Blogging Business Artisans

Spring is in the air!

Blogging Business Artisans, Challenges, Paper Crafts, Tutorials

Apr 292012

This month, Margaret of Splendid Little Stars challenged fellow Blogging Business Artisans members to “create a project that calls to mind how one or all the senses respond to this new beginning time of year.” What calls to both my visual and olfactory senses is flowers, but unfortunately I can’t grow them for dust! The next best thing, at least for me, is any flower that doesn’t require water to survive—in other words, a handmade representation. If you visit my JN Originals and Mister PenQuin shops on Etsy, you’ll notice that many of my products include floral embellishments. This is no accident. I am on a one-woman mission to replace all of the poor blossoms I have forgotten to water over a lifetime.

That’s enough about my botanical failings, however. The way I decided to meet Margaret’s April challenge was to create floral embellishments I can adhere to the covers of mini books I make. In a previous post, The tutorial that wasn’t, you may recall that my first attempt to meet this challenge didn’t go so well, since I broke my Big Shot® die cutting machine in the process. The fault was entirely my own, of course, since I didn’t follow the manufacturer’s recommended instructions. I ended up, in fact, ordering a replacement Big Shot®. It was an expensive lesson.

The flower I was attempting to emulate (before I broke my die cutting machine) was supposed to look somewhat like the one in the Mini Gratitude Journal shown below. This particular floral embellishment is made by Basic Grey and is called “Bloomers.” (You can click on the any of the photos, by the way, to see the same item in my shop.)

After my Big Shot® die cutting machine replacement arrived, I pulled out my cutting dies once more, this time following the manufacturer’s instructions. I cut out floral shapes from both paper and Creatology™ Foam Sheets that you can buy at Michaels. I layered them, and inserted a Making Memories pebble brad.

I wasn’t finished with my floral experiment, though. What I really wanted to make was a 3-D flower about the same size as Prima Flowers. If you have never seen one of these sparkly little blooms, take a look at this Mini Gratitude Journal that includes one on its cover.

With the help of a video tutorial called Flower Tutorial using distress ink by Creations with Christina, along with a little experimentation and no distress ink at all, I created my own glittery layered flower. Christina’s instructions call for you to cut out two large, two medium and one small floral shape using the Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Florals cutting die. On a larger project, this would probably work well, but I was aiming for a Prisma Flower-sized embellishment. Instead, I cut four medium flowers and one small flower.

I misted the flowers with water until they were quite wet, then crumpled then into tiny balls. Carefully, I opened up each flower, and dried each one with a heat gun. I added a pearl to the center of the small flower first, cupping the petals around the pearl. Next, I layered the remaining flowers, curving them upward a little as I adhered each one. When I was finished, I spray misted the entire flower with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pearl to give it a sparkly effect, then dotted it with Inkssentials™ Glossy Accents dimensional medium before pouring glitter over the entire flower. I tapped off the excess glitter, re-heated the flower with the heat gun to dry it, and affixed it to the Mini Blank Book shown below. What do you think?

I really liked the first flower, but wondered what it might look like in black. It took very little time to create another flower.

Creating these tiny little flowers is quick, easy, and fun. I can see myself customizing each mini book with a different one. The added bonus is that these flowers cost a fraction of the packaged, purchased floral embellishments. What’s your favorite way to make paper flowers?

March BBA Challenge – Turquoise and Red

Blogging Business Artisans, Challenges, Tool Talk

Mar 242012

This month’s Challenge for Blogging Business Artisans, “Turquoise and Red,” offered me the perfect opportunity to make an eReader cover for my Kindle Touch using a pattern from Whistlepig Creek.

Sue Marsh, who is the talented designer behind the Whistlepig Creek name, offers patterns for products that may be made for fun or sold for personal profit. I think it would be a good idea to eventually design my own eReader cover (and to sell ready-to-ship eReader covers in my as yet-empty Dancing Thimble shop on Etsy), but I appreciate being able to practice with a readymade pattern first. At any rate, this eReader project also provided a way for me to incorporate the colors required by this month’s Blogging Business Artisans Challenge. Rose of The Beadings and Buttons of Randomcreative challenged fellow team members as follows:

Your challenge is to create any item with turquoise and red as the primary colors. You can incorporate other colors, too, but turquoise and red must be key components.

