Last weekend I ordered a few bits from the internet to start on my wedding invitations and thought I’d post up how I’ve made them.
For this you’ll need:
- White pre-scored greeting card - I’m using 135mm square white card for this
- Washi Paper, available from good paper suppliers and origami shops
- Coloured card to match washi paper
- Mizuhiki in 2 colours- Japanese paper cord available from some origami shops and Japanese goods shops
- Paper Inserts - the lengths should be slightly shorter than your card (in this case mine is 26.8mm x 135mm)
- Pritt Stick or other lightweight paper glue
- Glue Line or similar
- Guillotine/Rotary cutter & Cutting Mat
- Ruler
- Scissors
Cut your coloured card to the same length as your card front (135mm here) and about 60mm wide, then cut the washi paper to 40mm x 135mm. Glue the back of the washi with Pritt stick and position in the centre of the card.
Next apply a line of Glue Line around the perimeter of the back of the coloured card and position in the centre of the card front.
Meanwhile form the Mizuhiki into a knot of your choice. For this I used 2 cords but you can build it up with a few cords following the same lines for a thicker knot. Mizuhiki can be a bit tricky to work with so if you find you knots are coming apart use a small piece of Glue Line to hold it in place while you work. For this card, the purple cord should measure 210mm and the silver 380mm.
Use a small amount of Glue Line along the length of your Mizuhiki to attach it to the front of the card, leaving enough cord to wrap around the card.
Next make a small hole in the back face of the card near the crease to thread the Mizuhiki cord through. Attach it to the inside of the card with more glue line and bend the other side of the cord around the front of the card and attach to the inside in the same way.
Finally, to complete the card either print or write your message on the insert and using yet more Glue Line apply a small line to the back inside face of the card (avoiding where the cord pierces through) and attach your insert.
You should now have something along these lines:
Each card takes around 5-10 minutes and costs around £0.30 to produce.
Since my last post I had a hard drive failure and lost all my work since July, including the two drawings I posted recently. So, I decided to redraw the dandelion image.
Last time I used tile clones but looking back on it the positioning of the fluff was far too geometric,
so I got rid of the tile clones idea and redrew each seed instead of generating them. I think this looks more natural.
Not quite sure what to do with the stalk yet.
Here’s another possible table number doodle and an experiment in tile cloning. I can’t figure out whether I like it with or without the leaves better. I think for the real thing I’d have to tidy the leaves up a bit. Maybe it looks too plain without them?
Wow, two posts in a row. I’ve surpassed myself.
Today I’ve been messing around with Inkscape. I made these spirograph flower designs and thought I could use it for table numbers for the reception. I’m not set on this but I thought I’d post it up anyway.
I’m trying to avoid the traditional look without looking too childish or too homemade. It’s hard.
After absconding for 5 or so months I thought I would post an update on the chillis… except I never posted an original to update in the first place. Never the less, here are some pictures of my newly ripened Cayenne Peppers. The Poblanos and Jalapenos didn’t make it due to what looks like some kind of viral infection. That’ll teach me to buy compost from the £ shop.
They were sewn in April (which explains why I didn’t post about them before) and took about 2 months to start flowering. We’ve already eaten 2 green and currently have 3 yellow and 1 green on the plant. Hopefully it will flower again and I’ll get a second crop. The other Cayenne plant keeps flowering but dropping the flowers. No amount of shaking or brushing can seem to make it produce pollen so I suppose it’s just a dud plant.
I started a new blog with Inkscape and Gimp Tutorials. I was really good initially but soon got to the can’t-be-bothered stage. I enjoy making graphics in Inkscape but trying to write it up as a tutorial takes so much time and kind of takes the fun out of it. I haven’t posted there for a few weeks which has given me some time to just play around in Inkscape and have been working on ideas for wedding invitations, table numbers, thank you cards etc. now that we have set a date and booked the venue. Still plenty of time to finalise it.
In other news I finally passed my driving test (first time!) and got a car so hopefully I will be able to get out with my camera and see if it’s all as grim as Scumdee around here. Photographs will follow if I find anything interesting.
I’ve been cooking again. This time a baked cheesecake and some pistachio ice cream. I think I already mentioned my unhealthy interest in pistachios. I made too much again though.
The cheesecake is made of a biscuit base, a layer of cream cheese, egg and sugar and another layer of sour cream and sugar, all flavoured vanilla. The toping is raspberries and sugar and smells like jam.
