Low budget tip: Working your scraps into a fun project!

So, what to do with all of these leftovers from your papercraft projects? Design paper scraps, cardstock scraps and even chipboard scraps – do you throw them all out? That could work, clutterfree living is a ‘thing’ nowadays after all.

However, you can also choose the Frugal Crafter’s perspective: when I consider my scraps, I don’t see waste, I see paper real estate! That’s why this week’s post is about a practical way to work with several different kinds of leftovers and create a very fun project with them. And it will be very budget-friendly indeed 🙂

Also, it’s a new video tutorial on how to create my so-called scrap mats. I have done one before but that was many many moons ago, so I thought it time for a fresh one…

I’m working with the leftovers of my recent Double-Stacked Too album, with papers from the Serenade and Clippings collections by Basic Grey.

Scrap mats make brilliant background mats for your projects

Beautiful Dreamer Photo Box + Some Thoughts on 2019

Happy New Year everyone! May 2019 bring you closer to your hopes and dreams than you have ever been, taking the first steps to turning them into reality!

Me, I’m kicking off the new year with some plans of my own, though I haven’t worked them out in detail yet. For instance, I’d like to add some new elements to my Youtube content – about which I’m talking in more detail in the video below, and I’d love to hear you all’s opinion by the way!

As a first project share, I’m showing a new photo storage box I created for Nora, for whom I’ve made two other projects: the Remember Me box pocket album, and the Beautiful Dreamer folio album. For this box I used the gorgeous Beautiful Dreamer papers again, by Bo Bunny.

All of my boxes are very sturdy and the lids close tightly. If you’d like to make some of your own, check out my elaborately detailed tutorial! It comes with two free bonus cutting guides for different sizes. I’m confident that once you’ve made all three of those boxes, you can design a box of any size you need!

And: because my birthday is January 11th, I’m celebrating it with you all by offering you a 40% discount on all of the tutorials in my shop, from January 11-13th! So don’t hesitate any longer and grab this – only once a year – chance!

Have fun watching the video – you’ll see me on camera again, which is one of the changes I’m implementing in 2019 (not sure if that’s a recommendation… let me know in the comment section below! 😉)

 


Handmade Memory Box (w. New Cutting Guide!)

When I created my own handmade keepsake box for the memorabilia of my father’s funeral, my mother asked me to create one for her too. Hers needed to be larger though, so I adjusted the measurements while referencing my box-making tutorial.

This time the theme was butterflies & little birds, two of my father’s favorite animals, so I used DCWV’s beautiful Mariposa collection. I added some Limelight cutaparts by Kaisercraft and a beautiful decorative brad by Bo Bunny – just watch the video, in which I tell you exactly what I used.

Since these are entirely new measurements, I added a new bonus cutting guide to the existing tutorial, so now there’s two bonus cutting guides! Which means that all who already owned my box tutorial (which is #17 in my shop) can now download both cutting guides, including this, my latest for free! Simply go to Etsy, click on You, then choose Purchases & reviews. Easy peasy and no extra costs! 🙂
New customers will of course also get both cutting guides in one purchase.

What can I say, I aim to please 🙂 🙂

 

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French Country Memory Box (Handmade)

My friend asked me to create a memory box, like the ones I showed you earlier only larger. She chose the beautiful, romantically rural French Country collection by Graphic 45 – especially since she loves France.

This handmade storage box is pretty large and can hold lots of memorabilia, or even one or more mini albums!
Its dimensions are 19 x 22 cm (7½ x 8 5/8”) and it is 16 cm (6¼”) high, custom-fitted both to the largest and the widest card of a set of cards she wanted to keep in the box, and to the height of the set of cards when stacked on top of eachother, which was 15 cm (6″).

I followed my own box-making tutorial, but with the new dimensions of course. I also came up with a small technique improvement along the way.

I added both the improved instruction and a bonus cutting guide with the new measurements to the existing tutorial – which means all of you guys who already own this tutorial (which is #17 in my shop) can now redownload it for free to get the improved version, and will also get the new cutting guide for free!

New customers will of course also get this new version + the cutting guide in one purchase.

 

I decorated the box with several cutaparts from the collections and two door pulls. On the lid I also used some flowers, charms and buttons, and a hand-painted wooden letter. All in all these beautiful papers are a perfect summer or fall collection, with gorgeous, full colors.

 

 

Boxing Days – Create Your Own Storage or Gift Box

Recently I created my own storage box out of chipboard, which was great fun! Its dimensions are 22 x 17 x 7 cm (8⅝ x 6¾ x 2¾”), for that way it would hold all the memorabilia from my father’s funeral. Not just the loving condolances cards I received at the time (2014), but also the lyrics to the songs we played at the funeral, and the memorial prayer card. Since my father loved the ocean I chose a maritime theme and used the Summer at the Beach paper collection by Studio Light. This collection offers a great choice of 3D cut-apart sheets and diecut sheets, which is perfect for decorating and creating layouts.

This kind of box is also ideal as a gift box: you can personalize the theme and put the actual gift inside. Because of its dimensions, it’s perfect for a book or a daily planner or some such, for most of them will fit (please do measure the book you’d like to give first, and adapt your box measurements if necessary!). This is what I did with a second box I created for a friend: I chose Bo Bunny’s Garden Journal paper collection to decorate, and put a book inside for her.

In the video and pictures below I’m showing you both boxes: the maritime storage box as a memorial keepsake, and the spring-themed book gift box for my friend. As I said, they were great fun to make and if you’d like to create one yourself, there’s an affordable tutorial available in my Etsy shop!

Have fun creating, stay crafty!

 

Summer at the Beach paper collection by Studio Light

 

Garden Journal paper collection by Bo Bunny

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