Papercrafting: Father's Day and Misc. Cards

 

Sharing some cards I've worked on recently. Got an early jump on Father's Day cards, and I have some June birthdays to celebrate, so here's what I've been up to! 

We loved the Mandalorian series, and I fell hard for little Grogu. Natch, we had to see the movie and that was my inspiration for this year's Father's Day Cards for friends and family. 

Mandalorian Father's Day Cards

• Cardstock 110lb (Recollections) 
• Metallic Silver Paper (Recollections)
• Black Glitter Paper (Online)
• Creatology Star Stickers
• Misc Embellishments 
• SVG File (Free SVG Planet)
• Digital Cutting Machine (Cricut Maker)

I gathered my supplies, including these Craft Mirrors I found at Dollar Tree (I bought every shape they had!). Don't sleep on the kids' crafts section at Michaels, which is where I found this bag o stars. Self-adhesive! 

My first challenge was finding an image I wanted to use, but thank goodness for Free SVG Planet, which has a bunch of FREE character files! I found the one I used, downloaded it, and imported it into Cricut Design Space. I sized it to fit my card, and within CDS, combined it into a panel. 

I layered these so the silver would show through, using the CONTOUR function in CDS to remove image detail for everything but the text. 

Using a tape runner, I adhered the black layer to the silver, then adhered that to a slightly larger green panel, then to the card as shown.

 

I grabbed a bunch of embellishments from my stash and used them, in conjunction with the mirror tiles on some of the cards, to approximate Mando's armor. 

I did a coordinated message for the inside. Just did these in PicMonkey, printed, cut to size, and adhered to the inside of the cards. 

Misc. Cards. 

For birthday cards, I always try to make something that goes with the recipient's hobby or personality. 

Birthday Card for a dear friend.

One off Father's Day Card. My FIL won't "get" The Mandalorian, but he was a big Gardener.

FIL also happens to have a June birthday. Oops, a little crooked on the bottom but I know he won't mind. 

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DIY Jewelry: GROGU (The Mandalorian) Inspired Bracelet

 

I have watched both seasons of The Mandalorian on Disney Plus, and like so many others, am totally smitten by the character named GROGU aka "The Child" aka "Baby Yoda" . If you're not familiar he's the same type of being as Yoda ( whom I also love ) but is not in fact the baby version of him. 

While going through my bead stash, I remembered I had some Kiwi Jasper beads that were PERFECT for a GROGU inspired project.  This is an easy bracelet to make using stretch cord. 

Mr. Chocolate surprised me with one of the animated toys as one of my Christmas gifts. They were almost impossible to find but he did and he is so cute. Our dog loves it when I activate him and just cocks her head at all of his movements and sounds.  I gathered up the supplies I thought I'd use and I ended up not using the white beads. No worries. They'll get put to good use! 

Supplies: 

• Stretch Magic Bead & Jewelry Cord 1mm ( Michaels)
• 10mm Kiwi Sesame Jasper (Shipwreck Beads...no longer on their site but Etsy, Amazon have)
• 10mm Matte Black Glass Beads (Michaels)
• 10mm Silver Beads (Michaels) 
• Bead Landing Rhinestone Dangles ( Michaels)
• Charm Along Metal Tags (Michaels)
• Loctite Gel Control Glue
• Head Pins and Jump Rings

Since I tend to make bolder jewelry, I like the thickness of the 1mm Stretch Magic cord. If you're using smaller beads you can use thinner versions. 

I like to spread the beads I'm working with out so I can easily grab them and a piece of felt works great to keep them from rolling away. 

Cut a length of the Stretch Magic a few inches longer than the finished bracelet size. Some people try to measure exactly which maximizes your cord, but I like ends long enough to not cause me to swear when I'm trying to tie the knot and things go wrong and beads go everywhere, which may or may not have happened one too many times. 

I bought these clamps at Dollar Tree forever ago and they work great for clamping one end so you don't have beads to chase. 

Measure your bracelet once you have your beads on. I know from experience 7.5 is the right length for me. Tie with a basic knot. Dab a little Loctite or jewelry glue onto the knot, then tie another knot and trim. 

I usually add a little dangle on my bracelets, especially when I'm giving as a gift, and especially since I found some cute charms that say things like "Made With Love" "Handmade" etc. I also love these little rhinestone dangles to add just a touch of bling. 

To create the bead dangle, thread one of the jasper beads and one of the silver beads onto a head pin and close with a wrapped loop. 

Then, attach your tag, rhinestone, and bead dangle onto your bracelet using jump rings. 

I love how the jasper represents GROGU, the black beads his eyes, and the silver is for Beskar, the elite armor worn by worthy Mandalorians. Geek Alert! 

This is the way !

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