WHAT TO DO WITH BIG CARDS

In past years when I bought lots of cards to get me started and before postage was so much more for large cards, I bought several sets of large A4 size cards. Now I struggle to find suitable designs.
I cannot remember where I came across the idea of scoring and cutting the inner space to make the base card into a frame for your work. But it seems to suit the large cards

 To make the inset frame

Score two sets of oblong frames 1cm apart
Cut a piece of card the size of the inner score lines
Decorate this piece with your theme
From the middle of the oblong score a cross with a sharp knife
Cut from the middle of the cross to each inner corner
Fold each triangle cut forward and back on the inner and outer score line to set the frame 
Line with the piece of card cut   

A TIDY CRAFT SPACE

Before we started decorating the bedrooms/craft room I hada  selcetion of boxes and files for my craft papers and tools. In order to tidy the garage store and the craft room Hubby bought me some storage boxes (they are from the 'Very Useful Box Company' ) I had some stacked in the wardrobe floor and on the floor of the craft room by the desk, as well as many other filing systems across the desk collected over the 15 years or so I have been crafting.

Well we finally decorated the bedroom that would become the craft room and computer room.
We left the wardrobe in and with more handy boxes collected I had a major sort through and condensed all my craft materials into the space available. (of course this does not include the craft stored at work)

It is much quicker to find a tool and now instead of tidying the desk and wardrobe on holidays I havea sort through my boxes.

Craft storage

A Place for everything and everything in its place

needless to say there are no pictures of my desk available at this time 

 

NEW MINI ALBUMS

I have cleared a little space by clearing out the drawers and boxes in the craft room. I also made a few sells this week so I have room for some small albums

After a couple of days away I sat down and made a couple of albums. The first size albums that I make, perfect for a single event or holiday 

These albums are made from three sheets of 12 x 12 and give nine sides of nearly 6" x 6" and four panels of 3" x 6" for Journals or notes. So a good album to make if you want to tip your toes into album making. 

Cut sheet 1 of  the card into  2 strips 5.75"  x  12" 

Sheet 2: cut another strip 5.75 x 12 and the other piece cut 5" x 12" 

Sheet 3 cut one strip 6" x 12" the other piece cut into 2 6" x 6" 

 For each of the 3 strips 5.75" x 12" score each side 3" from each end and fold in 

Lay the three pieces next to each other in a line

Glue the middle flaps to the outside pieces - the outside pieces will fold in 

With the strip that is 6" x 12" score at 3" and 2.75" either end. This piece forms the outside cover.

Glue the back of the middle piece of the triple piece to the base of the cover

The 2 pieces of 6 x 6 can then be added to the front of the album to complete the album..
The last piece narrower than the others can be added to the centre as an additional pull out page
Score and fold so it sits inside the middle section 

MINI ALBUM 

MIDDLE OF ALBUM

OUTER LAYER

Tips: 

• Choose coordinating papers, easier if you select from a collection 
• As this type of album only has one layer of paper per page choose a thicker paper/card stock of 240gsm or more 
• Ensure when you cut the papers you have any pattern going left to right and when putting pages together all the pages are up the right way before gluing
• You can add strips to the inside bottom edge to make a storage flap but I prefer to leave them blank for the album maker to complete and embellish as they wish 
• confused by any of this check out mini albums on 'you tube' where you will find video instructions for this style of album

 

VINTAGE ROMANTIC SCRAPBOOK

Back after a couple of days away so no crafting for a few days. However before I wet away I found a 
Scrapbook I had nearly finished and decided to put the finishing touches
The scrapbook ismadefrom vintage romantic papers. All about valentines and loved ones. So great for a friends wedding or I think it would make a great journal to plan a wedding .
It has five envelope sections all covered and each with a tab inside to hold more info. So ten pages for photographs ideas and lists. Samples of fabrics, table layouts , flowers and cake not to mention stationary. The five sections have plenty of storage space and the album is made with the binding system so the pages have  1cm between pages allowing plenty of space if you fill up the storage pockets. As well as a little mini book for adding notes added to the middle page, There is a envelope of tags in the storage area for you to write up any pictures or. Memorabilia.
The front is very simple and I will probably add some bling, or it could be altered to give your book a title.
Such as My Book of Wedding ideas
Name and date of friends/family wedding.

