Throwback Thursday - Journals and Writing

One of the first things I did when I was preparing for a fall craft fair and after my foray into paper crafting was cover a composition notebook. Since school days, composition notebooks were used to write down thoughts and work with writing prompts. Children on a daily basis continue to do this as a way to practice writing and grow as individuals.

In high school, my English professor required us to write daily as a way to reduce our stress and to talk about anything we wanted. It could be about boyfriend troubles. It could be about life. Or about our jobs. It could be anything under the sun. I didn't understand how very calming and relaxing writing without an audience was. I do now, which is why I am sharing some of the composition books I covered.

Each of these have their own qualities and match someone's traits. Thankfully, they were all purchased! It showed me that there are still many people who use the composition notebook as a portal to write their thoughts.

*Suggestion* Buy one of these for your child at home. Allow them to decorate it. And start writing a note to them each day with their reply on the back page. It will bring you closer and encourage them to confide in you.

Sarah

Make it Monday - Binding a Book - Photo Heavy

This project was done months in advance because it was created for my mother's birthday. Her birthday falls in December, close to Christmas. We had plans to go out for lunch, but I wanted to make something special for her. Something I took time on. I have the luck to have a mother who truly loves everything homemade or anything given to her. Her humbleness stuns me every time. In recent months, she had told me that she had been studying her religious text. So this Make it Monday project comes from the desire to help her progress.

Yep! I bound a book. Two of them in fact. And I would have to say that they are more along the lines of a booklet. The ones I have made are meant for note taking or other such things. You can obviously create larger books than the ones I completed. All you would need to do is puncture the paper a little at a time to accomplish this. And cut the designer paper larger to cover the added paper.

Materials

Paper cutter

Designer paper or colored paper

4-6 sheets of white copier paper

needle

thread

scissors

Here are the instructions on how to accomplish this project:

1. Take 4-6 sheets of white copier paper and fold them in half. Be sure to press the bent side with a straight edge or a bone folder.

2. Cut the designer paper to 8.5 x 11 to fit over the paper. You can also add 1/4 of an inch on either side to overcompensate. (Excuse my crafter's mess - This was around Christmas time.)

3. Fold the designer paper over the copier paper. Remember to press the seam with a straight edge.

4. Take your threaded needle and puncture the center of the paper from the inside. Leave a longer tail because you will need to tie the ends together.

5. When you bring the needle and thread out, puncture another hole about 2-3 inches away from the center. I went a little further on this one than I did my first one.

6. Take the needle through the paper and back across the center to the opposite side. I didn't measure. I just eyed the space to see what looked right. They are about equal distance from the center. Puncture the paper and pull the needle to the outside of the booklet again.

7. Finally, push the needle through the center hole. Pull tight. Then cut the needle off leaving a long tail to tie.

 8. Tie the two ends together twice and cut a majority of the excess. Fold the booklet.

Congrats! You just made a booklet. Here's the pictures of the two finished booklets I completed. I chose not to embellish them as I knew that my mother would love them, but you can embellish them with ribbon or stamps or whatever you wanted.

These are bookmarks I made to match the booklets.

Booklets and bookmarks together.

Finished and packaged. If you are wondering, I took a 8 x 10 cello bag I purchased from JoAnn's online (with a self adhesive closure), added the booklets and bookmarks, and closed it. I then took a piece of brown cardstock (scrap) and folded it over. I stapled it onto the cello bag. I used a scrap piece of the flower designer paper to cover the staples.

I hope you have found this tutorial informative and choose to do it yourself. It is relatively easy. It was super quick. I was able to accomplish it within ten minutes (minus the bookmark part since I laminated). A bit of that time was trying to thread a needle....because my threader broke. So, you can accomplish this project in less than 10 minutes without a doubt.

Take some time to create some homemade books and bookmarks for someone you care about! The gifts don't have to be expensive, especially when they come from your heart.

