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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Scrappy Father's Day!

I have been sooo busy the past couple of weeks, no time for crafts or blogging! Today I had some time to finally make a Father's Day card. I made it with the guidelines for the H2H challenge this week, "Scrappy of a Different Sort", we are supposed to use up scraps. All of these papers were in my scrap box except for the card base. It's raining and dreary out, so the lighting was very poor for the photo, the colors are much richer in real life.


Recipe:
all product CTMH
Cardstock in Colonial White, Cocoa, Garden Green
Inks in Cocoa and Barn Red
Pattern Paper from Passages Level 2 Paper Pack
Stamps D1067 Raccoon and Friends, D1288 June Word Puzzle(retired)
Pewter brads
Hemp twine
3D foam tape to pop up the stamped image

also used a scrap of brown paper bag, crumpled and inked as the background mat.

Thanks for visiting my blog!
Lorrinda

Friday, June 4, 2010

A card they're sure to keep! (and a tutorial)

Ever wonder what happens to the cards you give? After they ooh and aah, and say thank you for the handmade card?  If they're crafters like us, they display them for a while , then maybe put them in a box. If they're not crafty, the card we slaved over may even end up in the (gasp) garbage. (Just being honest here, not everyone keeps everything like we do).

And that's OK with me.

Really.

But for those really special birthdays, you know which ones I mean...the ones with a 0 on the end?
The ones that celebrate our 'experience'?
Those birthdays require more than 'just a card', those ones deserve some thought and reflection. 
I am reflecting here because my little sister is turning 40 next week.  My younger sister.  When the hell did that happen? She's just a kid!  That makes me.....oh crap, never mind. Back to my post...

This card/book requires a little bit of research. You may even need to take a few notes, but I promise it is worth it for the reaction you'll get when they open this one. THIS card gets passed around for everyone to read. THIS card won't end up in the gabage. THIS card gets displayed in the family room.  THIS card will get passed around the room at their retirement party. THIS card takes some time to make, so you may want to save it for someone you REALLY like.




You can click on the pictures below to get a larger detailed view if you want to read the text.







I have made a few of these now, and have had several requests for instructions. Since I couldn't share my little basket template with you earlier this week, I decided to do up a tutorial for you! 
Read on if you're interested:

Warning, this first part is boring. Reminded me of school...hang in there, the creative part is up next!
First you need to do a bit of research to get the events of the year we are celebrating. In this case, my sister was born in 1970.  Some great sites are wikipedia and the people's history,  you may want to take some notes.

Then you need to compile your info into tidy little topics. For this card I chose astrology, economy, politics, science and technology, entertainment highlights, popular tv shows, movies and music, and famous people born in the same year. Other topics could be sports highlights, nobel prize winners, world events...whatever you want! Don't let me lose you here, those site links I gave you have all the info rather sorted for you already. It's really not that much work.

I organized these for printing using PrintShop 2, but Word would probably work too. Place 4 equal text boxes on your page, and place your info into these boxes. I needed 3 pages to contain all of mine. Don't forget to spell check! You don't want to find a typo after you've glued a piece down. Don't ask me how I know, just trust me. I saved mine into a file so I can find them again. (You never know when you may need this info again!) Then print them out and they should look roughly like this:




Now for the creative part! (if I haven't already lost you back at research)
You will need coordinating papers. I used CTMH papers from the Veranda Level 2 kit. I love these CTMH kits, perfectly coordinated colors, all the time. No guesswork. And they tell us which inks match. Almost makes it too easy!

I used:
2 colors of cardstock...A cut 2:  5 1/2 x 7"
                                   B cut 3:  5 1/2 x 7"
3 coordinating patterned papers...cut 3 of each:  4 1/2 x 6"


Now, ink up all the edges for a nice distressed look. This card represents the 70's after all, that was DECADES ago! On the patterned papers you only need to ink up the front, but for the cs I suggest inking both sides since they will be visible front and back.



Score the all cs pieces at 1/2 inch along one long side to create an edge for binding. This is so the pages open easily, and lie nice and flat when open. You don't need a scoring board for this, I just use my bone folder in the track of my paper trimmer instead of the blade.



