"A Ladies' Diary" box & tiny journals

My mom has a fantastic papercrafting store that she hangs out at a lot, Scraps of Love. Since it's over 2000 miles away from where I live, she generously sends me wonderful papers & embellishments that she finds there (thank you, USPS flat-rate shipping!).

One thing in particular that she can purchase there that I can't find here are Graphic 45 papers. Scraps of Love has insanely talented instructors who do things with these papers that would make you cry, and Mom takes many of their classes and sends me the trimmings and any extra papers.

I decided to use the papers from their A Ladies' Diary Collection to make this box containing small journals, as I also wanted to practice my book-making. One fun thing about Graphic 45 papers is that each double-sided design comes in 3 sizes: 12x12, 6x6, and 8x8, so having different sizes gives you lots of options. The box is roughly 2 x 3.25 inches, based on the size of this cute fashion-card paper from the 8x8 pack.

click photos to enlarge

I couldn't help but use the Stampin' Up! Beautiful Wings Embosslit die to add some 3D embellishment. I used Glossy Accents to adhere the butterflies.

The box contains a tier of tiny boxes; I used the tutorial (well, sorta) by Bastel-Oase.

Here's the back of the box, without the lid:

Each 2x2 box contains a small book.

Three of the books are designed around the different sized "vintage stamps" from the paper collection. For the blank books, I used regular printer paper. Everything is inked with Antique Linen distress ink and/or edged with my E04 Copic marker (Lipstick Natural).

This is the smallest piano-hinge book I've ever made, at just under 3/4 inches wide:

I learned this technique from a book, but I used the tutorial at Making Mini Scrapbooks to refresh my memory.

For the second book, I used my awl to puncture a hole in the middle of the pages/cover, and ran some twine around and through the tiny spools, knotting it in the middle.

The next one is basically an accordion book with a wrap-around cover:

Mom had also sent me several pieces of this particular part of one of the collections' 12x12 sheets. It's a column of three of the vintage stamps, so I glued 3 of those together to make the book. I glued the spine, so the pages naturally created pockets for little journal tags.

Finally, I used Prima wood pieces to make a funky little accordion book:

The metal clock hands are actually from Tim Holtz's Game Spinner collection, but hey they work!

I decided to decorate the back of the pages, so I stamped it with a large background stamp (Flourishes llc), heat-embossed it with clear embossing powder, and inked it with pink chalk ink. I had used printer paper, so much to my surprise the heat-embossed portion became almost translucent. It created a vintage look that I'll definitely have to use again.

Many thanks to my wonderful husband for taking these photos, and for giving me some pointers on how to get better photos from now on. We had a real family photo session for this!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Charisma Cardz #33: More than one fold
Love to Create: Fancy Folds
Opus Gluei Challenge #163: The Start of Something BIG! (This project was inspired by my wanting to start book-making again, and to do more 3D projects)
Stamps & Fun = Creativity: Box
The Pink Elephant Monday Card Challenge: Anything but a Card

Update: This was a prize winner at Love to Create. Thank you!

Thank you for visiting, and if you're ever in Peora, Arizona, be sure to visit Scraps of Love!

Just Sweet Enough

This week at Pile It On, we want to see NO Designer Paper on your projects. Don't worry, a little birdie told me that we'll be having a Designer Paper challenge soon!

Our sponsor is Oak Pond Creations, so I used their Lemons digi stamp to make a square easel card:

I layered the lemons using foam tape, so it's very 3D. I only used Copics for the leaves and inside the lemon; I inked the lemon skins with yellow ink using a finger sponge. It gave them a nice texture. I pinted the inside of the lemon with Glossy Accents.

I got the idea for the rosette lemon from the accordion-fold watermelons on the Fiskars website. I cut it from yellow paper using the TH/Sizzix rosette die. I cut a thin strip of what printer paper, edged on side with a yellow Copic marker, and glued it on top of the rosette's original scalloped edge. For the middle, I simply "quilled" a strip of white paper and glued it inside with Glossy Accents.

I used the emboss-resist technique for the lace. The stamp was heat-embossed in clear and inked in Broken China distress ink. I cut out the lace and glued it to the bottom of the front of the card, over the die-cut doily (Sizzix). The doilies were cut from white cardstock and inked with Broken China distress ink.

I made the text and banners in InDesign. The sentiment was inspired by a conversation my husband & I had recently with our waitress at Bahama Breeze. They make their lemonade with sugar cane, but the local Southern population is used to a much sweeter sugar. We talked about how different sugars are used in different places, and how we get used to one taste over another. Anyhoo, their lemonade was "just sweet enough," and I thought that would go well with this lovely Oak Pond image.

Finally, I added some green gems from my stash. The final card size is 5x5; I just bought some 5.5-inch-square envelopes and am enjoying making large cards!

