Recipe Journal

 I felt like altering a plain spiral journal I've had laying around for a long time. I decided to make a recipe journal with this adorable Elisabeth Bell image from Belles 'n Whistles. Perfect for a recipe book. This little project took me a long, long time. I wanted to make sure it was really durable and would hold up to the occasional drip or splatter from the kitchen. I coated everything with a thin layer of matter sealer to protect it. I had the whole book apart so I could really get in all the cracks and crevices.

The patterned paper has that real antique feel to it, so I did a lot of aging and a bit of distressing to it. I wanted coordinating papers for the inside covers (didn't have any) so I stamped a damask pattern on Ocean Tides cardstock. I'm very happy with it and I think it would make a wonderful gift! And if you're interested, you can buy it from my Etsy shop! A fun, if time consuming project that I really enjoyed.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Belles 'n Whistles, Papertrey Ink, Waltzingmouse Stamps
Ink: Memento, Distress, Versamark
Paper: PTI, Core'dinations, K & Co.
Tools & Accessories: Bind-it-All, Spellbinders Labels, brown EP, colored pencils, OMS, Copics, PTI ribbon, EK Success edge punch

PTI Goodness

I made this project quite some time ago when I saw Nichole's tutorial for making this pad/pen holder, just haven't shared it yet. I do love making notepads and journals!
I wanted to make a baby ensemble using their new pastel patterned papers, that paper pad is just gorgeous! I am a sucker for pastels, love, love, love them! The notepad and pencil holder took me a while to figure out though, LOL. I just wasn't getting it for some reason.

I wanted to make a matching card for the notepad, this way I could give a card and a little something extra as a gift. And what new mother doesn't need a handy shopping list for the seemingly endless necessities for new babies! I colored one of Mo's digital images, the adorable chubby baby with a few Copic markers. I wanted to add some stitching around the edge of the card, so I used my piercing tool and plastic canvas as a guidline and pierced some holes all the way around. This way it was easy to get even, straight stitches with a needle and some embroidery floss.

That's it, clean, simple and adorable! I love how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: PTI, Digital Pencil

Ink: Perfect Match

Paper: Heavenly White, PTI

Accessories: Fiskars apron lace punch, PTI ribbon/buttons, Nestabilities, DMC floss, Copics

Finally! My Own Shopping List!

If you've read a couple of my posts when I make these notebooks, you'll know that I haven't made one for myself yet, even though I desperately need one! Well, I finally made one that suits me to a tee! And I'm going to make myself use it even though it's too pretty, LOL. I use a lot of lists for grocery shopping, so I made a double notebook. The template from Nichole Heady's blog makes it sooooo easy, no measuring, you just print it out on your cardstock, make a few cuts, score, and that's it! Actually, I don't print it directly on my cardstock anymore, wastes too much paper, and you have twice as many cuts. So I printed one onto heavy cardstock, cut it out and use that to trace onto my cardstock. This way, I can line it up to two sides of the paper, eliminating two cuts, and save some paper, as well.

Here's a closer look at some of the modifications I made to mine:

I wanted my list to hang on my refridgerator, so I needed to attach a magnet to the back cover. I bought a bunch of magnetic sheets for cheap at the hardware store. They're 'Vent Covers' and only cost like $3 or $4 for a package of three. A lot less costly than the sheets you buy at the craft store! I just cut it down to size on my guillotine trimmer, and used Scor tape to adhere it. Then, I ran across another problem. The cover kept opening when hanging on the fridge. So I dug through my tool stash for the wafer thin magnets by Basic Grey. I found that if I adhered them to the inside back covers of the notebooks, they were still strong enough to keep the whole notebook closed, even through all the sheets of paper.

I love it, and you should really try one! Pretty and practical!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Ink: Perfect Match, Versamark
Paper: SU, PTI

Accessories: Marvy Uchida clever lever snowflake punches, PTI button, SU ribbon, Nestabilities, flocked mitten brad from Oriental Trading, Martha Stewart scallop punch, SU Heat n Stick powder, Art Institute glitter, PTI notebooks, magnetic sheet, Basic Grey magnets

Teddy Dresses Snowman

This Creative Imaginations paper is gorgeous, I love the colors! I hate covering up the design when I love the paper so much, but then what would be the point? No one wants a card with just some DP on it, would they? Hmmm...if it's pretty enough, maybe they would! LOL!

Anyway, I've been making these little shopping list notebooks to match the card, just because it's fun, and I love 'em! I have yet to make myself one. Just the other day while baking cookies I remembered I needed a couple of things from the store so I ran around the house trying to find a scrap of paper to jot it down before I forgot. Well, I couldn't find one in time, got distracted, and never did make that list. I must make one for me!

