For anyone who is drawn to the small details, the patterns in security envelopes can be quite nice. Here are a few from a Flickr photo set called Security Patterns.

Great for little collages and other things, or try reusing the envelopes by turning them inside out, as shown in this Design*Sponge tutorial.

As you can tell, my craft projects have become few and far between these days, but I’ve had a few little things I’ve worked on in the last two months.

In November and December, I went against my previous decision to quit swaps for a bit, and signed up for a few of the final Coloriffic Swap-O-Rama swaps. I really liked the color combinations, and shopping for other people is fun. Here’s what I came up with for the two swaps:

One of the swap requirements is to include one handmade item, so I made a little card/envelope set for the November swap, and then for the December swap, I put together one of my square collage postcards.

Sadly, the packages I got through these swaps didn’t exactly knock my socks off, so to speak, but oh well. At least I enjoyed putting them together and making my swap partners happy.

Shortly after the second swap, I joined in on a bit of card- and envelope-making at this month’s South Bay Craft Group meeting. I don’t send out holiday cards, so I just made some general ones, based on a cute postcard I have. And some envelopes of course. The paper was just too lovely to pass up.

And the most recent craft project was a shared one for a work holiday party that I helped to organize. We decided to decorate gingerbread cookies as the main event, and of course we had to have a contest for it, complete with varied categories and matching trophies. Our little trophy team came up with these four trophies during two long nights after work hours. It was a lot of fun and I think everyone who attended the party liked them as well.

Just a quick poll of sorts:

Which style do you like better? The top one fits a business card-sized card, and the bottom one has a card that is slightly taller and less wide.

I want to make some sets like this, but I’m trying to decide which way to go.

One of the things that comes with having a full-time job again is that I only have so much free time outside of work. Since that time is so limited, I’ve had to be a lot more careful about how I spend it, including including what sort of events you choose to attend and what projects I can commit to and actually complete. Having spent a year and a half taking time off between jobs, I’m definitely having to re-learn this, especially since I’ve picked up a number of hobbies and interests in that time.

When I wasn’t working, going to crafty events was something I felt I almost had to do, whether it was a craft group meeting or a craft fair. I needed some good social things to do, and so whenever I found an event, I went. Now though, I’m having to set limits for myself, based on the time and energy involved in attending anything. I’ve had to pass on a few recent crafting events, even though there were some I initially wanted to attend.

Similarly, I’ve had to limit myself when it comes to craft projects, despite finding plenty of new things I’d love to try. I haven’t really worked on much since my last post, beyond a silly Halloween costume and a few swaps I got involved in despite telling myself I wouldn’t.

I just finished up my items for a Japanese-themed swap on Craftster, and here are a few photos:

The first is a padded or “quilted” kimono art piece, made using chipboard, thin layers of foam, and various papers, plus plenty of glue. I got the supplies as part of a kit from Hanko Designs, and it was actually a lot easier to do than I thought. Some of my measurements were a bit off, but I thing it turned out all right.

The box was originally going to be decoupaged, but then I didn’t feel like doing that after all, so I just painted it. I tried to replicate a very delicate design I found on a piece of origami paper, but it was a lot harder to do than I thought. It takes a lot of patience and a steady hand, and I wasn’t doing too well on either of those. I think it still looks all right though.

And, of course, the final item was one of my standard envelope and card sets, made using origami paper in various colors. A nice tiny item to include, and there’ll be a few store-bought items included as well.

I actually received my swap items from my partner already, and unfortunately, there seemed to be some misunderstanding about what is Japanese and what is Chinese. My partner sent some interesting items, but they were mainly Chinese in pattern and design. That’s ok, but not really my thing.

There were also some issues with the organization of the swap overall, so my disappointment in Craftster swaps continues. As much as I like that the site exists, the swaps are hard to organize and follow and I almost never am satisfied with how they turn out. As a result, I think I’m going to give up on the site, especially swaps there, for the time being. I never post there anyway, so it’s not a big deal, but still disappointing that it has come to this.

I have one more swap to finish up by next week, but this one is a one-on-one swap with another crafter who participated in some of the Coloriffic Swap-O-Rama swaps. I love the color themed swaps there, and the organizers are great, but I keep missing the sign-up deadlines lately. Fortunately, I received a message from Helena, who had also missed the deadline, asking if I’d be interested in a direct swap. We’re following the same color themes as everyone else, but with a little more knowledge of who we’re swapping with.

After this swap though, I think I’m through for awhile. Lately, whenever I sign up for a swap, I go through this minor freak-out about whether or not I’ll be able to make the deadline. It’s mostly due to not having any good ideas about what to make, though usually I figure something out and manage to finish in time. For now though, I’d rather do without the pressure and just take it easy. I don’t know how much I’ll post here as a result, but I will try to keep it up as much as I can.

I’m still taking it easy with craft things, especially since I’m gearing up to start a new job in about a week’s time. But I have been doing a few little things here and there.

Last week, two of my friends celebrated birthdays, so I made a square collage postcard for one and a set of wrapped postcards for the other.

I liked playing with the combination of brown and blue color combination, after having tried it out for a swap last month.

However, I think the monkey cards were a much bigger hit, though the recipient had requested that we all not bring gifts to her party. I figured this might be an ok exception though, since it was a small gift and a handmade one at that. Besides, she likes monkeys and it seems like that monkey stamp is everyone’s favorite (it’s made by Rubber Soul, for what it’s worth).