Win My Paper Gramophone & Mini Album at Custom Impressions' Scrap Pink Event!!

Starting NOW and running through Oct 17, 2015 you can buy a raffle ticket to win this hand crafted, paper Gramophone home decor piece with a matching mini album stored inside. The tickets are only $1 (what a bargain!) And can be purchased at Custom Impressions (3982 Cerritos Ave.Los Alamitos, Ca  90720) in person or by phone (562 430-8100).

The proceeds from the raffle will benefit the Breast Cancer Angels Charity. For more information about please visit their web site. http://www.breastcancerangels.org/

The Gramophone is made with Graphic 45's Curtain Call paper. And was designed using some 3D modeling techniques. It was designed for my 2015 audition for the Graphic 45 Design Team. (blog post here.)

I recently created the matching mini album to fit in the gramophone's drawer. I styled it after the vintage albums that held my grandpa's 78 speed records. Like the gramophone, the mini album features G45's Curtain Call line along side Paper Studio's Kraft Paper and Haberdashery lines. I love how these papers look together, such a pretty vintage style.

 

The album also has Kathy Orta King's Hidden Hinge binding system. (For more info please visit her Paper Phenomenon site.) This style of binding along with the large gusset spacing should allow space to add tons of photos or other memorabilia. There are lots of pockets and other interactive features on the album for all the memories you add, including six "record album" inserts.

The winner will be drawn during Custom Impressions' Scrap Pink Crop on October 17, 2015. So call and get your tickets in!! For more information shoot me an email or contact CI. Thanks!!

 

July ATC cards: Game Pieces, Body Parts & 'Shrooms

For July, I created three different cards. One for the first group I joined, the ATC group of Custom Impressions in Los Alamitos/ This group meets on the last Sunday of the month. And we do demos and trades with an optional theme. I also made two for a group where I trade by mail. This group is called ATCs Unleashed.

GAME PIECES
The July theme for the Custom Impressions group was game pieces. I decided to make cards that featured the game Clue (or Cluedo.) This card was a different style for me, because I used mostly images of the internet instead of stamps or scrapbook paper. I started by finding an image of the board you play on and combined it in Photoshop with an image from the Clue movie ethat showed the backs of all the suspects holding various weapons.  I printed this image at 3.5 x2.5 and it became my background for the ATC. Then I found and printed tiny game cards of the suspects, weapons & rooms from different versions of the game. I hand trimmed these and layered them with pop on to the background image so that each ATC  card had a different combo of suspect, room and weapon. On the backs, I altered the classic backs from the game and added my name and the date. They feel simpler than some of my other cards to me, but I think they are cute, fun and represent a game I have fone memories of playing.

BODY PARTS
For the ATC Unleashed group there are usually two themes. I choose to use the body parts theme for all seven of my main trades. I decided to do these in a multimedia / art journal style. (I am so obsessing on Dyan Reavely's style right now.)  So, I just HAD to use the Daddy Long Legs Dylusions stamp that I had just bought during So Cal Shop Hop.  So I had legs as the body part. For the background, I used more Dylusions with their inks, paints and stencils. I started by spraying the entire card (Strathmore multimedia paper cut to ATC size) with lemon peel yellow ink. I added lime green ink spray thru the small rectangles stencil over top; on the edges of the card I added the chocolate brown Dylusions paint with a blending tool. Over the background, I stamped a pair of stripe stocking-ed legs (in heels of course) with black Stazon ink.  I filled in any light or "bad" areas with a black pen using stripes or doodles. I  also doodled a bit on the corners.For a finishing touch, I hand wrote a quote from fashion guru Iris Aptel along the top of the leg. "Fashion can be bought, Style you possess."

'SHROOMS
The my second or bonus cards forATC Unleashed are always a free theme and only require two card to be submitted. These are sometimes the card I try new techniques or outlandish ideas for. And am adding step by step pictures. Since I was already enjoying the Dyan Reavely / Dylusions products so much m (and already had them out,) I used them again. I started the card backgrounds by spraying it with funky fuchsia and tangerine dream  inks. 

