Graphic 45's Bird Song Altered File Folder Journal / Mini Album Combination

Three posts in one week! Yay, I'm on a roll! I have one more altered file folder journal / mini album combination to share with you. For this one I used one of my all time favorite paper collections, Graphic 45's Bird Song. I have been hoarding this paper forever because once I have used it all....it's gone as this paper collection is long ago retired. Here are some more views of the outside cover.

Some details about the book:

Cover Size:

H - 6 1/2", W - 5", D - 1 3/4"

Features:

* Elastic / hitch post closure design

* Handmade tassel

* Exposed spine design

* 3 File tabbed sections. 

* 3 Pocket pages

* 2 Flip tag pages

* 2 Photo mat booklets

* 2 Mini journaling booklets with 6 pages in each of unlined paper in a cream color

* 6 Signatures that have 12 lined pages in each signature (24 front and back), for a total of 72 pages (144 front & back) in the book. Pages are cream color.

Here are some inside page views:

The entire album and all the pages can be viewed on my you tube channel:

Thank you for stopping by!

Asian Theme Book of Secrets, Asian Theme Journal With Drawers, G45 Bird Song

Little Book of Secrets

Happy New Year everyone! Can you believe we are already 17 days into 2016? I've been busy with making more of the books with the little matchbox drawers. Today's post features an Asian theme that I made. The cover is covered in black paper with a book cloth  (fabric) spine. 

The paper used on the inside is Graphic 45's Bird Song. One of my favorite collection of theirs! I have 5 signatures in this book with 4 drawers and a waterfall feature.

Some more pictures:

The waterfall and lined journal pages:

The matchbox drawers:

I have a video of this book if you would like to check out more pictures and views.

I also have this listed in my etsy store. You can find the link to my etsy store above and in my sidebar to the right.

Thanks for stopping by!

Asian Inspired Mountain Scene Card

I made this card several months ago but never got around to posting it. Eeks! To create the card I stamped the mountains first. I then masked off the mountains and a portion of the top and bottom of the card so that I could ink in the sky. After I was finished with the sky, I removed all the masking and then stamped the dragonfly and Asian lettering. Lastly I embossed a straight line just below the mountain scene. A clean and simple look with no layers and didn't require extra postage for mailing!

Asian Inspired Card and Memory Box Woodland Branch Die

 The challenge for this one over at ScrapZee.com was to use a background stamp. I grabbed one of my all time favorites...Japanese writing, created my vases using circle and oval punches, and a die from Memory Box called Woodland Branch.  Creating a clean simple Asian inspired card!

Happy crafting!

Asian Inspired Tag and a Cute Little Purse

If you didn't get to join in on the Treat Yourself Crop week before last at Card Swaps...then you missed out on a lot of fun challenges! I still have a lot of things going on in my life right now so I was only able to do two of the challenges. Meredith asked us to make a tag using a specific technique of coloring and embossing. The idea is to ink your background and then stamp it in another color. You then stamp your main image with versamark ink and then clear emboss. Then you apply a darker ink all over your tag. The embossed area will reject the darker ink causing the lighter ink and stamping to show through. For Meredith's full tutorial click HERE.

I was inspired by the Japanese Shinto wood charms for my tag. I used 3 different colors of distress ink, a Japanese script rubber stamp, a Japanese crane rubber stamp and a Japanese symbol rubber stamp. For my tag base I used a kleenex box that I cut the tag shape out of to give some stability as if it were wood. I then cut two more tag shapes out of a manilla folder. After inking both pieces I then placed one on each side of the tag cut out of the kleenex box. The back of the tag is inked with black walnut distress ink to help make the tag look like wood. I then chose to top off my tag with a Japanese Omamori Tassel knot. For a tutorial on how to make one, click HERE.

The second challenge I did was hosted by Margaret. She had us make these adorable little purses.

I kept mine super simple but you can embellish them as much or as little as you want. They are super simple to make. They would be absolutely adorable for a bridal shower or to house a small gift of jewelry or something for someone. You can find the tutorial on how to make these adorable purses HERE.

If you missed the crop this time....don't fret! The next one is coming up in November.  There will be lots of challenges, games, a blog hop, prizes, not to mention all the fun and inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cherry Blossom / Memory Box Die

Have you ever CASE on a card that you saw on Pinterest or maybe someone's blog? I recently pinned a card on Pinterest that I fell in love with its simplicity and wanted to make one just like it. Using the cherry blossom die and woodland branch die from Memory Box, I was able to do just that. I used kraft cardstock for the base and the mat. The mat I crimped in my paper crimper going in one direction and then turning it and crimping it again in the other direction. It is a simple but I think elegant look.

You can see the original card that inspired this HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!

3x3 Cards

A quick post to get myself updated on my blog. I've been neglecting things here on my blog lately and not posting my projects...sorry about that! These are some more 3x3 cards. The Asian ones were made for the February crop on the Card Swaps forum over at CardMakers. We were to make 4 3x3 cards along with a holder for them. We had a specific holder that we had directions for to make. It went together really fast and easy. The holder holds 4 3x3 cards with envelopes very nicely. There is also a middle section for holding a small pen or stamps. I made mine with a clear acetate top. It would make a nice gift for someone.

I also recently hosted a swap for 3x3 cards and here are a couple of the ones I made.

