Thursday, December 31, 2015

Snowflake Scrapbook Mini Album

I got to play with some of my new Christmas goodies while on holidays. I made a new scrapbook mini album.
This time I dug deep for the colour set I wanted to use and I had to use up some of my favourites in my preserves (not hoard... preserves!). I'm glad I did. It looked lovely as a sheet of paper and looks just as lovely in the album! First, I'll show you pictures of the album, then I'll show you pictures of how it came together. For you more visual types, you can see the video walk through of my snowflake scrapbook mini album on my FairyCardmaker Vimeo Channel so you can see all the glitter and shine!

I made 5 pocket pages. Click any photo to see it larger!
I used a brand new binding system I made myself!! I'm calling it the ribbon slide binding system. Here's the first page:
As you can see, this mini holds a maximum size of 3.5 x 5 inch photos (half of a 5 x 7). Here are the second and third pages:
Love that little penguin from my Close to My Heart stamp set. I've used that set a lot (that penguin in particular the most). I've definitely gotten my pennies worth out of it! Here are pages 4 and 5:
That's my C.C. Designs bear. I always do him up as a polar bear. I have yet to do a brown or black bear. (There seems to be little occasion for it for me, but I've gotten good use of it as a polar bear!) Hear are pages 6 and 7:
I used a lot of techniques in this album! I used punches, die cuts, ribbon, stamping and fussy cutting! The snowman here was fussy cut from a lovely collection by Recollections at Michaels which I got for 70% off! Here are pages 8 and 9:
I ran out of purple paper patterns to choose from so I made my own with a Close to My Heart swirls stamp set and some white embossing powder. Here's the last page:
The back cover is just plain. All the tags in the pockets are the same and all blank on both sides.

The Bits and Pieces:
Okay, this is how the album came together:

1. Cut all your pages. Mine are 6 inches wide and 5.5 inches tall. So, I cut Bazzill Kraft cardstock to 6 x 12 inches.

2. Score the pages: Score the 12 inch side in half at 6 inches. Score the 6 inch side at 1/4 inch from either end. (Super hard to see in photo. Sorry!)

3. Punch the holes. I used a centering ruler to figure out where I wanted to place my holes and then made a guide paper. Nest the guide paper into each fold and punch the holes. If you don't have the tools, you can use a yarn needle to pierce and an old, squishy style mouse pad for a piercing mat (or possibly the freezer backing from frozen meats - wash it out and turn it upside down).


4. Trim the edges and reinforce the holes on the inside with Tyvek. (Certain shipping envelopes are made from this plastic composite that behaves like paper except it's water resistant and doesn't tear.) You only need to trim the 1/4 inch off of one half of the page to make the hinges for the pocket.


5. Repunch the holes from the outside.

6. Thread the crochet thread through the holes and tie a knot. I used a dental floss threader to pull my crochet thread though the holes. (My biggest needle's eye was too small for the crochet thread. The floss threader works wonderfully, stands up to abuse and doesn't prick your fingers!)

7. Decorate your pages. Close up the pages to form the pockets and decorate as desired.

8. Build your cover. Use the pages to figure out where you need to punch the holes in the spine. I punched the naked chipboard once, put on the outer paper, repunched the holes, put on the inner paper and then repunched the holes again. I used Tyvek for my spine paper. If I had used anything else, I'd have reinforced the holes with Tyvek first before putting the decorative papers on.


9. Thread your pages. Again, I used the floss threader.

10. Add your pages to your cover. I used the floss threader here too.

Your book is finished!

Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope your Christmas/Holidays are filled with family, friends, hugs and smiles!

I know I've got big smiles! My Christmas wrapping WON the Accucut Craft November 2015 Project Challenge! Woohoo! Depending on what Santa brings, I've got some thinking to do on what to do with my store credit prize!

Here's the winning package:
It's a tall gable box die. I also used their ornament die. I coated the ornaments with Wink of Stella glitter and then put a paper punched snowflake in the middle. I cut the toppers from some scraps of gorgeous gold foil paper I have.
The branches are a Martha Stewart punch. I saw one at Scrapfest and resisted buying it. My friend bought it and I was glad. But... when I saw it two weeks later at Michaels and it was the last one and I had a 50% coupon, I caved and bought it. This punch was all the rage 1 or 2 years ago. I'm glad I've finally found it!
I made 2 other gable boxes for the contest too, both of which I am using to package some gifts this year. Here's the frosty Christmas Tree:
This was my favourite of the boxes. I die cut the box and then splattered watered down white acrylic paint on it. The splats came out way blobbier than I intended but it still looks fine. The tree is a Memory Box die I cut from purple metallic cardstock.
I have some tiny confetti starts so I glued those on (not easy). The snowflake has the "to" "from" on the back and I cut it from an Accucut Craft die. All the tags on these boxes has a little jingle bell from either the Dollar Store or Dollar Tree. They aren't the prettiest of jingle bells because they have just a single line on the bottom, not a "T" shape like other jingle bells. But, they still make a cute little tinkle and for something that is likely to get tossed, it does the job just fine!

