handmade notebook

I love giving handmade gifts -- it says so much - the person is special to you - i love seeing their faces. Today I want to share a tutorial on making these notepads/notebooks. Absolutely delightful to make. My daughter is already making request for these on her birthdays! Ok, that dpends on how many friends she is inviting over!!!

First I start with some paper, i have chosen this stack of Prima Ledger papers in my stash. I love its heavy weightage and prints. So vintage and lovely. I also set aside a chipboard... a fairly light weight one, that is easily to fold.

I chose 6 sheets(these measure 12x12) and from each sheet I cut 3 pieces of 9x3 inches papers. See this picture below. I have decided to have a 9x3 inch notepad! nice and tall. Next, I stack all the cut up papers together and clip it tightly with a clip. Then i apply glue to the top part. I repeated this maybe 3 times. Just to get the glue to the paper. So it will look like a notepad where you tear from the top.

While waiting for the glue to dry, let's work on the cover.

I cut this to a size of 9.5x3.5 (when folded)

I want it a little larger than the notepad.

Spine will be 0.75inches

Then I painted it with a coat of blue paint.

Painted the inside but only 1 inch from the edge.

Dont forget the spine too.

Then I take a piece of lace (actually it is left over curtain material from the dollar bin in my craft store) Size is about 1/2 an inch larger than the chipboard.

Fold the lace over the chipboard and paste down. Fabric glue works better here.

Then i cut 2 pieces of ribbon (8inch long) and glue down like this.

Paste down the notepad on the right.

Then i take another piece of 9x3 inches paper and paste down on the left.

Added a rub on and a canvas resist butterfly (Prima)

Oh, I tie a pom pom trim over the spine. Just to give it more textures.

Or you can tie a pencil there too.

Finally embellish the cover as you like.

I cover this with lots of Prima flowers and Resin.

Perfect gift!

Hope you like it. Have a great weekend!

love love book pages

Hi friends, do you like books? I love them a lot. I love the antiques ones too, with its aged book pages... there is a smell of history... a wisp of time... yep.. anything vintages calls out to me. Glitz designs has this amazing challenge now to use book pages... dictionary pages.. old pages.. but you know what.. they have this product call "book layers" which looks exactly like an old book page. Look no farther.. Glitz has them all.

Here's what I created using one of Glitz book layers... a party bag. Yes.. my daughter has forever on-going birthday party invites and she needs these pretty bags to put her presents for her friends. I altered an all white party bag... volia.. you get this!!! Fun and totally easy to make.

My process:

1) I took a yellow and green spray inks and drip it over the white bag.

Some landed on the book page.. it's ok. I want that random look

2) I cut some banners out of scraps pieces of Glitz papers

3) oh.. that balloon idea came from that book page itself.

Next up, is a layout inspired by the book page itself. Word search. I found a book layer (by Glitz) that has this cute word search... and I am so overjoyed cos it is the perfect element for the story I want to tell. My girl is into word search these days. What a perfect way to tell the story!

Process:

1) I got my girl to do the word search.. give it an authentic feel

2) I cut part of the book layer to get the title "word search".. perfect title. No need for alphas

3) I drip some white paints on th blue background paper.. love the random feel

Finally, a altered box.

This brown box contains pineapples tarts from Taiwan. A gift from a friend. I found a way to re-purpose this box. Added some Glitz papers and what'snot to it. Dress it up my style. So much fun!

Process:

1) I dry brush some white paint over the box to give it that vintage book

2) Covered the box with Glitz papers and layered with more papers and embellishments

3) I added a Tim Holtz Metal keyhole and key to give it a 'treasure' box look

thanks for dropping by. See you soon!

my cute niece

Here's my newest crush!!! my niece! adorable, charming, cute... everything you like in a little girl.

But she is also spunky and assertive! Fun to have in our house.

Here are 2 'lucky' shots I captured of her... intense & focus!

But we had a good laugh about her hair though.

Dont you think it looks like a natural helmet? LOL

That's how the title came about... jokes among my family. :)

see the top fabric flower by Prima. it is originally white.. i 'inject' some blue and pink mist on it. I didn't spray though.. I took the spray noze out and jab at the flower. Fun! Here's a variety of fussy cutting from the G45 papers.. I love cutting! Meanwhile check out my sale page. HERE