A Card with a Gift

It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie.  This time, Kathy is the hostess and is calling it Get in on the Action.  She describes it this way.

Adding an interactive element on a card, tag, layout or canvas adds a bit of fun to any project. For this challenge, create a vintage or shabby chic project that incorporates an interactive element of one sort or another in the design. You can add a pocket and tag, a hidden tag, a hinged page, a flap, a flip, a tuck spot, a special fold or any kind of interactive element that appeals to you. Be sure to tell us in your post what makes your project interactive, as it may or may not be apparent in a photo.

I have made a card and my interactive item is a little pocket that contains a wee gift for the recipient - a tea bag.

My card was created with cream card stock from Staples for the blank and has patterned papers from the Graphic 45 paper collection called A Ladies Diary all of which were distressed and the edges inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

First I added a background panel of the paper and then I added a doily that was cut from a Crochet Doily die and some of the cream card stock and inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The pocket came next and was simply constructed by scoring the bottom and sides of a rectangle of cream card stock.  Once I added double-sided adhesive to the narrow strips, I removed the tape from the bottom and folded it up first and then did the same with the sides.  At that point, I realized the narrow hinges weren't going to be strong enough to hold the pocket in place so I also added a rectangle of card stock to the back before I adhered it to the background panel.

To decorate the pocket I dyed some venise lace with a combination of Vintage Photo and Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.

The tea bag holder was made by folding a rectangle of card stock and adding hinges to the pocket part inside.  To keep it closed I added a tiny Velcro pair that I dyed with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I did remember to ink the folded edges before I added the patterned paper even though the photo does not show that

The outside was decorated with a strip cut from the Graphic 45 paper and a strip with vintage tea pots from The Graphics Fairy that I added to a Word document and printed.

To close the tea bag holder I inked a tiny adhesive Velcro pair with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and added them to the inside as shown.

I turned a filigree medallion into a pull for the tea bag holder by first inking it with a mixture of  Salmon, Sunset Yellow and Snow Cap Mixative Alcohol Ink but it did not look like what I was hoping for so I ended up pressing the medallion into a Versamark pad and then coating it with Tree Branch Embossing Powder.

I found a little tea pot charm in my stash and changed it from silver to black by coating it with Pitch Black Alcohol Ink and then added it to the medallion.

Once the pocket was added with the insert, it was time to add more decoration.  First I used some green Kraft Core Shattered Collection and the Garden Greens die to make some leaves.  I added a loopy bow made from some checkered ribbon and then filled the space with a variety of paper flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts.  A few teeny punched butterflies were added here and there.  I enhanced their bodies by adding dots with a black metallic gel pen.

I finished the inside of the card this time with a panel of black card stock, a panel of patterned paper and a verse about gifts of tea that I found online.

I hope you will Get in on the Action and join us for the challenge.  One randomly chosen winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to go shopping at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.  The Design Team will choose their top picks with the overall top pick receiving an invitation to be a Guest Designer at a future date.

Notebook Cover

Today is my first post of March for the International Design Team at IndigoBlu.

This month we were asked to create spring-themed projects and I was happy to do that since it snowed again last week.  Mind you we were luckier that many and the snow stayed mostly out over Lake Ontario.  Today is the day the calendar says it is spring so I hope the weather co-operated where you are.

I wondered if I could stretch a little and use poppies as a spring flower but since the ones I have seen are always deep red or orange I was going to abandon that idea until I Googled poppies and discovered Icelandic Poppies.  Who knew that poppies come in lots of other colours and mostly light spring colours - pretty peach, ivory, coral, etc.?  So that was all I needed to use the IndigoBlu Poppycock stamp with confidence.

I decided to make a notepad cover and started by making the cover.  These make great little gifts and can be decorated in any number of ways.  The notepads come from the dollar store, usually in packs of four and sometimes come in other sizes.  This time I used pads that are 5" x 8" and my cover is designed to have two pockets inside, one to hold the cardboard backing on the notepad (so you can easily replace it when you want) and one to hold "stuff".

Start with an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of card stock (kraft card stock from Recollections for this project) and trim 1/4" off the long edge.  Put the long edge in your scoring tool and score at 5 1/4" and at 5 3/4".  This will give you a half inch gusset, which is a tad loose since the pad is only 1/4" thick but allows for the dimension of the pockets and for you to add a fair bit of "stuff to the left pocket.  Fold each of your score lines and burnish them with a bone folder.

Now to make the pockets, cut two pieces 3 3/4" x 5 1/8".  Score at 1/2" on the long edge, fold and burnish.  Clip a little mitre out of the folded piece on each side as shown and add double sided tape to the outside.  Then cut four pieces 3 1/8" x 1" and fold in half lengthwise (these will form a gusset for your pockets. making it easier to insert "stuff").  

Add double sided tape to each side of the gusset pieces and adhere to the inside of the main part of the pocket on the short side - the fold should be facing the edge and the bottom of the gusset should be butting up against your fold line.  Remove the tape backing from your gussets and fold the pocket bottom up over them.

Remove the tape backing from the bottom and adhere the pocket to the inside bottom of the cover about 1/16" above the edge, making sure it is centred from side to side.  Sorry, this photo was taken after I decorated the left pocket - oops!

If you are using smaller pads, simply adjust the measurements accordingly but it isn't difficult.  The tricks are to add a little bit of give everywhere.  I would also recommend that you don't use white card stock unless you don't mind it getting dirty or plan to cover it with patterned paper.

Next I created my flowers by stamping the large poppy with Versamark onto different scraps of card stock and heat embossing them with Copper Embossing Powder from Recollections.  You could use Flitter Glue and Gilding Flakes, such as Copper Kettle but I didn't have any flakes that were the right colour so this time I went with the embossing powder.  I did the same with some of the leaves from the Poppycock set.  Everything was fussy cut.   Sorry the lighting was not great to get a good photo.

