random.on purpose.

Meandering

I finally got my gel pen yesterday, and started a card with that technique I've been wanting to try, but - as often happens with me - I got sidetracked with a different project altogether.  When I was browsing in Michael's, I came across Carol Duvall's book.  There was a project in it that caught my eye, and I wanted to try it out while it was fresh in my mind.  I don't know what she called it, but I believe it's called a "meander" book, and it only uses one sheet of paper for the base.  There is a tutorial for it here, although the one in the book had a slight difference (which I will point out below), and Beate Johns has a tutorial for a different one on SplitCoast Stampers.  Anyway, here's mine:

I used the same ponytail elastic closure as on the keychain mini-album, but sandwiched it between the front cover and inside pages, because I didn't want it to show on the front.  I stapled it from the inside before adding the pages, and the cover embellishments hide the staples on the outside.

I used SU's Purely Pomegranate cardstock, Provo Craft papers, CTMH "Doodle Alphabet" stamps, Studio G stamps, SU Purely Pomegranate and CTMH Crystal Blue ink, and paper flowers and a bling brad from my Valentine's score at Target's dollar spot. 

I didn't have a ponytail elastic that matched, but I did have Purely Pomegranate re-inker and a white elastic, so problem solved!  I was a little (okay, a lot) impatient about waiting for it to dry, so I stretched it out by looping it around my thumb and forefinger and using a blowdryer on it.  Note to self:  wear gloves next time - the rings of ink are not an attractive addition to my fingers!  Also, if you look really close at the pic (or even just kind of close) you can also see some ink along the edges of the cover where the still-damp elastic rubbed while I was positioning everything.  I was at the "I don't care" stage of the project, though, so deal with it... 

Here are a few pics of the "work in progress", with the changes noted:

         

The first pic shows the cuts.  You will accordian-fold the strip ending in square "A", which gets folded back and glued to square "B", then continue accordian-folding until you fold square "C" back and glue it to square "D", then continue until you fold square "E" back and glue it to square "F".The second is how it looks after all the folds are made, but before you glue the "extra" pages together.  My understanding is that if you want a true "meander" book, you just fold it and continue on without gluing, but I like the "tidiness" of this method.  This next pic shows an overhead view after the gluing:

   

The other pic shows some of the inside pages after the papers are added, and this last one shows the back cover with the elastic (and some extra ink, which I already accounted for...)  I also used the back cover to play with positioning for images on the front cover, so it's a little wonky-looking (don't care):

If I seem a little unconcerned about how "polished" this product is, please understand that what I am posting here is an experiment - a prototype - and I don't care if it's perfect - perfection comes into play on the second - or third, or fourth... - but I give myself free reign to PLAY.  I am trying new things, and they will either be successful, or they won't, or a combination of the two, but how do you know what you can do if you never try anything?  IT'S JUST PAPER AND INK, and - last time I checked - I was in no danger of running out of either, and neither are any of the stores/websites I acquire this stuff from!  Do yourself a favor and let go of your attachments to outcome - just go PLAY!!!

Keychain Mini-Album Update

I didn't get a chance to do the "new" technique yesterday, but I did knock out a couple of projects with the Silhouette papers:

   

The item in the center is one of the keychain mini-albums that I posted a tutorial for.  Greg's daughter (mine, too, for 16 years now...) loved the original, but she is very much a tomboy type and has the build that goes with all of the athletic things she does, and this includes (in her case) thick-ish fingers.  She said she'd never be able to tie the ribbon back into a nice bow, so I started thinking about other closures for this little album.  What I came up with is incredibly simple!  I took a plain old ponytail elastic (one of the small ones) and stapled it to the front cover before I added the embellishments and the inside pages:

   

To close the book, you just slip the elastic around the entire thing!  I used Stampin'Up!'s "Carte Postale" and some black embossing powder to make the accent.  I layered two daisy punches (ivory) behind a red circle and added an epoxy sticker, and put the whole thing on top of the Carte Postale square, then attached the entire accent with a glue dot on top of the elastic. (The glue dot is one of the thicker ones, so the accent is "popped up" high enough for the elastic to move freely without messing anything up.)

