More Than A Card Not Quite A Whole Book

You know that thing when making a card seems a little bit mean to be saying “thank you for inviting us to stay for the weekend” or “we had a great time at your party” and it’s a bit late to be making a whole mini album which you know they’d love but you just don’t have the time? Well I think this might just hit the brief in terms of more than a card but not quite a whole album.

It’s my old favourite the one page mini book, the one where I start off with one big sheet of paper, in this case it was an A3, and coloured the background with a marbled effect using spray and folded it up into my mini album.

Here are a few photos which hopefully show the folding technique.

The resulting book has 8 A6 sized pages so enough for a few photos and some writing.

I wrote a little tutorial for the marbled background which you can see on the web site of Canvas Corp Brands here by clicking this link.

As you can see I created enough coloured paper to use for die cutting the stars.

I hope you try it for yourself. If you do I’d love to hear.

Jaine xx

December Daily Already?

Tis the season to be busy fa la la la la la la la la.

It’s that totally mad time of year again when in fact I’ve already celebrated Christmas and New Year believe it or not, way back in the summer after planning, creating and writing for Craft Stamper and  Paper Pen and Plan and here I am again planning and creating again like a crazy woman for an art and craft fair and my December Daily.

After a few false starts here (I just could not make up my mind which style of DD I wanted to go for this year) and a few abandoned choices I settled on using a travelers notebook style this year. Actually thinking about it I’m pretty sure it was the choice for last years too but that’s only because I totally love the style and format plus the idea of having it tucked in my Websters Pages TN cover appealed very much.

For my cover I’ve used papers and embellishments from both my November Sweet Treat Box from Paper Pen and Plan and some of the bits from the special bargain box which were available way back in the summer. There are still some bits left in the clearance section of the store if you’re quick.

To make my book I decided on a junk journal style for the inside pages. A few randomly chosen papers from magazines, music paper, a brown paper bag and ledger paper were put together and sewn simply down the middle with a long stitch.

Not terribly complicated stuff but non the less effective. I can’t wait to glue, paint and sketch inside it.

Quite by chance or maybe not, this month in Craft Stamper magazine I’ve an article featuring some planner pages using products also from Paper Pen and Plan and showing off their Sweet Treat Boxes.

It was a little bit bonkers writing up a planner page for the New Year when it was July but maybe just maybe it’s a little insight into how I hoped to see my New Year panning out. Anyway if you can get hold of a copy in your local newsagents or here online it’s a great read not just for my article but all of the other fab projects inside.

Have a wonderful weekend and I’ll see you next week.

Jaine xx

Hand Stitched Books

Since we’ve had the dog at home, Jess the basement cat has become a bit of a recluse mostly favouring the upstairs bedrooms to the basement studio. I thought I might have to change her name to bedroom kitty but then this week she decided to help me like she used to by sitting on my table with her bottom firmly sat on something sharp and pokey.  I’ve missed the fluffball and her questioning stare on my work table.

I imagine she was curious to know what I was doing especially with that cotton thread sitting there.

I was making these four travelers notebook sized mini scrapbooks using kraft file folders as my covers. I love the look of the kraft and patterned papers together, the brown card shows off the little embellishments beautifully. The tape down the spine is to add a bit of extra strength as I sewed through the layers.

Also last week I finished my latest sketchbook. I went back to a coptic stitch binding leaving it on show which isn’t always the best idea unless you’re  super accurate and neat. Just don’t look too closely at the wonky stitches. The spine of the book was in such bad condition I had to discard it anyway so cutting the book apart didn’t make me wince. I see it as rescue anyway not vandalism.

I found the book in the recycling centre and fell in love with the cover. Of course I’ve kept and am using the inside pages too but the cover was crying out to be repurposed into a new book.

I think there might be a recycling trip tomorrow on the hunt for more treasure. See you on Friday and have a good week.

Jaine x

Moving Into The Purple Orange And Black

It feels like since coming home from Ireland my life has been on full speed and in the blink of an eye Autumn is well and truly here with its colour changes and unpredictable weather. It’s a beautiful time of year though and we’re so lucky to live surrounded by forest so we can watch the changing season.

With Summer over we had our Autumn meeting of the Mosaik group and a few members were keen to make a junk journal. I put together a kit of materials and they loved it. The kit included book pages, paper bags, ephemera and patterned papers as well as tags and ribbons.

I love making mini versions too which will fit in my A6 Travelers notebook cover and they make a great place for jotting down notes or ideas on the go or somewhere for a quick sketch. This one is made using the mop up papers from my messy craft projects.

Even though the pages inside are grungy and messy it doesn’t mean the outside has to be too and of course I went mad on the decorating. I used the contents of my September box from Paper Pen and Plan and made a mini Halloween themed junk journal.

I’ve never been a big fan of the colour purple but since it’s been the most popular colour from my TN cover range I thought I’d use one myself seeing as it matches perfectly with the green and orange. I have to say the colour has warmed on me and I’m really loving it now.

The inserts are made by Ali-Beth of Paper Pen and Plan too and she makes sizes to fit most TN’s and planners.

At last I’ve found some time to fill out a page in my sketchbook from the Sketchbook project. Naturally mushrooms feature on the pages. I’ve become a bit obsessed with mushrooms from drawing them to foraging and eating them.

Finally for this week, the November issue of Craft Stamper is out and this month I’ve written the Masterclass feature. I used a stamp from my good friend Magda Polakow which I adore. If you have trouble finding a copy it’s available to buy here at Mags UK

Have a good weekend

Jaine xx