Crafty Marie

Send your love this Valentine's Day with some cute, free mini envelope themed embellishments that are ideal to print out and use on handmade cards as well as other paper projects such as scrapbooking. You could definitely use these freebies to feature on a scrapbook layout about your February 14th activities this year. I show you how to use them on a handmade card so you can quickly make something that looks cute for the occasion.

Does this graphic describe you as well. It certainly describes me because pink is one of my most used crafting colors and I enjoy adding in sparkles where I can with rhinestones and glitter. I've definitely got the glitter bug. Glitter should have been my middle name. We're always finding it sprinkled around the home where it's just fallen from a recent craft project. I've always been crafty and I love to make and create.  There are my old favorites which I love to revisit such as rubber stamping, card making, paper tole art, cross stitch and origami and then there are my newer favorites as well. My current hot craft is fused beads but I enjoy giving most things a try.

Envelopes don't need to be dull and boring. For paper crafts as well as for special looking notes and stationery, I like to fold my own decorative envelopes using some fairly easy origami techniques. Luckily, there are some easy paper origami envelope designs that you can make. The paper folding has to be easy because I don't like crafting projects that take too long or that are too challenging to create. Making a special envelope is a neat idea when you are writing a note for a loved one, perhaps for Valentine's Day or another special occasion. Mini envelope designs look fab when added on to handmade cards and also scrapbook layouts.

Making a small heart banner or garland from felt to hang in the home as cute Valentine or party decor can be quite quick and easy with no-sew options available too if stitching isn't your thing. I made a quick DIY version to hang across my daughter's fireplace to match in with the scheme of her room. With patterned felts now much more widely available, you can mix and match plain and patterned versions of this great no-fray fabric to look fun and funky. I choose a pink polka dot to work with a darker shade of raspberry pink.

Felt hearts are so nice and easy to sew together and this year, well ahead of Valentine's Day, I made some small plush hearts which are hand sewn with ribbon loops on them so they can hang up as sweet little decorations. You can use these small felt hearts to make scented drawer sachets, hanging ornaments or, alternatively why not hang several up on a garland across a wall or mantel. I really loved the combination of the red felt and the fresh blue polka dot fabric on these. Stitching by hand is nice and easy to sit and do especially in the winter months but you can also stitch felt fabric with a machine if you prefer.

Got a special birthday coming up that you need to make something for? This fun large key design made from fused beads is an ideal craft for an 18th or 21st birthday in particular where keys are motifs and gifts often presented. This makes a large beaded key which is about the size of my palm when worked with regular sized Hama or Perler beads. If you want to make it as a smaller charm for a necklace then use mini sized beads. It's also a great make for a New Home card or gift. You can make the key and then attach it onto the front of a card or a wrapped gift for a special look.

Fused Hama and Perler beads are for adults! These fun and colorful beads are way too much fun for kids to use - and just the thought of sharing them is not a good feeling at all. They're most definitely all mine. If you don't already know, these beads are not designed as jewelry beads which are typically strung on wires or threads to make items such as necklaces, they're worked over a plastic pegboard to create pixel patterns. The 'fused' part of the name comes from the fact that you need to melt these beads in order to adhere or glue them together in a permanent bond - the most common way to fuse them is with an iron and some special ironing paper that you normally get when you buy a bucket of beads.

Little love notes can be even more fun for occasions like Valentine's Day if they are folded into a unique envelope design like this one with a heart shaped front and an elegant ribbon tie clasp.  My Complete Photo Tutorial on Folding a Heart Envelope takes you through step by step on how to make this rather special looking origami design. All you need is a square piece of paper. A double sided paper is best and this will have one side that is colored differently to the other. Making Paper Envelopes for Valentine's Day I opted for a patterned dark red scrapbook paper cut out to a large square size. The paper was plain white on the other side. White is a good choice of color for an envelope design. While red is a great color for the completed heart. Having contrasting colors on each side of the paper means that the heart shape stands out more prominently once you've made it. Make this design up in just several rather easy steps. After this you can pop you...