Hand bound Scrapbook (part 2): for calico crafts

Well, as promised I am back with more of my scrapbook I am making from the little hand stitched book I made. Still cant find the link to the tutorial BUT I have found something similar and added it to my facebook page if you are interested on how to stitch your own book.

So here are the next two pages; still on the flora and fauna topic but moving from birds towards butterflies. I also decided to have a tonal change as, although i love everything to look old, distressed and shabby, I do like a bit of colour now and then. not always brown or sepia tones.

This one has been done using duck egg looking tones and turquoises. I am still using the same papers, lots of 7 gypsies butterfly rubbings and the K&Co ephemera . You can get a lot out of them once you start cutting in to them.

The ephemera pack had a little image of a book cover so I used it as a mini book within the book (a flap to lift is all really lol)

And another colour change for the next two pages... Pink tones but vintage dusky pink and still a lot of brown to keep it looking the same age as the rest of the book. And more of the Flora than the Fauna.

I am still using the same supplies here. I think the only addition is I invested in a sheet of the label stickers from K&Co which arrived as I started the pink page. very nice quality stickers.. glossy.. embossed lettering etc... and what did I do? I bashed them around and aged them to look scruffy and dull!!

I added a sheet of the 6x6 Lille (7 gypsies) as i already had that book of papers at home.

Supplies Used from Calico Crafts (so far):

7 gypsies conservatory scrapbook papers HERE

7 gypsies "Lille" stamp set HERE

7 Gypsies metal book corners HERE

7 gypsies rubbings HERE

7 gypsies 6x6 papers Lille. HERE

K&Co Flora and fauna papers HERE

K&Co Flora and Fauna Ephemera pack HERE

Versamagic chalk inks in "Sea breeze" "turquoise gem" "gingerbread" "Pixie Dust" HERE

Candle holder / Egg holder: for calico crafts

Make this fun spring decoration from one of the wooden candle holders from Calico Crafts. You can still use it to hold candles after the egg has been eaten or , if you are strange, like me, and dont really like chocolate, you could use it to store and display your fresh eggs in the kitchen. It looks nice on a kitchen shelf.

I made this one by giving it a coat of blue acrylic paint, followed by a coat of weathered wood crackle medium and when that was dry I added a very fine coat of white acrylic paint. it crackles quite quickly and once it as dry i added an extra distressed shabby chic look by sanding it in places too.

So plenty of the blue shows through but its nicely tone down with the white wash.Now using some of the jungle moss, I glued a grass effect along the bottom of the candle holder.

Next, I sanded the edges of the large wooden bunny and the set of small ones. I coloured two or three of the small bunnies with a light wash of the blue paint, then glued my bunnies in to place.

the final touches are the little wooden flowers with the fabric coating. just to help tone them in, I rubbed some of the 'sea breeze' versamagic chalk ink along the edges of the petals. Again, simply glue in to place (they come with a ready to peel sticky back and this works well.)

That was it really. I filled it up with more jungle moss and then popped an egg inside... you can get some lovely individual cellophane wrapped eggs that would look great in here. I bought the cheapest one i could find, just to show you the general idea. no use buying a posh egg when i dont like chocolate.... right?

From Napkin box to Correspondence box: Designed for calico crafts.

This lovely sturdy box is sold as a napkin box from Calico Crafts, and it is a perfect size for storing them... but its also a great size for square cards and envelopes. I have a preference for square cards. You could make this box as a gift and fill it with hand designed notelets or use it as a memory box to store received cards and invitations etc.

I have covered mine using my favourite papers of the moment; 7gypsies. Mostly I have used papers from the Conservatory range (I bought a 10x10 pad and its lasting me well for many projects). So the basics of this box is preparing the surface with a light sanding and then cutting and gluing the paper on to the box to cover it. I like to cut the paper and then just to age it before gluing, I blend some "gingerbread" Versamagic chalk ink along the edges. This gives it a nice scorched vintage look.

Once its covered, inside and out, you can start decorating. I firstly used Veramagic chalk inks again; this time I have inked the papers with "sea breeze" and "turquoise gem" to change the over all tone and look. I used the sea breeze to tint the papers from the edge, quite a way in really. by adding just a fine coat of the ink, the images are not compromised at all. I liked this colour with the egg pattern, as it gave a sort of duck egg blue hint to it. The Turquoise gem colour is darker so I highlighted along all the edges with it. I also used the gingerbread ink again in places to enhance the aged distressed look.

