Washi Tape Christmas and Birthday Cards

Yesterday, while writing a shopping list, I made a note of all the birthday cards I needed to buy over the next couple of weeks. There were seven. At a minimum of £2 a card, that soon adds up to what feels like a lot of money to spend on a few cards, and that's before I think about buying any Christmas cards as well. So I cast my eye around the house and found washi tape, a letter set I bought this time last year, and a pile of blank white cards bought in a large multi-pack from Hobbycraft a few years ago. Then I went onto Pinterest and typed in "washi tape cards" and found a huge resource of ideas and inspiration. 

Now, I'm not claiming that any of the designs here are solely my idea; I saw about twenty different Christmas cards decorated with a tree made from strips of washi tape, and have seen hundreds of birthday cards showing cute strings of washi tape mini-bunting. It's impossible to say whose idea that originally was - actually, it's probably more than one person -  but I still wanted to share the idea with you, to show you my take on it and how easy it is to do something similar.

For birthday cards, I made some with strings of bunting. These are fiddly but not difficult. You just need patience. 

I made a few with washi tape-wrapped presents. For these, I cut out small squares of white card (I found plain white card showed off the patterns and colours of the tape the best, especially the paler ones) and wrapped the tape around them, added string or yarn bows, then used PVA glue to attach the presents to the card.

And finally, candles. I can honestly say that for maximum effect for only minutes work, these are the way to go. I love them! Just strips of tape, cut on an angle at one end, with a pencil line "wick" and yellow tape cut into flame shapes at the top. Honestly, if you have only five minutes, you have time to make one of these. I made one for Bella, with seven candles all in a row on a long thin card, for when she turns seven in December.

In fact, the hardest bit here was using the letter stamps set with any skill. It's very difficult to line up the letters accurately and stop the edges of the stamp appearing on the card. I like this wobbly, uneven effect though, and think it adds a bit of charm, but I'm fully expecting someone who doesn't get the joy of hand making things to ask me if one of the kids made it.

And for Christmas cards, I made Christmas trees. So, SO easy and effective and satisfying.

And baubles. As with the presents, I wrapped tape around scraps of white card then cut out my shape and glued them to the card. I added pencil line strings. Can you tell how much fun I had with that Liberty print washi tape here? Liberty print Christmas trees AND baubles!! Oh hello, I am in crafting heaven!

So that was basically my Saturday night. I watched some TV, drank cups of tea and snipped and glued and made pretty things. Sadly, or maybe happily, I consider that quite a good night in.

And this morning, Bella made some. Aren't they great? (The one on the right is a birthday cake - I love how she ran out of room for the letters!) So they are an excellent easy and non-messy crafty activity for adults and children alike. I don't think it gets much better than that.