DIY Fabric covered Binder

I have started a project life/smash book and I love it. For us as scrapbookers is very interesting and liberating just to be able to journal and create pages about ourselves and our daily lives.

There is quite an assortment of products available for this new craze, but I had to make mine on a budget and I do own a lot of supplies that can be easily transformed into this new trend. My first step was to get a binder and whew! those are expensive, so using my creativity I made my own.

I got a binder from the clearance section at Target for $1.18. It had a children's design, but the exact size I was looking for.

 

Using Mod Podge, fabric and ribbon the transformation began.

This beautiful print fabric is from Joanns stores, it is usually $12.99 a yard, but I only bought 1/2 yard and used a 50% off coupon for a total of $3.24 (that day they had an extra 15% to your purchase, so it went down to a fabulous $2.76).

Fabric is very easy to attach with Mod Podge using just a thin layer.

Cut the corners to make it easy to fold and attach them.

For the inside a coat of acrylic paint to cover the inseam.

I used two pieces of leftover fabric from another project for the inside of the binder in black and white polka dots.

As a finishing touch I used black satin ribbon in the inside edges.

On the cover I used my initial to add a personal touch. I used my Cricut and silver metallic paper to make it, but you can create yours with a pretty sticker.

Here is the finished product.  I will make a future post with my inside pages.

Thanks for reading and your comments!

New Stamp Storage System

As scrapbookers we are always looking for new ways to organize our stash. This weekend I tackled my stamp collection. I have been storing my stamps in a three ring binder with inserts, but as the amount of stamps grew it was becoming a disorganized mess.

Looking for new ideas online found a few solutions. This one to me was the one that seem more efficient: a filing type system.

For materials I used:

1. One package of heavyweight sheet protectors (5.5" x 8.5") that I purchased in OfficeMax, they have 25 sheets and it cost $3.99. Of course I used a coupon for 20% off that came in the newspaper this weekend.

2. Cardstock in black and white to match my decor. One good alternative were poster boards from the Dollar Tree they cost $1 for two and you get about ten dividers.

First cut your poster board in sections of 8.5" x 5.5" minus one inch to leave space on top and sides.The sheets have punched sides to be attached to a binder, I cut those with scissors, and then inserted my stamps, one on each side.

I'm gonna try to keep all my stamps labeled with the same packaging they came to make it easy to identify them. 

With the black poster board I made tabbed dividers for different categories. Labeling them with my computer.

My stamps are going to be stored in a embellished crate from the dollar store (See how to create this inexpensive crates).When my collection grows I would only have to get a second box to divide them.

Thank you for reading and your comments.

Distress Ink storage tower

I love the distress inks from Tim Holtz, they are my favorite for scrapbooking and even though I do not own that many like other scrapbookers, I have been looking for a way to display and store them.

I used different ways before: a wire basket, a photo box, in a drawer but none of them were either pretty or functional until I found this little cassette tower holder in Goodwill. It cost me $2.68 and it was in great shape.

A little coat of white paint to match my desk organizers.

And here is the finished product.

I labeled all the distress inks for easy identification.

 I can actually store two inks in one level, that will give me plenty of room for growing my collection. Awesome!

Thanks for reading and your comments.

Art inspired mini album

This mini scrapbook album was a gift for my daughter's birthday,who loves art, especially painting and photography. The construction was simple because she is not a scrapbooker, but loved the end result.

For the cover I used a 6x6 chipboard album from Michael's and covered with burlap fabric using mod podge.  

I was first inspired to create the mini when I found this metal camera trinket in Michael's.

I used an assortment of flowers from Petaloo, metal trinkets from Tim Holtz and metal corner accents from Michael's.

The inside pages is all about art. I took pictures of the items she uses for her paintings and used a collection of rub-on stickers that are all art related.

Everyday items like her brushes are displayed.

 I printed art related phrases with my computer and used them as accents.

 A sticker collection from Cosmo Cricket  was used, it has all art related sayings. It match perfectly with the theme of the mini.

I tried to resemble like an art gallery with art hanging from the walls. I'm not an artist, so I used my watercolor paints and stamps to create "masterpieces"

 This is one of m favorite pictures with the colors of the paint in great detail.

 For the back cover I used the same elements as the cover. Here you can see on more detail the burlap as background. For the binding I used my bind it all, but used a piece of gold cardboard that I scored at 1/2 inch, then embellished it with a Martha Stewart punch to give the cover a more finished look.

 A more detailed video of this project is on my you tube channel.

Thank you for reading and commenting!

Make Your Own Smashing Stamps

I have been working on a homemade smash book for my daughter these past few days. I thought of creating my own set of stamps to go along with it, because let's face it, stamps are expensive. I wanted to get a modern, and let's say "not perfect" stamping look for her smash book. But those rare pattern types can get a little $$pricey$$.

Using really inexpensive products: two foam sheets (89 cents per sheet at Michael's), small detailing scissors and any type of strong adhesive, you create your own stamp designs. You just have to be a little creative with patterns.

I used two different foam colors. First I traced my designs on the white foam sheet. Then I cut them out with the small detail scissors, and glued them to the black foam.

My intention was to mount the design and black foam onto wood squares, but I found out they work just as fine by themselves.

I used geometric patterns: arrows, triangles, squares, but any shape will be easy to make.
For the polka dot stamp, I used a paper punch to create the little circles. It's my personal favorite.

This is my testing sheet. Later on I will follow up with future projects using them.

For my daughter's smash book project I intend to use bright, colorful inks.
This time I used just red and black to test the stamps out.

In very little time I had quite the assortment of stamps.

I found this project to be really easy to make, inexpensive and fun. For more information you can watch the tutorial on this project on my YouTube channel.

Thanks for reading and your comments.

DIY art for your craft room

I am still in the process of decorating my craft room: I think of it as a never ending project. And this weekend I got inspired to do a pair of painted canvas for the wall above my desk. For materials I used: a pair of 8 x 10 canvas, acrylic paints in different colors, mod podge, gesso, stamps, inks, color markers, and Faber Castell gelatos.

For the first step I prepped my canvas with gesso to have a good base for my project, then used the acrylic paints to create a background. 

  I stamped my images on paper torn from an old book, then cut and colored them with color markers. Nothing fancy, I actually liked the edges to be a little off.

After all the images were colored, I attached them to the canvas using mod podge.

I drew the stems free form with a black marker.

To add interest I used a polka dot stamp on the corners and bottom of the canvas.

I used black gelatos to distress the edges a little bit and add a shadow.

These are my finished canvas ready to hang in my craft room.

 They are going to be my inspiration while doing my crafting.

Thanks for reading and your comments.

Valentine's day DIY treats

This is a last minute project for Valentine's day, especially if you are looking for ideas for a little sweet touch. You will only need: chocolate bars (I used  Hershey's), pretty paper and ribbon.

I wrapped the chocolate bars in scrapbook paper and made the printed sign with my computer, I Stamped the little owl and drew the heart, then added a little ribbon and voila: V-day wrappers. Perfect little treat for your kids.

Happy V-day!