I started off by pre-washing and drying red and turquoise fabrics. Although I like the crispness that accompanies store-bought fabrics, in the back of my mind I always think about the fact that anything I sew will eventually need to be washed. Once cotton is washed for the first time, it always shrinks, and I sure would hate for that to happen after I have finished an item! Besides, you can always add crispness to fabric with spray starch. Once my fabrics were washed and dried, I cut out both the fabric and interfacing pieces.

My eReader pattern suggested the use of a craft-weight stabilizer called Peltex 70 that is often used for making bags. While my local fabric stores carry it, it is rather expensive, so I prefer to use a lookalike brand in the same weight from Long Creek Mills that I buy in bulk at wholesale cost. You’ll notice that I used fabric weights instead of pins to place my pattern on the stabilizer, which makes the cutting process fast and easy. If you don’t have fabric weights, you can substitute canned goods.

Next, I sewed corners for my Kindle Touch on the inside right page of the cover. If you baste the corners first, you can adjust them to fit your eReader.

I sewed a folded rectangle to the left inside page of the cover and divided it into 3 pockets. The pockets are the right size for gift cards or credit cards, so if you want to take your eReader to a coffee shop, you can bring along payment for a coffee and snack at the same time.

I pieced together the pieces for the inside of the cover: the left page, the right page, and the flap. You’ll notice a black hook-and-loop tape rectangle on the flap. I always wish this tape came in a greater range of colors, but on the other hand, who is going to see it once the cover is closed?

Before you can add craft-weight stabilizer to the cover, you have to sew the outside of the cover, which consists of two pieces. I added the other half of the hook-and-loop tape to the body of the cover.

The next step calls for you to face together the right sides of the inside and outside halves of the cover, and to stitch them on 3 sides, forming a bag of sorts.

Before you can turn the cover inside out, you need to trim your corners and notch curved edges. If you don’t, your corners will be bulky, and your curves won’t be smooth.

Once you turn your cover inside out, you need to shape the corners and curves, and press the cover as flat as you can. One of my favorite tools to shape corners is a bodkin, since its ends are blunt and unlikely to tear a hole in the fabric. You can use a chopstick or a point turner if you prefer; I just prefer this tool and have it next to my sewing machine all the time.

The pattern calls for you to insert the craft-weight stabilizer at this point, and then do some final detail stitching. One of the steps in the detail stitching includes a vertical line of stitching on either side of the right inside page. If you look closely at the above photo, you’ll see a white soapstone guideline I drew using a handy tool called the Stitch-Along Topstitching Guide. On the reverse side of the clear plastic tool are teeth that grab into the “ditch” created by the stitching line. You can see the tool below. I’ve had it for years, but I suspect it may no longer be sold. A quick and easy alternative is to press half-inch wide tape onto your fabric, stitch just outside the tape edge, and then remove the tape. No marking necessary!

When the detail stitching and final pressing are completed, this is what the inside of the eReader cover looks like. This is an easy project that you can finish in an evening, if your fabric and interfacing pieces are already cut out.

Thank you, Rose, for coming up with the idea for a Turquoise and Red challenge. This challenge gave me the prodding I needed to make a cover for my “naked” eReader!

February BBA Challenge: Month of Love

Blogging Business Artisans, Blogging Business Artisans, Challenges, Uncategorized

Feb 282012

Each month members of the Blogging Business Artisans team on Etsy are challenged to stretch their creativity. This month’s challenge was conceived by Edi of Memories for Life Scrapbooks:

In February we celebrate Valentine’s Day. My challenge to you: Create a love-themed item. You can write a creative love letter, make a valentine, make a love-themed home decor item, etc. Be Creative and Have Fun!

