Project: "Serious" Notepad

A colleague of mine asked me if I could make her a notepad like mine, so I decided to make a more "mature" version. And here it is!

The fact is that I had already made the brown leather like cardstock piece, so I wanted to incorprate it in my project. It is very easy to make it, I just used various distress inks in green and brown shades, dried it with a heatgun, then embossed it using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then lightly brushed with my Versamarc ink pad, sprinkled some UTEE and used my heatgun to set it. Here 's the result:

Then I embellished with a colored Tilda and some handmade flowers for the corners, for the yellow stems I just cut a piece of adhesive tape, made it like a cord and dipped it in some yellow glitter. Then I adhered an acetate piece on the lot for more endurance.
I kept the inside very simple, I just made a pocket using some cardstock where I adhered a piece of a doily, I also added a few tiny flowers that I covered with stickles.

My colleague liked it so much that she gave it to her daughter, she told me it was too pretty to keep for herself! LOL!

Baby Layout: September 2009

Pink and green once more with a sprinkle of yellow here and there. The background paper is K & Company and I used green cardstock in order to make the details: for the thin scallop lines I used the scallop blade in my Fiskars paper trimmer and the frame for the main photo was made with the Fiskars "Threading Water" border punch and then I made the little bows with an American Crafts ribbon.
Then I stamped the little faces on a piece of white photo paper (Inkadinkado asian themed clear stamps set) but I made a mask because I only wanted to use the heads (I know it sounds weird, LOL!), I also masked the inside of the hair because I wanted to color them and then I adhered them with 3d foam on the dark pink scallop circles.
Finally I added the journaling (I just realized I mispelled the month, LOL!) and the title, it was made with American Crafts "Giggle" white foam alphas that I colored with my copics.
I really like the little faces!

A cute Sketchbook! #2

I really liked this sketchbook so I made another one (background paper from the Cosmo Cricket "Earth Love" collection.)!
LOL!
I also noticed that I have to buy some O'wires, the only color I have is red!
LOL LOL!
Now, in order to give some meaning to this post
LOL LOL LOL!
I'll give you a tip: when you do something with the Bind it all, at the point that you cut the covers, always cut them larger than your actual pages, particularly in width, let's say half an inch, especially when you 'll use many pages in your book/album etc. This way the outcome of the binding is better looking. Of course this is also a matter of personal taste, but in my case I prefer it this way.
And another tip, about blending the colors with your markers: this time I colored the Tilda starting with the darkest color, then blended the color with a lighter shade and then blended the total with the lightest shade. I found that this way I color faster and probably don't waste as much ink as I do when I start with the lighest shade. On the other hand, putting a very dark color on "dry" paper may have as a result a not so uniform blending, because the paper is not already soaked with a lightest shade and that means that it will absorb all your dark ink, so if you use dark shades, that's something to consider.
Now, about this sketchbook, since I'll use it mostly for coloring with markers, in order to avoid soaking through the next page and wasting it, I used the idea of the repositionable Zutter pages:  I punched a page and then used the scissors and cut the paper between the slots and the edge of the paper. This way I can secure this scrap paper behind the page I'm coloring and when I'm done I can remove it and put it behind the next page.

A cute Sketchbook!

It's been a while now that I wanted to make a small sketchbook for stamping, experimenting with color combinations, etc.
So I made this one!
For the covers I cut chipboard pieces and covered them with paper. For the front cover I used a Basic Grey patterned paper from the "Nook and Pantry" collection. In order to make the frame I used the Sizzic "Ornate Frame" die on white paper and colored it with distress inks but the result was a little flat so I added some touches with my green copics. Then I wanted to emboss it with some sparkly clear embossing powder but I discovered after the embossing that it was accidentally mixed with some white embossing powder (I can't imagine how!!!) so the result was a little surprise! Then I added the colored Tilda, I also touched the roses with the red Sakura Stardust pen for a little sparkle, and finally added the little flowers and the "label".
Cute cute cute!

Project: my first mini album!

I had accidentally printed the photos of my niece's first vacation on BW and I didn't want to throw them, so I used them to make my first mini album!
I used K & Company papers from the "Sea Glass" paper pack and 1,5 mm chipboard for the covers.
I adhered the photos on opposite sides but then I thought that I didn't want them to touch each other (when the album is closed) so I made covering flaps. Then I realized that I didn't want to cover them completely so I used my CB and nestabillities to make the round "windows". I really liked the result.
Then, I saw that the flaps would not stay in place when I held the album vertically, so I made the little "I dont' know how to call them!" and fastened them on top with brads. In order to make them I used a chipboard piece of this shape as a template and traced it on plain chipboard where I had glued patterned paper and cut the shape, then I used "Broken China" distress ink on the edges, then stamped the tiny sea horse, then added some stickles and finally embossed them with UTEE. Really cute!
For the last two pages I made some pockets and put in them white cardstock so that her parents will add a little something, some journaling or another photo, etc.
Finally I used the Cuttlebug "Baby Face" alphabet for the titiles, and afted adhering the letters on each page I covered them with "Glossy Accents", it gave them a nice 3d effect.

In this project I used for the first time my brand new Bind it All, I really like it for the following reasons:

- it is sturdy and well manufactured
- it can be used to make from tiny miny albums up to 12 inches albums
- the punching procedure is really easy and I got accurate results with no fuss even though it was the first time I used it (of course I practised beforehands on some scrap paper)
- it punched the 1,5 mm chipboard like butter
- it can come handy in many projects, not only mini albums
- it is pink!

The only thing that didn't go so well in this first project is the binding because I didn't pay too much attention, but after repeating the "squeeze" two times, it was almost ok. They don't say "practise makes better" for nothing!

So my first impression is that it is a good and reliable tool and I 'm really pleased I bought it.

Delivery Day: Bind It All

I 've got a Bind It All!
I 've got a Bind It All!
I 've got a Bind It All!

As you can tell I 'm doing the happy dance because I bought the Bind It All!

I 'm extra happy because I bought it 60 euros, it was on sale at Boit A Scrap , the shipping was free (I purchased some paper pads as well and if the order is over 70 or 75 euros, I'm not sure exactly, it is free) and it arrived at my doorstep just 6 days after the day I ordered it!

I' m totally clueless about what I 'm going to do with it, but I 'm sure I 'll find something! :-)))

Did I tell you? I 've got a Bind It All!