Shrink Plastic Adventures

Ever since my bookbinding course last weekend, my brain has been very much on making books - I'm dying to get going on it, but of course needed to order some resources in.  In the meantime, I've been playing with shrink plastic.  I've had a mixture of success with this.

I bought 2 types of laser printable shrink plastic from Crafty Computer Paper - white and clear. The plastic is really easy to use - you simply print your design on them, cut them out and pop them in a moderate to hot oven for two minutes, with paper either side of the designs, until they shrink.  They end up about a quarter of their original size.  They curl up while shrinking, and then when done should go flat again.  I've learnt through trial and error that it's a good idea to put something like a cooling rack over the plastics to help it stop curling.

I've had real differing successes between the white and clear.  Take a look at this picture, and you'll see that the white shrink plastic has shrunk unevenly and created an elongated flower, but the clear has worked brilliantly (that's the red flower on the left!)  Does anyone know why this may be?!  I had the fan going in the oven, should I turn the fan off?

However, I did make a big mistake with the clear shrinkies as well, in that I forgot to make the holes before shrinking - Aaarggh!!

Loving playing around with them though, and I have definitely not stopped yet.  I've always lots of ideas going round in my head.  I've made this cute Shrinkie Flowers card out of them (and I remembered to make the holes before shrinking!)

Shrinkie Flowers

What I love, is that those little flowers can be used as buttons afterwards!

Will carry on with my shrinkies experimenting, along with my book making, but really need to concentrate on making some Christmas cards now for PaperToots - and it's not quite September yet!

Jane x

Beautiful Books

I've had a fab weekend!  I was lucky enough on Saturday to go on a bookbinding course run by Perfect Bindings at Exeter Phoenix.  I did make a book a few years ago (I took a book out of the library and followed the instructions), but couldn't think for the life of me how I did it!

Book made a few years ago - okay, but could go better!

In the morning, we worked on Flag books.  These are really interesting as the concertina folds right out, and so is good for displaying photos or pictures.  Lots of gluing was needed for this one, and I got into a fine old mess!

A Flag book

In the afternoon, we did Long Stitch Binding - this was really my kind of thing.  No glue, and of course I love sewing!  Some of our group did struggle with the sewing though :(

Long Stitch Binding book

Another Long Stitch Binding book

As always, I enjoyed meeting new crafty people and the tutor Megan was really knowledgeable. Head over to her Facebook page to see the other fab books she makes, and the classes she runs.  I shall definitely be returning to learn some more.

All my lovely books!

If you love bookbinding, please send me a link so I can take a look!

Jane x

Snippets

After a busy couple of weeks of in-laws coming to stay, I have finally managed to finish my Snippets range of cards!

I decided to make these because I have such a huge stash of scraps and remnants of paper and fabric at home - and so the name Snippets.  Please take a look at them on PaperToots - I hope you'll like them.  I've designed each picture in several colours so there is lots of choice.

Orders and Milestones

Feeling super excited today!  After going on #CraftHour last night, I have a new order for our beautiful Japanese Sanwa Papers...

Japanese Sanwa Papers

And Craft Hour have also mentioned me in their #MilestoneMonday so getting lots of likes on PaperToots facebook page.

Will update you later on how many likes we get...

... It's now later!  And after a target of 50, PaperToots now has 57 likes.  Woo hoo!

What is Lokta Paper?

Hello on a windy, rainy summer day!  Perfect for writing an article for my blog!  As part of my blogs, I want to tell you a bit about different kinds of papers and their uses.  This week I am very busy in the process of making lots of cards that are partly made from beautiful Lokta Paper.  So, today is the turn of Lokta Paper! So what is it?

Gold Lokta Paper

Lokta Paper is made from the bark of the Lokta bush, or ‘Paper Tree’, found in the mountainous region around Kathmandu in Nepal. A species of the Daphne family, the evergreen Lokta bush, which grows to 10 feet high, is found at over 6500 feet above sea level and is pruned every four years for it stalks which are then used to make the paper.

