WOYWW

Today, between driving to DDs school and back (over an hour for an Easter Assembly that took less time than that to watch) and a follow up orthodontist appointment, I have been making another little concertina album, and photographing it for a YouTube video.

This one is altogether brighter and I worked out a few design flaws – well, not so much flaws as better ways of doing things. I may do both a video and a PDF. I am liking this album a lot and while it looks very complicated it really isn’t – the only thing is selecting and resizing the photos for the very small strips needed for the pages. But overall, I like the look and am having fun playing with the process and the results. A big win/win.

I’ll be taking a little break over Easter – while I may be able to post I am not sure about adding photos, we’ll see. I suspect my posts may be more about the stash haul (How cool my sister has a Michaels, an AC Moore, a stamp store and an LSS in her area! AND she had a windfall in her Sunday paper – somehow she got SIX flyers with an assortment of Michael’s and AC Moore coupons AND the week I will be there has not one but TWO big discount days (one 50% off your total purchase and one 30% off) as well as a Cricut sale day and a day when all the K&CO paper pads are 40% off) – I already know a big box from Stampotique is waiting for me (although she declared the stamps “creepy” and is anxious to see what might be done with them) and she was off to check out the stock levels today. I’ve not bought much over the last year except the full set of Tim’s new Distress colours and the QVC TSV and some Cuttlebug embossing folders so I must try not to go wild in the stores! Yeah…..right…..

Last week’s WOYWW done!

Another thing I worked on at the crop on Sunday was finishing up the concertina book I had on my W last W.

I cannot seem to get away from the Que Sera Sera papers by K&CO – I just love the collage look of them, the tones, the patterns, everything about them.  I don’t know what I will do when my stack is gone!

I sort of designed the book to be displayed open. and it invites handling (which I think it will hold up to) as the tall thin photos are not easily seen without angling your head a bit, this way and that.

The frame on the cover is stuck only in the corners with foam pads, so the ribbon can slip thru easily, and when open on a shelf, the extra ribbon can just hid behind the open book.

Glad I always rather intended this one for ME as I’m not sure I could stand to give it away!

There is a slideshow-style “video” in the post here and another version that I made then photographed for a Tutorial PDF:

And a final variation here:

 

Another Kraft-Folder book

A word to my sister – LOOK AWAY NOW!




You may recall a little kraft-folder book I made a while back using some folders I got at Staples. I wanted to make a little gift book for one of my nieces to give to her when we see her (soon, soon!) and I did!  Started at a crop yesterday, run by Bev of Banana Frog , it (quite shamefully) doesn’t actually include any stamps but I think my next one will! I will also probably have to do a little video for it, although I suspect the vast majority of my YouTube subscribers are actually in the USA and not the UK I am thinking I will have to bring back a pack of manilla folders and work out how to do one in that size as well to avoid frustrating people who can’t get A4 folders.

I used some paper I had laying around (I think it was sent to me by Scrapbook Inspirations, probably intended for use in a feature that never came to be once the mag folded) from Cloud 9 called Cinnamon Stick.  I also had a set of glittery die cuts that I used.

The little clip just holds the left side of the book closed as the ribbon tie really doesn’t.  I can have wrapped the ribbon around and tie it on the left, which works better, in reality, but not with her name where it is.  That was placed as it was to use the open area of the patterned paper on the cover, but I always learn something, and refine my projects with each one I make.  So next time I will take this into consideration!

Something else I did on this one that seemed a good idea at the time, was to stick down the sides of the pockets.  Still a good idea, but it does mean the “tags” need to be thinner to accommodate – and the middle two are slightly wider than the outer two, as the way the ribbon threads means the outer two pockets are just that smidge smaller widthwise.  All part of the learning curve!  Each tag can hold one or more photos, depending on the size, and additional photos can easily go on the body of the folder behind the tags. I really didn’t want to force any particular sizes by adding photo mats so I will leave that up to her.

The back is just plain patterned paper – fine for adding photos or leaving it as it is.

