Teachers of Good Things Craft Day

At my church (shout out to Walridge Baptist Church!) we have a monthly Ladies Meeting for our women's ministry, Teachers of Good Things. Up until now it's consisted of a potluck/Bible study combo, which has been wonderful (and tasty!). But recently we have decided to change things up a bit. We're going in cycles each quarter, with one month being focused on missions, one month a prayer meeting, and one month...a CRAFT DAY!!!

I may have been a little excited about it. Our first craft day was this past Saturday, and I was really nervous about it because Leah, our pastor's wife (who is also my sister-in-law and married to my brother Toby, er, our pastor) asked me to head it up. We decided to do cards this month, and Leah and I went on several crazy, madcap supply runs that may have involved various milkshakes and some total geeking out over craft tools.

I was up till I-don't-want-to-share-this-info-with-my-husband o'clock the night before, slicing cardstock, die cutting circles, and embossing all the things I could reach. Here's what we ended up doing:

First of all, Christmas tags. These were crazy simple. To make them, I first used my Sizzix to die cut a crap-load (that's just for Toby, who teases me because I recently stood up to give my testimony in church and managed to include the word "crap" in it twice, because I'm way classy), anyway, a crap-load of circles from cardstock. The circles were about 1.5 inches, and I used various colors of cardstock, including some pretty shimmery red and white that we got at Tuesday Morning, 25 sheets for $1.99. All of these I embossed with winter/Christmas designs using my Sizzix Big Kick and various embossing folders. I also cut scalloped circles the same size from plain cardstock. To assemble, the ladies just used Elmer's Glue-All to glue a scalloped circle to the back of an embossed circle, punched a hole through both layers using a hole punch, and attached either jute twine, baker's twine, or ribbon.

Next, we did note cards, both a Christmas version and an everyday use version. This is where all my paper slicing came in. Leah and I found tons of gorgeous cardstock stacks at Tuesday Morning, Joann, and AC Moore. The stacks were all 12x12 or 6x6, and we needed the cards to measure 4x6 before they were folded. So I cut the 12x12 sheets down into six 4x6 pieces each, and just sliced 2 inches off one side of the 6x6 sheets. Those 2 inch remnants were put to use as well, which I'll tell you about in a minute.

We folded the cards in half, then punched the front edge with Marvy Uchida Border Punches, like I did for Nick's grandmother here. I love my border punch system, and I got one for my friend Amy for her birthday last month. She was kind enough to let us borrow it for the craft day, and Leah and I found another for the church on one of our trips to Tuesday Morning. Then I found two more on another day and snatched them up for an early Christmas gift for Leah and a birthday gift for Nick's sister Rachael. So we had 5 to go around, but honestly we could have used twice that many.

We had all 8 different cartridges on hand, but most ladies chose the ribbon stitch one, and they had so much fun choosing pretty ribbon to weave through the slots.

The border punch does 2 inches at a time, so a four inch card was perfect. Also perfect about that size is the fact that an envelope made with a 6x6 inch sheet will fit it perfectly. We had several 6x6 stacks that we used for some of the envelopes, and I cut down a couple of 12x12 stacks for the rest. We had three of the WRMK Envelope Punch Boards on hand, and I wish we'd had more of those too. But several ladies said they planned on getting one of their own, so perhaps next time we'll have more. :)

The other project we did was to turn some of those 2 inch cardstock remnants into gorgeous bookmarks using the border punches and more ribbon.

I was really afraid that it wouldn't go well, that maybe I had too many projects planned and maybe the border punch and the envelope punch board might seem overwhelming to some. But every lady there picked right up on it within a few minutes, and the mistake pile was surprisingly small. I was also afraid that maybe they just wouldn't enjoy it, but most of them stayed over an hour past the scheduled end time!

I'm so excited it all went so well, and I can't wait for next quarter!

My Favorite Crafting Tools {Paper Punches}

We've got family coming in later today, so I may have to be a bit scarce this weekend.

Today I wanted to continue my Favorite Crafting Tools Series with my favorite paper punches. Here's a not-so-secret secret about me. My name is not Grace. By which I mean, I'm a little clumsy. And that translates into me being unable to cut paper and fabric precisely without seriously stressing myself out. Which is why I love my rotary cutters so much. And my Sizzix Big Kick. And my Silhouette SD.

But for certain projects, nothing beats the perfect paper punch. They are quick and easy, and generally affordable. These are my favorites:

Earring Card Punch

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You can buy this punch at the Etsy shop sourced, although I got mine at my local Michael's using a coupon. I love how this punch allows me to create my own earring cards that look professional, yet also allows me to choose from any available card stock color or print, or even something fun like playing cards or greeting cards. My friend Danielle started a handmade jewelry business last year (you can see her stuff here!), and her colors were purple and black and white in a zebra print. So for her birthday I put together some earring cards in various sizes and sent them off to her with a couple of the zipper pouches like I showed you a couple of days ago and a corner rounder punch. She loved them, and she ended up buying an earring card punch of her own. :)

Corner Rounder Punches

These come in a couple of sizes, small and large.

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To make the earring cards shown above, I used an assortment of bookmarks, blank inside cards, and printed card stock. I used a paper slicer to get them all cut into straight pieces. Then I rounded the corners using my punches. There's something so satisfying about getting that neat rounded corner! It's important to note that you do need a perfect right angle to start with to get a perfect cut. Another thing I use them on is wallet size photos. My photo lab offers die cut wallets, which are awesome, but they are a little more expensive than just getting an uncut sheet. So if I'm just ordering them for myself, I get a sheet, cut them apart, and round the corners myself!

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Crop-A-Dile Eurohook Power Punch. This punch makes the little cutouts at the top of some of the earring cards I made, which allows them to be hung on a display rack. It's definitely a specialty punch, but one that you will use a lot, especially if you take your products to craft/jewelry shows or have a permanent booth in a local shop.

Long Reach Ribbon Stitch Punch

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This of course is great for making a place to thread ribbon through if you want to add a little bow to a card. But what I use it for is to cut slots for the prong of a hair clip to go through on my display cards. I usually use the double pronged clips, just because I like them better, and the slots this punch cuts are just a smidge too short for the clips I use. But I just make the first punch, move the tool straight down just a tiny bit and punch again to get taller slots. However, you could just use single prong clips and they should work as is.

Standard Hole Punch (1/4 inch)

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I really only use this for one thing, but it's a good one: Shrinky Dinks! This punch is perfect for punching a hole in your Shrinky Dinks before baking so that you can add a jump ring or a key chain.

1/8" Circle Hand Punch

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This one is also great for Shrinky Dinks. It's best for items you want to use for jewelry and will be attaching to small jump rings.

1/16" Circle Hand Punch

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This is great for punching tiny holes for cards for multiple pairs of earrings and also for punching a couple of holes to feed the bar of a pin back brooch through.

One Inch Circle Punch

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This is hands down my most reached for punch. It cuts the perfect size circle for both bottlecap images and glass stone magnets. And if you cut out one inch circles from Shrinky Dink material, they shrinks down to perfect tiny 1/3 inch circles that makes darling earrings or charm bracelet charms. 

What are some of your favorite crafting tools?