Driven by love for handmade cards I am presenting something every little girl will probably adore... I adore it, that's for sure :D

I am not a person who's following trends but somehow this magical looking mermaid shiny stuff wanted or not is constantly catching my eye for the past years and my brain just couldn't resist :)

So than here it is - a birthday Mermaid Card for my daughter!
The ideas was to recreate the mermaid's tale scales.
Reusing what we have is always my top priority in every project.
This time the main item was a paper scraps again which I always keep ;)
I choose different shades of blue, purple, lilac, pink 
and the shiny ones...whatever suits the mermaid theme in my head. 

To make this collection a bit more interesting I've made a quick addition.

I've fold a kitchen towels and dye them in a thin watery paint.
This way another textured paper was created, I was pleased with the results when the towels got dry.






Obviously I choose the colours which best remind me of a mermaid image.
But this is completely optional if you can't be arsed ;)


       
 
Let see what other materials 

      I use to create the card!





 Not much really isn't it!


Step 1.
Cut the circles out of you craft papers.
I use shot glass to draw them and cut out approx. 40 circles.
You can do it!







Step 2.


Using padded double-sided tape start to stick first row of scale circles.

Start from the side where the card is opening!















The next row will need to overlap the circle gaps so it looks like a scale.

Keep going!





Step 3.

When the whole card is covered turn it upside down to reviled the back of it.
This way it's going to be easier to trim 3 edges of the card.
Use the ruler and paper knife to cut off the scales.

Leave the opening edge as it is!




So it looks like this










Very often I make my own wrapping paper too, it was no different this time and again I matched the theme with a card :)







For the gift on the top I just use matching cotton threads and some gold string...





Second one is the large piece of tissue paper, folded and dyed in some thin paint again just like the kitchen towels.



Another two gifts and the one at the bottom was made by splashing some thin watery paint on the large white paper in a few different ways.


All was random and unpredicted , I didn't really planed what to do I just had fun with it :D


I've added a tiny bit of glitter too.
 



The balloon wrapping took a bit more effort.
I cut some circles out, stick different papers from underneath and drew details.
Only on one side of the gift.

 



I think it turned out pretty mermaid looking to me :)




Go on, have fun and make yours!








This year I've been extra busy duo to many positive changes in our life, so for this Halloween I will post the idea from the last year.
Kids loved it so I hope you will too :)

Here I have an easy, fun idea for a carved pumpkins that kids can transform into colourful happy 
                              Mexican Sugar Skulls!



Materials we use:

- medium size pumpkins
- white acrylic paint + paint brush
- all sort of craft embellishments
- stickers
- faux flowers
- sewing pins 
- drawing pins
- Sharpie pens or permanent marker 
- pencil
- glue

 

Step 1
Carve your pumpkins first then paint them white and leave it to dry.




Already cute.
You might want to leave them like this for yourself for a quick modern Halloween decor ;)
...or give it to children to decorate.
 




Step 2

If you give them away then let kiddos have fun!



Some of them decorate the outline of the eyes first using self-adhesive gems...




then draw the mouths using pencil, then redo with a black marker.








Step 3

Now another fun part of decorating using embellishments, stickers, markers and even gold drawing pins.



Step 4

Its time to decorate with faux flowers!I dismantled some of the flowers so the petals can be mixed up ;)

We use sewing pins to attach.

          


        That's it, all ready for Halloween!




You might have noticed they've been crafting on Halloween themed paper ;)I use large format paper and drew some skulls and bones so they can do some colouring too!






And oh my, they did :D









We then light up our pumpkins and enjoyed their colourful faces :)



Enjoy!