New Design: Medium-sized Gatefold Album

My latest gatefold mini album isn’t as large as all of my previous ones; in fact it’s a very decent carry-on size of 14.5 x 15.3 cm (5ΒΎ x 6”). I chose Bo Bunny’s summer-colored Serendipity collection, which is full of birds, feathers & nests, but with kind of a twist.

Also, this time I didn’t just mat the pages; I worked with lots of photo mats, which I blended with design papers while creating my own page mosaics. Use repositional tape for the photo templates, so you can easily remove them and replace them with pictures of exactly the same shape and size.

This one is a fun one again: it only takes three page assemblies to make it, but with lots and lots of page flaps, pockets and tuck spots! Of course there’s a tutorial for all of you who’d like to create and customize your own. Bonus: you get a free cutting guide with all of the photo templates and mats I used, so if you want you can completely imitate my photo mosaics – though of course you can design your own too! (or create more than one and utilize both techniques πŸ™‚ ).

Paper walkthrough: Madeline (Prima)

Here’s another lovely design paper stack by Prima Marketing: it’s called Madeline and has a floral theme in teal, green, wine red and brown. I started modestly with only the 6×6 inch paper pad, but that didn’t last very long… πŸ˜‰

Anyway, here’s the two-minute video – click here if you can’t see it.


Paper walkthrough: “Fiddlesticks” by My Mind’s Eye

Sometimes it’s the little things that can make us happy! πŸ™‚

Take this cute little 6×6 inch (15×15 cm) paper pad here, called Fiddlesticks – the title alone brings to mind (well, to my mind at least) some old western with girls in frocks dancing to the fiddly tunes played by some old cowboys. And the papers themselves make it very clear: these cowboys & gals are wearing jeans!

Or something like that. πŸ˜‰

Anyway, enjoy another one of my Paper Walkthroughs!

Click here if you can’t see the video below:

 

Prima Romance Novel altered treasure chest, pt. 1 – Preview / Work in progress

I’m working on a commissioned altered box at the moment, and I thought it would be fun to share some of the progress.

The person I’m making this for wants to send an altered box to his dear friend in New Zealand (yea, I’m being shipped overseas, woohoo! :-)). He has sent me some short notes he wants to be written on the box and furthermore he’s asked me to do something with a dandelion, or a dandelion theme, as this flower has special meaning to him and his friend.

Here’s what I came up with so far:

  1. I’m going to use theΒ Romance Novel design paper stack, I don’t think there’s a paper out there that’s more fitting! It has everything you could want for a commission like this: it’s gorgeous, it’s romantic AND it has a love letter theme, including vintage postage stamps and the like! How cool is that for a gift that will actually be sent overseas by mail!
  2. I decided I wanted to find a way to create an actual paper dandelion, 3D, life size. Didn’t have a clue how to do it, but I was going to find out and make it work!

So, here’s some pics of the work in progress, enjoy!

The wooden box I’m altering. It’s kind of a mini treasure chest and it’s about 3.5×2.5×2.5 inches (9x6x6 cm). Isn’t it adorable?

First I removed its lock and the hinges on the back. Then I painted it dark brown except its little legs which I painted gold, using simple acryllic paint. I mixed it with a pearl paint to create a pearly shine. Then I sprayed glimmer mist on the whole thing, using Tattered Angel’s Iridescent Gold and Vanilla Breeze. Nothing too fancy, but it does create a very nice, subtle effect. Plus, this box has Golden Feet! πŸ™‚

Here’s the layout for the box. I sprayed each piece of paper with a bit of glimmer mist, using the same two colors I used on the box. Of course I’m going to distress everything as well, for which I’ll be using Tim Holtz’s Black Soot distress ink.


On to the creation of the dandelion. Fortunately the internet was there to teach me how to make one (check out Inna’s Creations,Β a very creative Israeli lady whose website I stumbled onto. She makes gorgeous paper art!). I started by creating the paper strip on this picture.

Roll up tight!

And spread the little petals. Done –Β A cute little life-sized paper dandelion! Thank you Inna! πŸ™‚


I’m going to put this inside the box, so that when my friend’s friend opens it, a lovely, bright piece of summer will smile at her πŸ™‚

So, this was part 1 – hope you enjoyed it!

I’ll be showing you the finished product in part 2. Until then, stay creative!


Paper walkthrough: Romance Novel by Prima

Ah, this gorgeous gorgeous design stack is such a delight that I’m hesitant to even use it! Perhaps I’ll simply stare at it for a couple of minutes a day…

Click here if you don’t see the video / Klik hier als je geen filmpje ziet.

 

Edit April 10th, 2013:Β As it turns out, this design stack is also available in A4 size. I don’t think it’ll come as a very big surprise that I immediately bought that too as soon as I heard of its existence… πŸ˜‰

BewarenBewaren

BewarenBewaren

Paper walkthrough: Basic Grey Sweet Threads

Now and then I will showcase some of the paper stacks that I use, or plan to use in the future, for all of you who consider buying some beautiful paper but can’t make out enough details of these tiny thumbnails they show you everywhere. I don’t know about you, but I always like to know what I’m buying, and I’m happy to share what I’ve already found out.

So here’s the first of what I’ll call my Paper Walkthroughs!

Click here if you don’t see the video below.

Dutch: Af en toe zal ik door een van mijn eigen papierblokjes heenlopen, zodat je beter kunt bepalen of je het eventueel ook wilt gaan gebruiken. Daar heb je waarschijnlijk meer aan dan aan die piepkleine fotootjes op internet.

Klik hier als je de video hieronder niet kunt zien.