Recycled Envelope Tag Book, My New Version! Part 1

This is the book we are going to be making.  I am dividing this into three tutorials, over the next three days.  I was inspired by the tag/pocket books out there using envelopes to create the side pockets.  I have come up with a new way to make these, creating three pockets for every envelope you use.  Jackie and I are going to the Creative Keepsakes convention this coming November, and we needed an album to fill with pictures of our adventure, and this little gem is what I came up with.  So, let's get started. 

First you need a big envelope...the brochure kind.  I get these from my insurance company.  They measure about 9 1/2" x 6".  You could also go to the office store and by them this size, but I wanted to be green and recycle what I had.  I took care when opening the mail, so that I could reseal the envelopes. 

So, seal your envelopes and fold them in the middle.  The two pictures above show how to fold them.  This is how your page will lie, so that you have the orientation correct.  The fold is the bottom of the page, the sealed side is the right, the left side of the now folded envelope with be the binding edge.

 Now, measure 1" in on the corners of the envelope as shown.  Cut these corners off.  Then, slice of just a sliver of the top edge.

I showed this step with the envelope open, but you don't have to do it this way.  Just fold down the flaps as shown, and adhere them to the "page" of your envelope.  Then turn your envelope over, apply adhesive to the tag part only, and adhere.

This is what it should look like now.  The pockets are created.  One in the middle, and one will be on each side of your page.  I made six of these pages, and my envelopes were not all the same, but they were all big.  It created some more interest in the book, as the pages were a little different in size, but you can certainly use the same size envelopes for this project.

Tomorrow, part deux!

Post Mother's Day Posting!

This is an Artist Tray by 7 Gypsies that I decorated for my mom for Mother's Day.  The papers were mostly from Making Memories, from their Vintage Findings line.  I loved that line, and my local stores don't carry it anymore!  I also had some old papers from the Life's Journey line by K & Co., and some others that I am not sure what they were.  I made the flowers in the top and bottom of the tray using my Cricut/Gypsy.  I used 3D foam dots and chalk inks to give a lot of the elements some dimension.

The cast of characters in this lovely tray, from top to bottom, left to right...my son-in-law Jeremy, with my daughter, Beth; my grandson, Cooper; my future daughter-in-law Sarah, with my son, Neil; my son Jake; and my wonderful husband, DJ and myself.

Stay crafty, my friends!

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Here is #4 in our series.  I made this for my husband's mother, Lillian.  She lives in Iowa and a mini album is the perfect gift.  I used a Bazzill Accordion Album and DCWV papers, "Indian Summer."  There are pictures on the back of the accordion as well.  If you look at the bottom picture, that is my and the love of my life, Darrell!  The butterfly and the flower on the cover I made using my Gypsy/Cricut.  The flower tutorial can be found here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCjUhuFKjOs

Thanks for looking!  I hope you all have the most wonderful Mother's Day!

Stay crafty, my friends!
Michelle

Mothers Day Card 3

#3, This is the card project I started on National Scrapbook Day! Hope Mom likes it!

Mothers Day Cards 2

#2 in our series of Mother's Day Cards! A Vintage photo & the ever so great Tim Holtz stamps were used.
Make sure to check out our Creative Gallery link on the upper left of the page for other great postings!

Mothers Day Cards 1

In honor of all Mama's we will be posting a series of Mother's Day cards over the next few day's. Hope you enjoy them!

Triple Fold Paper Bag Mini Album

Well, here it is, my first try at posting a tutorial on the blog! I created this type of paper bag book, and I hope that you like it. I love how it turned out! The binding idea came from Laura at http://followingthepapertrail.blogspot.com/. The flowers are made following the Tim Holtz tutorial, but I don't have the Sizzix die he uses, so I used my Cricut to cut out flowers using the Plantin SchoolBook Cartridge. The papers used are from Cloud 9, and the stickers are from 7 Gypsies.

These are the basic supplies needed:

4 paper bags, SIZE MAY VARY, so take MY measurements as an example!
Adhesive (ATG, glue stick, etc)
Paper cutter, scissors, hole punch OR Bind-It-All
Ruler, bone folder
Ink for edges of paper
Eyelets and binding rings OR O-wires for binding
Patterned papers of choice
Cardstock for binding
Embellishments of choice

My bags were 7”x 13 3/4”. Your bag size may vary, it doesn’t really matter what size they are. Fold your bag in thirds, with the bottom of the bag being on the top, which is really opposite from what you naturally want to do. Crease well with your bone folder.


Open the bag and trim the opening of the bag to give your some space between the opening and the fold. I trimmed off 1/2” so that when I folded the bag in thirds, there is about 1/2” of space between the open end of the bag and the fold, as shown in the third picture above. So the final size of my bags because 7” by 13 1/4”. Do this will all of your bags.

Take your cardstock and create four pieces 1” smaller than the width of your book, and 3” wide, score at the 1 1 /2” mark. This will be the binding edge of your book.