Both have embossing on them but I had a really difficult time getting a good photo that would show the embossing.

This last 3x3 was made to look like the quilt block the Ohio Star.

Thanks for stopping by. I will be back in just a bit with my project for this week's challenge at Card Swaps.

Beat The Blues Crop at CardSwaps on the CardMaker site

Beat the blues crop is in full swing over at the CardSwap forum on the CardMakers site. Wednesday was the first day of the crop and it will go till this Saturday with challenges and games being posted daily. There are prizes for each challenge, games and a grand prize. You can find further details of the prizes and instructions for participating in the crop HERE. If you looking for some inspiration, friends to share your passion for card making with or just plain fun...check out the crop!

I am hosting one of the challenges today at the crop. Mine is called "Second Hand News." The challenge is to make a card using other printed papers that were originally meant for another purpose in place of designer or printed papers meant for scrapbooking or card making. Some suggestions would be a newspaper. map. sheet music, page from a book, napkin.....there are all kinds of ideas. I chose to use a local paper that I picked up in Chinatown in Chicago. I was inspired by the Chinese characters printed on the newspaper. Above is what I started with and below is the card I made using the newspaper.
I thought at first that I would stamp the panda on plain cardstock but decided to try stamping directly on the newspaper. I really like the end result. I though it almost looks like the panda had been printed on the newspaper by the printers.

I hope you like my challenge and will consider trying it yourself. Hope to see you over at the crop. Challenges end Saturday but you have till 11:59 pm CST on February 15 to complete any or all challenges and post them to be considered for the prize drawings.

Thanks for stopping by!

Post It Note Holder

Thought I would take a break tonight from making cards and make a Post It Note holder to hold the 3" x 3" note size. I started with a piece of cardboard about the thickness of a cereal box cut to the size 3 1/8" x 8". I chose to use origami paper with a pretty Asian print to cover my holder. I cut the outside piece 3 7/8" x 8 7/8" and the inside piece 3" x 7 7/8". I then scored the cardboard, starting from the left side, at 6/8", 1 2/8", 4 3/8" and 4 7/8". Fold along all the score lines and crease well with bone folder. I then coated the wrong side of the outside piece of paper with Elmer's No Wrinkle Rubber Cement and applied to the cardboard piece. Fold in all four corners and then each adjacent side. I then applied the inside piece after applying glue to it's wrong side.

I cut two pieces of a thin magnet sheet each measuring 5/8" x 2 3/4" and applied to the flap of the holder.

I wanted to keep to a simple but elegant look so I chose not to over embellish....something I have a tendency to do. I made a tassel from embroidery floss and added a dragonfly charm. I thought this was just enough embellishment letting the paper be the main focus of the holder.

I then used double sided tape to attach my post it note pad to the inside. The magnets keep it closed but yet easy to open when ready to use.



Here are some pieces I have cut for a second holder. This was quick and easy to make and a lot of fun. Wish I would have thought of these before Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by.

Craft Room Temporarily Closed!

Yes you read the title correctly! My craft room is temporarily closed for a much needed cleaning. When you can't see the floor any more and you have about a 10" square of working space left on your craft table that isn't cluttered....it's time to clean. I need to clean, reorganize and get rid of unused and will never be used stuff. So I'm closed till Friday. No creating just cleaning......sigh.

Thought I would post two cards that I found tonight while cleaning that I made last year. The first one is from the last Asian swap I hosted on the old PCMB site before it was shut down. The image is by Hampton Art and was a gift given to me by my friend Judy. I sponged Colorbox ink on the background. The poppy is colored with Prismacolor colored pencils and then cut out and pop dotted. I used my favorite color combination, black, green and cream.

The second card was for a swap I participated in where the challenge was to make a card using ink and paper only. No layering or embellishing was allowed. That is not an easy challenge when your use to layering and adding all kinds of embellies. The leaves and doodles are by Hero Arts. The sentiment is by Inkadinkado. All ink used is by Colorbox. Card base is parchment cardstock by Wausau.

I think it is interesting to look at these two cards and the ones posted below and see how my crafting style has been changing in the past year! I'll see you all in a couple of days.....with a clean and organized craft room....ready to take on challenge blogs!

Asian Theme Cards

I think I am finally getting the hang of this blogging thing! My original plans were to wait till after Christmas when I had more time to start blogging but....well...let's say I had a little encouragement from a new friend to go ahead and figure out what blogging is all about it. I have been active on a couple of paper crafting swap sites for the past 3 years. One of which just recently merged with another site causing all the sites participants to loose all the pictures we had uploaded to the gallery on the site. So I am going back and picking out some of my older creations to post first on my new blog.

One of my favorite styles and themes for cards is Asian.
The first picture is a collage style card I made using both Asian theme stamps and brass stencils from Dreamweaver. I have stamping, stenciling and both dry and heat embossing on this card.

The second card was made for a swap I hosted that required you to make an Asian theme card using only the colors red, black and gold. The cranes are stenciled in gold pigment ink by using a brass stencil by Dreamweaver and then heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I made the tassel from black embroidery thread.

The third card was made also for a swap I participated in. We were to stamp on printed paper. I happened to have a Chinese newspaper and thought it would be fun to use that to stamp an Asian theme on. It's a simple card but also one of my favorites. I must admit, I am having fun strolling down memory lane while posting some of my older creations and remembering some fun swaps I participated in.