Thanks for looking, try to have a happy Monday!

Stamps: Forever Friends, JustRite
Ink: Memento, Distress, Perfect Match
Paper: Creative Imaginations, PTI, Stardream
Accessories: Martha Stewart scallop punch, Nestabilities, McGill circle punch, ribbon, button, Flower Soft, colored pencils, OMS, Copics

Snowflakes are Winter's Butterflies Card & Notepad

I really wish I could get better pictures at times. It seems like it's always the luck of the draw! Some days I get great pictures, others they're awful. While this one is not awful, it doesn't come clost to showing how beautiful the background paper I made using Guide Lines 2.
I saw one of Heather Nichol's projects a while ago where she stamped Guide Lines 2 with white pigment ink, then brayered over it with dye ink. The white ink resisted the dye ink somewhat, and left a very soft, subtle white impression. It was really gorgeous, and I had to try and replicate it myself. I was really stunned by how beautiful it came out. I used SU Soft Sky cardstock, though, instead of white, and brayered over it with more Soft Sky ink, and the result is simply gorgeous! I wish I had made a whole sheet of paper, instead of half of one! In addition to the Guide Lines 2, I also added a few snowflakes from 'Snowfall' for a Christmas-y card.
Do you notice the little flourish/flower punches underneath the bow on the noptepad? Whenever I punch a border using the Fiskars flower punch, I get these adorable little negative punches that I hate throwing away. So I decided to use them as little accents. Cute huh?

The long notepads are also new from Papertrey Ink. I really like them. I use shopping lists often, and I'm always scrambling for a piece of paper to write groceries I need to get, so these are perfect. I'm going to make a couple for myself with magnets on the back so I can hang them on my refridgerator. Preferably with a pen attached!

Hope it inspires, thanks for looking!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Justrite
Ink: Perfect Match, SU
Paper: SU, Papertrey Ink, The Paper Company
Accessories: Nestabilities, McGill circle punch, Fiskars border punch, self stick pearls, Copic Spica pens, brayer, silk ribbon, Marvy Uchida Giga snowflake punch

Smell the Flowers...

My goodness, Sugar Nellie just keeps cranking out the beeeeeutiful stamps! I'm seriously going to go broke, I may need to go full time at my job for the summer now that the kids are out of school! I love the look on this sweet girl's face, pure bliss as she inhales the fragrance of the flowers.

This is actually a covered jr. legal pad. How snazzy would this look on your desk at work?!! I finally found a source for some of the discontinued lines of Cosmo Cricket's papers, this one is Dutch Girl. Needless to say, I stocked up! Sometimes a line of papers are just so beautiful and timeless, I have to stock up when I find them.

I searched high and low for a gerbera daisy like this one, too. I wanted a paper flower, but could NOT find one, so I disassembled a silk flower stem from Michael's. Not very economical, but this legal pad really needed a flower like this one, LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Sugar Nellie

Ink: Palette, Distress

Paper: Bristol vellum, Cosmo Cricket, SU

Accessories: Silk daisy, PTI button, fancy brad, yellow grosgrain ribbon, MS arch lattice punch, colored pencils, OMS, Stickles

Spring Tilda Journal

One more book I made using those $1 journals from Michael's. But I'm sorry to say I cut up the only sheet of this DP BEFORE I looked at who makes it! I hate when I do that!

Oh well, I'm sure someone will know, if you do post a comment please!
The pictures came out really awful this time, colors are way off. I got one of those light tent thingy's to help me take better indoor photographs, but I think my light source still stinks. I just have one of those desk lamps with some kind of wierd bulb in it, but I don't think it's bright enough. Now I have to do some research to find out what kind of lamp is best for indoor pics. It's kind of funny actually, all the time and effort I put into making cards, LOL. If only I was that dedicated to house cleaning!

Thanks for all your wonderful comments, I LOVE reading all of them!

Stamps: Magnolia
Ink: Palette
Paper: Bristol vellum, Bazzill, unknown DP
Accessories: K & Co. paper lace, PTI ribbon, colored pencils, OMS, wool felt, Spellbinders dies, brad, Stickles

Another Tilda Journal

This is my favorite Tilda image!

These journals would be very easy to do except for one thing. The binding holes on the journals don't match up very well with the BIA. :-(
So after covering them with DP, it was a bear to cut them out very nicely! I tried tiny scissors, exacto knife, but they came out pretty raggedy regardless how careful I was. Until I discovered a little tool in one of my DBF's stash. It's actually a tool kit from Provo Craft in a little black/lime green case. Comes with wire snips, a mini hammer (that's what DBF bought it for), a lot of different hole punches, tweezers, etc. etc. Well, two of the hole punches were a square and a rectangle. Bingo! I used the rectangle one to punch the holes through after the covers were done. Much nicer and faster than manually cutting them out! I knew there had to be a tool out there to make my life easier!

