Yesterday I shared a Valentine House full of all the red and pink things, tiny animals, mushrooms, and most importantly, tiny envelopes. The envelopes were made from a paper punch Leslie from Alpha Stamps sent me, and I have since nearly eliminated my stash of paper scraps by punching out the 1" x 3/4" envelopes. So instead of a pile of paper bits, I have a giant stack of itty bitty mail!
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one handful of mini mail
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They couldn't be any easier to make. First, punch out all the envelopes your heart desires. There. Half the work is already done.
Score along the four sides:
With taller triangle at the top (this is the opening flap of the envelope), fold in the left and right sides. Add a smidge of glue to the bottom edges of the sides and then fold the bottom flap up. Hold, hold, hold. If you are worried about the glue seeping through and sticking to the inside, simply slide a scrap piece of paper inside the envie before holding.
Done! So cute! Now you can add messages, confetti, charms, tiny cards, or anything inside. It's fun to decorate the front too, especially if you have microscopic stamps like the ones on the Little Postage collage sheet. Rubber stamps from the Carte Postale Set worked perfectly for the outside of the envelopes as well as messages for the inside!
I decided to make a wee mailbox from sticks and whatnot for a few of the envelopes. The upper part is cardboard that I glued together, painted, then covered in thin strips of birch. It was hot glued to a stick that was then glued to a wooden disk. The rest is moss, miniature rose vines, and that's about it.
To make the end and door, trace the shape of the top curvy bit.
Ta da!
One last shot of those adorable envelopes.
Happy New Year to you!
I have had a really sweet house shaped room box from Alpha Stamps for a while and was considering what it should be used for. It has sat, fully assembled, upon the craft table for days (okay, it has been weeks!) waiting for inspiration...until now! Leslie, knowing I like things in miniature, sent me a paper punch of a teensy envelope to play around with. I looked at the punch, then the neglected room box, and I thought of a Valentine "mailbox" with four little cubbyholes for sweets and love notes.
The tiny paper chains remind me of art class in grade school because, you know, that's what you make in 3rd grade. In fact, this entire project feels a lot like Valentine's Day in elementary school; busy, messy, fun, and exciting all in one. The only thing missing is a cupcake. Haphazardly frosted, of course.
There's one of those teensy envelopes in the attic of the house...I'm pretty sure I am addicted to making them. They are just too cute!
And that dapper meercat! Lookit that face! I love that guy. Most of the cubbies have wee Valentine boxes plus gift bags and cards from the Tiny Little Valentine collage sheet. There are so many cat Valentines on that particular collage sheet so naturally I added them ALL.
I used pinking shears to cut out zig zag strips of paper for the front, and the paper chains are simply short lengths of pink and red paper that I rolled around a knitting needle before gluing together. Do you see the little red, white, and pink hearts? They were cut from a polymer cane and helped fill the space. I used them everywhere.
More of those adorable envelopes. I have added love notes, glitter, and confetti inside most of them.
It's funny how inspiration can come from a single thing. I'm happy that my little house is no longer naked. Thanks for the envelope punch that started it all, Leslie!
All of the sweet supplies can be found RIGHT HERE.
Happy crafting to you!
I've been hoarding a small collection of cast metal toys from Alpha Stamps for quite some time but hadn't gotten around to doing anything with them. Truthfully, I liked them because they are tiny and cute (and just flat out wanted them for no reason whatsoever). Then Leslie sent me a really sweet hutch where all my precious-es could be displayed, so I got to work painting them. There was plenty of room on the deep shelves to add tons of other wee toys, too.
I covered the shelves with holly paper from the Jingle 6 x 6 paper pad which is quickly becoming my favorite holiday paper. All of the prints work for miniatures and small projects. The vintage games, book cover, and other images are from collage sheets; the box of marbles on the bottom shelf is a miniature cigar box!
Painting the cast metal was fairly easy. I washed all of the pieces in dish soap and scrubbed them with a toothbrush then toweled them dry. It was nice to discover regular acrylic craft paint (in several layers) covered the metal. I only had one instance where the paint chipped off. It involved a snooping cat that, of all the toys on the table, sent Mother Goose to her demise after pawing her a bit too far. Mother Goose's tail feathers took the brunt of the fall, so all was well, and the cat looked pleased.
Confession time, folks. See the Kewpie doll? I painted that face, like, 42 times. Seriously. It was not coming out cute at all. It's a little scary.
Lots of times I forget about reference pictures, but not today!
Yes, that is the smallest one, so I'll show you another.
Yikes.
Hope Santa fills your stocking with all the tiny and cute things! Here is a LIST to get you started!
'Tis the season for handmade presents! It's the month that I pull out the half-dozen unfinished gift projects that I started on ages ago "to get a head start on Christmas", the ones that were meant to be done by October and make me feel accomplished...well, that didn't happen. It'd be nice to decide to finish these WIPs, but I know that they will all get tossed back in the bin and I'll start all over because...oh, look! A squirrel!
I restarted my gift making by creating a snarky little matchbox for my wine-loving friend. (We have that in common. It is the reason we like each other so much.) I used two cheeky collage sheets and a 3" x 5" chunky matchbox from AlphaStamps for a fun scene. The front of the box shows a rosy cheeked Santa:
The side is also NSFW.
And the inside is a miniature version of my friend's Christmas wish.
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| it's a wine tree, haha |
On the tree are glasses, a corkscrew, some pom pom ornaments, candy canes, and different colored wine bottles that sort of resemble Christmas lights. Okay, maybe they don't look like lights at all, but wine will get you lit.
I used a great tutorial from Kristin to make some teeny prezzies and also added a retro toy soldier. My favorite part of the project (besides the snark) is this winking Santa behind the tree. Maybe he's heard what I want what my friend wants for Christmas, you think?
Happy holidays! Hope all of your crafty wishes come true.
You can go RIGHT HERE to see the supplies used.