I also painted the centres of the poppies with Lemon Meringue Acrylic Paint.

I created a panel for the front and the inside left pocket by cutting pieces from the yellow 12" x 12" Damaged Damask paper and stamping the border from the Live, Laugh, Love stamp set in the same manner as I did the poppies.

To assemble the cover, I distressed the two panels with my scissors and mounted them and then added the poppies and the leaves to the front.  I recommend that you keep your front profile fairly flat so that when you want to write on your notepad the cover will open completely.

This is a shared post so pop on over to IndigoBlu and see what Giovanna and Ksenija have created.

A Gift From The Heart

It is time for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and I am the hostess this time so I decided it was time to make some Christmas gifts.  The challenge is called A GIFT FROM THE HEART and we want to see vintage or shabby chic projects that can be given as a gift.

I decided to make a very shabby fabric journal for a friend.  Here is a photo of the back:

And here is the inside:

This is a new sew journal and I made it by first cutting two layers of a heavy white damask fabric from my sewing stash (leftovers from making Christmas stockings a few years ago) and sandwiched a layer of felt batting in between using paper backed iron-on fusible webbing on each side with one side slightly larger than the felt so that the fabric stuck together around the felt.  This is important since the layers are not sewn together and the edges of the fabric can fray.  As you can see I did not cover the edges of the fabric inside and if they do fray a bit, it will just add to the shabby feel. 

The next step was to make the pages from white 24 lb. bond paper.  Each page was scored on the left side and holes were punched.  The pages were then sewn into the journal with embroidery floss going through the back, the pages and the front from the top to the bottom and back up again.  The embroidery floss was then tied off on the outside but since the whole journal was going to be covered, this does not show and to ensure that I put a piece of lace down the spine.

Next I created the heart, which is just some scrap paper from a Maja Designs pack called Coffee in the Arbor that I scrunched up and steamed over and over to make it soft and pliable.  I did not want to wet it because it could shred.  Once it was soft enough I hand cut a heart, inked it with some Milled Lavender Distress Ink and backed it with a felt heart cut slightly smaller.  I cut a motif from some Venise lace and added it to the heart along with a flat backed pearl.

The next step was to add a strip of seam binding across the middle of the back which extended beyond the edge to become part of the tying mechanism and then cover the journal with lengths of lace, crochet ribbon and appliques - some came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and some from my sewing stash.  The idea was to add different types, sizes and patterns  Then I added some flowers and buttons along with a couple loops of pearl strand.  The  rolled flower was made from a torn strip of fabric, one of the flowers was made from crinoline and cut using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.  The rest of the flowers were from my stash but I used a Copic marker to add some colour to the ones that didn't have any.  The "flower" on the top right of the front is actually a piece cut from some lace.  The heart on the back is a Venise Lace applique from The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

Next I made a crinkly, loopy bow with long tails from seam binding and attached it to the front to match up with the piece on the back so the journal can be tied shut.  Finally I stamped text on a piece of twill tape and added it to the front and then I added some fun things to hang down the spine - some of the pearl strand, a piece of lace, a length of chunky wool and some fiber I found in my stash (I don't know what it is called but it is quite cool with spiky strands hanging from it).

I am going to enter this project in the following challenges:

All Crafts Challenge - Anything Goes But No Cards
Craft-Dee Bowz - Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow
Corrosive Challenges - Girly
Tando Creative Challenges - Make Something With A Use
Allsorts Challenge - Anything But A Card

The following items used in the creation of this journal came from The Funkie Junkie Boutique:

Notepad Holder

The new challenge at Sugar Creek Hollow is called It's Charming.  We want you to create vintage or shabby chic cards or other projects that have a metal charm or other metal on them.

Provided we have at least nine entries in the challenge we will choose one random winner who will receive a little piece of word art along with a winner's badge to display. The Design Team will choose their Top Pick and that creator will receive a winner's badge and also be in the running for a monthly Guest Designer spot.

As I mentioned last time, I was in Virginia visiting Patti Painter and on one of the days that we crafted we made these really cool notepad holders.  The template was Patti's but when we started to create I suggested that we tweak the inside to include a pocket so that the notepad could be replaced once it was empty of useful pages.  She liked that idea so between the two of us we came up with new measurements and it worked beautifully.

Here is how mine came together noting that Patti let me use all of her supplies and she has some beautiful things to work with:

For the outside, I started with a piece of Stampin Up card stock and then added some patterned paper from K & Company.  The opposite side of the paper was used to make the panel and I used a Martha Stewart edge punch to make the border.  The lace is from a fabric outlet mall in Fancy Gap, Virginia that we went to.  The pearls are from Want To Scrap.

The flowers were made with card stock scraps using the Peonies die from Spellbinders and have brads from Making Memories as centres.  The branch is a Sissix Die.

The sentiment is from Stampendous and has been stamped onto a Spellbinders Labels 18 die.  The little butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch and was stamped with a script stamp from Gina K. Designs.  Patti wasn't sure where the gorgeous metal heart came from but it makes a lovely frame for the butterfly.

The edges of all the card stock and paper pieces have been inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Ranger.

Next I worked on the inside.  I added a strip of the floral patterned paper to the top of the notepad to make it prettier.

Finally I decorated the pocket with more of the patterned papers and some pearl flourishes.  That is the back of the notepad that you see inside the pocket.  The pads came from WalMart and are roughly 5" x 8".

This was a super fun project to make and would make wonderful gifts for teachers, service providers and of course, friends.  I gave this one to Patti to keep once it was done.  By the way, Patti made a gorgeous one too with a beach theme and did hers in half the time I took to make mine - I am such a slow crafter.