BACK FROM THE SHOW

Up early on Sunday to go to the Sincerely Yours craft show. I am very pleased the show comes to the South West, as I hate the hike to NEC for the bigger craft shows.
Alas there was no Inka Gold at this years show, but several other goodies from stamps to Mica powders a new die and coloured card.
Back home to try out the new purchases, but before I sit down at the desk there was just the matter of making room for the new purchases in the cupboard.  A tidy of several boxes, 2 clearance items on eBay and I have managed to put away today's buys. Next photograph the clearance items and list them on eBay, answer some emails and make lunch. So no time to actually craft.

Back at work today I am still in the clearout mode, so lunch time saw me clearing out my craft box at work (yes I have one here too). Have been really ruthless and put a load of items for sale on ebay as clearance. I really want to start anew. Cannot wait to try some new album layouts, and use the mica powders with stamping that I bought from Honey Doo Crafts. The demonstration was excellent at their stall, I learnt the tricks of getting a smooth finish when painting with Mica powders, keep a piece of cheap kitchen towel by your pallet, and put the brush to the paper before using, thus taking out most of the water leaving more mica. This gives a really beautiful smooth finish. The stall was also demonstrating making flowers with vellum paper, excellent stall they also have a gallery and blog at www.honeydoocrafts.co.uk

So out with the old and on with the new, and hopefully someone will find a new home for all the lovely boxes ribbon and stamps cleared out. Where does it all come from.

MINI ALBUMS - MEMORY BOOKS ALL SHAPES AND SIZES

I love making mini albums. I like to make smaller ones that are suitable for a single event or holiday and this makes them very affordable when I come to sell them.  The opposite to the type being sold on Create and Craft at the moment, they are selling a good basic album that you can have hours of fun with and it will form into a full multi dimensional album.

I basically make 3 types

Album 1
A mini album that has just 6 sides of 6" x 6" and 8 tabs approx 3"wide and 6" high.
This is a great starter album for that one off event, such as a hen party, friends birthday or anniversary or a weekend break

 

Album 2

This is an envelope album usually with a hard cover and 6 pages, 12 sides C6 size
these will have little additional sections inside and the inside flaps will have storage flaps
Some or all of the envelopes will be open for storage and may have additional flaps and journal sheets inside



Album 3

This will be a binder style album with a standard 6 main pages in the binder system and then several additional sleeves added to the main pages. As I make more of these so they seem to grow in size. Not having a lot of spare time to craft except weekends  makes me want to finish my projects quickly, but the more albums I make the more inclined I am to spend more time and produce a larger album.

My albums are sold through ebay and etsy to ensure there is room in the craft room to continue crafting new items

If you are starting out and want to make albums check out 'You Tube' here there are some extremely talented crafters, some have their own blogs and from there or from their etsy store you can purchase templates. But beware you can get hooked. On the upside they make lovely gifts for friends or family who have everything, especially if you personalize them.

Have you tried the Inka Gold pastes by Viva Decor

So today Iwas thinking about visiting the "Sincerely Yours" show next weekend and this reminded me of my big find at the show last year.

As well as seeing the Heartfelt Creation stamps and dies I also saw the Inka Gold by Viva Decor.

They come in many different lovely colours and are so easy to use.

I saw them on the Oyster Stamp stand, and watched them being used by the demonstrator.
Immediately I had to have some. It was the middle of the day so many of the colours had already sold out but I bought 3 pots and went home to try them.

They work well as a gilding paste so you can smooth over an old button or change the colour to go with your project.
You can cut out cogs and keys and then cover with Inka Gold to make it look metallic

Or you can colour your background card like encaustic art by spritzing with water.
To get an idea of what I mean with this, check out the excellent 'you tube' posting from Loll Thompson called "Smooshing with Inka Gold"

Needless to say having seen the smooshing process I can see a workshop coming on.

After last years show and trying out my three pots, I immediately went online to Oyster Stamps and purchased a few more colours (Oyster Stamps have an excellent website with a beautiful gallery of cards and ideas so are well worth a visit). I see they currently have some lovely new items from the CHA show such as Tim Holtz sizzlets dies and masks, for pre-order.

So come Sunday I will make my way to the show a little earlier than last year and see what lovely new colours I can make my own.