New Envelope Punch Board!!!

• It creates totally customizable envelopes in up to 66 different sizes (not to mention a million different color and pattern options depending on the paper you want to use). Even tried and true envelope sizes will only take you moments to create!
• It's super easy to use; All you have to do is measure for the first punch and from there you just turn and score!
• It's small and lightweight; It's super portable and easy to store. It's small and light enough that you could use it while watching a soccer match, at a park, at a friend's for craft night-anywhere.
• It even has a slick scoring tool as well as a punch that lets you create rounded corners on your envelopes.
• It's easy to keep it all together; the stylus storage compartment and two punches are designed into the tool so you don't have a bunch of little pieces to keep track of (even the instructions are printed right on the tool so you won't lose them!).
• The price is terrific-especially for a tool that does so much!
• It will be in next year's annual catalog, so it's here to stay.

Creative Crew Holiday Focus

For this challenge we were to make a project with the big shot that allowed us to remember a day from our past and share the significance of the day. I chose the day I got married, but not for the obvious reason. I mean I love my husband and am sooo glad I married him, but that day is also significant for me because I gained such a large wonderful family too. You see, I only have one brother and being 12 years older than me, he left for college when I started first grade. I grew up for the most part an on only child. Mt husband has eight brothers and sisters! This card is for Kitty, my SFAM (sister from another mother). All four of my sister in laws are great, but I'm especially close to Kitty.

Stamps: From My Heart, Lacy & Lovely, Vintage Verses, Ciao Baby!, Trust God, Vintage Verses
Card Stock & Papers: Crisp Cantaloupe, Very Vanilla, Venetian Romance dsp
Ink: Soft Suede
Accessories: Very Vanilla ribbon
Tools: Ticket Duo Punch, Two Tags Die

Creative Crew Catalog Focus

For this challenge on Splitcoast Stampers, we were to make a project in a way that was new to us, by using a technique or a fold we've never used before. We were also to use at least two of the colors in the color focus: crushed curry, coastal cabana, whisper white and smoky slate. I decided to use this pretty designer series paper again and some new folds using die cuts.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Apothecary Art, Flowering Flourishes, That’s The Ticket, Pretty Petites
Card Stock & Papers	Coastal Cabana, Whisper White, Eastern Elegance dsp.
Ink	Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry
Accessories	Vintage Faceted Buttons, Linen Thread, Stampin’ Dimensionals,
Tools	Apothecary Accents Framelits and  Labels Framelits

 

Creative Crew Focus on Scrapbooks and More

This challenge for the Creative Crew on Splitcoast Stampers, is a Focus on Scrapbooks and More. We were to make a gift for a good neighbor as we celebrate National Good Neighbor Day on September 28. I used Pistachio Pudding, Very Vanilla and Soft Suede cardstock, Venetian Romance designer series paper, Linen Thread and Island Indigo ink with the From My Heart stamp set. All Stampin' Up! products.

This is not hard to do, I promise. When I was teaching 5th grade gifted and talented students, I had small classes of 15, which enabled me to do a lot of projects with them. When the children were studying poetry, I taught them how to make these books to keep their poetry in. We made our own marbled paper and the books were so beautiful!

Tutorial- Japanese Stab Binding

Materials 

10 pieces of text-weight paper, 4 x 10 ½ inches

2 pieces of cardstock, 4 ¼ x 11 inches

Piece of coordinating art paper like mulberry, approximately 4 ¼ x 2 inches

Scraps of cardstock, to protect the cover when clamping

Craft glue, sheet of double-stick adhesive, or xyron

34 inches of waxed linen thread, cord, ribbon, or other thick thread (metallic looks great)

Beads with a large enough hole to hold the thread

Jump rings or bras wire to make your own

Charms, beads, etc. anything to dangle from the book

Scoring tool

Small brush with water

Three small binder clips

Ruler

Pencil

Awl

Blunt large-eyed needle (tapestry needle)

Needle-nose pliers

NOTE: waxed linen thread works best, but I have used many other types of thread and had success.

 

 

1.       Fold the paper pieces and the cardstock pieces in half. The cardstock should be 4 ½ inches high x 5 ½ inches wide. Stack the text pieces into a neat stack inside the cover pieces with the folds of the covers at the fore edge and the folds on the text pieces at the spine. In other words, the folds on the cardstock will be toward the open part of the book. The folds on the text pieces will be toward the binding. Score the cover 1 inch away from the spine (the open side, not the folded side) to ease the opening. Set aside.

2.       Use a small brush dipped in water and a ruler to “mark” a waterline along the long edges of the decorative art paper.

3.       Let the water soak in a few moments and tear off the paper along the edges, giving it a feathered appearance. Allow to dry.

4.       Clamp the book stack on the top, bottom, and fore edge with the binder clips. Keep the book stack clamped until the book is stitched. When dry, glue the paper to the front cover and fold the paper around the spine to the back cover. Glue this also and let dry.

5.       On the back of the book stack, 3/8 inch (1 cm) from the spine edge, mark hole placement at

·        1 ½ inches (3.8 cm) and 2 3/.4 inches (7 cm) from the bottom edge

·        Mark another hole at ¾ inches (2 cm) from the spine and

·        2 1/8 inches (5.5 cm) from the bottom edge.

  

6.     Using your chosen needle and your chosen thread, cord or ribbon, start on the front of the book and go through hole 1to the back of the book, and leave a tail of thread about 5 inches long. On the back, come around the spine to the front and through hole 1 to the back of the book

  7.     On the back of the book, go through hole 2 to the front of the book, around the spine to the back of   

          the book and through the same hole. One the front of the book go around the top edge of the book               to the back and through the same hole to the front. 

