TUNNEL BOOK

Tunnel Book

This was supposed to be a sample, but I liked it enough to add a cover, so at least it's a pretty sample.
Begin with two accordian pleated sides of the same size.  Add panels of the same size with centred cut outs of decreasing size.  (I used nesting dies).
I put a piece of mirror board at the end, so you can look down the tunnel and see yourself!  If you're more arty, you could make a scene with different features on each layer.

BISCUIT BLISTER CARD

SUNFLOWER BISCUIT CARD

Its really tempting to look at all the fabulous ideas around on Pinterest and in magazines and reproduce the work of some of those amazing crafters.  The trouble being, of course, that its their work.

Sometimes, though a little inspiration is needed so I've been making a conscious effort to look at things other than cards for card ideas.

This example started as a big of a joke, but actually ended up OK....not sure that I'd give it to anyone but the concept kind of works.

Being a creature of habit, I have one of these little cheese and biscuit packs as an  afternoon snack, almost every day at work, so this particular piece of inspiration was close at hand.

I inked a small-patterned Cuttlebug folder with brown ink before embossing some dark yellow card, as a reference to the colours and vague design of the biscuits.  I made a tile by stamping into paperclay and then colouring it with water-based markers in biscuit and cheese colours, and then cut a little dark yellow butterfly.  I cut a piece of craft card, traced around the plastic blister of the biscuit container, and cut just inside the line of this as well.  After adding a few embossed lines for decoration, I pushed the container through the hold, and taped the edges to the back.

I used a Kraft basecard and put the embossed layer next.  I stuck the tile and butterfly (with wings raised) to some pretty Graphic 45 paper and secured it to the back of the blister, then stuck the whole assembly on top of the embossed panel.  A quote (also cut from Graphic 45 paper) finished the card.

Yes it is a bit wierd but its inspired me to look a little further afield for card ideas, and besides, it was fun!

ENVELOPE BOOK

OUTSIDE VIEW

This is my second try at an envelope book - not because the first one didn't turn out - quite the reverse.  It proved so useful to store all those little alphabet die-cuts etc that I thought I'd better make another one.

I used the super simple approach of just sticking the flap of one envelope onto the body of the next (using double-sided tape rather than the envelope adhesive for a more reliable bond).  I cut patterned paper (Graphic45) into rectangles just large enough to cover the reverse of each envelope with a little border around each.

Then it was just adding some paper decoration to the front, and a reinfoced hole (glue the layers together first then use a handpunch to punch through all layers) for the tie.  Fold in an accordian and there you are!

FINISHED ENVELOPE BOOK

INSIDE VIEW

DIE CUTS FROM WASHI TAPES

 I keep seeing references to sticking strips of washi tape to card and then die-cutting it.  In some ways it sort of made me think "WHY".....but having tried it out (the sensible thing to do if you can't answer that question), I've sort of come around to thinking its not a bad way to use up some of those tapes you sormehow acquire and then are at a bit of a loss as to how best to use.  The texture was interesting, and the rather different patterns looked better than I had anticipated.  Obviously one of the advantages of using Washi tape is that you have instant matching borders to use for cards or scrapbook pages.

WASHI TAPE DIE-CUTS

EMBOSSING WITH WHITE CRAYON RESIST

WHITE CRAYON AND WATERCOLOUR WASH

A nice batik-like result can be obtained by colouring part of a dry embossed image with white crayon, then adding a watercolour wash.
Colourless crayons are also available if you wanted to try the technique over patterned or coloured paper.

Now....on a different topic.  I've been doing a Papertrek posting every week for three years and three days now!  This means that there are over 150 posts so I have a collection of techniques preserved for myself to browse and hopefully to be of use to other folk who find their way to the blog.

I think its time to concentrate a bit more on quality over quantity now.  Like most people, I'm rather time poor so rather than just put things up for the sake of it, I'll wait until I have something I think is worth sharing.  So....I might post a few weeks in a row, I might have a few weeks "off" or I might even put up a lots things in two or three days.  Who knows.  The blog will continue but for now.......I'm taking a couple of weeks holiday.  Be back soon.

WASHER NECKLACE

WASHER NECKLACE

I love hardware shops - just giant craft stores by another name.

This is just a giant washer wrapped with layers of handmade paper, and sealed with a coating of Mod Podge.  A ribbon makes a hanger.  I wish I'd been a bit more careful now, as it could easily make a very wearable necklace.  For this example now, perhaps I'll tie it to the spare house key, to make it a bit easier to find!!

MARKERS WITH SPRITZER

SPRITZED SHAPES

The Tim Holtz spritzer which is designed for use with Distress markers is very poular at the moment.  These examples were done with a "kiddy version" of this tool, which blows air across the tip of the markers, spattering the colour on the page.  I used some unloved generic pens as well, so imagine a much better result with the "real thing."