The other two items are large binder clips embellished with paper, ribbon, and such.  The red "flower" behind the accent on the clip on the right is actually heart sequins glued to the back of the circle accent.  These clips make great photo holders!

All right - on with the day!  I'll see if I can get around to trying that technique later on...

More Calendars

Since I mentioned the calendars that I made for my kids in my last post, I thought maybe you'd like to see pics of those, too.  They're not very good pics, because they are converted PDF files.  I didn't have a digital camera until fairly recently, so the only way to "preserve the memory" was to use the printer at my job to scan them.  I stumbled across a free download that lets you convert files to other formats, so I used that.

The calendars were all made to coordinate with the decor of the intended recipient, so they are all different, and I also altered VHS cases and filled them with items for an "emergency sewing kit", so they could re-attach a button, fix a hem, patch a hole, etc., should the need arise.

Here they are:

   

   

   

   

   

Pretty much everything is CTMH, except the Oriental-looking one, which uses Poetic Prints stamps.

They are fairly time-consuming and fussy (getting all the pieces/parts lined up properly, for example), but they aren't difficult, particularly.  Anyway, I thought you might be interested, in spite of the fact that the scanner cut off some of the edges and all...

I have a new (to me) technique I'm itching to try, and a couple of ideas for the paper I used on yesterday's project, so I'm going to go play now.  I'll share those projects when I'm done!

Tutorial: Border Punch Squares

I had to come up with a gift for Greg's boss's girlfriend - we're going to her 50th birthday party in about an hour (so why am I doing this now, you may ask?  Because I'll forget or otherwise get sidetracked...)  Anyway - she's one of those that pretty much gets whatever she wants on her own, so it's hard to know what to get her.  I decided to make her a dry-erase calendar, and it looks like this:

   

These are not very good pics, because by the time I finished the project, pretty much all the natural light coming in my window was gone, so oh well...

These are made using the frames you can get at Michael's (and other places) that are intended for a scrapbook page.  The glass is what makes it a dry-erase calendar - you can write on the glass with a dry-erase marker, and wipe it right off!  I made these for all of my kids a couple of Christmases ago, and they all liked them, so I decided to make one for Carol.  I wanted to keep it neutral color-wise, and kind of on the elegant side, because she carries herself that way, so I don't really think she's into "cute".

I used the papers from CTMH's "Creative Basics Silhouette" collection, SU's "Carte Postale", CTMH's "Playful Petals", and a few punches - Marvy Uchida Scalloped Squares in two sizes, and Fiskars lace border punch.  The alpha stamps are some generic foam-mounted ones I dragged home eons ago.

The tutorial is for the fancy-schmancy lacy-looking squares I made for the individual days.  I cut my squares 2", but found out (after the fact) that if I'd cut them 2 1/8" instead, the squares would have been even prettier.  This is what I mean:

But, it is what it is - cut yours 2 1/8", okay?  Then, grab your border punch and go to town:

   

Center the square in the punch and punch it, then flip it around to the opposite side, center it, and punch it again.  Then do the other two sides the same way:

     

You'll have some funky little raggedy things on the corners, so clip 'em off (if they were all consistent like this example, you could leave them if you wanted, but these things all come out slightly different):

   

Voila!  You now have a bee-yoo-ti-ful square:

NOW COME THE WARNINGS!!!  First, you will end up with a pile of "waste" that looks like this:

so if that will make you cry, or you are in any other way a "paper miser", don't even begin this project!  Side note:  You can get 36 2" squares out of one sheet of 12"x12" paper, and you need 35 for this project, so it's not as wasteful as it appears, but... 

Also, there will be a little strip left in the punch, since you're not doing a continuous border.  It looks like this and you will need to remove it EVERY TIME, or it will prevent you from putting the square fully into the punch:

Final tip to ensure success:  MAKE SURE THE PAPER IS CENTERED EACH TIME YOU PUNCH!

Okay, I think that's it...  I've used this punch a LOT, and have some other fun things you can do with it that I'll share another time, but I have to go to a birthday party now.  In parting, here are closeups of the title strip detail, and the dry-erase marker that I covered with matching paper (I also tied and glued a 24" piece of ribbon around the end of it, and tied the other end to one of the hardware things on the back of the frame):

Okay - gotta run!  Buh-bye!