Bookmark cart

Hi. My name is Katarina, also known as kamadesign and I've been asked by Katharina to make a tutorial for my bookmark cart that I made for the Whiff of joy challenge blog. Forgive me if I'm over-explaining things. I know I prefer tutorials with too many rather than too few pics.

You can see on the photo above what it looks like when it's done. It's not hard to do at all and you can embellish it however you'd like depending on the occasion and person you're giving it to. And best of all, it costs you almost nothing and makes you dig out all of your favourite Whiff of joy stamps.

















 Beside a couple of scraps of paper and whichever stamps, colouring medium, embellies and punches/nesties you have you will need:

* a couple of grillsticks (I used 6)
* doublesided tape (and/or glue)
* a sponge - those you use for cleaning will do or if you have oasis for dries plants or anything porous you can come up with
* ruler
* white or matching ribbon

Use what you have rather than buying new things for every new project you see.

You can start by choosing your images and colouring them. Here I have used Alison Acton's party animals and coloured them with oilpencils and a kind of alcohol rubber to smear them out. Decide on what shape you want them to be so you don't unnecessarily colour in the whole image (like I did with the kangaroo at top right). Cut out the images and cut out two bigger pieces of cardstock per image - one to have behind the image and one for the backside. They should be the same size. We want the back to be just as nice as the front. I used cream bling to have behind the images and brown stripey patterned for the backside. Attach the images to the cream bling.

Now cut your ribbon into about 25cm (10") pieces. Here's a tip: I only buy white ribbons and then colour them in with my promarkers to match exactly. I think it's a brilliant idea because it not only saves you money, but you will also always have the right colour! Here I have coloured with "caramel". Note that the colour usually gets a little darker, so you might need to use a lighter colour, not the same you used for your image.
Now make a little loop/bend on one end of the ribbon and glue together. This will be the top. Put the ribbon between the two cut-outs and glue together. Do that with all the images and set aside to dry.

Let's do the cart. I have drawn the pattern on white paper so it's easier for you to see. You can of course do this closer to the edge to save paper.I used cardstock which is perfect. You can also use heavier double sided patterned paper. Just remember to use a bit heavier paper. You can use this pattern and adjust it to any size.
First draw a square around the sponge. Mine measured 9x6cm 3 3/4x21/2).

 Then you need to add the height of the sponge. Mine was 3cm (1 1/4). Add a 3cm line on all sides of the square.

Almost there. This is a rookie mistake. You can't cut it out like this because you won't have anything to adhere to. This would be ok it you would tape the corners, but it doesn't look as nice. That's why you need to add flaps for glue:

Now cut the whole piece out and fold on the lines. I use an embossing tool and a ruler to make crisp folds. See now why you need the flaps? You will put the glue on the back of the flaps (not on the side where the text is)

And ta-daa, the box is done.

Now you need some decorative paper to wrap around the sponge. Mine was too short, but it's ok as long as it's wide enough. Here you can just tape with whatever you have since this side will go on the bottom. You can also put double-sided tape here so the sponge sticks to the bottom of the box. Put the sponge into the box.

Now for the fun part: decorating! Here are some details of my cart. You can make it anything you like. I'm all for using what you have. If you don't have circle nesties, cut them out by hand or make some other shape. Why not egg-shaped for an easter cart? Let your imagination fun wild.

I made wheels with my nesties and added liquid pearls to the middle. I attached little tags that could hold the recipient's name or left as is. I also made a little "handle" from a strip of bling cardstock.

The front of the cart got a cute text that worked wonderfully with the challenge's "coffe and cream" theme:

The final step is to take your dried bookmarks and attach them to the grillsticks. First though you can poke holes into the sponge. It's easier to do it now before the bookmarks are attached to the sticks. I inked mine a bit, but it didn't turn out that good. You could paint them if you want. I attached doublesided tape about 2,5cm (1") on top and bottom of the stick. Just remember that a bit of the bottom will go into the sponge, so check where you need to put the tape. Attach the image of the bookmark on top of the grillstick and wrap the ribbon around, attaching it at the bottom. Put in the grillsticks in the pre-poked holes in your cart and...

YOU'RE DONE!

Hope you liked my tutorial and that it inspired you to give it a try. Please link to your work if you do. I'd love to see what you came up with.

/Katarina