Card Swap

I participated in a card swap last week and made 6 easel cards.  It was to be a swap of Unique Folds. One of my favorite Sizzix dies is the Fan die....just LOVE it! 

I had extra Pink Paislee paper that was a pretty teal on one side and a pale yellow on the other and I also cut a doily and glued it only on the sides and bottom. Between the back and the doily I made a little tag for a personal note or just a signature for the person who ends up sending it.

I used my Sizzlet leaves die and a couple other flowers and lightly misted the edge of the doily in a Close To My Heart Cotton Candy Ink pad.  I also edged the card in that ink.

The hostess was happy with the cards so I was delighted.

Fall Banner and Decor

I created an Autumn banner this week and had the best time!  Started with Large Tags out of heavy chipboard and used my little Silhouette cutter to cut out A U T U M N, leaves and segmented globes/balls.  I added glitter for sparkle on the leaves and tied the banner up with jute and the balls with orangey twine.

I pulled my grandmother's old treadle machine out in front of the fireplace....we are running our AC as Fall is only a HOPE in mid-September. Hubby found the leaves I cut last year to lay on the Thanksgiving buffet and table and he distributed them on the machine and arranged things.  I love when he does this, it's so 'us', 'ours' and looking back over the photos is always fun.

And, I wanted to show the banner off to my PEEPS tomorrow when the 4 of us go on a Cropping field trip.

Fall is so fun!

Enjoy your Fall!!

SUPER Simple Note Book EZ Tutorial

What do Danish Wedding Cookies have to do with a FUN Home-Made note book? 

Take a look...

The Closure uses the closure on top of the box.....

It holds together very well! One side of the closure goes on the cover.

The other side of the closure goes on the back.

In a Nut-Shell, here is how I did it....but, experiment and you can make it almost any size!  My last notebook was from a TacoBell box and was about 8 inches long and 6 inches tall.

Cut to a size that will slip into your purse, bag, etc.  The one above is approx 5x5 inches. Be sure to leave enough room for your binding and closure so they don't cover up the design.

Look at the IN and OUT tabs that form the Closure.  Mine is cut 5 inches by 1.5 inches.  It is the INy tab and will align with the edge of the notebook.  I used my ATG to run a single strip twice along the straight side and did the same with each edge.  This left the inside of the tab for the OUTy tab to slip inside it and hold well.

The Outy tab on mine is cut at approx. 2.5 inches x 5 inches. Then make a cut .5 inch from the back strip and in .5 inch.  You will now have a single slice and use that as a guide to cut all the way to the other edge of the strip.  What you have is a strip .5 inch wide that you will double tape to the outside back of the notebook along the opening edge.  AND from there protrudes the rest of the Outy closure that you will score every .25 inch, more or less to your liking.  Now the TAB of your back OUTy will slide into your front  INy once the book is closed.

My TacoBell notebook has dividers made of Coke and DrPepper boxes and I used a variety of papers.  The papers were: Tracking paper, drawing/sketching paper, notebook paper and some pastel copy paper.  You can also cut Mixed Media paper wish will give you a few more options depending on your life-style and where your inspiration comes from.

For this notebook, it is simple pastel copy papers hastily cut at 5x5.  NOW....when next I do this, I'll cut the paper 4x5 and it will not protrude beyond the edge of the covers.  But that is up to you....and also, you may want more papers, a variety of paper, or less, again, up to you.  You can make LOTS of these so have fun and don't lock yourself into perfection.  You will want to make more so you will have plenty of situations to experiment with as time goes on.

Once you have your papers cut out, determine the size rings you want to use.  I had small ones last time and larger ones this time....3rd time's the charm, right?  Pull out your Bind-It-All or Cinch and punch your holes, put your binding wires in and you have a notebook!

If this is clear as mud, leave a comment and I will try to clarify.

I just send Hubby to the store with a list I wrote on a page in my notebook.  My list for JoAnn's is in there, my packing list for a crop is in there. AND, a Christmas idea list is in there. Instructions for a new album is in there and all this is in my purse when I go out.

I hope you will make one for yourself and more to share with friends.  Ok, imagine the cover decorated instead of a cookie box.  LOTS of ideas will start flooding your mind when you make one!

Enjoy!
Melissa

Guest Designer Martica!

I am so honored to present this month's Designer!  She is marvelously talented and flexible in her approach, no matter what she does the results are AMAZING!

A little background....I asked her to take my sewing machine album, put her artistic talents to work.  I sent her a mixed bag of stuff with the instructions to use ANY or NONE of it.

I love her work, her sweet spirit, her kind nature and ANYthing she makes!

I'm thrilled to Introduce: Martica!