 

Green Lokta Paper

Lokta collection begins each October and is harvested in a similar way to sugar cane by cutting it 6” from the ground.  The bark is stripped and soaked in water to soften.  After washing, the bark is cooked and beaten using a bamboo rod.  Using anything heavier than the bamboo rod would make the fibres too weak.  This pulp is then used to make the handmade paper, which is dried on its frame in the sun.  

Red Lokta Paper

The plant re-grows and is ready for harvesting again every 4 to 6 years.  Because of this re-growth, Lokta Paper provides an important industry for the Nepalese living in the mountainous regions.  The majority of the producers of the paper are women, and it provides them with a sustainable income - it is the areas only export crop.

Turquoise Lokta Paper

The paper has been used in Nepal since the 12^th century to write epic tales, to print mantra for use in prayer wheels and for religious texts.  It is so long lasting and durable that it has historically been used by the Nepalese for legal documents.  It is even used in remote places as plasters on cuts and fractures!

Violet Lokta Paper

We however do not use is it to help heal our wounds!  It has a beautiful rough, attractive texture due to the handmade process.  It is perfect for book binding, origami, gift wrapping, scrapbooking, and (as I am using it) for card making.  But really it can be used for anything that your imagination can think of.

I will let you know when I have my cards made from Lokta Paper ready for sale, but you can buy the papers at PaperToots right now!

Fabric and Paper Scraps Card

I’ve been making these cards for a while, and when I saw PaperArtsy's Flower Challenge, I knew this would be perfect for it.

I began this card by finding some red sparkly paper – left over from Christmas – and on the back drew the shape for the petals.  Then on the right side, I glued on some other red scraps of paper and fabric.  I made sure that some of the shiny bits underneath showed through to give it a little ‘bling’.

This picture taken at an angle, to catch the light, shows the sparkle a little better.

Once the scraps were stuck down, I then did some rough sewing with a shiny thread to attach the pieces to the paper.  The petals shape was then cut out.

I repeated the same process for the leaves – but obviously, in green!  And I also cut a small circular piece of gold ribbon for the centre of the flower.

Then began the construction stage.  I layered the green leaves onto the beautiful and translucent Japanese Watermark Hemp Flower Paper, which in turn was layered on some purple fabric.  Using a zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine, with green thread, I sewed around the leaves.  When stitching curves, I make sure I stop regularly to turn the fabric so there aren’t any awkward turns.  At the same point, I sewed the flower stalk.

The petals and flower centre were then layered and stitched on in a similar way.  The last step was to use an aperture card to mount the picture to hide the messy edges!

I hope you like it, I’m thinking of selling similar cards on PaperToots – please give me your feedback as to whether you think they’ll sell!

Jane

Please visit my shop to see what PAPER I sell!

PaperToots Firsts

This month is going to be a month of firsts.  Yesterday I opened my first online shop PaperToots and today I am writing my first ever blog post.  What else shall I be doing that's new to me?  Starting a Facebook business, using Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram...  I'm not an IT novice, in fact I began my career working as a Developer, but this is all feeling slightly scary.  Will I do it right?  Will I look a fool?  Will it work?

A couple of months ago, I was searching for some paper that I had bought in the States about five years ago.  I couldn't find it in any shops - where I live doesn't really have any shops where you can buy lovely decorative papers - and I couldn't find it online, except in shops abroad.  So I have decided to open my own Etsy shop.  I am starting small (back to the scary thing) and intend to grow BIG!

My aim is to create a shop that contains a wide range of beautiful and unusual papers that people will love.  For example, this Narish Paper from Nepal:

Narish Paper

My shop isn't just going to contain paper though as I want to show how it can be used - take a look at the Paper Quilt Patterns.

Sparkle Heart Paper Quilt Pattern

So, please wish me luck!  I shall begin to blog regularly and will talk more about different kinds of papers, what can be made from them, and projects I am working on... oh and of course maybe tell you a little about me!

Take care!  Jane