Sarah

Make it Monday - National Book Week - Photo Heavy

This week is National Book Week. I chose to showcase this wonderful event because supporting literature, reading, and literacy is important to me. Reading and literature cultivates society to openness, caring, and compassion. Above that, it can teleport you to another world and provides a view from a different angle. What better way to celebrate books and literature than by creating a bookmark? Besides reading a book of course.

Bookmarks are versatile whether made with yarn, thread, or paper. For this project, I am using paper. I am using a technique that you have seen on this blog and will see in the future - pigment ink daubing. I am sure there is another term for that. I don't mind making up names for things!

Materials
Paper cutter or scissors
Ruler
Pen (if you don't use a paper cutter with a ruler attached)
One main color (backing)
A sheet of white card stock
A small section of ribbon (optional)
A laminator
A laminator sheet
A hole punch
Sponge Daubers
Pigment ink
A stamp if you want that
StazOn Jet Black ink (for stamp)
Acrylic block (for stamp)

Here's a picture of the daubers, stamp, and ink I used:

1. What you do first is cut two your base layer at 6 1/4 x 2 1/4. I used a light purple. This is not pictured; however, you can see the cut pieces further below. 

2. Next, cut two white pieces of card stock at 6 x 2. Adhere with temporary tape to a piece of white paper. You can alternatively just hold the piece of paper. This is what I do. 

3. Using the pigment ink and the sponge daubers, pick a color and begin moving in a circular motion in the spot you want. I usually choose the corners. My first color is purple. Pictured below.

4. Pick another color and do the same, but blend the color into the previous one. My second color is pink.

Here's a picture of picking up ink using the dauber.

5. Pick a third color (if you wish) and do the same as step 4. I chose blue and green to mix giving it a pale teal look.

And the 2nd layer is finished.

6. Cut two pieces of white card stock at 3 x 1 3/4. (Or, measure one to fit the stamp you use.) This measurement is for the flower stamp. If you are interested, I found this stamp at JoAnn's online and had it shipped to my house

7. With StazOn Jet Black ink, stamp the image onto both pieces of cardstock.

 8. Now, adhere the stamped images onto the 2nd layer by using tape. This is a Scotch Tape glider. I chose to place mine in the middle and at the top.

9. Attach tape to the back of the 2nd layer and attach them to the base color.  (Here's the purple base layers.)

10. When you have finished, send them through a laminator following the instructions provided by the machine. If you want to add ribbon, punch a hole into the top of the card after laminating and add ribbon. I chose not to do so at this time, but may add some ribbon when I find the right one.

From Dande Creations, I wish you a happy National Book week and urge you to get lost in a book after you finish crafting some bookmarks!

Another Scrappy Project - Bookmarks 3

I feel this may become a theme in 2015 - Another Scrappy Project. It seems like an amazing concept that takes scraps and turns them into new items. So......

Oh yes, bookmarks. Number 3. LOL!

What I found interesting about this bunch is that I used the same background color. I took one piece of cream colored 8.5 by 11 paper and cut it in half long ways. That meant the paper was 4 1/4 by 11. I then cut each length into 2 inch pieces of paper. That made 10 bookmark size pieces.

The scrap paper I cut into 4 x 1 3/4 to fit. That gave a small clearance of 1/4 on all sides in most cases. Some I cut down to stamp. Here's the photos:

The green chevron paper did NOT want to be photographed. 

As you can see, the Thinking of You stamp has scrap paper a little shorter to allow for stamping directly on the base paper.

What would you like to see done with scraps? I am planning on doing a section with crochet and other such crafts. This new theme and concept will not be just paper crafts!

Sarah

Another Scrappy Project - Bookmarks 2

Apparently this is a new and exciting thing for me. Using up scraps has become a way for me to expand my mind into creating new unions. And, it is an AWESOME way to reduce unused materials. Here's the next batch of bookmarks. These are all varying in size and shape to utilize the most of the scrap paper.

