Friday, January 25, 2019

Birthday and a card Just Because


I needed to make a birthday card for my grandmother and I knew I wanted to use the collage paper, so I decided to work on two cards mainly because I couldn’t decide on which part of the collage paper I wanted to use. 


I started by dabbing ink and water onto the piece of heavier card stock. Using the heat tool to dry the paper before adding more ink. 


I added the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Floral collage paper to my card layer using a matte gel medium. 

Once the collage paper was dry I added some clear rock candy Distress crackle paint to the flower parts and some white crackle paint randomly to the edges. I let that dry over night. 

On a scrap of paper I stamped and cut out a frame from the Tim Holtz Label Frames stamp set. 


Next I got out the sewing machine and stitched randomly around the card layer, I got out a few coordinating pieces of ephemera and arranged then how I wanted them displayed and attached them to the card layer with the sewing machine as well. 


When I was happy with how everything looked, I glued the layer onto a card base. 



  


 




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Xo- Megan











Thursday, January 24, 2019

I made a book!

I have made a few smaller notebooks and journal type books, but never a hardcover book. So why not try now!

I started by cutting a bunch of sheets sheets of plain white paper in half (20 to be exact). Then I folded those pages in half to create my pages. I grouped the folded paper into 4’s, so that gave me 10 signatures. I stacked the signatures and used binder clips to keep them all together. I measured and drew lines starting in the middle and then one inch out from the center, then two inches from the center. 


Those lines then became my guides for piercing the paper so I could see all the signatures together. 


I used a kettle stitch to sew the signatures together to form my text block. 


I put my text block into a home made book press and applied PVA glue to the spine of the text block. Making sure to cover the binding thread completely. 


While the text block was drying I started on the cover. 
I cut out three pieces of thick card board. The two cover pieces that were as wide as the text block and as tall as the text block plus 1/4 of an inch. And one piece for the spine that was as wide of the spine of the text block. I also drew a line at about a third of the width of the cover. 


I cut two piece of decorative paper the size of the cover plus 1 1/4 inch. I lined the decorative paper up to the line I made and glued it down using the same PVA glue. 


I cut wedges from each corner and left about 1/16 an inch from the actual board so my paper covers the corners nicely. 


I applied glue to the flaps of paper and folded them over the board. 

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Next I took a piece of book cloth and glued the spine down and then glued each cover down, leaving 1/4 inch between the spine and the covers. I cut small wedges into the book cloth before folding them over the covers as well. 


I took another sheet of decorative paper that was the same size as a page from the text block. I then glued it to 1/4” on the spine of the text block, and glued on side to the cover of the book. I repeated that for the back cover as well. 


I then placed the entire completed book into the book press while the glue dried, to help everything dry flat. 


After about a few hours I removed the book! 
I have to say I am very pleased with how this book looks! 







Thanks for checking it out with me! 

Make sure you leave me a comment and let me know what you think. 

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