Coupon Organizer Tutorial

I needed one of these coupon organizers, so I thought I would break out some scraps and make one!  It is just another accordion type book, but just in case you aren't familiar with how to make one, here it goes.

 I gathered my Bazzill envelopes, some chipboard, and my scraps from this paper pack.

 I sealed the envelopes, then cut a sliver off of the end.

 I put a strip of score tape down the middle, and stacked them.

I adhered 12 of them together.  They are big, measuring 7 1/4" x 5".

 I cut the chipboard back and front at 7 1/2" by 5 1/2".

 I covered the outside pieces of the chipboard, then got an eyelet and the elastic closure.  I love these, and I am almost out of them...MUST REORDER!

 I punched the hole, set the eyelet, and put the closure through the back piece of the chipboard.

 I covered the inside of the chipboard next, covering the closure ends.

 I adhered the envelopes inside the covers using the same method as adhering the envelopes to each other.

 Open...A nice big coupon book!

Since I didn't put a bottom on this book, it can open pretty wide!  This definitely wouldn't work for an extreme couponer...but it works for me!

Stay Crafty, My Friends!

The Diagonal Pocket Page Tutorial

Hi, all!  On my last post, I showed you the mini album I made for the Just a Few Friends Stars and Stripes Blog Hop.  I promised you a tutorial on how I came up with the pages, and here it is.  It is super simple, and very versatile.  I hope it makes sense to you all, if you have any questions, please let me know.

 The pages are 4 1/4" square, and each page created 4 pockets.

 I started with a 12x12" paper and folded it into a triangle.

 I found the middle of the triangle, at the fold, and folded the corners into that point.

 Then I cut the top of the triangle off.  This is the base of all of the pages I made for this mini  It creates 4 pockets when all folded up.  I folded it down the middle, burnishing well.

 You can fold the diagonal pocket to the outside of the base page, or to the inside.

 I am using an orange paper to show how I added pieces to create many different pages.  On this one, with the diagonal pocket to the outside of the page, I adhered it to the back side of the diagonal, creating this pocket...

 ...and creating this page to open.

 Here is another view of this.

 You can add the extra piece of card stock to the other side of the diagonal pocket as well.

 You can add the card stock, then fold them to the inside of the page...

 ...which gives you this.

 You can add flaps to the inside pockets to create flaps.

 I tried this by just keeping the triangular pieces that I cut off attached, and folding them down, but it was way too bulky for the page.

This just shows a flap on the outside of the page (the diagonal pockets folded to the inside of the page.

There are many more combinations you could come up with, these are just a few.  To bind my book I did this...

I used 5 pages total, and used the pamphlet stitch to bind them to a spine piece of chipboard covered with patterned paper.  I had 1/2" of space between each page, and in front of and in back of the first and last pages.  So, I had a 3" spine.  It made for a fat little book, but the space was necessary if you want to use bulky embellishments.

I hope this all made sense!
Stay Crafty, My Friends!!!

Happy Stars and Stripes Blog Hop!!

Welcome, EVERYONE!  This is my first blog hop as an official member, one of the newest Cubs, of the JUST A FEW FRIENDS PRIDE!!!  WOOOO HOOOOOO!!!

I am joining Elsa and all of the other awesomely talented folks from Just A Few Friends with this 4th of July Spectacular!  I hope that you all have enjoyed pouncing all through this blog hop.  You should have reached me after seeing what RJ came up with, but incase you are out of order,  you should have started with Elsa, and have come to me from RJ's site, here.  

For this hop, the theme was stars and stripes.  I was feeling super patriotic, and came up with three projects, I couldn't stop.  You will see...I went a little crazy!

 For a mini warm up project, I made a bunting for my fireplace.  I punched the red and blue "doilies" with a Fiskars and Martha Stewart punch, and used paper doilies as well.  I also used up a bunch of star brads that I have been hoarding for some time now.

 This is Herbert, my 3 foot tall gnome that sits in my front yard and guards the house.  He loves to dress up for the holidays, so  created this hat out of paper for him!  I used my Cricut to cut the stars for his hat!  He is STYLIN!!!

 This is the MAIN ATTRACTION!!!!!  I made this mini album for the hop, and I love, LOVE, LOVE how it turned out.  I created a cute little page fold, and I will do a tutorial on how I made it in a post in the near future.  The album pages are 4 1/4" x 4 1/2", the covers are a little bit bigger, and the spine is 3" wide!  I used a metal star plant poke for the cover, putting some streamers on it to resemble fireworks.  The title of the book is "Having a Blast".

 The spine is made of ribbons and lace and the flower ribbon that I was hoarding.   I added blue roses and the pinwheel that I attached with a Tim Holtz photo pin, and then I created little fireworks with leftover scraps and some twine!

 The closure is a simple ribbon and a hitch post.  I had everything in my stash except for the metal star!

 There are stars and stripes all over the place!  I made 5 "pages", and each page holds at least 4 tags.

 Some of the mats I punched fancy, some I just rounded corners.

 The two large tags in each page I thought of like Polaroids, so I left the bottoms to write on.  The tags are double sided.

I created the little pinwheels for the tag pulls.

 The pages are sewn in with a pamphlet stitch.

 The pages are spaced 1/2" apart to allow for the embellishments and pictures.

 More of my little fireworks.

 I had to add a butterfly!

 Almost there, I packed a lot into this little book!

Last page!  I really loved how this turned out, and I hope you did too.  It was a blast to make (yes, PUN INTENDED!)  Now, pounce on over to my fellow cub Sherence's blog and see what she has prepared for you to feast your eyes on!  Thanks for prowling on over here to my blog!  I am full of PRIDE!!!  (Can you hear the roars from us all??!!)

Stay Crafty, My Friends!

If you got lost, or found this by happenstance, here is the lineup for this hop (or pounce!) so start with Elsa, and see what we all have for you!

Elsa http://justafewdesigns.blogspot.com/
Krystal http://krystalsnight.blogspot.com/
Kimi http://uniquescrappiness.blogspot.com/
Suzie http://scrappingsuzieqtt.blogspot.com/
Linda http://simpleandsassycreations.blogspot.com/
Margaret http://auntmargaretdesigns.blogspot.com/
Bon http://tootiebeeblebugcreations.blogspot.com/
Rj http://thriftycrafterdude.blogspot.com/
Michelle http://www.creativeoperation.blogspot.com/
Sherence http://proudmommy702.blogspot.com/