Wednesday, March 30, 2011

This is a very long post, but it has lots of pictures and a TUTORIAL!

Over the last several weeks I have made a few projects that I thought I would share.  All of these projects are very easy to do and fun!
I am sure you all are familiar with Kathy's site, Paper Phenomenon.  If you aren't, you should do check her out, she has some of the most amazing ideas.  I, of course, couldn't help but to use her tutorials and make some for myself!  She had a video series you can find on You Tube that went through how to make this fantastic mini album.  It is made out of paper bags, and it is FABULOUS!
 I used the Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante papers.  My spine is different than she did it because I couldn't get mine to work like hers.  But, I think it turned out just as neat.  I punched out the face and used some Crackle Accents on it.  Then attached the charm to the spine with chain.

 Every page has pockets and/or flaps to open.  There are a ton of inserts to check out.
 This is another of her paper bag creations that had a wonderful new way to put them together.  I used papers from Cosmo Cricket, Circa 1934.  LOVE THE COLORS!

 Here are all the pockets created.  Nice, huh?
 I wondered how to make one of these if you didn't have paper bags, and I came up with this.  I used Graphic 45, Domestic Goddess, papers.
I wrote a tutorial up for how I did this, it is at the end of this post.
 No Paper bags in this one, just papers, and it turned out very cool!  It has lots of tags, and I think that I am going to put our family favorite recipes in here!
 Last, but not least, she came up with this little mini book.  It is less than 3" square and uses one sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock.

 It rolls up on itself and then opens!
There are three pockets that hold teeny tiny tags.

Now for the tutorial...


Here's how I did it.  Again, Thanks to Kathy for the inspiration!!!
 I cut a piece of paper 10 1/2" by 8".  I scored as shown. I cut the edges as shown to create tabs.
 Fold the tabs in...
 Fold the top down...and you have your first large pocket.  Adhere the tabs with a little liquid glue to the INSIDE of the pocket.
 Second pocket...cut the paper to 6" x 10 1/2".  Score and cut again as shown...
 Fold again, adhere...you have the second pocket.
 The piece that connects the two pockets you just made is done by cutting the paper to 8 1/8" x 6".  Score as shown, creating the 1/8" space in the middle.
 I didn't show this, but when I did the book for real, I cut out the 1/8" x 1/2" pieces (the ones by my thumb and finger) created with the scoring out so that it would fold better around the pockets.
 Take the larger pocket, and adhere it to the tabs on the right side of the 1/8" space.
 Take the smaller pocket and adhere it to the tabs to the left of the 1/8" space.  This creates the big space without pockets for pictures.
 This is the right side folded over so you can see that it will create a pocket.
 This is the left side folded over to show the other pocket created on the smaller pocket you adhered.  This whole thing will open in the middle to give you more space!  This is your first page.  Make as many as you want for your book.
 This is the connector piece that connects the page you just assembled to other pages you will assemble and to the front and back covers of your album.  Cut and score as shown.
Adhere a thin line of glue to the three sides, and adhere to the front of the page to create another pocket...the other side to the front cover or the previous page.

I sure hope this makes sense!  I probably should have cut the connector piece so that it would have tabs just like the other pages to create pockets.  Maybe next time.  But, this is how I made the recipe book and I hope you enjoyed it.  I hope you can use the tutorial to create your own work of art!

You could use plain cardstock, then cover with papers, I used double sided papers, but be careful of directional designs if you do that!

Thanks for coming by to see us, and please check out her site.  She always has great ideas!

14 comments:

  1. I'm in love with Kathy's work too, and posted a few matchbook minis on my blog last month that were created after her inspiration. I want to do her paperbag album now too and have all the supplies, but I need to find just the perfect paper. I love all the Graphic 45 and I ADORE the Steampunk Debutante. Hopefully I can still find it. I'd love to find some Fashionista, but it's hard to find. Anyway, your books are gorgeous. Thanks so much for sharing! I'm always inspired by you ladies.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG, this IS fabulous -- absolutely!!! My mouth is still hanging open!

    Kathy's work is always wonderful!

    Thanks too for the great tutorial!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Outstanding! This is my kind of scrapbooking. Love all the pockets.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi girl! wow, your work is always so amazing to me!! Great work, love it!!! So where is the video with all they silly stuff you guys did at convention???? lol
    Take care and keep in touch.
    love and kisses
    Elsa

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am a big folloer of Kathy's too just so love her and her projects. You made a reference to one of her albums that gave you inspiration to make this, do you have a link to the particular album that gave you such inspiration....? The reason, um....I jacked up this album and I swear I am paying attention. It just looks like a 3rd graders work. So I'm looking for Kathy's tut but you didn't really say a particular album.
    Thank you for the help, great album!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. MissDinTexas! Thank you so much for coming to the blog and checking this out. I apologize for the link, for some reason it is not working now. But, here are the links for the projects by Kathy that spawned my albums. The first one (with theGraphic 45 papers) is here on YouTube…
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo_4bSThGr8
    The second is here…
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avUHa3uqSFw
    And the third is here…
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hxnkLLF0oA
    I hope this helps you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Michelle or Jackie,
    Thank you for the help, I e-mailed Kathy and she is quite busy now so I don't have much choice in this matter so I am turning to you. I really am trying very hard to make this album but seeing as I am a visual crafter I can't comprehend
    the binding in this album. And though I have desperately been working hard to do it myself. Alas I am in need of help.I looked high
    and low could not find ya'lls e-mail as not to make myself look more stupid for the whole world to see.Please any help you send me would mean the world to me.
    Thank ya'll
    "Happy Crafting"

    ReplyDelete
  8. MissDinTexas…The paper bag pages are connected with a piece of patterned paper that covers the small pocket created with the paper bag on the left, has a gusset, and connects to the paper bag on the right. That is the extent of the binding. The very first paper bag page assembly attaches to the front cover in the same fashion, and the back page to the back cover. The actual spine of the book is not attached to the pages at all, it is only attached to the covers on the outside of the book. I used eyelets threaded with ribbon for that in the first book in this post. In the tutorial part that I posted this piece of paper that connects all of the pages and the pages to the cover I called a connector piece. I hope that helps.

    ReplyDelete
  9. MissDinTexas: There are actually 12 videos in her YouTube series on how to make this album. She goes through everything from start to finish including decorating. Feb 6, 2011 through Feb 26, 2011.
    Good Luck!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Michelle or Jackie,
    Thank you so very much for your
    help.Your explanation does help.
    But like I said,I am a visual crafter. If I don't see you do it first then I am hopelessly lost. I sure hope you do a video tutorial
    on YouTube in the near future. As for now well I have successfully jacked up 5 mini's trying to copy yours(with a few of my own spins on it) So I think I'll just take your advice and follow one of the links you provided and do one I can see being done.
    But I am thankful for ALL your help. From the bottom of my southern Texas heart...
    Thank you,
    MissDinTexas
    "Happy Crafting"

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you so much for the tutorial, truly inspiring

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you so much for the tutorial, truly inspiring, wonderful work

    ReplyDelete
  13. Found one of your minis on Pinterest...just had to take a closer look, and I'm so glad I did. Love your photo tutorial! Thanks for making your measurements so easy to read. I'm off to play with paper!

    ReplyDelete
  14. thanks for the tutorial, this was just what I was looking for to make an album for my grand-daughter (little) to have to look at some pictures nanny took of her, thanks again, very easy to follow

    ReplyDelete