Father's Day Tag Book

I used pieces of old retired paper packs and stickease to make this. I even cut the tag out of the top of a Level 1 layout because I was out of matching paper, but I really like the way it turned out. I sanded all of my cardstock to make it match the design of the paper pack and used 2 pieces of 8 x 12 sheets of it, adhered together, to make the accordian. I also added an envelope shaped flap from the leftovers and attached a loop of hemp using a square pewter brad. For the inside, the pockets are mostly made of stickease from the pack and snippets of leftover paper. I love the rich colors of this autumn paper pack! For the most part, they are: New England Ivy, Barn Red, Cocoa, and Autumn Terra Cotta, but I think Goldenrod is in there, too, and I know I used some Colonial White for a couple of tags.

Envelope Album using Veranda

This is a super-easy project that I did with some folks at a Retirement Center. First I prepped it by attaching 4 envelopes to each other. The first two I attached on the flap with one flap perfectly overlapping the other. Once they were attached by the flap, I stuck down both flaps to the INSIDE of the envelope. Once those two were done, I just attached two others (one to either side) also by the flaps so that the whole set of four folded up like an accordion.

The first picture shows the cover of the album. I'm not sure what pictures I'll use in it, so I haven't created the title yet. I used background and texture paper (B&T) from the "Veranda" pack to decorate my envelopes. My cover is the one that folds up to show the front side of the envelope - where you would write the address. The floral sheet measures 4 3/8 x 5 11/16. I know those are crazy measurements. It might be just easier to adhere a 5 x 6 rectangle and trim it to the envelope. The brown paper measured 5 x 4 before it was torn. The gold paper is the back of the floral (don't you love 2-sided paper!) and it measures 4 x 2 1/2. I edged both the floral and the gold in gold ink, but it works just as well to be edged in Creme Brulee' ink. Three buttons finish off my cover, but the decorative pewter brads are awesome with this palette.

This is the INSIDE of the accordion, with the diagonal pocket being the inside of the cover, but it doesn't really matter how the pages are organized, so long as the pocket pages fall where the envelope openings fall.

The first envelope opening has been cut along the diagonal to form a triangle. Make sure you cut the TOP of the pocket! I covered that with the back side of the gold diamond paper and just trimmed it to match the rest of the envelope lines. I distressed the envelope with Cocoa ink and added a garden green card (4 x 5), also distressed in Cocoa ink, to the pocket. I figure I can add a small picture to the triangle and another one to the card inside.

The second page is simply another floral sheet to serve as a matte, measureing 4 3/8 x 5 11/16, also distressed with Cocoa ink. The third page I used floral again with a tiny circular chunk cut out of one side. This sheet measures 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 and I edged the showing envelope on all sides in Creme Brulee' ink. A Cocoa card measuring 4 x 5 is tucked into the envelope.

The final sheet on this page starts with the gold diamond piece at the top, measuring 2 1/2 x 4 3/8, and distressed in Cocoa ink. Under that is the backside of the same paper measuring 3 x 4 3/8. At the bottom is a strip of garden green cardstock measuring 1/2 x 4 3/8 that is also sponged with Cocoa ink. I intend to put just one picture on this but I could put two cropped ones.

This last picture shows the "back" of the album. The cover is the far-right piece. The one next to it, like the inside of the front cover, is cut along the diagonal of the envelope. Again, make sure you cut the TOP of the envelope. I used a full sheet of the gold diamond (4 3/8 x 5 11/16) with the gold on the inside and only put adhesive in an "L" shape along the bottom and left side of the gold side of the paper. Once that was attached, I put a little more adhesive on the brown side of the rectangle and pulled the corner down to make another pocket. I didn't do any ink distressing here, but added a green tag measuring 3 x 5. It's easy to cut a simple tag shape. Just put the outside corners together and trim across them both at the same time. It makes a mirror-cut without making a fold mark.

The next page is just a gold diamond paper measuring 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. I distressed it with both Cocoa and Garden Green ink. The final page is exactly like one on the inside. The floral again measures 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 and has a curved chunk cut out of it. I didn't mention it above, but add adhesive on only a horseshoe around the paper, leaving the cut side open for the pocket. Again, I inked up the showing sides of the envelope in Creme Brulee' and added a Cocoa card measuring 4 x 5.

Let me know if you make one of these! They are super simple and I'd love to see your take on it!

This is an awesome project that Linda shared with us! She made it for her son's baseball team. It's really easy using 3 full sheets of cardstock. Using one cardstock, you'll fold it down the middle from one corner to the other. Unfold it and fold it in half from top to bottom and then again from side to side. Do the same folding in exactly the same way to two other sheets (3 in all) of matching cardstock. To adhere the sheets together, you'll lay the sheets so that the unfolded squares (without the diagonal folds) are the sides of a diamond (with the 12 x 12 sheet on point). The top and bottom of the diamond have a diagonal fold through them. Overlay the left square of the right side sheet with the right square of the center sheet and adhere them together. Do the same on the other side of the center sheet, overlaying the right square of the left side sheet with the left square of the center sheet and adhere them together. At this point, you should be able to collapse the diagonal fold into the centers making a square book.