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Hi my name is Martica I have been happily married for 31 years and have 2 adult sons and one grandson. I live in sunny Florida and enjoy the beach and bike riding with hubby. I have always been creating since I was a child from drawing to crochet and cross stitching. I started with different mediums but when I tried scrapbooking in 1982 I did it because my 1st son was born and took 100's of pictures that I had no idea what to do with them. I used colored pencils and drew my own designs in album. I continued scrapbooking when my 2nd son was born but I stopped a few years later. Then my grandson was born in 2005 and I decided to start the hobby again I was so surprised to see what awesome stuff was out there for scrapbooking that I dove in heads first. I have not stopped since. I started out doing layouts, then creating mini albums and now I also alter and do mixed media.
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AND, Martica altered a cigar box for the Sewing Machine Album....here is a sneak peak:

Beautiful work!!

Thank you Martica!

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More from Martica:

My favorite style is shabby chic, vintage and victorien but I do enjoy trying different styles and ideas. Usually a paperline or a particular color/s inspire me to create. I can be watching t.v. and suddenly an idea will pop into my head and I would drop everything and start creating. When I start I have a general idea of what I want to do, then as I go along ideas will come to me and I continue creating.

I want to thank Melissa for inviting me to be a guest designer, I am very honored. She is a very talented artist so when she asked me I could not believe it. She designed a cool vintage sewing machine chipboard album that is awesome. I had to give it a try, it was so much fun to alter. It brought back memories of when my mother would sew for my sisters and I in the 60's. I went and did a retro theme style on album. I added lots of tags, buttons, trims, ribbon and even a little fabric, some which were included in kit that Melissa sent me. I then decided to add a (cigar box) to stand album on, that you have got to see. I will be posting pictures in my blog, marticadesigns.blogspot.com and a video in my YT channel soon. Thanks again Melissa and thanks to everyone for visiting..

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 Don't you LOVE her style?!?

Be sure to drop by her lovely blog: marticadesigns.blogspot.com

And, Click here for Martica's YouTube channel where she will be posting the sewing machine album and her Altered Cigar Box.

And if you would like to purchase the Sewing Machine Album leave a comment or go to my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/104104290/bare-raw-chipboard-sewing-machine-mini

My new Mini Album design

For the last several months I've been working on a fresh idea for scrapbooking.  Mini Albums.  Not teeny minis but smaller in size than the traditional 12 x 12 inches.  And fewer pages.

Doesn't sound like a great idea but I know I'm not the only one out there who ends up with a few photos of an event or certain people.  For me, it is my Grandmother.  I have 6 maybe 7 photos of her and I want to pull her into Center Stage and make a big impact with these few photos!  The memories are wonderful and I look around my home and see her furniture and remember so much that I simply can not put her on a 4 page lay-out stuck in an album on a shelf. She deserves better.

Her essences is so important!  So, after looking and searching so many sites and not finding what I needed, I designed my own!

It is the cutest Chipboard Mini-Album!  It's sweet, shabby chic and VINTAGE!!  And I have some new things to add to the kit to make it SEW special! AND, if I need more pages for journaling memories, they are easy to cut out and put in the binder rings.

I bought Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden paper and began designing.  Pinks, blues, whites with text, cursive writing, postmarks and ephemera.  Then I made a kit!  Some of us like kits to guide us and some just want a blank album or the album and the Butterfly Garden paper already cut.  Either way, I'll get you what you are looking for!

And, what is UBER exciting is my very favorite You Tuber is going to take the album and finish it HER WAY!  I can't wait to see it AND she is going to be right here in August/September to show us her fabulous work and inspire us.  I'll post more about it later....I can hardly wait!

Stay cool,
Melissa

Tis the Season for Poinsettias

A Chipboard Mini Scrapbook Album + My Mind's Eye with a little Pink Paislee + Velvet Poinsettias + Glimmer, Shimmer, Sparklies and this is what you get:

It's layered to reveal the different pages and add interest.  Lots of room for photos and memories.
I've put it in my Etsy shop here.
Here is the Video!
Cottage Blissings,
Melissa 

Cyber GoofBalls, the Inchie Swap, maybe the Twinchie swap

Here are the items I made for the Inchie swap last year:



Those were my attempt at Zentangles.....I had NO idea Zentangles had actual patterns until Brenda (hugs, sweet friend) told me!  In 2012!










These are the inchies I received in return:



This is one of my mixed media Mermaids made with handmade papers, various paints, fibers and, of course, my favorite go-to: Glitter!



Ugh! Can't seem to locate the Twinchie swap but I did find a swap I started participating in right as Hubby first got sick...I could only do one double page but I like the way it turned out.



In person it was much less jumbled looking...here is the other page


thiscottagebliss.blogspot.com

There are three pull up windows that have little messages....this is under one of the pull ups.




I have learned a lot in these few months since we/hubby came home from the hospital...and I am now focusing my efforts to Scrapbooking and related items.

Thanks for looking!
Melissa