I blotted them with paper towels and let them dry a bit. I then used the Dylusions large circle stencil and sprayed plain water thru it.After letting the water sit for a few seconds, I blotted again. This created what Dyan calls ghosting, where the ink is removed where the water re-moistened it.

Then to create a very basic stencil, I stamped the mushroom image (a Dylusions stamp again)  on a blank piece of heavy weight paper. I cut around the mushroom image leaving a slight border to create a  stencil the  roughly the shape of the stamp. It didn't have to be exact, in fact, I wanted it to look handmade and slightly imperfect. 

Using the lime green Dylusions paint and a round Timmy blender, I painted the stencil on the left of all the cards and allowed them to dry thoroughly before moving on. I really like how the inks react and bleed into the paint letting you see the ghost circles beneath.

Now that the paint was fully dry, I stamped the mushrooms image on top of it with black Stazon ink. I tried to line it up with the stenciled area. On the right side  I added a quote from Lewis Carroll: "Its no use going back to YESTERDAY because I was a DIFFERENT person then."  I used a little of Tim Holtz Distress paint in picket fence to color in the circles on the mushrooms. And dotted a bit on or over the handwritten text. And as a last note, a tiny bit of bling.

I hope you liked seeing my cards for this month and learning a bit about my creative process. I will try and share a bit about my cards each month. Do you guys make ATC cards? If you are in Southern California, come join us some Sunday!

Wine Bottle Gift Box Construction Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how I constructed the wine bottle gift box. This tutorial will cover how to make the chipboard box, but not how to decorate it. (To learn how I decorated it in Artisan paper, come join me at Custom Impressions. More info here.)

You will need:
2 - 12x12 pieces of medium weight chipboard. (I used black)
1 - 12x12 good quality cardstock to match your chipboard
Double sided tape (like scor or redline tape)
A ruler
A trimmer that will cut chip board
A bone folder or other scoring tool
Scissors that will cut chipboard
a pen or pencil

 

Cut your chipboard  into:

1 - 4" x 4" square

4 - 4" x 8" pieces

4 - 4" x 6" pieces

and 4 - 3 7/8" x 3" pieces.

Cut your card stock to:

4 - 1 1/2" x 8" pieces

4 - 1 1/2" x 4" pieces 

and 8 - 1 1/2" x 3" pieces.

Score all your strips in half (3/4")

And add double sided tape to both sides. (I used 1/2")

One tip I learned from Kathy Orta is to mitre the ends of your strips.

 Measure off an inch on the 3" side of the 3 7/8" x 3" piece. Adee tape to the 1" portion.

Connect the 3 7/8"" x 3" pieces to the 4" x  9" pieces. centering it so there is small over hang (1/16") on either side. Do this for all four and set aside. (These are the sides of the box.)

ON the 4" x 4" square place one of the 1 1/2" x 4" strips on each edge .

 

Add the extended 4" x 8" pieces to the 4" x 4". Attach on the 4" side with the 3 7/8" x 3" piece that was attached on the top "inside." Leave a small gap between the two pieces to allow the 4" x  8" piece to be held at a right angle.

When all four sides are attached it should look like above

Attach two of the 1 1/2" x 8" strips to one of the box sides.

(DO NOTnot place strip over the 3 7/8" x 3" attached piece.)

  

Attach the sides of the boxes to each other at right angles using the strips. When you are done you will have the base of the box with a lip at the top. I left the small pieces unattached so they can more easily fit inside the lid portion.