One thing I have been using a lot recently is this site. It’s been on the UKS Homepage and is in the Library entry on printable papers.  I love it to death!  You can make a variety of selections, like style of grid, size, colour of lines, then generate a PDF which will download to your computer.  The PDF is either 150 DPI for graph paper or in the case of the storyboard paper, 300 dpi, so very easily edited in something like Photoshop. The papers are great for journaling blocks, all the lines are spaced properly, and in this case the storyboard spot makes a nice place for another photo.

The storyboard is nice as it gives you a block at the top with journaling lines under it.  I played around with many different set ups to get just what I wanted (and then had a further play and got something I really liked better, but wasn’t going to take the whole thing apart to replace what I had!) then printed it onto ivory cardstock to back each of the tags.

So what SHOULD happen when you click this is you will get the .jpg which you can use (like the tags from the other day the lines LOOK patchy on the screen but print fine).  It should print at 3.5 x 8 but you can resize it.  I made this one black although the one on MY tags is actually a sort of maroon-y brown to match the paper – I thought the black was more useful. Better still have a play on the site.  By setting the columns and rows you can force the box bigger or smaller and thus the journaling lines longer.  There is a bit of waste at the top and a bit of site advertising at the bottom, but I just made mine bigger than A4 then test printed it to see what came out.  But in the end I did mark one of the columns of the PDF and copy it over to a new Photoshop file where I could delete the empty bit at the top and the site advertising at the bottom then fill a 12 x 12 file with the strips and print.

Sunday-someplace-else

OK, so you MAY have read my occasional warnings grabbed from various craft sites about toilet-rolls in craft (and know schools no longer allow kids to have loo-rolls sent in for the craft cabinet). But even so, what Yuken Teruya does with an empty loo roll is pretty amazing.

Japanese grid tags

I have been having a play this morning with making some printable grid tags with a small Japanese motif. The motifs are from a dingbat, called Japanese Designs, and are for a little mini-book project of DS and DH on their Tokyo adventure.

To be honest, part of the reason I am adding them is to see how WordPress handles a larger linked image – what I *hope* will happen is if you click the image you will get a bigger one that you can download and print then cut out, but I honestly have NO IDEA if it will work as planned.  Give it a go and LMK via a comment if you can.











I imagine using them as journaling tags although I am not sure of the sizing.  This is the first time I have done something like this so very much an experiment.  They seem to print out at about 2.5 x 4.5 which is perhaps not the most useful size (although very close to the standard luggage tags I got at Staples) and I think I would aim to make the grid a bit lighter at some point, but frankly my head hurts from doing this much! LOL!

Grab them if they are any use to you.  If you like the brown and blue colour scheme you could always cover the Japanese motif with a flower or punched circle, or just punch out the motif and put what you like in the space.

Don’t be alarmed if when you click the grids look all messed up. When you save it and open it or print it they should be just fine. I think it has something to do with monitor resolution but am not sure. Again LMK what happens for you, please. I would do more of these and would share them if I can make it work!

Layout – DONE!

I have been on such a mini-book kick recently I almost feared making layouts was going to be hard to get back to but this one actually came together fairly easily – the ideas, anyway, although the execution took a bit of time.

I got a few TH masks from the UKS Marketplace and used them for the first time, along with some Cosmic Shimmer mist. LOVE the silver over the black flower and the photo totally does NOT do it justice.

Not too sure about the clip (that holds the two little tickets to the side of the right photo) as it is a bit more dimensional than I would like. I often pry out the spring and stick just 1/2 to a layout so it is flatter but gives the effect of a clip. I may still do that. I am happy with the journaling frames, using the little tip from a couple of days ago. To me they look more professional than if I had cut them freehand with no guidance. I will def. do that again for clear stamps!

For the one flower I punched a circle of patterned paper (from behind the photo) and misted it then scrunched it up and added it to the center of another Kaiser Craft paper bloom over a fabric flower. A lot less work than the misted and scrunched may layered flowers but I think it adds a little something so will keep that in mind for later as well.

WOYWW

I have had a set of “gratitude” quotes saved for ages, meaning to make myself a little GRATITUDE book. I came across the concertina card idea at some point, maybe in the Craft Robo forum on UKS and it occurred to me a variation on this might make a good base for the book.

