Fun Friday - Altered Notepad Tutorial

Welcome to another Fun Friday!!  I've got a tutorial to show you how to turn this regular notepad...                                      

into This...

Problem - Need lots of little gifts, small budget, and no time to create.

Solution - These quick and cute little personalized notepads.  Just the right shape to tuck into a purse or backpack,  jot a grocery list or keep your computer passwords safe.

I'm going to show you how to make a template to use so that you don't need to take your notebooks apart each time.  This allows you to make one of these little beauties in minutes.

First, cut a piece of heavyweight (80-110 lb. cardstock) 3 1/8" x 5 1/8".  This will be your template so you want it to be sturdy.  Unbend one end of the wire spiral and turn to remove it completely.  After making your template, you will never have to do this part again!  Lay the cover of the notepad over your template making sure ends are even and mark each hole.

Using a paper punch to match the hole size, punch through each hole.  Use scissors to cut from the top edge just to the center of each hole.  This will allow you make future covers without removing the wire because you can just press the edges through the wire!  Easy Peasy time saver.  Gotta love that!

Now choose your papers for the front and the back.   Round the edges with a paper rounder to match the notepad.  Note:  You may want to round the edges of the  original notepad cover  as well since they're done by machine and aren't always nice and neat.

I use Tombow Mono-Multi to glue the covers on.  Make sure to line your hole up.  Replace the wire.

Decorate as desired and you're finished!

Be sure to keep your template in a safe place!  We'd love to see your notepads! 

Have a Fun Friday!!

Charlene

Tutorial Thursday with Kim

Hi girls! I hope you've liked my last column! Because this week is a continuity of it.

You know I always try to test new techniques or try different techniques or mediums. So a couple of years ago (Yes, years...) I saw an amazing technique with foil paper which consist of gluing your paper on a plastic piece to give it a metal look.

I was so excited that I bought 4 packages of sheets. When I finaly tried it at home... The result was a mess...

So now I own 39 foil sheets... (10 per packages) Here's what these shiny transfer foil sheet look like.

It's looks like metal, really thin paper.

It took me a long time to find a new way to use it. And it was last week that I tried to emboss everything in my workshop (good thing I don't own any pets...) that I had a flash.

I began to glue my foil sheet on a cardstock, because if you don't you can just say goodbye to your sheet it's too thin and fragile.

I took an embossing folder and embossed my paper. Look at the fabulous effect.

I decided to make a card with it but I could also use it as a little background on a layout.

Here's my finished card! You can see better the embossed look.

I'm now glad to know that I can make good use of my old stuff! 

Hugs and kisses!

Kim@ KLDezign

Altering a Canvas

Hey everyone! I have now got into altering things, I know a lot of people have been altering for a wily and it is not new but I always thought that it would be hard and what would I alter, what would I do with it once I was done. I came up with all these excuses on way I should not do it because I was being a chicken!! lol Now that I have started altering I can't stop!! I love it! It is so much fun!!

So I started off easy with a canvas. I just got a cheap one from the dollar store, the size is 8x10.

I also used some paint dabbers from Adirondack the colors are Espresso and Gold. I used some Tim Holtz distress Ink in Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo and his embossing ink. The embossing powder is also Tim Holtz in vintage photo. The stamp set I used is from Inkadinkado named Chandeliers. There is also some Prima on this canvas. the butterfly an the lace. The metal label holder is from Tim Holtz

To start off I painted the edges of the canvas with Espresso paint then once that was dry I toke the gold and I dab some on my finger and rub it into the canvas.

After the paint was dry I toke the paper that I was using and I glued it down with a hot glue gun, but I only glued the middle down first so I could rip the edges of the paper. The paper I used is from Shabby Green Door. Once I have ripped the edges I distressed them with vintage photo and Walnut Stain once I was all done with that I toke the Gold paint dabber, dab some paint onto my finger and just rubbed some of the edges with the gold paint. Once I had the paper the way I wanted it I glued the rest of the paper down.

All this was the hardest part of altering this canvas! Not bad uh. After I was done with all the messy stuff all I did was embellish it!! Here is the finished canvas.

Here is a closer look at the bottom of the canvas

I had a lot of fun altering this canvas!! So to all the chickens out there like me give it a try!! I bet you will have a lot of fun!!

Till next time!!

Melissa

Alter Monday ~ A Scrap Blossom that Sparkles!

Everyone has some scraps laying about it seems. Why not use them to make a Scrap Bloosom? It's quite simple and makes a great statement for your creations.

To create this Bloom, you will need:
Scraps of pattern paper, cardstock, etc. Zip Dry adhesive, a button or other embellishment for the center, Ultra Fine Glitter, and scissors. I used fringe scissors so I could make many cuts at once and speed up the process. Not necessary for the creation of the flower.

1- Cut your scrap paper up into a pile of strips.

2- Put a decent sized swirl of Zip Dry on a small scrap of cardstock or pattern paper. This will be the base of the flower.