Cards/Crafts Galore August Challenge

Inspiration/Challenges:
Artistic Inspirations: Die Cuts/Punches (Rosette & Doily dies)
Aud Sentiments #8: Anything but a birthday card + Sentiment
Cards/Crafts Galore: Bingo (middle row: Gems, Die cuts, Inks)
Crafty Sentiments: Dies and Punches
Jo's Scrap Shack #13: Anything Goes
Southern Girls - Things that begin with F (Fruit, Flower)
The Crazy Challenge: Anything Goes (2nd entry)

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,

Anything Goes at Sunshine Mail

It's time for a new Sunshine Mail Foundation Challenge (August 15-31). Our theme is "Anything Goes" and the only real rule is that you send in at least one card (it doesn't have to be the card you enter in the challenge; Donation guidelines here). 

We're having an Anything Goes challenge, featuring images by this year's sponsors. I adored making my card for our previous challenge sponsored by The Paper Shelter, so I used another one of their sweet images, Sunny Day:

I colored the image with Copic markers, starting with the sand and water, which I textured with Copic blender solution & Aida/cross-stitch cloth. I added Glossy Accents to her sunglasses.

I recently won a gift certificate to Tiddly Inks at Top Tip Tuesday (thank you!), so I bought the Beach Babe Clear Stamp Set and I've been eager to ink it up! I used the border & sentiment from that set. The sentiment was stamped with bright orange pigment ink and cut out with an IO die.

The border stamp is roughly 2.5 inches long, so I stamped it in a square directly around the printed digi stamp, using Tuxendo Black Memento ink. I colored it with Copics in purple & orange, so that the starfish & sand dollars are alive!

The shiny blue paper was embossed with the Charles Cuttlebug folder. That piece is matted onto a piece of blue paper that was edged with zig-zag-patterned Washi tape. The patterned paper is cut from a sheet of Dazzling Delights DP from Graphic 45's Bohemian Bazaar collection.

The "seaweed" was cut with a Spellbinders die; I cut two pieces from a blue-green paper, and two pieces from vellum and then colored them with a bright green marker.

Crafting Life's Little Pieces

Simply Create Too #43

Inspiration/Challenges:
A Little Bit Crafty: Summer Sun
Crafting Life's Little Pieces: Sketch #61
Creative Moments #23: Sea/shore
Happy Campers: Summer
Parade Your Crafts: Down by the Sea
Ribbon Carousel Challenge: Summertime Fun
Simply Create Too #43: Photo Inspiration

Thank you for visiting,

Out of this World! with OSAAT

It's time for a "Use a Digi" challenge at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT)! I love stamping, but digi stamps are so much fun too, and StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds from many wonderful artists.


Because I LOVE IT, I chose the Starship Digi & Paper Pack by Coosty Creations:

I was inspired by the Gatefold challenge at Incy Wincy Designs. Here it is folded closed:

The chevron is made from Rolo wrappers. They are about 2.5 inches wide, so I cut them down to 1-inch strips and folded theme using the Patchwork Chevrons technique from SEI.

I put a message section on the back:

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cards For Men: Metal / Metallic
Crafty Bloggers Network: Favourite Things (Star Trek, chevron ribbon, Chocolate/Rolos, recycling, corner notch punch)/ 2nd entry
Great Impressions: Square Card
Incy Wincy Designs: Gatefold Card
Squigglefly: Masculine Card
The Crazy Challenge: Anything Goes

Thank you for visiting,

Sew many chevrons

I had so much fun making my paper Feria dress that I just had to use the technique again. I've had The Ribbon Reel's current inspiration photo (see below) in my head ever since I saw it while updating the Monday Challenges on Paper Playful, so I raided my embellishment stash and made this CAS card:

For the origami paper dress, I followed the tutorial at Inklings & Yarns (although I used a 3x3 piece of paper for this).

I used one of my favorite papers, "You & Me" from the Seen & Noted collection by Pebbles Inc., but the flower "trim" is actually a bonus from the paper's copyright section. Don't you love it when company do that?! For the dress, I cut the paper to include that bonus trim, but I did cut-and-paste the sleeves. The dress embellishment is finshed with a satin ribbon sash and a coat-hanger clip.

The Prima flowers were sewed onto the tiny buttons. I wrapped the tiny spool with variegated craft thread, and wrote the "love" sentiment with it & Glossy Accents.

The lower half of the card was embossed with my newest Cuttlebug folder, Charles. The front of the card is made of manila cardstock, but it is on a white cardstock base. The top edges were notched with my favorite Marvy punch. 

Tuesday Morning Sketch #210

The Ribbon Reel Challenge #59

Inspiration/Challenges:
CAS-ual Fridays #111: Buttons
Crafty Bloggers Network: Favorites (twill ribbon, coat-hanger clip, DP, wooden spool, tiny buttons, corner notch punch)
The Ribbon Reel Challenge #59: Photo  + Chevrons & Flowers & Ribbon
Tuesday Morning Sketches: #210

Update: This was featured on the Tuesday Morning Sketches's Facebook page!

Thank you for visiting,