Today I constructed the basic book, using pieced cardstock (one set of folds is 24 inches, the other 18, so 12×12 paper just wouldn’t work) and some lovely hand-dyed mulberry paper my MIL passed on to me. It is dyed in variegated bands of colour and as it will mostly not be seen it works well with the papers I will use.

The next step is the laborious changing of a multitude of photos to B&W then resizing them to fit the 1.25 x 4.5 inch “pages” of the book then figuring out the pocket bit that will hold the tags that have the quotes on them – that may change, as I work my way thru it, I don’t know yet. I am using a blank canvas of the right size to create the photo slices then shifting them to a print size canvas so I can print just the bits I need and not waste by photo paper. I am so cheap!

I love my two monitor set up – I have iPhoto on the portrait side and Photoshop on the landscape side and it gives me enough screen real-estate to really work with the images and be able to see what I am doing.

So not only WO my Worktop W but also WO my DESKTOP W as well!

A little tip – stamped journaling frames

Working on a layout today (I KNOW! unbelievable!) and did something that helped me with one of my weird fixations – I don’t stamp often on layouts because I am not a very competent stamper and I wouldn’t risk stamping onto an actual layout if I could avoid it, unless I had a plan for later covering it up when I botched it. So I tend to stamp on some bit of paper or card then cut it out and put that on the layout. MUCH safer! But it annoys the life out of me that I always start well, cutting just the right amount of a border, following the stamped lines, then at some point it all goes horribly wrong. I try to correct, but in the end more often then I care to admit I just throw the stamped thing in the bin and do something else!



This may be only helpful to those who are as cack-handed at cutting a symmetrical border around them. I stamped a couple of lovely little journaling frame (Inkadinkadoo) onto kraft card to cut out, and while taking a deep breath and collecting myself to begin cutting, my eye landed on the acetate that the stamp was stored on. Hum. A little printed frame, with a sort of semi-cut border around it. I put down the scissors and had a think. I didn’t really want to to cut up the storage sheet, although I certainly could have to get the same “tool”, so I grabbed a bit of acetate from the shelf. Looking at the stamp I could see the stamp itself provided the border. I figured the stamp makers know what they are doing. The edges of the stamp are precisely placed, and frame the stamp perfectly so why not make use of that??



Flipping the stamp over onto the acetate I simply traced around the edge of the stamp. I also traced inside the stamp, because I could envision using the cut out as a mask to, for example, spray glimmer mist or ink or chalk inside the stamped image, just where I would write or stamp the text. I cut it out of the acetate with a craft knife on my very old CM glass cutting mat. I laid that over the stamped image and traced around the outside and cut that.







When I cut out the frame I was, for the first time, happy with my final product. and I can store the mask with the stamp so I shouldn’t have to do it again. The finish is more like a real PRODUCT and less like a hand stamped, badly cut out bit of tat (yes, yes, I’m sure YOURS are not tat, but mine usually ARE!)







A little inking on the edges and it was ready to add to the layout (done now so you can see it here)



I do think maybe a bit of glimmer mist in the middle would be a nice touch (not for this layout, but someday) so I will def. do this again. Even for things like annoying little butterfly antennae, it would take the guess-work out of where to cut, and for me that is a huge benefit!


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Sunday-someplace-else … on Monday!

Busy weekend!

But I didn’t want to skip adding a link to Tatertots & Jello (two of my least favourite food, if I’m honest!). I always find something interesting on there.

Like this cute spring ruffled necklace!

The tutorial is here!

2 More Dolls

Just quickly today as I have guests stopping by!

Here is the Keep Calm doll – the wings are leftovers from a layout I did for SI using similar wings on a photo of DD – I had to do a second set for a step-by-step so it seemed silly not to make use of them! I just took the sticky gem wings and attached them to clear acetate and cut them out with a little tab which attaches to the back of the body.

The other is one that says Just Say No To Hats – they don’t suit me but I am occasionally tempted, especially when there is a wedding coming up!

I think two more will sort the window space!

Off to clean up a bit – my scraproom is a disaster after all this creating and as it is scrappers coming to visit my reputation is on the line!