3- Start layering the strips in a star burst pattern on top of the Zip Dry.

4- Add more adhesive as need be while layering the strips.

5- Your flower will look something like this when all the strips are placed. Fullness of flower is entirely up to you!

6- Glue button in the center.

7- Dab some adhesive on the strips/petals of flower as desired and then sprinkle glitter on top.

8- There you go! A Scrap Blossom that sparkles!
Have a wonderful week of creating!
~Amy Bender

Tutorial Thursday - Embossing Secrets

Hi girls!

This week I want to share with you a few secrets of my great friend.... The Big Shot Machine from Sizzix.
I bought it a couple of years ago and I must admit I forsaken it a bit since I bought my Cricut.
I've recently been on Tim Holtz's website and saw his new line of product and it gave me the mood to work with my Big Shot! It's so versatile, easy and useful so I decided to make a little tutorial on how use it.

Everybody knows that the Big Shot can emboss and it look amazing every time. (Take a look at theses amazing embossing folder by Tim Holtz on the Posh website)

Yes it's pretty cool to emboss your paper, but it's cooler to use sand paper to sand and distress your paper. The Core'Dination Cardstocks are perfect for this because their cardstock have different color cores inside! For this one I embossed it, sanded it and you can see the green color core under the black cardstock.


I'm pretty sure that you already know all of this! But did you know that you can emboss more than paper? For this one I took a sheet of foam. It's really easy to emboss and you can cut it after with your favorite die.

A couple of year ago I was totally in love with one of Prima's flower line (I don't know the name!) So I bought a lot and now I own too many that I don't know what to do with them! I tried to put it in my machine and it gave a really great result! Look at this! You can also ink it for greater results!

Here's another idea? Take chipboard and emboss it! Look at the fabulous result! It's a thicker chipboard so it's more difficult but I don't regret! You can also emboss cut Grungeboard or Grungepaper.

When I was to this point I was really inspired and wanted to emboss everythings in my workshop! So I also tried this one!

Can you guess what is it? It's acetate! Sorry for the poor quality, It's pretty difficult to take pictures of this. But it's really great! Can you imagine some winter layout with this! Ink it with alcohol ink and it will be totaly amazing!

And now, I want to show you most favorite material to emboss. Aluminum foil. Yes, the same one we put in the oven! I'm in love with the result! I'll try to distress it with black Staz-on or something else...



Now talk a little bit of the cutting "force" of this machine. You can easily cut, paper, cardstock, grungeboard, grungepaper, acetate, aluminium foil, foam, chipboard...

And...

Felt! Create your own little embelishments like Sasafrass Lass or Basic Grey manufacture!

And a little discovery for me! I can cut... Cork... Look at the thickness of this!

And here's the cutie result!

Try also fabric, plastic packaging, or styrofoam! Personaly I own a Big Shot! But here's some information on this Sizzix Textured Boutique Machine Beginners Kit who's the equivalent! I hope you're now inspired to use your machine!

Hugs and kisses

Kim @ KLDezign

PDSS CSC12 Winner ~ CANDY ALERT *CLOSED*

Hey everyone!

Our entries for our last card sketch challenge were ALL so amazing! Thank you SO much for playing along with us we LOVE seeing your work!!! Now for the winner of challenge PDSS CSC12 via random.org goes to..... 


Winner: #9 Netra
Prize: Pink Cat Studio Lilly at the Beach Stamp Set

Congratulations from all of us! Please email me (Nini) and I will get your prize out to you as soon as possible. Be sure to get in touch with me by Saturday.

---------------------------------------------------
BLOG CANDY ALERT!!! PLEASE READ!!! NOW CLOSED...

It's Candy Time! Thank you for helping us make Posh Designs what it is today! I can't believe how many of you are following the blog! At least now we know for sure that we must be doing something good!

Be sure to join our Sketch Challenges every other Tuesday for a chance to win some yummy goodies!
**CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR CURRENT CHALLENGE**

What do you get if you combine 6 of the hottest new lines in the scrappy industry and 2 very much loved manufacturers out there!!!??

You get this amazingly scrumptious candy!!!

The specs:

• 36 (3 sheets of each pattern) single sided 6x6 sheets - Sassafras Lass CHERRY DELICIOUS wee bundle
• 36 (3 sheets of each pattern) single sided 6x6 sheets - Sassafras Lass NERDY BIRD wee bundle
• 36 (3 sheets of each pattern) single sided 6x6 sheets - Sassafras Lass APPLE JACK wee bundle
• 30 single sided 6x6 sheets - Pink Paislee QUEEN BEE paper pad 
• 30 single sided 6x6 sheets - Pink Paislee 365 DEGREES paper pad
• 30 single sided 6x6 sheets - Pink Paislee BAYBERRY COTTAGE paper pad

Holy smokes now that's A LOT of paper!!! Nearly 200 sheets of brand new paper!!!

