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Showing posts with label Books Boxes Journals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books Boxes Journals. Show all posts

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Bodacious Boxes!

I'm currently on the Box channel since craft show season is here and we have a double booth this year. I have to crank up production! I love the bow idea below. Carol Lovenstein, the creator made a black and white box, but I wanted a size that would hold a card set. I made mine from the Natural Composition Specialty paper. I am really loving the Tag A Bag Gift Boxes. They are food safe and you can doll them up so easily with belly bands!! They come in packages of 8 for $6.95. All you have to do is pop them open and decorate. Buy them here
Carol. Lovenstein  has a tutorial for her bow here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mYuuUFSHZs&feature=youtu.be

I cased this idea and for the life of me, I can't find it. I'll keep looking and give credit to the creator.
Venetian Romance dsp, embossed the top with Honeycombembossing folder

Friday, April 12, 2013

Book of Card Layouts

I found the coolest thing on Split Coast Stampers! There is a sub-forum called "Splitcoast Challenges." In this forum, there's a thread called, "Downloadable Sketch Files." There are color Sketches and Card Photos in PDF format as well as Word.  What a fantastic resource. You know, sometimes you just get in a rut, or your creative juices are simply not flowing. These sketches provide some great inspiration, soooo I printed them and using my trusty spiral binding machine, made them into a book. I decorated the cover with some retired and soon to retire papers and a current stamp set called, "Flowering Flourishes." Now whenever I need some inspiration when designing a card, it's at my fingertips!
If  you belong to Split Coast and would like to see them, here is a link.

Wanna hear something about the new Stampin' Up! catalog that's due out in June? Demonstrators got their magazine this week and we know some things {giggles} I can't show your pictures of anything yet, but I can tell you the names of the new In Colors for 2013-2015. They are sooooo pretty!! I can not wait to get my hands on them!! 

Coastal Cabana (darker Pool Party)
Crisp Cantaloupe (lighter Peach Parfait)
Baked Brown Sugar (like a cardboard box)
Strawberry Slush (lighter Primrose Petals)
Pistachio Pudding (lighter Mint Melody)

close up of brads in flower centers - the In Color Printed brads will be retiring soon

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Bodacious Boxes

I just  love pretty boxes! It doesn't matter if I buy them or make them, there's just something so inherently special about a beautiful container that just grabs me ya know?  Anyway, I was making a box to hold a set of calendar pages and I just kept making more and more of them! lol  I have one to hold a set of calendar pages for myself and one for my friend Barb. Then I made one for a set of cards. The pages of my calendar fit inside a magnetic frame, and the same kind fit inside an acrylic frame for the one I made for my BFF.
This box is made from crumb cake and primrose petals card stock. Decorated with Tea For Two dsp, primrose petals & Crochet Trim ribbon, Antique Brad, Artisan Embellishment roses, Apothecary framelit, Blossom Petals Builder punch, and From The Heart stamp set.

Natural Composition Specialty card stock, Antique Brad, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, crumb cake and early espresso card stock, Windows framelits, Apothecary Framelits, From The Heart stamp set and Crochet Trim ribbon.
Antique Brade, Vintage Wallpaer embossing folder, very vanilla and early espresso card stock, crumb cake ink sponged, Apothecary Framelit, From the Heart stamp set, Mocha Morning retired dsp.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Hand-bound Books, Journals, and Boxes

My sister-in-law is an art teacher and quite an artist as well.  She's responsible for me learning how to make hand-bound books. She also got me hooked on buying books about making books! lol  Here are some that I've made:
I made this journal for my trip to Ireland last year. My friend Susie suggested I keep a journal as we traveled. That was such a great idea Suze!  When it came time to do the scrapbooks of the trip, my journaling was all done:)
I keep notes about my wardrobe in this one - care labels and tags. Yeah, kinda OCD, but I forget. Besides I cut the tags out of my clothes because they itch my neck!!
This one has all my colored pencil notes, articles and color charts in it.  I kind of cheated on this binding, as I used a roll-o-bind machine. 
When giving a box of cards to a friend as a gift, I like to include some greetings.  I used to print them on parchment, cut them apart, and put them in an envelope.  I decided this was a lot of work for the recipient, because they'd have to sort through the greetings and then glue them in.  I recently decided it might be better to make a little book of greetings, and they could write in their own.  In a box of cards, I gave one to a friend for her birthday recently and she loved it!
Tag book.
I wrote Haiku poetry on each tag. Teaching 5th graders made this fun, cause they have to learn how to write poetry and when they see their teacher do it, they are more interested.  Last year, I helped each kid make their own poetry book.  They made Japanese stab-bound books like the rose one above.  Took us a few days, but the kids loved their creations.

These are the tags found inside each envelope page.
 This is old and I love it. I decided to show it to you because you may not know the story behind it. It's a Victorian Needle Box.  They are usually made of cardboard and covered with fabric.  Each portion inside would have pockets and hooks to hold thread, needles etc.  Several years ago, someone inked and stamped on one and it was published in Somerset Studio magazine.  When I saw it, I HAD to have one!  The only place I could find one at that time was from a lady in northern Canada.  She had to wait until the pass cleared in the spring when the mail began running again!  I had to trace the pattern, cut and assemble the thing from scratch. What a chore that was! Now they sell the template for making these all over the place, and they are even already cut out of cardboard for you.
Inside the last pyramid is another box, a square, where the thimble was stored.  Mine had little charms and beads in it that I had forgotten were there!