 

For the lid we need to cut a triangle at the top of the 4" x 6" pieces. Start by making a line at the halfway point (3") of the 6" side. Use your ruler and score tool to score into the chipboard here. it will hopefully make an nice indentation.  Also mark the middle (2") of one end of the 4" side. (I used white pen so you can clearly see the marks. You should probably use pencil so marks can be erased or are less noticeable.) I also drew a line from the middle (2") of the piece to the 3" midway line to form the triangle

 

Using my heavy duty scissors I cut along the line to make a triangle at the top of the 4" x 6" piece.  Using the edge of a table or other straight surface, gently fold the top of the triangle along the score line. It should fold approximately 45 degrees.

I then attached four of the 1  1/2" x 3" strips to the straight sides of the 4" x 6" pieces.

Attach the four lid pieces together side by side. Again, leave a small space so they can be held at right angles to each other.

When you attach the fourth strip it should connect the first and last lid pieces to make a "box" with all the triangles on the top folding towards each other.

With the remaining 1 1/2" x 3" pieces, Attach the triangles at to to form the pyramid at top. I found the best way was to attach two opposite sides then to attach the middle ones.

When all four triangles are attached your lid should look like this.

Now you can put your lid on. You may have to turn it to find best angle for a good fit. 

Below are some pictures of a couple different ways I have decorated the box. One is with Graphic 45 Le Cirque and the other is Graphic 45 Artisan Style.

 

 

Graphic 45 Design Team Audition 2015

As Spring approaches, it is once again that fun, amazing and ever so slightly nervous time that is the Graphic 45 Design team call.  This year I am excited to present five pieces that range from a prize winning ATC to a construction project that was inspired by 3D modelling technology.

Project One:
Steampunk & Gears themed ATC card.

This card features paper from Graphic 45's "Steampunk Spells" line, a stamp from "Steampunk Debutante" and brads from the Staples collection.  It was made for the Original Rubber Stamp Convention's ATC contest and won honorable mention. I choose to work with the theme "gears." For more info about the card and how it was made please check out my blog post about it.

ProjectTwo:

Gift Box for a Wine Bottle.

This began as a birthday gift. I wanted to make something original and fun. So I used G45 Le Cirque paper and matched it to a bottle of wine with a cute label.

When several of my friends and fellow scrappers commented on how much they liked the box, I decided to create a new one that I could teach. The second one features Artisan Style paper. The way the houses create a 3d effect on the peaked top looks almost surreal to me.

 

For more details about the box including class schedule, check out my blog post. To see a step by step tutorial on building this box, click here.

Project Three:
Mini Album featuring Couture & Typography papers.

This album was made as a gift for a friend who lives in Russia. I haven't seen her in several years and was very excited to make her a special gift. The album is based on Kathy Orta's "My Design Mini album" which features her hidden hinge system.

 I matted it with Couture and Typography papers. I felt like the colors and styles of these two lines not only reflect my friend's taste and personality, but also accentuate the beauty in each other. To see more about this album, please, see my blog entry.

Project Four:
Shadowbox Wall Hanging with Precious Memories Paper

I created this project as another gift for a friend who recently adopted.  I used the four panel shadow box, covered it with the Precious Memories paper and added flowers and butterflies.  To make many of the flowers, I used one of my current obsessions, the Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch. To see more about the shadow box click here.

 

Project Five:
Gramophone Box with Curtain Call Paper

I created this Gramophone with a hidden drawer using Curtain Call paper, chipboard and a few pieces of hardware. The original idea came to me when I learned I could used 3D modeling to create patterns to cut on my Eclips. This is how I made the speaker horn.

The piece can be used for storage or to house a mini album.  I really enjoy how the Curtain Call paper worked with the gramophone theme. Especially how it brought out the whimsey and fun while still highlighting the theme of music. To learn more about how I made this piece check out my blog post about it.

Final Thoughts:
Hopefully you have enjoyed my submissions as much as I have enjoyed making them. This year I tried to make some projects that tested my ability to construct, work with themes and to teach what I have learned to others. And in doing so, I think I have learned and grown as a papercrafting artist.

Thank you for your consideration.
Laurel