 

8.     On the front, go through hole 1 to the back. On the back, go around the top of the book to the front and through hole 1 to the back. 

9.     On the back, go through hole 3 to the front and around the spine to the back and up through hole 3 again. On the front, go around the bottom edge to the back and through the same hole to the front. On the front, go through hole 1 to the back.

 

10.   On the back, go around the bottom edge to the front. Stitch the thread underneath the center stitch

        (rather than going through the hole) to anchor the thread and tie the thread off in a square knot using

        both ends of the thread.

 

Creative Crew Color Focus

Hello Everyone! Can you believe it’s September already?  
I have some exciting news to share with you all.  I have been asked to be a member of the Creative Crew on Splitcoast Stampers.  I was so honored and thrilled to accept! For the next few months I will be posting projects that I make for those challenges.  Here is a link to the creative crew challenges.  Once you are on that page, just click on the month you would like to view.  These projects are for my September challenges. 

This challenge is a focus on color and/or designer series paper (Eastern Elegance designer papers or the colors crushed curry, coastal cabana, smoky slate and whisper white). We were to make a project using these colors for someone we admire, and tell why this person is significant to us.

 

This book is for my son, Ryan, who never got to know his Grandpa Beattie, as he died when Ryan was 16 months old. My Daddy was the most extraordinary man, and my son is so very much like his Grandpa. Daddy was unbelievably kind and patient and he did not have a temper. He was quiet and very easy-going. He got along with everyone, and had very strong moral compass. Daddy was scruptiously honest man who loved a good joke, and read constantly. In a business/sport where gambling is fairly commonplace, my Daddy rarely even bet on his own horses! Once he bet $50.00 on one to win, because the horse was so clearly faster than the others in the race. The horse won, Daddy was all smiles and Mom was sooo relieved, but reminded him to please not do that again! Daddy adored kids and was so good with them. I was always Daddy's girl growing up and he was most definitely my hero.

 
Here is a tutorial on how to create the photo book 

Materials:
1 sheet cardstock
sticky strip
6 medium clear envelopes
designer series paper 
stamps of your choice

To make the book as shown above, cut two pieces of Coastal Cabana cardstock 5” x 7 ¼” for the covers.

Score one piece at 1” from one edge as shown below. This will be the front cover.

Apply sticky strip along the edge of the back cover and place one clear envelope on top with the opening facing you.  Remove the protective strip from the adhesive and line up another envelope on top using the envelope's adhesive to stick it to the previous envelope. Continue in this same manner using all 6 envelopes. Now your book will hold 12 photos.

Place sticky strip on the edge of the front cover and remove the protective strip to adhere to the rest of the book.

Insert two photos in each envelope. My photos are old and a smaller size, so I simply mounted one photo on each side of a piece of smokey slate cardstock before inserting into the envelopes.

This is my Daddy with his best horse in the fall of 1983 shortly after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died 18 months later.

For the cover, I used Eastern Elegance Designer Series Paper cut to 4 ¾” x 6”

Origami Box

I must be on the box channel lately:)  This one was quite a challenge. I have several origami books and have made boxes before, but this one is a bit different. I LOVE BELLY BANDS! Most people who have posted directions for this type of box are German and I can't even say hello in German. I could only find two videos in English. One done by a German American Demo with a rather thick accent, and one by an Australian Demo. The first didn't explain it in a way that I could really get it and the second one's measurements were incorrect. So By watching both of them with a lot of rewinding, I finally figured it out. I'll make another this week, take pictures and post a tutorial. You know, I really do not like video tutorials. I hate rewinding and watching over and over. I'd rather just have written directions and pictures. I am not auditory AT ALL. I don't learn or remember from hearing things. Just write it down or show me a picture and I'm good to go.

Venetian Romance dsp, pumpkin pie, soft suede and basic black card stock, and pumpkin pie chevron ribbon.

This is the first one I made. I wanted to try it with some dsp that I didn't like, so I wouldn't waste anything pretty. Retired dsp and ribbon.

A Bespoke Box From Across The Pond

In the UK the word bespoke means dealing in or producing custom-made articles or "made to order."

Bespoke parties are custom designed for you by several British companies. I learned this from a British woman named Sam Donald. She made a video on a bespoke box she made for a friend who sells handmade soap. Of course her metric measurements were right on, but I couldn’t get her conversions to Imperial measurements to work. So, I got out my metric ruler and did my own conversions, with a bit of adjustment, I was able to make the box perfectly.

Using a Stampin’ Trimmer:

1.   Cut cardstock  8⁷/₈ x 6 ½ inches

2.   Score along the long side at 1 inch, then whiz it around to the other side and score at 3 ¹⁵/₁₆,  4 ¹⁵/₁₆,  and 7 ⁷/₈

3.   Score along the short side at 5/8 inch, then whiz it around to the other side and score at 1 ⁵/₈, 4 ¹⁵/₁₆, 5 and ⁷/₈

4.   Cut DSP for the front 2 ¾  x  3 ¹/₈

Cut away the portions I marked with a pen.

After trimming it should look like this. Place Stick Strip on the section to the left. You see where I cut away a smidgon of cardstock on the four flap edges? That will help them slide into the box properly. I cut one rather large so that you could see it. Next, round the corners of the two large flaps so they will slide more easily inside the box too. Except the first one I grabbed the ticket punch instead of the corner rounder, I wouldn’t recommend doing that!

This is what the box looks like after I taped just that one section. It stays flat for storage! Isn’t that the coolest thing? <giggles> Now I can make several, doll them all up, store flat until the craft show, then pop them out, and fill them up.

 See how nicely it lays flat for storage?