For the inside of the bok, I really got to work with distressing the lid. after the paper was glued and inked and nicely dry, i took sandpaper to it and sanded it back a fair bit. it made it faded and distressed and then I played around with the chalk inks till I liked how it looked.... (you can see this effect a bit better if you click on the image and enlarge it.)

With all the ink and paper completed.... I simply started decorating it with lace and flowers (I actually used some large white poinsettia flowers and just added chalk ink to colour them.) etc... I also cut out some little "correspondence letters" from 7gypsies Camden paper , aged them and stuck them to the inside of the box as if they had been casually tucked in there.
My last touch (as ever) was to take treasure gold gilt wax polish along some of the edges in a distressed manner... now its ready to hold your hand made cards and notelets. (or in my case my ONE card and 5 cards my talented friend Paula made.. I always buy my cards from her, and I like to have a regular stock of them to turn to for all occasions. this is a good way to keep them stored and on hand)..
With thanks to my Friend Kathy for the fab jewelled embellishment. x

Hand bound scrap book: for Calico Crafts.

I found a youtube link, showing an easy way to stitch bind a book, last year but can I find that same one again? no...

But i did remember the basics So I gave it a go ( i am going to do a few extra pages and try and show the steps, if I cant find the link for you again, so watch out for that in a few days.).

There are many ways of binding books and I think this stitch was the most basic, but what i liked about it once I had done it, was that, you have a "Proper" notebook at the end of it. one where the pages stay in, there were no book rings and holes needed, and it would make a very professional looking and feeling gift.

This is going to be an ongoing project as i know that even after i fill the pages I will want things dangling off of it, like fabric and charms, fibres and ribbons... I will want pockets in it to peep inside and find interesting little hidden items etc. So I am showing you the first stages today and more will follow from time to time..

For the basic book and cover, I used ready made book covers from 7 gypsies and some cream printer paper. I used the conservatory book covers; they are pretty enough to use as they are but my style is a bit over the top with layers of embellishments and decorations so i needed more added to it. I started with 7 Gypsies rub-ons I used a bird cage and some butterflies. I then added a strip of lace along the edge of the spine and overlapped that with a bit of corrugated card. I took a section from a sheet of K&Co scrapbook paper and used it as a front label. I distressed and tore the edges first and gave it an aged look by rubbing aVersamagic chalk ink along the edges.

I beat up the edges of the book covers using a wee hammer and also coloured them with chalk inks to add age... the lace and corrugated card received the same ink to add age. finally for the front cover, i added two 7 gypsies, metal book corners. Thats all on the cover for now, but I predict more as it develops.

So inside, I have my cream coloured printer paper all folded, cut to size and stitched. the hard cover is glued in to place and I am ready to start making my arty scrapbook. Firstly i age ALL the edges of the pages using my chalk inks ( i think i do this on almost every project I make these days. even the boxes).

I am going to be using a mixture of styles in the book. rubber stamping, collage, art journaling with paints and texture etc. I also want it to be on quite a natual botanic theme ( I think) so i started with supplies from 7 gypsies and K&co as they had some lovely papers etc on the theme.

Page one has been stamped using 7 gypsies Lille stamps and a few bits cut from various scrapbook papers. all the edges of the cut out images were torn and distressed before being glued in over the stamping.

Following on in the same style I built up the next two pages using more scrapbook papers and some items from the K&Co Ephemera packs as well as adding some fake moss for a nice natural feel... To add dimension to the piece of paper with the stick images, I glued on some drift wood sticks. (I took the photo while the glue was still wet lol! I am so impatient)

Already my book is beginning to look and feel ancient and distressed and very eclectic but for me its still not right; I need it to be more interactive.

I will be back in two weeks with more ideas and items added. Until then, please remember, these projects are for your inspiration only. We do not expect anyone to rush off and buy every item on the supply list. We simply hope that one or two elements of each project will give you ideas to incorporate in to your own projects. I hope you have enjoyed my little scrap book so far...

See you soon.

