June Craft Challenge: A Twist on a Mix Tape

Welcome back to week 2 of the Craft Challenge, where we are making something romantic from the heart. I hope you caught Anja's sweet mini-notebooks last Monday and are ready for my project today. If you haven't seen my important announcement, you might just want to check here first...although thank you to all of you who have left your well wishes already. Unsurprisingly I have been bubbling with romance since I arrived back from my holiday. Before I share with you a little project I made for my fiancé (still a little 'new' using this word), I promised I would announce the winner of the vote from May.

May - Wall Art Challenge

1st - PJ with her cool 'Keep Calm and Quilt' sign (a storming victory AGAIN!)

2nd - Anja with her DIY flower lamp

3rd - Me with my Alphabet art for a nursery

You can find the links to these projects here.

So now onto my project - be prepared for a crafty take on the 'mix tape'. Before we go any further, however, I should probably explain that A and I have never lived in the same country. We've been on the long distance journey for nearly 3 years now and keeping connected has always been a great sense of creativity for both of us, from talking via Skype, to making little posters, cards or gifts to say hi, or to cheer the other one up. I wanted to send a very personal message to commemorate our engagement. So I created a card, a mix CD and will be sending it off in the post very, very soon.

If you have a special date you want to remember than this is a really easy and fun project to do.

Firstly gather together your materials: card, paper (I used a map of Budapest!), glue, double-sided tape, a CD, scissors, paper knife, nice pens/stamps.

 

1. I drew gigantic numbers on the front of the card (the date he proposed) and cut them out with a paper knife. I then added the rest of the date in fine liner underneath. I cut out a square of the map to stick behind the numbers, making sure I included the place where he popped the question.

2. To cover the inside over (as the back of the map had hideous adverts on) I cut out a piece of scrap card the same size as my gift card. I then flipped it around before sticking it onto the inside flap covering the horrible map. I positioned it so I could make flaps to make the card experience more interactive.

 

3. Using my laptop I gathered together songs which contained suitably well-thought-out lyrics to express my deliciously soppy feelings for him. While the CD was burning, I used my mini alphabet stamps to print the names of the tracks on the back of the card.

4. I then grabbed some card stock and made a CD flap, including a map feature which showed where we had a nice date stalking wombats in Budapest zoo (yep, you read that correctly). I used double-sided tape to create the space for the CD before sliding it in.

 

5. I then wrote my note, created a little paper heart and used this (and double-sided tape) to seal the message. This bit is completely private folks - as where's the romance in sharing just about everything?

 

 You are now the proud owner of a little piece of traditional romance....a snail mail CD and love letter combination. If you have more time you can even decorate the envelope.

 

I hope you like my romantic project and are inspired to share the love a little bit this week. Remember you can link up your own romantic projects in two week's time.