Accordion Vacation Book

This is my last entry to the Hero Arts July2010B challenge. I have worked on this 4 x 6 book for the past three evenings. I haven’t had much time during the past week to make many cards because of prior commitments and getting ready to leave on vacation. For the next two weeks I will not have the chance to make any cards but will resume making more cards when I return home.

One day last week, I was in Hobby lobby in the scrapbook section and I came across this little 4 x 6 accordion file book (see first two pictures below) and I picked it up and looked at it closely and while I was looking at it thoughts were running through my mind that I could make one of these. So, in order to remember what the little book looked like, I purchased it so that I could use it as my guide. Actually, you could say that this little book inspired me to make one last thing for the Hero Arts Challenge. We are going on vacation in a few days and I needed something to keep receipts and misc items in and this is just the perfect thing for that.

The first two pictures that are featured here is my inspiration for my accordion book.
This is looking at the book when it is opened.


This is a picture of it closed.

My book that I made starts here, this is the front cover.

This is the back cover of my book.

This is the inside of the book.

This is looking at the accordion folder that has the tabs with the different categories.

When I got home, I took measurements of the folder and figured out where the score lines went for the accordion portion of the book. I made the front and back portions of the folder and then I made the side portions of the folder. The tricky part was attaching the sides to the front. In order for the sides to fit snugly, I had to cut about ½” up on each fold of the sides. The cut portions were taped to the bottom folds. (Hope that this makes sense.)

The next thing that I did was to make the book part of the folder. I took a piece of medium weight chipboard and cut it to 6 ½” x 95/8”. Then I made score marks at 4 3/8” and 5 1/8”. Before covering the chipboard with pattern paper, I bent the front and back covers several times so that the score lines would be more flexible. Then I covered the outside and inside with pattern paper. Then I made a cover to go over the pad of paper that I inserted. I secured the paper cover with score tape and then secured the pad of paper also with score tape. In order to keep this book closed, I secured ribbon under the accordion folder and arranged for the ribbon to tie in the back. There are six sections of the folder and I made individual tabs for each section. The easy part of this project was stamping my images.

Note: The measurements for the accordion folder are: 6 ¼” x 13 ½”. I had to piece together the length in order to have a 13 ½” length of cardstock. My score lines are: 3.75, 4.25, 4.75, 5.25, 5.75, 6.25, 6.75, 7.25, 7.75, 8.25, 8.75, 9.25, and 9.75. For the sides of the folder I cut 2 at 3 ¾” x 7” and score every ½”. The inserts for the folder are 3 ¾” x 6 1/8” and I had 6 different categories: ticket stubs, addresses, gas receipts, food receipts, postage stamps, and souvenir receipts.

The stamps that were used are Hero Arts: Crossword background S5290, travel Frames CL274, Getaway Travel CL302, Grid pattern S5216, and Just A Note 4x6 CL404.

This post turned out to be rather long, but this was a fun project to do and I would make another one again. I Hope that these directions were not to confusing and that I didn't leave anything out. Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the comments. Have a great weekend.

Corner Bookmark

I have been on a cupcake trend for my last few post. It seems that all I can come up with, that is food related for the Hero Arts July Challenge, are cupcakes. I only have a few stamps realting to food and the cupcakes Clear Design set is one of them (CL158). (I recently received a stamp order are food items other than cupcakes and I am anxious to start using them.) I was looking at Splitcoast Stampers a few days ago and found the directions for this corner bookmark. As usual, I was having a difficult time deciding on the color and after 3 tries, I came up with a pink color combo. The word that is partially hidden by the ribbon is "delicious". I did not realize that the ribbon was in the way until after I took the picture off of my camera. Here is the link for the directions to this bookmark. The tutorial says to use a piece of cardstock that measures 4 1/2" square. I made a 4 1/2" bookmark, but decided that it was too big. So, I cut it down to measure 3 1/2" square.

Thanks for dropping by and have a great day.