I'm going through my notebooks fast, I hope Michael's still has more when I go back. I need to keep these on hand for last minute little gifts.

Have a great day everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Magnolia

Ink: Pallette, Distress

Paper: My Mind's Eye, Bristol vellum, PTI

Accessories: Nestabilties, PTI ribbon, colored pencils, OMS, Stickles, SU scallop border punch, Kaiser craft self stick pearls, BIA O-wires, Michael's $1 notebook

Recipe Journal

A couple of weeks ago I was browsing through Michael's on my way to work when I found these monogrammed kraft journals in the $1 section. They were exactly what I was looking for to alter and embellish! You see, I have a Bind-it-All, and have tried making my own journals from scratch, but when it came to the inner pages, I had a really hard time getting lined paper in the exact size and quantity that I thought a journal should have. Cutting 50+ sheets on my paper trimmer was just too much work, and they never came out even. Very frustrating. So I began a search for cheap journals so that I could either take apart for the inner pages, or to alter. These were perfect!
All I had to do was take the book apart, decorate the covers and put it back together. With the colors I chose for this project, I didn't even have to cover the edges of the covers I just left the kraft as the mat for the first layer.

It's nice to do something different from cards for a change! Idid a bunch of them, so I have more to show you all in the coming days.

Hope it inspires!

Stamps: Magnolia, JustRite

Ink: Palette, Distress, Perfect Match

Paper: My Mind's Eye, Bristol vellum, SU

Accessories: Ribbon, colored pencils, OMS

Spring Scrapbook

Sorry about the serious lack of posts lately, I've been wanting to make some changes to my blog layout for a long time, but thought it would be a horrendously time consuming task so I kept putting it off. Well, after I researched it a bit, I found out it wasn't quite so bad as I anticipated. So now I've settled on a three column layout with a simple & pretty blog banner. Nothing too complicated for me, I've discovered, I just don't have the time and patience for it!
Someone on Etsy.com contacted me a little while ago asking if I made journals, or scrapbooks with the little girl images from Elisabeth Bell I'm so fond of. Got me to thinking, why not? Why limit myself to cards? These images are perfectly suited to small scrapbooks, or journals, and make a beautiful cover for a book! So here is my first one, made on my dusty old Bind-it-All. The inner pages are plain, heavy cardstock, so someone can insert their own papers and pictures.

It's going up on Etsy soon, so if you're interested keep an eye out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Sugar Nellie

Ink: Palette, Distress

Paper: W/C paper, My Mind's Eye, Papertrey Ink, Bristol, Chipboard

Accessories: Spellbinders Megabilities, Seam binding, The Punch Bunch flower punches, Liquid Pearls, Stickles, markers, Martha Stewart scallop punch, Bind-it-All

Personalized Covered Sketch Diary and Bookmark

I was getting ready to cover tons of books for my kids when they started school yesterday, when sudden inspiration hit me. Why couldn't I cover my own books, especially the ones I use often to protect them from wear and tear, and to personalize them? I have quite a few small sized sketch diaries that I use all the time, and the covers are boring imitation black leather. So I covered one to see how it looked. I love it! I would recommend using a heavier weight paper, like the double-sided Cosmo Cricket papers were perfect. I even covered the end pages which were cheesy looking with the brand logo all over it. While I was at it, I made up a matching book mark. Once again, I used shrink plastic to make a little charm to embellish it. I think it looks pretty snazzy, And yes, I know it's 'Halloween' paper, but I love crows all year and the colors from this line suit me perfectly. Very folk-arty.

Stamps: JustRite, Cornish Heritage Farms

Ink: Versafine, Distress

Paper: PTI, Cosmo Cricket

Accessories: Shrink Plastic, ball chain, jump ring, McGill circle punch, chipboard, black grosgrain ribbon

Monogrammed Stationery Box

I got a new laptop!

My sweetheart has been quietly listening to my complaints about my 5 yr. old laptop that my DD monopolizes all the time, and last Friday he sees a great deal for brand spankin' new Garnet red Gateway at Best Buy and offers to get it for me! How awesome is he! Thank you Baby!

Anyway, onto my latest project:

I made this stationery set for my good neighbor and friend. I found the off-white mache box at AC Moore and covered the top/inside cover with DP by Heidi Grace. Inside there are a couple of different things, a mini covered legal pad (blue to match everything!), a portfolio to hold a set of cards, a mini post-it holder keyring, and a matching pen. I think it looks so classy and elegant. The simple monogram along with the coordinating DP makes it perfect for every day notes.