Now use up some of those patterned paper scraps to make tabs.
You'll need 5. I used a tab punch, but you can use circles or even paper strips.
Whatever strikes your fancy.


Organize the pages for your book in the order you want them. Now line up those tabs evenly along the cs pages before you glue them on. These tabs fit perfectly. I planned it that way...not. Sometimes I just luck out!
 FYI, the tabs are 1 3/8" wide at the base.
WHO's puffy fingers are THOSE?


Once you have all your cs pages tabbed, it's time to trim the text blocks we made earlier. I rough cut the pages into 4 blocks, then trimmed them to measure 4 x 5 1/2 "
Now distress them too, and stamp a pattern on them if you want.



Now, adhere the text boxes to the patterned paper
in whatever order you prefer.
There are those bloated fingers again! How do they keep sneaking into MY pictures? I wish she would get a manicure like those crafty ladies on youtube...they look so pretty...



Then adhere the patterned layered peices onto the cardstock pages. It will look best if you center the mat between the score line and the opposite edge of the paper.

When all the pages are done, it's time to embellish!
Note: if using brads or anything that may show through the back, you may want to embellish the patterned pieces before you stick them down onto the cs to hide the hardware. Maybe I should have mentioned this with the last photo. Sorry!
Here's a tip if you stuck something down prematurely (or crookedly!) and need to get it off without tearing your paper, use waxed dental floss! It really works, even with my Scotch ATG gun. Just slide a long piece of floss between the corner of the pages stuck together. and work it back and forth through to the opposite side. (I'm a paid dental professional, trust me, floss fixes everything!!! It's my duct tape)

I used flowers, fancy brads, half pearls, coiled wire thingies, and antique looking hinges, all from CTMH.  
To bind the edge, I used the pewter hinges. But you could use a cropadile to punch holes and attach eyelets to the first and last pages and tie a ribbon through. Use whatever you want!
At the end of this post are some other examples of Birthday Yearbook Cards that I have done differently.

This tutorial is just a simple guideline, and is easy to alter in any way you want! Change the sizes, use more or less pages, there's no wrong way here.


Now you may want a pretty way to package this up, since it won't fit into an ordinary envelope. I have used padded envelopes in the past, but this time I thought I'd make a custom box. Here's how I make mine:

That sticky note says: measure the item you want to put into the box. Determine the length and the width. I made mine bigger so I could include a half-fold letter. My measurements here are 8 1/2" x 6 1/4".
 Now determine how deep you need your box to be. For this card I made it 1/2 inch deep. Add that 1/2 inch to all 4 sides, the math on this one made it 8.5+0.5+0.5  x 6.25+0.5+0.5 = 9 1/2" x 7 1/4".

Cut 2 pieces of cs this size (9 1/2 x 7 1/4"), one for the bottom and one for the top.
Now, score the 1st piece at 1/2 inch on all 4 sides. Score the 2nd one at just a hair less than 1/2 inch on all 4 sides. This is to be the top, and needs to be just a hair bigger then the bottom so it goes on and off easily.

Snip in with your scissors on the corners as shown in the photo to make the tabs to be folded in, assemble your box halves by using adhesive on the tabs. Check to make sure they fit together.

Did I lose you there? Just try it, all gift boxes are basically the same construction.
Feel free to decorate the top!

I also cut little slots into the sides to make opening easier, used a small circle punch:


Now package up your creation!


Happy Birthday Teri!
(Her birthday is on June11, so I better get this in the mail!)
I can post this now because she's out of the country...her hubby surprised her with a trip to Europe for her birthday, isn't he sweet?  I'm pretty sure she won't be lurking on the internet while she's vacationing in Europe (without their kids ;)

Here are some other Birthday Yearbooks I have made in the past.
I know I made more, but I forgot to take pictures of some of them. Let this be a lesson, take pictures of everything, you never know when you'll need them...

 




 

These may seem like alot of work, but you only have to make them once. Birth years don't change! Eventually everyone in my family will have one.
I hope I didn't bore you with this very long tutorial!

