Doctors and Anniversaries

Doctors and anniversaries don't mix. Something I forgot when I tried to plan a week or so with my boyfriend. Nothing super special, just a nice meal at a better class of restaurant than we'd normally bother with, and getting a bit dressed up. Of course, an 'impossible to move, you'll have to wait MONTHS for another one' (to be told, 'um, not sure, fancy some more tests?') doctor's appointment comes up. In another part of the country. After discussion and a lot of grumbling (my side, naturally. I grizzle on automatic. Everyone else is fine until they throw a strop to end all strops.) we moved our anniversary celebration forward a week so I could sit in the dark in a surgery somewhere (it was being locked up at the time.. Spooky.)

Which was fine, as I'm not a man in a comedy sketch who buys everything the night before. If I was, I'd spend most of my life - with its shifting schedules and confused drift - in trouble with somebody. Instead everything is done - to the letter - about a month before. Which is why I only have three Christmas presents left to buy. And why the card I gave my boyfriend had been dreamt up, sketched out, materials ordered, materials not turned up, Hobbycraft treated to a couple of very snippy emails and publicly abused on twitter, voucher been given by said craft firm, alternative items sought out, and finally made, weeks before it was required.

I quickly forgot quite why I'd decided to make a fabric card, just like I'd quickly forgotten my atrocious sewing skills when I'd planned it. I had also forgotten that 'extra large means extra time' - and this was an A4 card, rather than the A6 things I normally mess about with.

Anyway, I was reasonably happy with how it turned out. The pouch on the front contained a present and some chocolate truffles (heart shaped, of course. I am forever the romantic.) The hardest part was to get the edging to the 'G' to stay sewn on vaguely straight.

As you can see, I went back to very simple papercraft on the inside, gluing the card inserts over the fabric 'envelope' to help secure it in place. I used brads to secure the letter I had written and allow for the pages to be easily turned. (I do like a good hand written letter! - and yes, this being a hand made card blog, I know that doesn't surprise you in the least.)

I got a bit overexcited about making the first heart and ended up making another. Don't do this, it means your card will never be able to lie down flat and sewing it on may drive you to an irritated distraction. (Well if you attempt to just sew the centre of the heart to the centre of the card, anyway. The two 'breasts' of the heart insist on flopping about mournfully unless you give them a bra. Or at least attach them to card too.

My recommendation? You better absolutely, bloody adore him* if you want to make something similar. Or be a better needlewoman than me.

*Not my him. That's my job.

Would You Buy These?

Making cards has always been my hobby, nothing more than that. I did it for the enjoyment it gave me, and the pleasure it seemed to give other people. I have never had any ambitions for it to be anything more than that. A while back my boyfriend suggested (sadly whilst my mother was in the room, I believe, which has cemented the idea in everyone's minds..) that I should try selling them. I do wonder whether this was simply because he knew I was obsessed with sites such as Etsy and Folksy. Anyway, some talking happened and this blog eventually sprung from those talks.

Today I made my first ever set of cards. I think they are a reasonable standard, and I am simply curious: Would you personally buy them? Or at least look at them if you saw them in a shop? How much would you spend if so?

Set of Three Origami Star Cards

Wirework

Traditional Christmas

More modern

The stars

I would really love to get some feedback. If you have any comments at all, please either leave a comment, tweet me @tlchimera, or drop me an email at chimerascards[at]gmail.com. Thank you!

DIY: Origami Christmas Trees

Disclaimer: this is not an original idea by me. The original is here: http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/Pages/Ideas/Idea.aspx?id=1353 

Finished Card

So this is the first of the DIY projects I intend to throw up on this blog from time to time. Little 'how to do's, rather than my usual random commentary, which never quite manages to talk about the card the post is about. I'd had my eye on the Hobbycraft project I've linked to for a while now, but a few things put me off: the instructions, the two hours suggested work time and the fact it was classified as 'advanced.' Admittedly, despite my love of origami, I've never liked the instructions and always sought out 'how to' movies to make things, so this may not be Hobbycraft's fault, but as I blame them for most things I will certainly blame this on them.

Anyway, they were completely wrong, so that was a relief:

• This is not 'advanced'. It could only ever be considered advanced if folding the card was the intermediate stage, and staring at it blankly was the beginner version. I'd rate it intermediate, but probably a low intermediate.
• Everything together - getting everything out for it, cutting stuff out, the origami, putting it together, embellishing - it took me less than an hour.

DIY TIME:

You will need:
A blank card.
At least four patterned pieces of paper.
Glue
Ruler
Extras: pens, embellishments.

Step One:

Find four patterned (or not so, I tend to think it looks better with some kind of decoration) pieces of paper. They do not need to be big, you'll be cutting them down quite a bit as it is. 

First thought: how big is your blank card?

I didn't obey Hobbycraft and used an A6 card rather than folding an A4 sheet. You can see from my finished card that the tree sticks out over the side. So if you are using an A4 sheet then Hobbycraft's sizes should be fine (12cm, 10cm, 8cm, 6cm), if you are using something smaller I would recommend using 10cm, 8cm, 6cm and 4cm. At the bottom of the page you can see an alternative card I made with sizes 8cm, 6cm, 4cm and 2cm. I wouldn't recommend this if you're doing this for the first time, as the 2cm 'branch' was a little fiddly!

So choose your sizes and cut down your paper so you have one square of each. You then need to fold each square in half horizontally and vertically as well as across both diagonals, until you have a 'star' of folds across your paper, as pictured. If you've ever made a fortune teller, (or practically anything in origami) it's the same process.

Step Two:

The next (tiny) section is easy too: just fold back down your horizontal fold so the pattern is on top. Advanced Hobbycraft? Ha!

Step Three:

The next part I've made a little video for. It's not complicated, but it's far easier to watch than describe. This is the part where you create the triangle.

Step Four:

So you have a triangle. It's starting to feel like origami now, isn't it? Well look more closely, you technically have two triangles attached by a fold. Now to finish off a branch of your Christmas tree, all you need to do is grab the front triangle and fold it to make a diamond. To do this you simply have to match the diagonal line of your triangle (the hypotenuse of the right angled triangle, for you mathematical types.) to the straight line of the central fold and sharply crease the new fold you are making. 

Now you just need to do this for the other three pieces of paper you cut out. Yes, that really is the complicated part of the design. 

Step Five:

So you'll end up with something like I have pictured to the left. To make the Christmas tree you just have to slide them on top of each other, in size order. I found they secured easily enough with just a bit of glue spread at the top of each triangle.

So you've made your Christmas tree, well done! Now you just have to decorate it - add a pot and a trunk for it if you like, embellish them, maybe add some layers of paper for it stand on or a Christmas message. You can see how I chose to in the one I've made for this walkthrough at the top of the page. I also made an alternative one, which is pictured below.