House book

 I have created a little House Book for a swap on AFTCM.  The theme is A Garden Journey, so I created some house shapes and decorated them with garden images.  It has been a fun project.
I started with some very thin corrugated cardboard which arrived last week wrapped around a new "toy"!!  I designed my pages, cut them out and die cut the fence from scraps.  I backed the pages with foreign language book pages.  I stamped the fronts with a text stamp in dark brown and added some stippling as well.  Finished all the edges with a large black permanent marker.

Here is my book all closed up.  I have added a tie on the left hand side that slips around the fence post which keeps it nicely closed.  I have four pieces - the fence, the one storey, the two storey and the large apartment building in the back.  I had wanted to have all of the windows on the buildings be on the front of the pages so it would look like a neighborhood.  Unfortunately, I was not paying as much attention as I should have when I was decorating the pages and you will see that the windows ended up on the back instead of the front. Not wrong, but not what I had imagined!!
The fence is decorated with flower and vine punchies on both sides.

With the fence flipped open you can see the front of the first house.  I added a window and a door with the large marker and filled in the details with a fine tip Sharpie.  I added punchie flowers to create a window box and a grass die cut at the bottom.  In between, I added my wording by tracing a letter template lightly with a pencil and then giving the letters weight using the fine tip marker.  I wanted the letters to be a little sketchy so left them a bit rough.

The back of the first house features an architectural window with a window box, two large flowers, a grass die cut, a butterfly and the continuation of the quote.
The front of the second house features a garden scene which includes a bird on a branch, a small butterfly, a grass die cut and five layered flowers.  These are all punchies!!  The quote continues in the same manner as the previous pages.

The back of the second house features a balcony with flowers in a window box, a grass die cut, a butterfly, some leaves and a large flower along with a few more words from my quote.
On the front of the last page I have created a garden  of love that features a wide variety of heart flowers all growing next to each other.  Added "Sow love!" in the same manner as the quote on the previous pages and some grass at the bottom.

On the back page I drew in lots of windows and gave them all different window treatments.  Each window received a flower box and a tiny heart as well.  Added the saying, some butterflies and some grass at the bottom.
I bound the pages with some cording which I knotted on the outside of the book on the left hand side.

I am very happy with how this little project turned out even with the mishap of the windows.  I liked combining lots of different items and techniques.

My little book will start it's trip to my partner tomorrow and hopefully will arrive there some time next week!!

Therese

Book card!

I created this book which is really a card for a special friend on the occasion of her fiftieth birthday!!

What fun!!

I purchased the kit at the Sweet Sentiments Yard Sale a few weeks ago just intending on altering the pages to suit my needs. It was a wonderful surprise to discover that the book had DREAMS as its theme!! It included the pages, ribbon and chipboard elements in this great colour scheme of seafoam, celery green, warm red and ivory so I decided to work with it. I worked out my wording, cut letters using my Sizzix Doodle Block alphabet in coordinating cardstock, added ribbon to the chipboard pieces and laid everything out so I could see how it would all fit together!! I placed the large chipboard letters on the lower halves of the pages and added my words and accent chipboard elements - two frames and two buttons to the upper sections. With everything laid out, I glued my diecut letters in place using white glue and a fine tip applicator. The chipboard elements were glued in place using a double layer of glue dots to make sure the glue was thick enough to offset the ribbon on the back. Worked well.

Thrifty Tip: use an empty fabric paint bottle with a very fine tip for precise application of white glue.

On the backside of the book I added some envelopes in which she can store images or notes to herself and record the manifestations of her dreams as they become reality!!

As you can see on the left, I glued the outside of the envelope flap to the back of the page and added two clear photo corners to secure the right hand side of the envelope. I added colour printed circles with a message for her on the outside of the envelopes.

Once my pages were finished I bound them together using ribbon. Love the way it worked out!!

I have packaged it in the original container - a plastic box with a handle!! How cool is that!!

It looks so great!! I added my personal message on a panel I added to the inside of one of the envelopes. I hope it will be a reminder of all the life she has left to live and an inspiration for her to choose everyday to take baby steps in the directions of her dreams!!

To achieve any goal, you need only to decide where you want to go, take baby steps every day, stay focussed and never give up! How you get there will unravel in ways you could not even imagine because the Universe takes care of that part.

It is your life, chose to follow your dreams!!

Altered CD - vintage Santa

An altered CD for a swap in one of my groups!! The theme was Vintage Santa so I dug up some scraps of decorative papers and got started. First thing I did was make a sketch of each section - front cover, inside cover, inside back and back cover. I decided which elements would go in each section - images, decorative paper, cardstock, etc. After working out the layering on each section I started cutting paper and gluing it into place. I used LOTS of double sided tape to make sure all the pieces will stay put. The front cover features a colour printed vintage Santa, a stamped "memories", decorative paper, a little strip of lace, olive ribbon with a burgundy "bow" and a piece of burgundy cardstock. The lace and ribbon wrap to the back of the cover and are hidden by the pieces on the inside front which is why I worked out all the layering before I cut and glued anything to the CD.