Thanks for visiting my blog,
Lorrinda

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

H2H #9 Let's Get Sketchy




This week's challenge at H2H is a sketch challenge.

Here's the sketch:












Here's my take:


Recipe:
All CTMH
My Acrylix Stamp D1409 Flowerpot
X7117B Grace Level 2 Paper pack
Inks: Twilight, Barn Red, Cocoa, Garden Green, Honey
Z1099 Twill Ribbon

Shutters and flowers popped up on 3D dots.

Check out H2H to play along this week!

Thanks for visiting my blog,
Lorrinda

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Life is like a box of...cherries!

Kim over at P3 has come up with a fabulous new challenge for June!

The challenge....make a treat container!

The rest of the design team has come up with their usual fantastically talented submissions, pop on over to Paper Cubed to check them out! If you click on the links, you'll go directly to their blogs...be sure to leave them each a comment!  Who knew treats could be so cute?

Here's what I was inspired to make.  I chose a picnic basket, because what's a better treat than a summer picnic?

I'm on a bit of a cherry kick, and I just love this paper! It's a new paper pack from CTMH called Cherry-O. I used a picnic basket template and layered it with cs and dp from the Cherry-O collection. The tag was cut on my Cricut using the Tags, Bags, and Boxes cartridge. I used chocolate embroidery floss for the stems and a cool dome shaped red bead for the cherries. See the lacy border around the top of the basket? I threaded cranberry velvet ribbon through the scrap of eyelet lace to make this cute accent.


I had so much fun I made two, here is another little picnic basket shown beside the original one to show the difference in size:


Why did I make two? Because they are so easy to make and because treats come in different sizes! Here they are open so you can see what I put inside:


Don't ya love the cherry tissue paper?
It's just plain old tissue paper(and by old I mean reused) random stamped with cherries to make it new again! These baskets are super cute without the tissue paper, but doesn't it just add something special?


Before you all start emailing me for the template for this adorable picnic basket, I must apologize for not being able to share, I wish I could...but, it is a copyrighted template and I don't want the blog police after me.  It is the "Pack a Picnic" template from PTI's My Timeless Templates. Yes, I (gasp) purchased it. But, I think it was worth it, they're easy to make and just look at them! How cute can you get?

But, since I love you all, I will share this... you can go HERE to get the Pack a Picnic template for your very own! OR....you can play along with us at Paper Cubed this month, for a chance to win a gift certificate to get some of these templates!

RECIPE:
All product available online from my CTMH site:
Exclusive Inks in Chocolate, Sweet Leaf, Tulip
Cardstock in White Daisy, Crystal Blue, Chocolate, Sweet Leaf, Tulip
Embroidery Floss in Chocolate and Tulip
My Acrylix Stamps: C1409 Beary Busy ,  
                               B1306 Cottage Floral ,  
                               B1351 You're Sweet

Other products used:
Pack a Picnic template by Lauren Meador for PTI My Timeless Templates
MS Scallop Border punch
Red bubble beads on the tag are from my daughter's bead drawer
White eyelet lace is a scrap from my ribbon bin
White, Blue and Green tissue paper is recylcled from my gift wrap box (Yeah, I never throw anything away)
Cherry muffins by moi (that's the only French I know)
Chocolate Cherry candy (my hubby's FAVE) by Hershey Canada Inc.

Please join us at P3 and play along by entering your treat container in our June challenge! I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Thanks for visiting my blog!
Lorrinda

Stay tuned...

Today is the day P3 will release the new June challenge. I've been waiting patiently to post my DT submission, but I think I should wait until Kim at P3 posts all of our designs.

I am off on a field trip with my son's Grade 3 class. We are going on a train excursion in Stettler, AB on board a fully restored antique passenger train. Should be fun! (He's such a train nut, he's been waiting for this field trip since his sister went on it 2 years ago) I'll post pics later.

Anyhoo, I won't be near my computer today, so I'll be sure to post my P3 design later this evening. Please check back!

Lorrinda