Stamps: Justrite, Studio G

Ink: Palette, Versamagic

Paper: Heidi Grace, PTI white cardstock, SU!, Bazzill, Prism

Accessories: McGill 1 11/16" circle punch, Nestabilities, Coffee grosgrain ribbon, Sky blue grosgrain ribbon, RSVP pen, 1" binder ring, Neo-magnets, Mache box

Tilda & Co Challenge 27..Thinking of Others.

This little baby gift book was my entry for the Tilda & Co. challenge. It's not very big, but what new mother wouldn't love to get this mini book to document the first days of her new baby's life? I made the 'pages' from thin chipboard coasters, and bound the whole thing with my Bind-it-All. There's even a little envelope on the back cover for a little memento, maybe the baby bracelet from the hospital, a little journaling spot to jot down the baby's name, date of birth, weight, etc. I put a couple of blank pages to paste down some photos, too. The colors I chose were pretty gender neutral, periwinkle and soft greens so it could be for a boy or girl. The little charm hanging from the ribbon was made from shrink plastic.

Stamps: Magnolia, Papertrey Ink, Justrite Monogram stamper, Studio G journaling and flourishes
Ink: Palette, CTMH, Paper Salon, Versamagic
Paper: Fabriano w/c paper, Basic Grey, Papertrey Ink, Memory Box, Bazzill
Accessories: Nestabilities, Sheer blue ribbon, shrink plastic, Silver jump ring, Tombow/CTMH markers, Bind-it-All, Stickles, Flower Punches from The Punch Bunch, Corner Rounder, Fiskars 1/4" round hand punch, Liquid Pearls, Envelope template from PaperWishes

Lily & Milo Doodle Book

One more post! I forgot about this cute sketch book I made the other day. I wanted a small sketch book to take with me to work, or anywhere. I always seem to have inspiration for little doodles, or sketches when I'm NOT at home! So I colored a sweet little Lily & Milo image by Rachelle Ann Miller that I got from 7KidsCollegeFund.com with my markers. I used some rectangular coasters for the covers, covered them with Basic Grey Twinkle paper and bound the whole thing with my Bind-it-All. Oh, for the inside pages I just cut some sketch paper down to size with my guillotine paper trimmer. I wanted something a little more durable than regular copy paper, in case I wanted to color the doodles with markers, or colored pencils. It's hard to see in the pic, but I attached some beautiful Swarovski crystals and beads to the ribbon. It's also hard to see the subtle glittery effects I added with a Spica pen. I LOVE the Spica pens, they add just the slightest hint of of very, very fine glitter. IMO, no other glitter pen comes even close.
Well, that's it! I'm off to start some more projects!

First Official Post and a Quick Tutorial. My version of a Post it Note Keychain.

  Ok, so I finally gave in and decided to start a blog. Why, you may ask? Well, I can't stick to a written journal, but I like the idea of documenting my creative process. Some day, in the future when I've moved on to another type of craft, I may want to go back and look at what I've done in the past. I'm not sure I'll keep up with the blog, but I'm going to try.

I tried to make one of those adorable post it note keychains that I saw on someone else's blog, and just didn't like how it came out for me. I played around with it and came up with my own version. I think they came out pretty dang cute!

You're going to need the following supplies:
Double sided DP (or you can glue two of your fave DP's together)
Glue
Ruler
X-acto knife
Scoring tool (I use a bent knitting needle)
About 2" Ribbon
Eyelets or brads
1/32" thick disc Neo magnets---I got mine here .
1" ring clip or keychain embellishments stamps
ink

Measure a piece of cardstock or DP as shown in the pic and score on vertical lines. Cut out.

Ink edges.
                                        

Using a hole punch, punch two holes about 1/4" in from the edge on the spine of the cover.

Fold a 2" piece of ribbon in half and punch a hole 1/2" from the edge. Insert an eyelet through the paper and the ribbon, and set.
                                             

These are the little magnets.
                                                 

I used the smallest scalloped oval nestabilities to cut out two ovals from contrasting paper.


I stamped 'Notes' on one of the ovals, but left the other one blank. Using a little glue to hold the magnets in place, I attached the ovals/magnets to the front cover and the inside cover.





Use a repositionable glue on the back of the Post it Note book. Let it dry then attach it to the inside of the cover.

Attach a 1" ring clip (from an office supply store) or a key ring to the ribbon.

That's it! These are pretty easy, and they are so cute. Have fun making tons of them!

Simple Alphabet Stamp by Papertry Ink
Aqua Mist Twill ribbon by Papertrey Ink
Pallete ink
Nestabilities by Spellbinders
'Mira' collection paper by K & Co.
Ring clips from Staples