tutorial – Basement Studio

USING MY MINI STENCILS

Lavander stencils for Paper Pen and Plan

One of my favourite things to do in the studio is the designing and cutting of stencils, especially the mini stencils which Clare from Paper Pen and Plan asks me to cut to go in her monthly subscription boxes. These are 10 x 7cm so are quite small, but even so based on a brief from Clare I try to pack as much on there as possible. This month’s stencil is a lavander trio and as a bonus I also included the mask part too.

This afternoon I had a chance to play with this new stencil myself and I thought I’d share a few handy tips along the way. The first thing I like to do is extend the edges by adding some painters tape. I’ll also mask off parts of the stencil I don’t want to include with a bit of washi. The second way I like to use these small stencils is by using a finger dauber with ink. You can get a much better finish with one of these and, it makes the whole job so much easier and by pouncing rather than swirling it stops ink from spreading underneath.

This particular stencil is great for layering with several different colours to create more depth. I also used texture paste on a piece of card and dry brushed over some gold acrylic once it was dry. The texture paste picks up the paint beautifully.

I don’t think this card needs much more to be honest. A few inky splatters and a delicate butterfly are enough.

Impasto paint is very thick and works like texture paste using a knife. I decided to just add a small collage to the front with a splash of colour from some fabric.

I love how the texture paste and gold worked out on the tag.

If you want to know more about the subscription boxes from Paper Pen and Plan go here to the Etsy shop. If you’re interested in having stencils designed and made by me then you can contact me here jaine@basementstudio.lu and I’ll give you a quote.

Next week I’ll show you how I used the other part of this stencil, the masks. That’s a whole other world of possibilities.

For now, have a lovely weekend

Jaine xx

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a simple mini album Pt1

It’s been a while since I actually wrote a tutorial as such so I thought it was about time I made one! The inspiration for this little book came to me as I unpacked my monthly subscription box of goodies from Paper Pen and Plan (on Etsy and Facebook). The contents begged to become a mini book and as they sat there on my table on top of the box they arrived in, I could see the box itself becoming the cover. After taking the box apart I trimmed it to the size I wanted with the side of the box becoming the spine of the book. I ended up with two of these from my Sweet Treat Box so I can use the other one another time.

I sometimes use brown parcel paper to cover books. It comes on a roll so is wider than most papers, it’s sturdy enough and I rather like the kraft colour.

With the cover done, I could then move on to decorating the outside and inside with my patterned papers.

To attach my pages I made a very simple accordion hinge from a piece of patterned card. Slightly shorter than the book itself, I created three folded hinges with a half cm gap in between. So starting with a score at 2cm then 3.5, 5, 5.5, 7, 8.5, 9, 10.5, and 12.

I glued the three mountain folds together to form the hinges for the book,

then glued this to the spine of the book. I scored each side where the book would fold and left it to dry.

For my pages I took black card. I like using black card as it really shows off any paper you put on top of it. I measured how big I wanted the page to be and doubled it across the width to be able to fold it in half and added double sided tape on the ends and sides. I only needed to tape one half in actual fact. Laying the taped page under the first hinge I could press the hinge down onto the card. I then folded the page in half and pressed the other taped end down onto the hinge. First page done!

I did the same for the remaining two pages.

I think it’s cute. Now to decorate… For that one you’ll have to come back next week to see how it turned out.

Have a great weekend

Jaine xx

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Autumn Term From The Studio

I love Autumn especially living here in a country blanketed by forest. When the leaves turn it’s magical.

We do tend to get nice weather in Autumn and as I sit here it’s the first of September already the sky is blue and the garden is calling.

This Autumn I start a new chapter in my life which I’ll go into in a bit more detail about next week but for now I need a new planner set up to help me get ahead so I thought I’d work in my Carpe Diem from Simple Stories along with the new Forever Fall collection.

It’s an absolute gorgeous collection and the colours are right up my street.

I decided to make myself a wrap around for one of my inserts from a file folder which is so easy to do. I can’t take all of the credit for this one, I saw it once on the internet but for the life of me I can’t remember where I originally saw it so sadly can’t give the credit where it’s due.

To make a wrap around pocket cover you’ll need to get hold of a card file folder. With school starting there are plenty around and you can pick up a pack of colourful ones for very little money. I just happened to have a few old ones which I found in the recycling centre which is what I’m using here.

The first thing you need to do is take out the metal and plastic holders if that’s possible. If you can’t do that with yours I suggest you work it into the finished design and take advantage of it.

Next mark off where you need to cut and fold. Measure the wrap around using your insert and fold the two side pockets in. When it comes to cutting off the excess at the bottom leave a flap of about two cm’s at the bottom of each pocket. Cut a diagonal piece off each pocket.

Put double sided tape or glue along the bottom flaps and fold them in and that’s all there is to it. Now you get to do the fun bit which is the decorating.

It wraps around an insert perfectly and also makes a nice cover if as I’ve done you slip the covers into the pockets.

All materials come from PaperPenAnd Plan on Etsy which you can find here and if you use the code JAINE10 you can get an extra 10% off your order.

Have a good weekend and I’ll speak to you soon

Jaine xx

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WOW Embossing Powders and Honey Bee Stamps blog hop

Hello there and welcome if you’re new here. I’m thrilled to be taking part in this hop between WOW and Honey Bee Stamps. I was sent this gorgeous package from Honey Bee and I couldn’t wait to play with the goodies inside.

They very generously sent me a fabulous flower border stamp and die called Zen Floral which has a very useful die to go with it. I used it to create this bordered card along with a Honey Cuts die called Hello Gorgeous Words.

Continue reading WOW Embossing Powders and Honey Bee Stamps blog hop

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