Lastly, I have the gingerbread man box. This one was the easiest to do! I think it's super cute.
I got the ribbon on sale at Michael's during post-Thanks-giving clearance. It's quite thick but I think it was the perfect trim for this project. The Gingerbread man is another favourite holiday die I have from Accucut Craft. The Star over his hear is too.

Enjoy the holiday! Stay warm and safe!

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Winter Woods

This year, I'm mass producing a version of my snowman card for Christmas. But, I just got my latest Accucut Craft order in and I just had to play with the new tree die I got! During the Black Friday sale, I purchased this Cedar Tree die. Here's what I did with it!

I also picked up the Wafer Thin Tray Adapter for my Grande Mark and I got a new Paper Artist Snowflake embossing folder from Hot Off the Press. So, I used my new Wafer Thin Tray Adapter to cut out the deer (Cottage Cutz) and also to emboss the blue metallic paper.
I cut the tree trunks at different heights and it makes my tree cluster look great. Added a touch of Stickles Star Dust glitter glue for some snowy shine and the card came together very nicely! The sentiment is just something I got from the Michael's sales bins a long time ago. It's one of my favourite sentiment stamps. I like how whimsical it is and it works for birthdays as well as Christmas.
This is going to go into the Accucut Craft Winter Challenge for December 2015! Love my new goodies. Can't wait to see what other goodies Santa might bring!

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Fuzzy Flakes - Felt Snowflake Ornaments

Yup! I am definitely on an ornament kick! Today I made some snowflake ornaments out of felt. I used stiffened felt for the base. The dark blue snowflake is also stiffened felt but it didn't need to be - it's just what I had on hand. The centre rosette I had to stitch a little and then I put a big pearl brad in the middle.
My Accucut Craft Grande Mark machine made quick work on the snowflakes. The rosette was by far the longest and most finicky part.

I actually think this would look quite nice hanging from door knobs in the house. I thought about adhering a cardstock circle to the back. A 3 inch circle would be perfect. Then you could tie this around a bottle of wine and have a TO/FROM and a small sentiment stamped on the back.
I think the base snowflake could look really awesome in that colour changing holographic paper too. Snowflake have so many uses! What are some you have used?

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Winter is Coming for 2015

I've been working on some Christmas / Holiday / Winter projects of late. Our last two card workshops were all Christmas / Seasonal cards. But first, I'd like to show you a decor piece I've made for myself.

I've been on an ornament kit this year too (not for the holidays but for another, future, secret project). While working on them, I bought extras to make snow globe scenes. I really wanted to do the ornament version, but I thought, why not try my gable box?


I made an acetate gable box. Then I lined the inside with the blue snowflake paper. I lined the outside with a silver embossed snowflake paper. Inside the box window I created, I spaced out 4 layers of snowy hillsides with Stardust Stickles glitter glue on their edges.

Then, I added my hillside fixings: a stag (Cottage Cutz), Evergreen Trees (Quickutz) and little houses (my own die cut design on my Brother Scan'N'Cut). It was not easy to work with the acetate. This display is staying home with me, as I am unlikely to make another!

I opened the top of the box and dumped in some fake snow. It's like shredded cellophane with a nice sheen.

What holiday crafts have you been up to? What ones are on your bucket list?



Sunday, October 25, 2015

BOO! Halloween Decor

Here's another Halloween item I made this year. I found the BOO glitter letters kits at Michael's. They were somewhat pricey but I had big plans for them.

I have an Accucut Craft shape that looks somewhat like a headstone and that's what I wanted to use for this project. I cut them from heavy chipboard, painted them black, decorated them, attached them with hinges at the top and put black tulle in the middle. Then I attached the bottoms with "W" shaped hinges to give it some stability for standing.

I LOVE how this turned out! I made it a double-sided design. It's identical on both sides. At any time, you can click the pictures for a bigger view.

On the "B", the tree is an older Lifestyles Craft die which I covered in black stickles. The skull is a sticker from Michaels Craft Store and the word is a smaller Accucut Craft alphabet die that I have which I cut from red felt.

On the purple "O", I used a Lifestyle Crafts spider die and an Old Island Stamp Company haunted house that I coloured with Copic markers. I also put some green sequins on it that I got at the Dollar Store (either Dollarama or Dollar Tree).