The front and back covers of the book are decorated chipboard - giving more stability to the project than plain cardstock. The chip board should be 6 1/2 inches square to be about 1/4 inch larger (all the way around) than the cardstock book. If you want to cover it with paper, you can use a 7 1/2 inch square. It is better to use regular paper with this or our Background and Texture (B&T) paper as cardstock will be too bulky. You'll want to cut the corners so they will lay flat and while this can be done a number of ways, if you do it right, you won't have to add any extra paper to the back of your cover. The trick is to measure a one-inch square on the backside of the paper at every corner. Then adhere your chipboard directly into the center of your paper. The 1-inch squares should be corner-to-corner with the chipboard. Now fold the corner of the paper across the corner of the cardstock, making the diagonal fold directly across the 1-inch square you've drawn on the back of the paper. Do that on all corners, using a little adhesive to hold it in place. At that point you can fold the sides of the paper around the chipboard and adhere it onto the back. The sides of the paper should meet or almost meet at the corners of the chipboard. Once you've covered the front chipboard, do the same to the one you will use on the back of the book, making both a front and back cover. You can get your bearings on how it all fits together with the close-up picture to the right. Notice that the back chipboard, covered in striped paper, peeks out from behind the book (black cardstock and baseball paper).

Having covered the front and back cover, it's merely a case of gluing the cardstock book to each. With the book folded, center the front on the backside of your front cover (the 6 1/2 inch square chipboard you just covered) and adhere it firmly into place. Do the same to the back cover and your ready to decorate. Use coordinating B&Ts that measure 5 1/2 square on the unfolded square pieces, and 5 inch squares cut diagonally in half for the folded pieces. I've even cut my square pictures in half, diagonally, to post on those pages and they looked really cute! Don't forget embellishments and journaling - even journaling pockets! Finish it off with some ribbon and decorations on the back and front covers!

Blessing Book

Some friends at our church are moving away and I was torn as to what to do for them. One of our mutual friends suggested a blessing book like she had seen at a shower. Well, that really jazzed me! I got online and began looking up all sorts of quotation websites. I found some great ones - mainly when I "Googled" inspiration and quotation. I also found some great scriptures when I added that word to my search.

Some of them I printed directly off of my computer, but some of them I just wrote up myself using a calligraphy marker. This booklet wasn't hard to make, with 9-inch flaps. I created it by using 4 12x6 inch pieces. I scored 2 of the pieces at 3 inches and again at 9 inches. These 2 pieces I adhered to a 6 x 6 square (which makes up the back of the booklet) so that they were side by side.
Once those two pages are created, make two more exactly the same way. Adhere them directly on top of the first two pages sticking down only the 3-inch flap, side-by-side, just like before. You can see in the picture with the flowers how the flap on the back page, covered with the pink and green plaid, is sticking out on the side.

Once your book is finished, it will have 4 pages, 2 on each side of a 6 x 6 base. Each page is 6 x 6 with a 3 x 6 flap that folds out.

At this point, your 6x6 base has a back cardstock cover and two layers of side-by-side cardstocks (3 x 6 flaps). Use another 6 x 12 piece, scored at 3 and 9, to cover the base. The flaps are folded in, like the picture below and connected with ribbon, a paper strap, or cut stamps like mine shows.


Inside my base flaps, I put yet another 12 x 4 cardstock - this time scored at 4 and 8 in an accordion fold. In this last "locked" booklet, I wrote my regards as well as the poem by Robert Frost called The Road not Taken in this section.

I've seen this type of project done in Christmas paper with little elves all through it. I think it would be great for a baby book using the CTMH paper pack called "Sweet Pea" or a kid book using the new "Animal Cookies" paper pack. For mine, I used a CTMH limited edition called Key to My Heart. I never miss out on the limited editions - especially those with stamp sets included like this one. I LOVE that key and keyhole set! These papers are some of my favorites, and I wish they were still available. BUT, they are very similar to the CTMH Perfect Day papers. Woohoo!

Father's Day Gift Album

I made this up for a workshop coming up this weekend. I got the idea from our newest Idea Book.

I decorated the new 4 x 6 binder first with inks. I sponged it all over with Garden Green, then edged it and distressed the sides of it using Barn Red ink. I distressed the B&T's (from the Back Country Paper pack) with Barn Red as well.

I stamped the letters in Outdoor Denim on Barn Red cardstock and added brass brads and a piece from the new Color Dimensional Elements "Adventure" set to finish off the cover.

This is an example of the inside pages. They are all similar, although each has its own, unique layout. I sponged both sides of each page with Bamboo and edged it with Garden Green. I used both Garden Green cardstock and Back Country B&T paper to matte the pages and added pictures and note.

Each double layout holds a picture of one of my kids and a letter they wrote to their dad. I used more of the "Adventure" Color Dimensional Elements throughout the book, too. Also, to protect the pictures, I put them into envelopes from Clearbags.com. I folded them up behind the picture and adhered them using 3D sponge squares.

Even though it doesn't show, the inside of the front and back covers were set up just like the front cover. I sponged them with Garden Green and distressed them with Barn Red. I used the green B&T that looks like a wood grain for the inside decor. For the back cover, I used the tree paper, centered, over the distressing.

Graduation Album

This great book was easy to put together. Ann didn't want an actual album, but she did want to commemorate the graduation of her brother. We created this using a 12 x 12 cardstock for the back and front covers, page protectors for the inside pages, and a 12 x 4 inch cardstock as the binding for the book. We tied inexpensive tassels that she found in the fabric section of Walmart for the binding. She used a tag and some tassels that she found in the lighting section for decoration on the front.

Each page told a different piece of his journey and saved the memories of his special day. We used an old CTMH kit for this, but our new Silhouette paper package and stickease would be perfect for this project. You can easily add the school color to the pallet by adding some detail stamps to the paper and using matching cardstock as photo matting.

"That's Amore'" Acrylic Album and Valentines

I'm holding a workshop for the hot Acrylic Albums by Close to My Heart!

This workshops uses the elegant new CTMH paper pack called "That's Amore'," along with the matching stickease, and the "Love Story" Rub-ons.

The workshop will be held on February 8 beginning at 5PM and
we'll also include 10 Valentines to use up the rest of the paper pack and stickease.

This workshop is $45 plus tax and shipping and pre-payment is due on January 23rd.