The way in which I chose to implement this challenge was to craft my first-ever hardcover book, a photo journal whose pages consist of modified envelopes, covered with designer card stock cut and folded to form pockets. The theme for this journal, which is a gift for a family member, is “Cherish,” which suggests the relationship between a couple. My German-born mother (now deceased) used to tell us as we were growing up, “People are for cherishing, not for teasing,” so I’m reminded of her with this single word on the cover of the journal.

I learned the techniques for making a hardcover book, creating pocket pages and binding them by watching several YouTube videos, among them the Envelope Mini Album Series (click on the link for the first video) by Kathy Orta of Paper Phenomenon, Stack the Deck Mini Albums by Laura of The Paper Trail, and Robyn’s Scrapbook Mini Album Binding Technique by Robyn of Injoy Stampin’. I blended these techniques, made some mistakes along the way, and adjusted.

The most fun part of the project was making the photo-matted cards. I adhered various patterned paper shapes, collage-style, onto textured card stock, forming a patchwork of colors and patterns. Each photo-matted card was unique, as well as a surprise, since I simply moved the pieces around until they pleased me.

Another part of the photo journal project that I thoroughly enjoyed was designing journaling tags with different topics, such as Favorite eats & treats, How we met, Words we live by, Our house rules, Our recipe for love, Our favorite vacation and We’ll never do that again! Once upon a time I ran a home-based desktop publishing business, developing all of the forms, brochures, newsletters and other designs using Corel® WordPerfect® software. I used the same software to design the journaling tags. You could use Microsoft® Office Word software just as easily; I simply prefer the former program. There were 24 journaling tags by the time I was done, not all of which will fit in the journal. However, I figure that if some of the topics don’t strike a chord with the recipient, others will do the trick . . . or they can simply be used in another journal.

I inserted some of the journaling tags in the book itself, and put the remainder in a gift box I made from patterned card stock. For each half of the box, I decided how big I wanted the box to be and added 2 inches to that, cut a rectangle with those dimensions, and scored each side of the shape at the one-inch mark. I folded along the score lines and cut corner flaps, and glued into place. If you don’t have a scoreboard, you can accomplish the same very easily by following this tutorial by Nancy Fallon of The Life and Times of One Loopy Knitter in How to Make a Card Stock Gift Box.

The book was supposed to have six envelopes for its foundation pages, but I made the mistake of not leaving enough space between the last page and the back cover, and it tore off. The lesson I learned was to create a wider spine. Also, the video tutorial called for library-style pockets on both sides of one page. I really think this makes the page too heavy, and would not do this in the next book. This extra weight probably contributed to the last page tearing off. I salvaged the pockets and adhered them to the front and back inside cover. You can see one of these pockets on the left side in the next photo.

You’ll notice, in the above photo, that the far right pocket (actually, a double pocket) is kind of bulky. The video tutorial suggested you use a smaller envelope to form this pocket. On another page, I decided to use card stock instead. Take a look at the difference below.

You can see the “salvaged” library-style pocket on the back inside cover. In my next book, particularly because there are so many tags, I will add a few more pages, keeping in mind that the spine needs to be wider. I would be interested to see if this book would be less bulky using card stock instead of envelopes, too.

I learned a great deal from this challenge, and look forward to making my next hardcover book.

January challenge: new techniques

Blogging Business Artisans, Challenges, Paper Crafts, Tutorials

Jan 242012

Members of the Etsy team called Blogging Business Artisans are encouraged, at least six times a year, to participate in a monthly challenge that stretches their abilities and enables them to grow artistically. This month’s challenge was devised by Deb of The Storybeader’s Bookshelf. “To start off the Challenges for the new Blogging Business Artisans (BBA) team,” says Deb, “I want to make this affirmation: we are all super busy and creative Etsy members. We are always finding new projects we want to try but stress about where to find the time. This challenge is to set aside that time to work on and complete a new technique that you admire. It can be within your field of expertise, but doesn’t have to be. Blog about your project at least once during the month of January and show us your progression with photos or a video.”

