Bang! Cardmaking with Christmas cracker gifts: 1

Hello again.

Happy New Year!  I told you I'd see you on the other side of the festivities, and here we both are.

How'd it go?

And what's the house look like now? Decorations down? All of them? Are you sure? There isn't a stowaway lurking somewhere?

I spotted one still attached to the bathroom door last night and promptly instructed someone taller than me to wrestle it down before it began to blend in with its general surroundings and we forgot all about it. As nice as the bathroom is it probably doesn't merit being bedecked in a silver celebratory wreath 365 days of the year!

That said ... I'd now going to try to persuade you that something as very specifically Christmassy as the gifts inside Christmas crackers can actually be used on any occasion cards at any time of the year!

Here's my first effort using a super-sweet little pen:

After decorating the rest of the card I simply punched 2 holes close together with a Crop-a-dile and tied the pen on using twine slid beneath the little clip:

I also ran a little bit of thin double-sided tape along the underside of the pen, just to stop it slipping around, but it's still easily detchable should the card's recipient ever wish to remove it and put it to use!

Yet, judging by the amount of ink inside I don't think it would have last very long so all-in-all I think it's been put to an alotgether better and cuter use:

And it's got to be better than it ending its days at the bottom of a bin with the leftover turkey!

If I'd known ahead of time that I was going to make cards with the tacky-cracker-goodness I'd have given you a heads-up so you could have kept yours.

• So, right now I'm guessing / hoping that at least some of you out there are as weird eclectic and Magpie-like as me and have kept one or two of the novelties from your festive lunches? Anyone?
• If not and you don't have any... go write 'for the love of cardmaking: remember to SAVE the crackery tat' on the December page of your shiny new 2013 calendar/ diary.
• OR ELSE ... just keep your eyes peeled for other ways to reuse any small novelty / party bag items in your crafting.

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 OK then, I'll be back tomorrow with a different set of cards, then over the week or so to come I'll share a few more of the ways I've used my cracker gifts on cards. 

Soon.

Julie :-)
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Supplies used:
Tiny pen from a Christmas cracker
Animal print paper: Crate Paper 'On Trend'
Mini notelet/frame: American Crafts '5th & Frolic'
Purple Onion sentiment stamp
Twine
Pink hair grip
Vintage ric rac