To the left you can see the front and back in one scan. The back features coordinating decorative paper, an ivory cardstock strip trimmed with scallop scissors and embellished with dots and a line in burgundy marker, a strip of olive cardstock and some burgundy cardstock at the very top. Went with cardstock because I wanted the back to have very little that would interfere with the CD laying flat. The inside cover (left) features burgundy cardstock, a scallop border punched piece of olive cardstock embellished with burgundy ribbon and a layered strip of decorative paper. I cut little notches for the plastic edging so that all the piece fit in neatly. The back cover (right) features a layer of decorative paper, a burgundy strip of cardstock trimmed with scallop border punch and an accordion book which has been embellished with some decorative paper and a little boat sticker which I received this week from my Secret Santa and it was the perfect colours for this project!!!!!!!!

On the left a photo of the accordion book inside the CD. Four and a half pages in ivory cardstock embellished with decorative paper and two more stickers!!

All of the pages and sections were stippled with ink to give them a nice vintage feel.

The recipient will be able to add a few photos and have a cool little album for her 2010 Christmas memories!!

I loved the challenge of creating this project and am very happy with the finished product. Would make a wonderful gift for grandparents filled with photos of their grandchildren. Certainly done in other colours would make a cool little brag book for any event!!

Therese

Domino Book

I created this cool little domino book for a swap on one of my groups. I am very happy with the way it worked out!!!

I created the 5 pages using a crescent tag die. I cut a tag from chipboard, put it back on the die with the square end on the crescent end and cut it again. A chipboard shape with two crescent ends!! I glued black handmade paper to the back and the front of both covers, trimmed & coloured the edges and punched the holes. I embellished two black wooden dominoes using gold mica powder

and spray lacquered them with gloss finish. Using Goop, I glued them to each other side by side, glued that combination to the front cover and glued E Beads in red and gold on each side. Did exactly the same to the back cover. Bound my book with red quarter inch ribbon and a handmade paper bead. Added lock and key charms to the binding and a tie to keep my book closed.

I glued red paper to both sides of my inside pages, embellished them with black script and edged them in gray Memories ink.

Laid out my words and text, colour printed and trimmed them to fit my pages. I die cut "U", "R" and a circle with a hole in the shape of a heart from black cardstock and backed them with gold foil paper. Glued them on the back of my pages, in the center. So reading this book from the front and from the back it says - you are love!! How cool is that!! Added the title on the inside front cover and my swap info the inside back cover with white gel pen .

It was so fun to create this little book!! I love creatively working out the size, the content, the embellishments, the binding and making it all work together.

Will be sending it on its way tomorrow!!

Therese

My art - mini book

A mini book to celebrate a gathering of friends!! This is a little memory book we created as a bit of a surprise for those who attended a dinner party that Linda hosted on Monday night!! We collaged coasters for the covers and used food and friend quotes on the inside cardstock pages. Over the evening we took group photos and secretly printed them up. Just before dessert, Linda passed around the books and had everyone glue in the photos. A variety of charms, beads and fibers were also passed around so everyone could embellish their books to reflect their personal style. Totally fun!! The books were bound with black 3/4" Zutter metal bindings.
The dinner party went off without a hitch and the food was so great. The appetizers were potluck! We talked, visited and munched on a great variety of fun snacky food. Fresh salmon steaks were cooked on a plank on the BBQ for dinner and served with fresh garden salad!! The salmon was so good!!!!!!! We had cheesecake for dessert!!
An evening of good food, good conversation and good friends makes great memories!!

Therese

My Art - Postage book

My postage box with a new book for storing my correspondence items like stamps, return address labels, etc.

Since forever my items for correspondence have been living in a ziploc bag on my desk. Not attractive but close enough to be handy. A few weeks ago I was planning on making mini books with my stamping friends so I decided that a book to hold my stamps, etc would my project. When I dumped the ziploc I also found a glue stick and whiteout in there and thought that was a necessary part of my correspondence items but they would not fit in a book. Then, I remembered that I had bought this gorgeous box about a year ago that would probably be the perfect container for all of these items. Yeah! It was perfect!! I tailored the size and colours of my book to the box allowing room for the glue stick and white out to fit beside it. Worked wonderfully!! I have pages with pockets in my book that hold all the things that I need. To close it up, I just tuck the back flap under the scallop and it keeps everything where it needs to be.

I am very happy with my new little book and its new home - this great box! It looks much nicer on my desk than the ziploc used to and everything is handy. I did rid myself of quite a bit of "stuff" that had accumulated in the bag and really just needed to be thrown out. Because the box will only hold a slight bit of extra "stuff" there will be much less temptation to store unneeded items.

One of the very first projects I made for me!

Therese