I made the ice cream using double cream and yoghurt and a load of pistachio nuts. No ice cream machine required. I just had to fork it through when it set at the edges and then leave it to freeze. Pretty easy.
Still no chilli seedlings to show. We poked around and dug some up to check. They’re starting to germinate. 7-10 days the packet said… but it’s been 2 weeks!
Nooo not like that. I’ve been baking lately. I just wanted to use that title.
My obsession with pistachios is evident in the Chocolate “Fudge” and Coffee Cake. The fudge tastes more like a ganache or truffle and is so packed full of calories that one little square will make you feel nauseous. They’re good if you’re in the midst of a chocolate binge but I don’t think I’ll make them again.
I subjected Tony’s workmates to a slice of the coffee cake and apparently it went down well. It’s quite a heavy sponge and with white chocolate icing. I like coffee and walnut cake so I added the nuts just to liven it up a bit. There’s so much coffee in it that it has you bouncing off the walls for half an hour afterwards. What could be better - cake with caffeine in it?! Everyone wins.
Also, Tony made some Turkish Pizza from a new cookbook we got. Note to self - veggie mince is no substitute for lamb. I’ve never eaten lamb so I wouldn’t know how the flavours should work but needless to say cinamon is not a spice that works well with soya protein. However, the bases were excellent and worked really well with a dressed salad.
On another food related note, the chilli challenge (that is - to grow some chilli peppers that are edible) is up and running for this year. The seeds were planted last Sunday and so far nothing has sprouted. The race is between some Poblanos, Cayenne, Jalepenos and Numex Twilight. I think the latter will be more for decorative purposes since those tiny chillis are almost too hot to eat.
This year I won’t stunt the growth by craming a 10″ pot with 4 plants.
Yesterday the guy came to put the “For Sale” sign up on our window. It’s weird. I can’t wait to get out of Dundee but I really love our flat and don’t like the idea of leaving it.
Anyway, for the benefit of a certain nosy friend (you know who you are!) I thought I would post some photos of the flat before it’s too late. In order right to left: kitchen (2 pics), my office (2 pics), bathroom, bedroom, living room (2 pics).
My office looks weird now it’s been tidied up and I’ve taken all my pictures and posters down. When I tidied it I realised it was huge.
I’m not sure how long I can live with being this tidy so let’s hope it sells quickly!
Recently I’ve found I spend more and more time each day reading blogs. It’s a great distraction from normal work and I can call it research (almost). A few months ago I found Vienna. It’s a great alternative to using the browser to read feeds. I don’t tend to use Safari much and reading feeds in Firefox is pretty ropy in my opinion.
Some blogs I prefer more than others but it’s good to see different writing styles and reading other people’s blogs inspires me to write in my own. I really admire blogs that stick to one topic and I think I should probably take Dork Matter in that direction… if only I could find a topic I could stick to!
If you’re not familiar with HairCrazy.info and HairCrazy.com these are my main source of income. It’s a very niche market but HairCrazy is one of the top sites within it. In contrast, Dork Matter is a bit of everything; whatever happens to be going on with me at that particular time. Recently I’ve been writing a lot about home decor and property because we’re selling our flat and moving to Edinburgh in the near future.
When I’m developing a new tool for the site I tend to write about Python and Django and spend a bit more time on graphics. When I haven’t much in particular going on you get the random posts like Sound Bites and whatever I’ve been doodling lately.
The problem is that I can’t seem to stick to anyone topic outside of hair dyeing and I already have a site about that. Perhaps when we move I’ll do a new blog about decorating the new place.
Until then here’s what I’m reading these days:
The blogs I tend to read first when I check my feeds in the morning are Five and a half, Kirin Notebook, Photojojo, Ikea Hacker and Design*Sponge. I suppose going by that I’m in a design phase at the moment. Sites like NotCot are great for keeping me entertained throughout the day with a variety of eye candy. I’m still subscribed to Craftzine but I find I tend to mark it read without reading. Lately it’s been a lot of posts from the blogs I already read regurgitated. Used to read Makezine too but it went way downhill and stopped being about making stuff a while ago.
As well as those listed and my own feeds (got to make sure they’re still working right?), I also read some blogs on blog promotion. I’m especially enjoying Blogging Experiment. It’s a year long experience where one guy tries to make money from blogging and reports his successes and failures.
So what are you reading? Anything I might like?