The samples were made just to explore a couple of techniques and to see if I wanted to buy the more upmarket version of the tool.  The first is just to spritz through a punched hole, which as you can see worked quite well.  The second is a daisy punched from a piece of paper with colours sprayed over some outline stickers which were then peeled off.  This worked OK too, so...maybe my bright orange spritzer will do for now........

COVERED NOTEBOOK

COVERED NOTEBOOK

A lot of people are covering books for kids before school goes back.  Why make it just for them!

Covering (in my case cheap) notebooks with those scrapbooking papers you bought five years ago and never quite got around to using, is a great way to get them out of the cupboard.

I've added a frame with a couple of split pins and a simple die-cut with a black rhinestone centre to the panel of paper on the front of my notebook, and put a simple piece of the same paper on the back.

If you have a big stack of your own notebooks ready to go, why not make some for family/friends.  

DOUBLE EMBOSSED SMALL CUTTLEBUG FOLDER

SMALL CUTTLEBUG FOLDER "BUTTON"

I was sorting out my embossing folders when I found a business card holder book (storage tip) filled to the brim with little Cuttlebug folders.

I don't know why I haven't used them for years as I could instantly think of 101 great things to do with them.   (Suspect its more likely I've improved over time than they have).

Here's one simple idea which was just to ink up the folder with Versamark run it through with paper inside, and then heat emboss with gold embossing powder.  I used my circle punch to cut the central emblem from the folder and there we are -  a cool little embossed "button" to use on a card.

DOUBLE LAYER STAMPING ON A BOOK PAGE

TWO LAYER STAMPING ON TEXT

A couple of weeks ago I posted an example of stamping onto a book page.  This is fine with a solid stamp, but works less well with a stamp that has fine detail such as this typewriter from Rubbadubbadoo, which tends to get lost amongst the text.

One solution is to make a background stamp - I used fun foam cut with deckle scissors - stamp over the text with this, then stamp your feature stamp on top using a darker ink.

I whipped this example up fairly quickly and would probably use a lighter brown for the background and a very dark cocoa brown for the typewriter if I was making for a "real" project.

MAKE A BACKGROUND STAMP

STAMPING ONTO BUTTONS

STAMPING ONTO BUTTONS

You might have noticed that I've been doing lots of experimenting lately with inks and various surfaces. This is another example.

I was fairly confident that Versafine would work on wooden buttons but as most of them are plastic, wondered how Staz-On would go.  (I know that this does not involve paper but my intention is to use the buttons for papercraft projects so......)

The red button was fairly flat and the stamp was OK, although it was really hard to stop it slipping on the shiny surface.  The second button, even on the reverse (shown) had a bit of a curve (as do most buttons).  I tried using an acrylic stamp without a block so that it could bend with the surface, but wasn't able to hold it well enough and as you can see, I ended up with a blodgy mess (its supposed to be lace).

I think my conclusion is that unless there's a compelling reason I won't be stamping onto plastic buttons and if I need to add some pattern I'll just reach for my Sharpie pens and draw on the design.
After all, how hard can it be...................

STAMPING ONTO METAL WITH STAZ-ON

BLACK INK STAMPED ONTO METAL

....Just thought I'd share how cool Beethoven stamped onto the reverse of a Diet Coke can (using BLACK Staz-On) looks.......Lots of jewellery potential here!!!

STAMPING ONTO BOOK PAGES

Quite a while ago I shared an example of printing onto book pages.  Stamping onto book pages is even easier!!!!

The bird doesn't exactly go with the text (from a John le Carre novel) but if you were thoughtful you could make some more meaningful pairings between stamp and background.

SUPER SIMPLE CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

SUPER EASY CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

I'm a bit prone to sifting through the paper bin at work and "rescuing" potentially useful bits of this and that.  Every now and then, I feel compelled to make something with them just to show that I'm not just a crazy paper hoarder. (Yes, all right, I know the two aren't, strictly speaking, mutually exclusive).

Anyway, should you come across some perfectly good strips of light card in the bin or otherwise, you can use it to make an ornament by cutting one piece the length you want it to be and then cutting long strips of differing lengths, folding them in half and securing them at the top and bottom.  A staple would do, but I've drilled holes with my new screw punch and used a split pin to hold the ends together.

I've added some twine as a hanger at the top, threading it through the hole before the split pin went in. A lot of variations are possible using the same basic principle, but I'll leave that up to your imagination.

SHADOW STAMPING WITH ACRYLIC STAMPS

REVERSE STAMP BACKGROUND

Oh dear, this is not an original idea but I can't remember where I heard/saw it.....I'm happy to add an attribution if anyone could suggest the source.

Anyway its a simple but fabulous idea - just use a tiny bit of double sided tape to stick your acrylic stamp upside down on your stamping block, and then use it as a "shadow" for underneath the image.  In this example I used silver underneath and crimson on top.  You'll have to take my word for it that it looks better in reality.

(I probably shouldn't mention that a little lick and stick is a speedier way than double sided tape to stick the stamp onto the block for the first step.)