In my spare time at work, I have the pleasure of proofreading some of the very cool North Light Craft books. The new book (due out in May) by collage artist Giuseppina Cirincione inspired me to try out using wire in my paper crafting. (Check out her previous book, Collage Lost and Found here.) Let me tell you: working with wire is addictive!  It’s easy to work with, requires few tools and little training, you can mold it into any shape you like, and it adds such a unique twist to paper projects. Plus, with thin, light-weight gauges (like the 26-gauge I used here) it’s the perfect addition to greeting cards and album layouts.


Since it’s never too early to start making valentines, I made a couple of cards for the upcoming holiday using wire to add embellishment.  First on my list was a card for my husband, one that required some not-so-girlie elements. I used an olive green as my base and added wire to create a miniature photo holder to hold my love bird icons. Withh a holiday that just calls for such girliness as pink and hearts, I also took the opportunity to make a more feminine card.  Here, I used the wire to make jump rings to act as a binding for the card.

Have you ever used wire in your scrapping? What about other unique materials? Share your ideas here! And look for more great Valentine’s Day projects right here on our blog.

Kristin

Addition to this post: To make the jump rings, simply wrap wire around a pen (or whatever object will create the size of circle you'll need) a few times.  Slide the coiled wire off the pen and cut through the lenghth of wire so that you end up with several individual rings. I also used a pen to create the circles in my mini photo holder.