Zuzu x

Supplies Used from Calico Crafts (so far):

7 gypsies Conservatory book covers HERE

7 gypsies conservatory scrapbook papers HERE

7 gypsies "Lille" stamp set HERE

7 Gypsies metal book corners HERE

7 gypsies rubbings HERE

K&Co Flora and fauna papers HERE

K&Co Flora and Fauna Ephemera pack HERE

Lace HERE

Versamagic chalk inks in "gingerbread" "jumbo java" HERE

Moss HERE

Drift wood HERE

Q: Could it be much simpler? A: Not really .....

I Just received some 7gypsies papers from Calico Crafts.... I love them and i cant possibly scrapbook over them lol. far too pretty to be covered up. So..... as I had some beer mats lying around (new and unused from calico crafts I must add).... I decided to make some coasters.
I made them double sided so if my mood changed i could swap them over. apart from the paper. mats and glue.. I used two colours of Versamagic Chalk inks...

How simple are they.. well
1) glue paper to beermat....
2) glue on a few more bits cut out from the papers for extra interest
3) blend some Versamagic "gingerbread" chalk ink around the edge allowing it to go in by about a centimeter.
4) blend some versamagic "jumbo java" chalk ink around the edges (not allowing it to go in very far at all but simply highlight the edge)
5) varnish.

Do that on both sides making sure one side is dried completely before flipping over to do the other. and that is it.. but so sweet.... its almost a shame to put the coffee cups on them now.

Faking it...

If you love the distressed grungy vintage look thats so popular in the crafting world but you're just not great with inks and stamps, or you just dont have all those products, but you are nifty with scissors, paper and glue.... then this box should be right up your ally.

Pretty much used a few strips of paper from the 7gypsies Camden range. I had two 12x12 sheets in my stash; one was the tickets one called 'Columbia' and the other has lovely old labels on it and its called Spitalfield. You wont need the full sheets so plenty left over for other projects.

I took the hinges and clasp off of the box first. I used the second smallest box from the set of 4 domed lidded chests HERE.... Then i simply cut papers to size and glued it in place... (i left a little extra to trim off after the glue had dried as I would prefer to have the extra than to accidentally cut the paper too small and waste it). Once i had covered the box and trimmed off the edges (either use scissors or a craft knife or you can sand it off for a nice extra distressed look) I took a Versamagic chalk ink in 'jumbo java', and gently blended it along all the edges of the box. it helps give that nice dark aged look as if its been handled a lot over the years.

Now cut out a couple of extra tickets.. sand and slightly rip the edges to give a distress look and take the versamagik inkpad along the edges gently just to add a hint of age.. this time I used the colour 'gingerbread'. glue them on randomly around the box to your own liking..

Now all you have to do is glue on embellishments. If you dont have many embellishments, then just cut out more tickets and words from papers and books etc, or more collage images to your taste. let the design be decided by what you have available around your craft room.

The rusty hearts and stars make a good start as they have the right aged colour tones and you dont have to put in any effort. There are lots of cool metal embellishments made by crafting companies now that fit this look, but I also like to just look around at car boot sales and garage floors etc. look for drawer pulls at architectural salvage places. keyholes and such.... on this box, as well as my own personal embellishments, i have added a few of the Tim Holtz embellishments specifically designed for this look; the game spinners for example, and some 7 gypsies Corners.

Lost and Found: Canvas

A crafting friend (Kathy) and I, got to talking about "unfinished projects"... you know the kind? you have a great idea.. get started then get a bit lost so just never seem to finish it. We both agreed that a second opinion was often needed for these projects. Then Kathy said (more as a joke than anything) that we should finish off each others projects. I POUNCED on the idea lol (poor Kathy). and we agreed to do a swap.

Kathy had started a string textured canvas and had got as far as the background... I happened to have a canvas that i had used to show a pupil how to do a particular textured background on, but had tossed it to one side never to be looked at again. so Kathy now has my canvas to work on, and I have hers.I decided to grunge Kathy's canvas up a bit and add some curios to it to give it a bit of a 'lost and found items' feel.
its very vintage distressed, so i do hope Kathy likes that look. it did arrive with me as a very rich bright and clean looking background. I have made it manky...
too late I cry.. lol.. its done and will be getting posted back to her next week.

