Day 212: Make your own thank you cards

There's always people you get pressies from at Christmas who you don't see to say, thank you too. So you need some cards, right? Well, try these ones out.

I spent a few hours making them yesterday and, as they're creative, I thought I'd tell you about them. It's super easy to make them, so get involved if you want to save some cash and make your own funky thank you cards.

All I did was get some old magazines and cut out patterns, colours and textures I liked. Then I cut each bit into a letter and stuck them on the card! Easy.

Here's some tips;

• Chose your card colour before you start cutting. I did mine on black, but had loads of black/dark patterns which I couldn't use. Equally, if you do it with white, you don't want anything too light.
• Work out roughly how big you want each letter, so they fit on your card.
• You could use different magazines for different people. If you're doing one for a boy, maybe use a boys' mag. If you're doing one for a kid, use a kids' mag...it's up to your creative slant, of course!

So, have a go at creating your own cards this year. They make pretty good birthday cards too...

Day 203: Decopatch

Do you like my hearts? Well, actually, mine is the middle one and the other two were decorated by my sisters. Amongst Boxing day's festivities, we took time out to do some Decopatch.

What the heck's Decopatch, I hear you ask? Well, basically, it is covering stuff in little patches of tissue paper to jazz them up. Find out more on their website.

It's proper easy, so if there's a scuzzy old ornament you need to sparkle up, why not try to Decopatch it? You can do it on anything; lampshades, boxes, bowls, chairs...

Chose your colours, patterns, shapes, sizes...see how creative YOU can be...

Day 67: Charlie and Lola

I know what you are thinking, why have you put a 4 year old's T.V. programme on a teenager's creative blog? Well, hear me out before you pass judgement.

Charlie and Lola was originally a picture book for kids written and illustrated by Lauren Child. Believe it or not, it's really unusual for one person to write and draw the same book because the publishing companies don't like it (you'd think it would make it easier, but apparently not!). The thing I love about it is the collage she's used for the backgrounds, their clothes, props, everything. If they are eating a banana, then it will be a picture of a real banana. It's so cool!

Imagination is at the top of it's game in this one too. See how it will inspire you to be creative with stories or animation... if you haven't seen Charlie and Lola before, then watch this episode (it's only 10 minutes). In fact, even if you have seen Charlie and Lola, watch it anyway because it's so great.



I hope this has inspired you to be creative! I used to watch Charlie and Lola every morning with my little sister before she went to school, but now she thinks she's too big for it now (I have my doubts). So sometimes I watch it on iplayer by myself (because I'm so cool!). To be fair, I am studying writing for young people, so really, it's research!

Anyway, enough about me. Be inspired by Charlie and Lola. Do you have an interesting relationship you could creative from like Charlie and Lola's? Or do you have an interesting animation technique which could be the next craze? Use YOUR ideas and be creative...