These are the pretty papers I found in my scrap box. I was almost tempted to search through my pattern books for more just so I could make cards to match. I resisted the temptation since I wanted to just use scraps!

Here's the first batch of true Christmas bookmarks. I am sure these will make their way into some gift bags for my nieces and nephew this Christmas. 

What I love about making bookmarks and using scraps is that you can allow your mind to wander. It is a completely easy craft to do. I spent so little time actually piecing these together. I believe the longest part was making sure there was no tiny paper fibers on the outside because my paper cutter is weird. That means someone with a great paper cutter can whip these out quickly. If you don't have a paper cutter, feel free to do this with a ruler and scissors. It is completely do-able. 

Sending positive crafting vibes,

Sarah

Make It Monday - 2 Autumn Cards

Were you excited when you saw the preview on Saturday? I couldn't believe how cute they turned out. I plan on sharing another card I made using a Jack N Jill set soon. The goal of my Make it Mondays is simply to work on increasing my stock or other business ventures for the upcoming fair/sale season. Feel free to use the search bar to the right to search for my previous Make it Monday posts.

Before I go any further, please be aware that I am not a professional card maker. I am not a consultant. I make cards because I like to and as a beginner. This tutorial is at a beginner level.

This week is 2 in one! Yep, using the same stamps and same paper I am creating two different looks. Here's the preview: 

Material List

• White cardstock
• Brown cardstock
• Cream cardstock
• Colorbok Luxe Designer Paper
• Jack N Jill Stamp set - by Prima Marketing
• Autumn Sentiment stamp set - by Inkadinkado
• StazOn Ink pad in Timber Brown
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink pad in Walnut Stain
• Pop Dots
• Snail glue - or whatever adhesive you want to use
• Gold Glitter Ribbon
• Scotch tape

As you can see in the photo above, there are two different sizes of cards. I will post the dimensions for each card.

Card one - Side Open

Dimensions of card cut and folded - 5 1/2 x 4

Mat in brown - 5 1/4 x 3 3/4

Designer paper mat - 5 x 3 1/2

(This card was cut in half on the long side. Almost, I do not have a cutter that breaks down further than 1/4.)

Card two - Top Open

Dimensions of card cut and folded - 5 1/2 x 4 1/4

Mat in brown - 5 1/4 x 4

Designer paper mat - 5 x 3 3/4

(This card was cut in half on the short side.)

Stamp Mats In brown

For Jill - 3 1/4 x 1 1/2

Sentiment - 1 1/4 x 2 1/2

Stamp Mats in cream

For Jill - 3 x 1 1/4

Sentiment - 1 x 2 1/4

First, I gathered all the materials together so I did not have to struggle to find something. I cut the cards and mats at the same time. 

*Note: My cutter is a little weird and leaves fibers on the sides of the cuts, so I trim when I see issues. My dimensions do change when I trim. 

After cutting the mats, Cut the ribbon and used two pieces of tape and attached the ribbon to the side open card.

You can see how I accomplished that in this photo.

Add the designer paper to the brown cardstock mats by using snail glue.

Not pictured: Stamp the images to the cream cardstock and attached them with snail glue to their respective mats.

In this photo, I was attempting to figure out where I wanted the images to sit. You can change the layout to fit what you want.

Attach the backings to the card base.

Add pop dots to each of the stamped images.

Place them in the correct position.

Stamp a secondary sentiment inside the card. This is optional, but I think it matches the card.

I did not notice until afterwards that the sentiment inside matches the choice of ribbon, but it goes well together!

 

What do you think of this week's Make it Monday?

Card making is so versatile! I found it easy to create two similar cards with one set of materials. Yet, they look different and appeal to a different set of people. I would love to see any photos or creations you make from this tutorial. You can share them via email at smchatton.writer@gmail.com or on my Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/DandeCreations. Who knows! You may find your creation (with your permission of course) on the Share it Saturday post.

Happy Crafting!

Sarah