Sweetness

Here is a quick card that I made for the Hero Arts July food and travel challenge. I didn't struggle making this card. I was very surprised with myself to have this card finished within an hour. It usually takes me two or three nights to figure out how I want to design my cards and I usually have a difficult time picking out the paper and colors that I want to use. The stamps used are Hero Arts.

Clear Design Cupcake CL158 (I have been using this set a lot lately and will probably put it away for now.)
Hand Drawn Sweetness F3433 (This set was purchased in 2005 and I think that it might be discontinued.)

Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the comments. Have a great Sunday.

Vanilla Cupcakes

I placed this double pocket recipe card on a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card base so that I could use it as a birthday invitation. The inside will have the following information: Who the party is for, the date, time, and the place. The recipe in the pockets will tell the individual that cupcakes will be served instead of cake. Each person that receives an invitation will also have a recipe to try.

This card was simple to construct once I figured out what I wanted to do. This was actually a struggle for me to achieve something that I liked. It took me three tries (3 evenings) to come up with something that satisfied me. I did not like the colors of the first two pockets that I made and because of that, they ended up in my scrap bin. Sometimes, I have to construct and take apart a project at least 2 or 3 times before I get my final project finished. That is probably why I only manage to make 3 or 4 cards a week. This is my finished card and I am happpy with the way it turned out.
Stamps used: Hero Arts
Clear Design Cupcakes CL158

The instructions to make this card came from here.

Thanks for stopping by and comments are always welcomed.

I have included the recipe.

Vanilla cupcakes
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 egg whites from large eggs
½ cup shortening
1 cup 2% milk
2 large eggs
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, shortening, milk and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Mix at low speed for 2 minutes. Scrap bowl. Add egg whites and mix at high speed until fluffy and smooth, approximately 2 minutes.
Fill liners ½ to 2/3 full of batter. Do not overfill. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes in pans then remove from pan, and place on wire racks to cool completely

Accordion Book

I am running out of ideas for the Hero Arts Callenge for the month of July. I only have two stamp sets that are related to food and one stamp set related to traveling. I am submitting this Accordion Book for the challenge and will also give this to my friend for Christmas. The bookmaking part of the challenge is coming in handy for me; I can make a few books and then give them away as gifts. My friend loves birds, so I decided to put birds on the cover and on two of the pages.

The Hero Arts stamps that I used are as follows:
Garden Bouquet CG172
Cuckoo CL388
Scallop Borders CL288
Two Birds (3 Images) CG152
Peacock AR178 (The AR refers to stamps that Hero Arts makes for Archiver's.)
Earth Flowers CL428
Water Color Petals CL431
Antique Engraving CL383


Cover

Pages 1 and 2
Pages 3 and 4

My friend will beable to put one or two small pictures on the pages where the sentiments are on. The sentiments come from a piece of pattern paper that have a lot of different definitions. I simply cut out the word that I wanted and then destressed it a little and added a destressed mat.

Cupcake Cards

These two cards are out of my comfort zone. I know that these cards are easy to create, but for some reason, I feel more comfortable making a card that has tons of stamps on the paper and I love to destress the images that I stamp. But, every once in awhile, I seem to make a few cards that are clean and easier to design. For me, I seem to get bored with an easier card and a card that has a lot of detail is more of a challenge for me.

This first card is called a folded frame card. I found the directions for this card here. I paper pieced the cupcake and I used red paper for the top and embossed it with yellow embossing powder. The bottom of the cupcake was embossed with a blue glitter embossing powder by American Crafts. The stamps that were used are Hero Arts: Valentine Saying CG151 and Clear Design Thinking of You CL140 (Happy Wishes sentiment came from this set.)


This card was an inspiration by Lucy Abrams. I watched her video on Wednesday (July 14, 2010) and loved how she made this card. She used digital stamps on her card, but I didn't have anything dessert related, except for cupcakes. Lucy's card can be found here. First, I stamped the cupcakes on Kraft paper and then I stamped them again on different color cardstock and paper pieced them together. Then I spreak glossy accents over the individual cupcakes and sprinked white glitter over each image. The stamps that I used are Hero Arts: Clear Design Cupcakes CL158.



Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the comments.

Recessed Window Card

I was looking over on splitcoast Stampers (resource section) for new insperation and I came across the recessed window cards. I looked at the video and decided that I wanted to try this type of card. It is unique and fun to make. I have provided a link Here. The stamps that I used are Hero Arts: Paris CL325, Dots & Flowers S5213, and Box of Words LL001 (Used the "ENJOY" stamp from this set. I think that this set has been retired.)

Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the comments.

Mojo Monday Week 146

My take on the challenge.

Mojo Monday Sketch

I haven't posted much lately since the new challenge for Hero Arts began for July. I haven't had much time to do what I love--creating new cards. It has taken me all week just to get this finished and to be satisfied with the results.

This is my version of the Mojo Monday week 146 challenge. I have always wanted to make a card that had a collage, but I wasn't sure how to begin. One day last week I was at splitcoast stampers and found a tutorial on how to make a collage. So, I printed out the directions and followed the instructions and it turns out that I really like that technique.

The stamps that I used are Hero Arts.

Antique Engraving CL383

Earth Flowers CL428

Antique Flowers background S5264

Friends CL351 (The small butterfly on the sentiment tag comes from this set.)

Thanks for stopping by--I appreciate the comments.

Flag Book

Front Cover


A side view

side view

looking from the right


Page 1

page 2 & 3

page 4 & 5

page 6

Stamps used are Hero Arts

Artists Butterfly H5426
Clear Design Four Bold Messages CL226
Clear Designs Antique Engraving 4 x 6 CL427
Clear Designs Antique Engraving CL383
Clear Designs Birds and Branches CL219
Clear Designs Earth Flowers 4 x6 CL428
Clear Designs Essential Messages CL371
Clear Designs Flower Blossoms CL223
Clear Designs Thank You Flourishes CL286
Clear Designs Truly Appreciated 6x4 CL380
Design Block Tree S5037
Dot Flourish Border K5232
Flowers Say Hello C2553
Friends C3002
Inspiring Messages LL240
Life with Sunshine D3055
Old Letter Writing S4878
Raindrop Background S5101
Silhouette Grass S5316
Wishes Come True D4144

This book is called a Flag Book. My inspiration came from a magazine called “Craft Stamper, June 2010 issue which is published in the UK. I was at Barnes and Noble the other day and picked up this card magazine and started looking through it. I came across the Flag book by Willy Anderson (pages 16-18) and decided that I liked her book idea. I read how she put it together and decided that I could do the same thing, but with different stamps. I told myself that this would be a good bookmaking technique for the Hero Arts Challenge that is currently going on this month. (All the stamps that I used are listed above.) There are 9 tags inside the book and I stamped and distressed each tag on the front and on the back I sent a sentiment and distressed over the sentiment. The technique that I used for the cover was inspired by Jill Foster.

I have a friend that is moving out of state and I wanted to make something special for her. This flag book is the perfect gift for her.

Thank you for stopping by--I appreciate the comments.

Exotic Bloom

This Exotic Bloom stamp (H5424 -- Hero Arts) is one of the stamps that I bought at Archiver's last weekend. We were in Marietta, GA which is 3 hours south from where we live. The background stamp is the Flourish Background CG119.

Card Directions:
I took a pink bazil piece of cardstock and cut it down to 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches. Then I took a piece of Hero Arts Snow layering paper and cut it to 4 x 5 1/4 inches. I stamped the Flourish background stamp CG119 in a plumb color ink and inked around the edges of the paper. For the bloom, I stamped it in versa mark clear ink with white embossing powder and heat set it. But, before I stamped the bloom, I destressed the paper with Tim Holtz destressing inks in the following colors: Shabby shutters, Broken China, Dusty Concord, and Victorian Velvet. The last thing that I did was to assemble the card and add a few gems to the flower. The gems were colored with a plumb color alcohol ink by ranger.

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.