This is one challenge I could not resist. I decided to learn how to make an envelope album using the techniques demonstrated in a YouTube video by Brook of Creative Endings. I honestly was not sure how this photo album, which is made up of at least 4 envelopes, would turn out. You can use Brook’s techniques with any size envelope, but in her video she suggests a number 10-sized business envelope. Since this was my first time making this type of an album, I decided to follow her recommendation, although I did modify some of the suggested sizes of the interior elements.

What you’ll need to do this project:

6 envelopes, #10 business-size
scissors and a ruler
optional but recommended: paper cutter
bone folder
scoring tool (use the point of your bone folder and a ruler if you don’t own a scoring tool)
adhesive products (I used Glue Arts® Glue Glider Pro and an UHU® stic Glue Stick)
double-sided card stock in colors and patterns of your choice
circle punch, one-inch wide
string, ribbon or yarn for tags
22-24 inches of ribbon, used as an album closure
optional: Jim Holtz Distress Ink™
optional: foam applicator

How to make the album:

1. Seal the flap on all of the envelopes.

2. Slice off the short ends of the envelopes so that they are open. Your envelopes should be 9 inches wide after you trim them.

3. Score each envelope at 3-1/2 inches, then fold it as shown below. Stack the envelopes in this order in preparation for gluing.

4. Using the adhesive product of your choice (I used Glue Arts® Glue Glider Pro), run a line of adhesive about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch away from the fold on the “short wing” of one envelope. Apply a second adhesive (I used UHU® stic Glue Stick) to the rest of the “short wing” of the envelope.

5. Align the folded edge of 2 envelopes together, with one “short wing” kissing the back side of the “long wing.” Use your bone folder to smooth the envelope. This creates two pages in your album, each with a large pocket on one side of the page, and a small pocket on the other side. Repeat this procedure for all envelopes until your final product looks like the illustration shown below. Notice that the front pocket is its own page. There are 7 pages in all: one short page and 6 wider pages.

6. Now it’s time to decorate the pages of your album using double-sided card stock of your choice. You may find it convenient (and more economical) to use designer paper that sells in stacks. This also guarantees that the colors, patterns and solids will be from the same family. I used a 6×6 designer paper pad from Lost & Found Two by My Mind’s Eye, as well as a textured 4×6 designer mat pad from Classic K called McKenna.

7. You will need to cut 3 sizes of paper for each page of your envelope album, which you will adhere using adhesive of your choice.

Cut a rectangle that measures 3-3/8 inches wide x 4 inches tall for the outside of the small pocket.
Cut a rectangle that measures 6 inches wide x 4 inches tall for the interior of the small pocket. Score and fold it at 3-1/2 inches. Insert the longer end inside the pocket and adhere it. The other end forms a flap for the large pocket on the other side of the page.
Cut a rectangle that measures 5-3/8 inches wide x 4 inches tall for the outside of the larger envelope.

8. Using the adhesive of your choice, glue a length of ribbon down the back of the album so that the loose ends can be brought to the front and tied into a bow to close the album. You can choose either a vertical or horizontal direction to tie the ribbon (your choice). You’ll notice that I hid the folded edges of the album with a spine cover. Cut a rectangle of paper that measures 1-1/2 inches wide x 4-1/8 inches tall. Score and fold the rectangle at 1/2 inch and 1-1/2 inches, apply adhesive and wrap around the spine.

9. It is up to you, but I thought it would be easier to insert photos or tags into the pockets by punching a half-moon shape at the top of each pocket. I used a one-inch circle punch for this purpose. I also used a foam applicator and Jim Holtz Distress Ink™ to ink the edges of all my pages, simply because I like this look. You may prefer to leave the edges of your pages “naked.”

10. I had a lot of scrap paper left after decorating the pages of my album. You can use your scrap paper to cut tags and journaling spots for your album. If you like, punch a hole in your tags and attach string, ribbon or yarn. I use a tag template from Deluxe Cuts to make many of my tags, but if you have a die cutting machine, that is a real time saver. You can also download free tag templates from ScrapbookScrapbook.com.

When you’re all done, this is what your envelope album looks like. I really enjoyed learning about this assembly method for albums using ordinary business envelopes. I hope you do, too!