With your bag in front of you, lift up the left side, under the bottom of the bag will be a small fold. This is where the binding will be placed. Fold your cardstock so that it is double thickness, and adhere in this space to each side of your “page” in this fold area. I did it so that about 1/2” of cardstock was left sticking out of the “page”. Once adhered your page should look like the picture above. Do this for all your pages. Ink all edges if desired.

Now is the time to decide on the binding. Punch the appropriate holes into the cardstock binding pieces. Set the eyelets if desired. It is best to bind the project after you have completed placing all of your papers and embellishments.


For my book...each bag is one “page”. Each “page” has 6 sections. For my bags measurements, I needed:

4 pieces of patterned paper measuring 4 1/4” x 6 3/4”...and
2 pieces of patterned paper measuring 3 3/4” x 6 3/4”.

The smaller size papers were for the right section of the “page” where the bag opening is. MEASURE YOUR BAGS BEFORE CUTTING YOUR PAPER!!!!!


For my book...

The opening of the bag, which is the right sided section of the “page”, has a tag placed. You will need one tag for each of these, so I had four pieces of paper measuring 6 3/4” x 4”.
MEASURE YOUR RIGHT SECTION OF YOUR “PAGE” BEFORE CUTTING YOUR PAPER!!!!!


The inside of my “page, with the left section in the gray paper, the middle in the monochromatic rose paper and the right section with the multi-colored paper.

I punched a half circle in the opening of the bag to aid in the removal of the tag inside of the book.

I sewed a line of straight stitch on my sewing machine at this crease also, to prevent movement of the tag through to the inside of the bag “page”. This is optional.

Now, decorate, add pictures and bind, and you have a Triple Fold Paper Bag Mini Album! See our Creative Gallery for more pictures of the book!

Stay crafty, my friends!

Scalloped Flowers

I made these a couple of days ago. I am learning to use the Gypsy! I love this thing. I was able to create these scallop flowers, with 6 layers, all on one sheet of double sided cardstock. I used Plantin Schoolbook, created 6 scallop flowers from 2 1/2" to 1 1/4". I crumpled them, inked edges, put a brad in the middle, recrumpled, and viola...4 scallop flowers! Since it was double sided paper, I was able to get 4 looks with one sheet of paper!

Stay crafty, my friends,
Michelle

National Scrapbook Day

Today is National Scrapbook Day!!! What will your project be? I have decided to start on my Mother's Day Card project...

Crocheted 5 Petal Flowers

Michelle made these great handmade embellishments to add to your projects.

Look how much texture & dimension the card has! They would look great on a layout too!

Here are the directions, give it a try!

Supplies: Baby yarn, E hook, tapestry needle, scissors, button.

~Chain 4, treble crochet into the first chain, treble crochet again, chain 3, slip stitch into first chain...first petal made.

~Chain 3, treble crochet into the first petal's base, treble crochet, chain 3, slip stitch into first petal's base...second petal made.

~Repeat the process for the second petal three more times.

~Fasten off, leaving a 6" tail.

~ Weave in the tail at the beginning of the flower.

~ Take the 6" tail and sew the button to the center of the flower.

A Creative Card

Cute little any occasion card!

Popcorn Pocket Card

For this project Michelle used her Cricut to recreate the super cute pocket card created by Cindy McVey. She used the Cricut, Gypsy, and the Cartridges: Fabulous Finds, Graphically Speaking, Plantin School Book, and Tags, Bags, Boxes and More. If you would like to watch Cindy's video on how she made her card, visit =
www.tuesdaytreats.com/2010/03/tasty-tuesday-treat-popcorn.html

Cupcake Cards

We created a variety of Birthday cards using a Cupcake stamp set by Inkadinkado! Click on any photo to enlarge detail.
We used Liquid Applique to create the look of chocolate frosting!

A little pink & yellow Stickles glitter glue was added to the cupcake wrappers for a little sparkle!

Embossed Brads

This is a great idea to make absolutely ANY brad unique! Grab some embossing ink, your favorite embossing powder, add a little heat and WOW! A one of a kind custom made brad perfectly matched for your project!

Michelle used her embossed brad to beautify her hand made tissue paper flowers!

Cute ways to get Organized

I found these cute baskets in a variety store in Enterprise Oregon, I couldn't resist.

They are about the size of strawberry baskets

This great display rack was in a Antique store on the coast. I thought it would hold pens nicely!

Never Lose your Tag Book, Tutorial

Do you love to make books with lots of tags, but you are always losing them? Well check out this great new project by Michelle. In this tutorial you will make a great book in which the tags slide out but are permanently attached! Just click on the link below to see the complete instructions.

Have fun!

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=478674

Scrapbook in a Purse

I recreated Becky Jensen's version here using Basic Grey's new line Kioshi. You can view Becky's purse & other great ideas from her Stampin'Up! Blog at http://www.stampthat.com/ click on any image to enlarge.

I used BG's Pieces Pack & Bloomers, great transpariences & felted flowers.

Behind the first & last page there is hidden mini pages!