Speedy card : for Calico Crafts

Well, as a rule, I don't make cards; but after making a tag a few days ago, I felt I ought to try and make a card for mother day for my mother in law. I am not sure she will "Get" a tag like a crafter "gets it" lol.

I have to say, the job is made very easy with pretty scrapbook papers (and my usual gingerbread versamagic chalk ink for aging) i mounted the whole project on to a square of cardstock first so i could add the corners and rusty wire. once it was all made and glued and dry, I then added it to a folded card. If I do it any other way, i end up with blobs of ink and glue and messy fingermarks, all over the card. (I still managed to make a slight finger blob on the back despite my efforts lol)

So I cut a square of basic card-stock to size. I dont think it matters what colour but make sure its either the same as the folded card you are attaching it to, or a nice matching tone to the collage work. I glued on a square of 7 gypsies paper (cut from the same 12x12 sheet I made the tag from a few days ago.) glued it to the square of card stock. I distressed the edges (either sand it or run the edge of the scissors along it) and inked with the chalk ink to give it a sort of burnt rusty look. Next I cut out some panels from a 12x12 sheet of K&Co flora and fauna paper and aged them in the same way. decided on my layout and then glued them in to place.

I also stamped out some images from the 7 gypsies Lille stamp set. I stamped them on to sections of the background paper (I still have lots left even after cutting out the tag and the bit for the card. ) Age the edges in the same way and glue into place. wrap some rusty wire around the bottom section of the card and twist.. bend into coils/springs using a thin paintbrush handle or a skewer or something similar and hang the wee birdie charm from it...

Now attach the metal corners. The panel is now ready to be attached to the main card (which should still be glue and ink free).

Supplies list:

7Gypsies HERE: I used, 7 gypsies paper (off the wall), 7 gypsies metal corners, 7 gypsies "Lille" stamps.

K&Co paper

rusty wire

bird charm.

Jumbo Tag: For Katzelkraft

I am calling it a tag because of its shape, but really its more of a wall hanging as its pretty huge for a tag. around 8 inches tall (not including the wire it hangs from)....

It is a pretty basic layered effect. I cut the hessian (Burlap) to size, then a piece of corrugated card slightly smaller, for the basic tag. I coloured a piece of torn out paper using antique linen and scattered straw, distress ink, then I stamped the Egypt map out on to it. i further distressed it with gingerbread coloured versamagic chalk ink. I also stamped out and coloured / distressed the hieroglyphs and Tutankhamen's mask.
The layered pyramids and sphinx at the bottom are stamped on kraft card and some have been coloured using distress inks. some have been left neutral. I cut them out and layered them up randomlu adding some little hessian and corrugated card pyramids in between.
The rest is just glue and embellishments; 4 metal scarabs and an ornate filigree corner with a piece of rusty wire threaded through it.
I used the A5 plate "Egypte" from Katzelkraft (also available in the UK from The Craft Barn)

Nature tag For Calico crafts.

I used some 7 gypsies papers and stamps to make this jumbo tag. I don't make cards very well so decided to make a tag for my mother in law for mothers day. i have put a fresh piece of cream card-stock on the back so we can write a message. I aged everything in the usual fashion, some gingerbread and jumbo java chalk inks blended round the edges and I stamped the word and stars out in jumbo java.

The main backing is 7 gypsies paper cut from a sheet of 12x12... the little wrapped letter is from the K&Co ephemera pack (flora and fauna) which, despite making several art journal pages and a few other projects using bits from the pack, seems to be lasting me ages. The small ivy leaf is also from the ephemera pack and the larger ones are cut from the ivy wreath available in the floristry section. there is a teeny wee keyhole in the center of the "tied letters" from the Malissa Frances, Vintage Attic range. I tucked a "WISH" ticket in to the twine i tied around the image of the tied letters. (My sons girlfriend brought me a whole roll of wish tickets back from her trip to San Fransisco. very cool. I have used some rusty wire around the bottom and cream/ivory lace. The whole tag was mounted on to hessian (or Burlap as Mr Holts would say) and a piece of embroidered guipure daisy trim was threaded through the whole at the top. Final touch was a wee feathered butterfly.

I think thats it... I'm a bit disorganised in the old noggin at the moment so probably gave a disorganised description , but I am sure you get the gist.