On the orange "O", I used a Recollections witch stamp, coloured googly eyes I got at Michaels Craft Store and a broom from a snowman album die set by Accucut Craft. The bats are my own die cut design which I cut with my Brother Scan'N'Cut out of black cardstock which I covered in purple stickles.

One feature I'm really glad I worked in to this design: after Halloween, it folds up for storage!

If only I had the room to store an Accucut Craft large alphabet, then I would have letters big enough that I could have cut them from the glitter fun foam myself. I could make a JOY or SNOW version for Christmas and a LOVE version for all year round. What home decor pieces have you made with your craft?

Thursday, October 15, 2015

No Stick Halloween Treat Boxes

I found this "no stick" box design online by Linda Parker, a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. Cute box, but I wanted to get the biggest dimensions possible from an 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardstock. So, following the pattern she shows, I re-worked the measurements to make my box. I used my Scor Pal eighths to make it. Man, am I glad they brought that version out because this box has LOTS of eighths measurements!

My finished box size measures 2.25 inches by 2 and 5/8th inches by 1 and 1/8th inches high. While the box itself doesn't need any glue or tape, the glittered doily on it did! I picked those up pretty cheap last year at the end-of-season-sales from Michaels Craft Stores. I put them on the top and then had to snip them to continue on the sides and front of the box.

My box can easily hold 3 Giradelli chocolates. (MAN those things are TASTY!)
I really liked Linda's style of box because the little lip at the front helps to keep the lid closed. I'm a big fan of UK Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Sam Donald ("Pootles") too. She has a number of "no stick" boxes and a whole bunch of "fold flat" boxes too.

I'm entering this project into the Scor Pal "more than one score" October Challenge which is Treat Holder themed. These ones are going to my nephews this year. I might think about some Christmas themed ones to put in stockings though. I think those would be cute!

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Snowman Pile! HH October 2015 Challenge

Hi Everyone!
There has been a flurry of challenges to kick start my creativity lately. Both my sister and I picked up some snow themed stamps by High Hopes Rubber Stamps at Scrapfest Richmond Hill from One Crazy Stamper's booth.

My version is Snowman Pile! I really wanted to colour it with pastel shades, but I don't have that many. So, to get this look, I combined Copic Markers, Bic Mark It Markers AND Letraset Tria Markers! Just like what's depicted in the image, it was really a group effort!

(Click photo for larger view.)
Also at Scrapfest, we did some water-colouring at a Make'n'Take. Water colours are not my strong suit, but I always wanted to try the random watercolour background effect, so that's what I did on this card. I smashed 3 different blues on to my Ranger non-stick craft mat, one at a time, spritzed with water and then smooshed my water colour paper into it, drying with my heat tool in between smooshes.

It was actually quite fun! This is a big card - 5x7 inches. The glitter paper is POW! glitter paper. I found it at Dollar Tree of all places! I'm rather impressed with it. It has a very soft finish - the same effect as burnished velvet. NO other glitter paper on the market that I've tried feels like this one. (Yes, I went back for more!)

Here's a closer look at the colouring (and some of that glitter shine!):


This artist has really cute images. I love how well it captures movement with the big smiles and flapping jackets. What a cute image!

I'm entering this into High Hopes Rubber Stamps October 2015 Challenge for Christmas/Halloween/Fall as well as Virginia's View Colouring Challenge. Virginia's View always has mega amounts of participation and I always find great designers and blogs through that site.

My sister has entered the High Hopes Challenge too. Her snow people version is from the High Hopes newest release. The stamp image is called Snowy Couple.
She water coloured her image and also embossed her card (the white part). She partly fussy cut the embossed portion to tuck the snowman couple in it.

I'm keeping my card for my personal holiday stash - yes it's time we got started on that! Have you started prepping your Handmade Christmas things?

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Happy World Cardmaking Day 2015!

Today I'd like to show you a recent workshop project of mine: cards in a box! I really like this style of card. The added dimension creates lots of ways to work with it. The vertical versions are fun too but provide only a tall, skinny spot for your message on the back. So, I found a horizontal one but wasn't thrilled with the dimensions. So I calculated measurements that I found easier to work with. With one sheet of 12 x 12 cardstock, plus some scraps for the inside benches that no one sees, you can make three of these cards!

This is my original sample: Balloon Birthday card in a box.


I design mine with a pocket for the sentiment on the back. That way, if I mess it up, I can just toss it and do another without having ruined my card.

After making this one, everyone could make another with their own materials and my instruction sheet. Here's what they came up with!

First up - Norma made a birthday card for a family member by cutting out party hats from a scrap piece of patterned paper.

And Debbie made her card for a wedding by using a few different sizes of heart punches.
They both turned out amazing! Don't you think?