly paperclip bookmarks tucked into the pocket inside:

The front cover is decorated with the lovely woodgrain patterned Envelope Paper in Tip Top Taupe, with a small taupe and Mint Macaron,  Watercolour Wings butterfly popped up on dimensionals. The wallet has a closure made using half inch circle punched pieces of cardstock placed on dimensionals. Whisper White Bakers' Twine is attached under the righthand side circle and it wraps, in a figure of eight, around both of the circles to keep the wallet closed:

Inside there is a small notepad (decorated at the top with the same patterned envelope paper as the front cover) plus a loop to hold a small pen. There is also a handy inside pocket, decorated with the same paper. Tucked into this are two large paperclips, that I decorated with butterflies stamped in the same colour inks as the one on the front cover:

Here are the butterfly paperclips, aren't they cute?

I love how versatile the Watercolor Wings butterfly stamps are - especially in combination with the Butterflies Thinlits and Bold Butterflies Framelits. I have used the same two colours (Mint Macaron and Tip Top Taupe) for all the butterflies, and have stamped off some of the ink to give more tones of the same colour to add interest.

I do like practical, useful things, especially when they are pretty too and I think that this notepad and pen-holder wallet fits the bill perfectly, don't you? I think that anyone who likes to be organised would appreciate this as a little gift. It is very quick and easy to make these wallets and they don't cost much either, which is handy if you have several people you want to give them to! You could also make several for yourself and keep one in your handbag, one by your bed for those things you think of when you should be falling asleep at night and maybe one on your desk for jotting notes on during the day too?

We made these wallets in my card class last week and everyone really enjoyed making them!  I gave the ladies a choice of colourways, using the different 2015-2017 In Color Envelope Paper colours as a starting point, so they were all a bit different and their butterflies were beautiful.

Unfortunately I was enjoying the class so much that I totally forgot to take any photographs of their finished wallets - oops! I blame my forgetfulness on  the unusually hot weather we had that day and the distraction of the yummy berry and coconut icecream that I had made especially for the class as a cooling treat! (I normally bake cakes for my classes, but it was far too hot to have the oven on in my kitchen, the day before the class - hence my decision to make the icecream instead! Yum!) 

Well, that's it for today, so, until next time, happy crafting everyone! Hope the sun is shining on you, wherever you are!

Come back soon to see some of projects I made for a team-training event, using the fabulous "Go Wild" Designer Series Paper Stack as my inspiration...

Happy crafting to you all.

Lucy x

Winging it with hand-dyed ribbons for a pretty little gift!

Today I would like to share with you a little gift set I have made using Stampin' Up!'s Watercolor Wings stamp set. The folded pouch holds four 3x3" cards and envelopes and is made with the new Envelope Paper in Mint Macaron. I think it would make an ideal teacher thank you gift or even a nice little birthday present and it is very quick to make:

I used Mint Macaron and Perfect Plum. I love this colour combination. I used the same two colours in my covered notebooks that I showed you in my recent Pinkies Blog Hop post.

As Stampin' Up! do not have any Perfect Plum ribbons, I decided to dye some of the Whisper White Organza Ribbon and Whisper White Bakers' Twine with a few drops of Perfect Plum Ink Refill ink and a tiny bit of water. I placed about a dozen drops of the ink into a small plastic pot, added about a tablespoon of tap water and then coiled the ribbon and twine into the liquid, making sure that it was all submerged by using a bamboo barbecue skewer to dunk it under the surface! (You could use a cocktail stick, but I hadn't got any left!) I left it for a few minutes to let the ink to soak in, then removed it and pegged it to my washing line to dry in the sunshine. 

The ribbon came out a bit paler than I wanted for this particular project, so I decided to use my Perfect Plum Ink Pad to add a bit more ink to it. I placed one end of the ribbon on the ink pad and held a small acrylic block over it with one hand, whilst gently and slowly pulling the ribbon with my other hand, until the ink covered all the ribbon. Be warned - you will get inky fingers doing this, however careful you are (my fingers looked like I had been picking blackberries afterwards!) and you will need to allow plenty of drying time before you use the ribbon on your project, too. I do love how you can make bespoke ribbons and twines this way though. It is worth the wait, do give it a go!

Here are a few more photographs of the gift set and the cards inside it:

I do love the versatility of the Watercolor Wings stamp set - the butterflies are so beautiful. I really like how the four butterflies above look so different, despite only two ink pads being used. I stamped off the ink first on my grid paper, before stamping some of the layers and then used direct stamping on other layers. This gives a fantastic range of tones of the same colour - thus showing that you can still get a variety of effects even if you don't yet have many ink pad colours in your craft stash! It doesn't look like only two colours have been used, does it?

I like how you can see the lovely wood grain pattern on the inside of the gift pouch in the last photograph too. If you haven't yet bought the Envelope Paper, I can highly recommend it. I have used it a lot - and I must confess I've not even made an actual envelope with it yet! Ooer! It is hugely versatile and a bargain at only £5.50 (7,50€) for twenty 12x12" (30.5x30.5cm) sheets. It is strong-enough to be scored and folded, but is a slightly lighter-weight than our regular Designer Series Paper.

Well, that is it for today, do leave me a comment. I am wondering if you would like to see a step-by-step tutorial for making the above folded gift pouch? If I get enough response I will do one for you all to see.

Until next time, happy crafting everyone!

Lucy x

ONLY FOUR DAYS LEFT to get yourself TWO FREE STAMP SETS with your starter kit - so hurry or you will miss out! Click here or on the photograph below, to find out how: Offer ends this Tuesday, 30th June 2015.