The rules:

• Only one entry per person
• Post your name and the link to your blog where you mention this candy and if you don't have one just spread the word out okay?! (please use Mr. Linky below)
• The last one is totally up to you, if you aren't already a follower you can follow us, now that'll make us waaaayyy happy! ;)

I'll pay for shipping anywhere in the world so everyone could play along! I will be using Random.org to draw the lucky winner. This yummy candy ends May 4th!

Good luck people!

**UPDATE: PLEASE USE THE MR. LINKY BELOW TO ENTER FOR THIS GIVEAWAY IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BLOG OR SITE LINK JUST USE OURS! THANKS** 

Fun & Funky Two Pager Layout

Hi everyone!!! When was the last time you did a two-page layout? It's been a while for me!! Actually, I think that it's been at least a year, maybe longer. Why? It's faster & easier to do singles, and I don't have to purchase two of everything!!!

This past Christmas we did a family photo shoot, which was very 'un-posed'... okay, it had to be, my grand-son Mason, just didn't want to co-operate!!! So we ended up with some very funny and impromptu pictures. I have been scrapping them a little at a time, and will probably put them in their own album when I am finished.

While going through the pics, I ran across two that I wanted to use together. But, the pics were too big to put on a single page, so I decided that I would do a 2 page layout. Well, wouldn't you know that I didn't have doubles of any paper that was appropriate!

What to do... easy, pick two color co-ordinated papers from the same company, in this case Sassafras Lass. Both papers have the same colors, but they are very different. One has a bold rainbow and the other is very soft & feminine. This didn't matter to me, because all I had to do was use the same color & style of embellishments.

I chose the same ribbons, buttons, flowers & vintage children's book pages and/or a variation of style, but the same color. Here's a closeup of the two pages, side-by-side:

I first laid down a page from a vintage Richard Scarry children's book, to ground each photo. The page on the left, got a brighter & more colorful vintage book page, to compensate for the lack of bright colors on the background paper. Then I added the fancy strip, from the bottom of 2 different Sassafrass Lass papers & the wild zebra ribbon to the bottom edge.

Next, I layered my buttons & embellies on top, and made an arrow shape. The purpose of the arrow, was to highlight each parent, as one loved by my grand-son. Because the arrows are pointing at different levels, and to each parent, it gives the illusion of a cicle..... a family circle!! I didn't want to interrupt that flow, by adding large 'names', so I chose the Tiny Type alphas stickers to write Mom & Dad, right on the pictures.

Then I set off to find & make flowers....all kinds of flowers, bright & beautiful. I used bits & pieces from my stash for the hand-made flowers. I also made a point of making each main flower exactly the same. Again, this is to re-inforce, that the two pages are together. Here's a closeup of the left page:

And a closeup of the right page:

Once the main flowers were in place, I just kept adding & layering flowers, both hand-made and purchased (K & Company Handmade Mini Floral Accents). I also tucked in some chipboard pieces and bits of fibers among the blooms.

I added my sentiment to the bottom of the right page. It says "Some people make the world special just by being in it!" I got this quote from a Cosmo Cricket strip that I was going to use on the layout, but it was too big. I decided to write it in the journaling box instead.

Almost forgot to tell you about my title!!! Here's a closeup:

I pounced Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks on the backside of Heidi Swapp ghost letters in two shades of red & a bit of blue. Once dry, I glued the letters (face up) to a vintage dictionary page. Let set and trimmed around the letters. To give a bit more dimension, I added some arrow rubons on two letters.

As you can see, you don't 'need' doubles of everything to do a 2-page layout!!! But if you want some consistency & co-ordination, then pick a few items to double up on. Just make sure you use on both pages, and you'll have yourself a very fun & funky two page spread!!!

Enjoy & thanks for looking,

Lynne

PDSS CSC13 ~ Designs by Leeré Aldrich

Happy Tuesday!!!
Here's what you'll be working with for the next 2 (two) weeks!
We had a blast looking at all the gorgeous entries on our last challenge, amazing work everyone! We cannot wait to see more of your wonderful creations!

PDSS Sketch Challenge #13:

You can flip, rotate, resize or do whatever your crafty heart desires as long as we can still see the original sketch in your creation then you're good to go! These challenges are on a bi-weekly basis, so that means you'll have two (2) weeks to get your creations completed, loaded and linked up!

Our special sponsor for this challenge is Posh Designs Scrapbook Store's very own DT Coordinator and my good friend; Michelle!

So, this Designs by Leeré Aldrich Clear Stamp Going Places...... is going to one lucky and random winner! How cool is that! :)

Sample Project (Designer Lauren Meader)

All you have got to do is participate by creating anything with the sketch in mind. Submit your creation to Mr. Linky below by typing your name and leaving a direct link to your project. Here's some inspiration from our lovely DT to help you get started!

Charlene

Lynne

Melissa

Michelle

Nini

Deadline: May 3rd @ 11:59 PM EST Canada. Please type your name & direct link to your creation in the Mr. Linky box below.

Thanks & Happy Crafting