Let them decide. – Craft Gossip

My mother has sewn, crocheted, knitted, and done practically everything else her entire life. When I was young, she tried to get me interested in crafting, but it just wasn’t my thing. I remember when she tried to teach me to crochet, it wasn’t a pretty sight! It just wasn’t my time. Now, I love to craft, though I still can’t crochet! My daughter, on the other hand, loves to make things. Her very favorite thing to do is to draw and she is very talented if I do say so myself. I guess what I’m trying to say is introduce new things to your children. Show them that there are many creative outlets and help them find the one they enjoy the most. They may be like me, Lord help them, and not discover the joys of crafting till later in life, or they may be like my daughter and want to learn how to do something new all the time.

Why don’t you start off with this easy project. (This project is recommended for children ages 4 and up. Parental supervision is required because of the use of an iron.)

Here’s what you need:

Wax Paper
Crayons
a pencil sharpener
scissors
ribbon
a hold punch
an iron
2 brown paper bags

Tear off a piece of wax paper about a foot long and place it on top of a brown paper bag. Let you child peel the papers off of the crayons and then “sharpen” them with the pencil sharpener over the wax paper. These are the shavings that will create their sun-catcher. Make sure the shavings don’t pile up too high because it makes it difficult to iron. When your child has a look he likes, place another piece of wax paper over the shavings. Now you should lightly press over the bag with your warm iron. Peek to see how well the shavings are melting to determine if you need to turn the heat up on your iron.

Once the paper has cooled to the touch, with safety scissors, let your child cut out shapes like hearts, stars, crosses, you get the idea. You may want to trace the shapes and allow your youngster to cut along the lines. The final step is to punch a hole at the top, thread the ribbon through, and hang your child’s work of art in a sunny window. His face will light up when he sees how proud you are of him. Don’t forget to make one for Grandma!

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Michelle used a die cut arch for a shaker element on her lovely floral card. I love the die cut faux stitching lines around the edge! Over her shaker she added die cut flowers ink blended in shades of purple and green. Find her video tutorial on the Altenew blog.

I’ve noticed recently there’s a trendy new shape in card making, it’s arches. A tall squared off bottom with a round shape at the top, the arch can be used in a variety of ways from elegant to cutesy. They are mostly used for backgrounds but can be a focal point too and it’s a very simple way to add just a little bit of extra interest to your designs in place of a rectangle or oval. Today let’s take a peek through an archway and check out this new trend on some fabulous new card ideas.

Beneath each photo you’ll find a link, click it for more details like products used, techniques and tutorials.

Kathleen used arches for the main event on this fun card that’s also a shaker. She backed each die cut section with different colors of ink blending, added tiny glitter behind the acetate and placed a heat embossed sentiment over the top. Learn more at the Pinkfresh Studio blog.

The “To a Point” die has an arch at the top and arrow at the bottom for a different take on an arched shape. Here Melody used it to draw attention to the stamped sentiment behind her beautiful die cut flowers. The dark dry embossed background also makes everything else pop. Find more idea using this die at the Papertrey Ink blog.

Have you noticed another trend with arches? It’s shaker cards, they really do make the perfect shape for them! This card from Charlene has two arches, the white background and a peek of pink and a beautiful stenciled floral background inside. And the stamped sentiment strip perfectly finishes the design. Take a closer look at the Hero Arts blog.

Alicia used arches for her cool masculine beach card. She die cut them from vellum and colored glitter cardstocks, adding fun stamped images like a light house, boat and crab along with a brick stamped background. Watch her video tutorial at the Taylored Expressions blog.

I’m also seeing a lot of arched windows like on this beautiful blue card from Gina K. Backing the window in black gives make the white seem really bold and is also tied into the stamen of the blue stenciled flowers. I spotted her idea on the Gina K. Design Instagram page.

This darling love birds card created by Rebecca has two arches, the background for yet another shaker and part of the bird stand. She used dies for the birds cut from colored cardstocks, adding flowers and a heart. I love all the touches of gold she included! Find step by step direction at the Spellbinders blog.

This stunning design has layers of concentric arches, notice the card base is also arch shaped, that were cut from cardstock and pattern papers with faux stitching and a shiny copper sentiment for added texture. Find even more arched card ideas over at Tonic Studios.

Arches make wonderful backgrounds for these berry sweet box cards. There’s darling little pre-printed mice nestled among die cut grass, strawberries and flowers on these fun pop up card designs. Kathy breaks it all down at the Doodlebug blog.

This card from Kathy is the bees knees! She used bee and honey printables, cutting the main design using arches and adding a sweet sentiment too. Prinables are so easy for card making, no storing of supplies and you can print them as many times as needed! I spotted her idea on the Polkadoodle Instagram page.

Concord and 9th took the arch even further by designing not only arched dies and stencils but also making arched sentiment stamps that curve over top! Mitchell used them for a serene desert scene with lots of plums, purples and green cactus. Check out lots more sample with these products at Concord and 9th.

This wonderful kitty cat scene card from Bobbi uses an arch for the background of her design. But notice how she took her stamped images over the edges of the arch onto the stone background, this really pulls the scene forward. She colored her stamps with Copic Markers and ink blended the sky and grass. Find more details at the Honey Bee Stamps blog.

I hope this post has inspired you to give this simple trend of adding arches a try on your next card design!

-Heather

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