52-Weeks of Book Binding, Journals and more...

Week Nine

This week I made a Coupon Book.  Tomorrow is my Wedding Anniversary (actually February 29th) so, I decided to kill two birds with one stone.  A coupon book for my Anniversary, which I can also use for my weekly post.

I started with printable coupons.  Last time I made my own coupon book by creating my own coupons, but this year with my busy schedule, I cheated a little and used printable coupons instead.

I didn't use all the coupons.  I picked only the ones I though would work for me and some I doubled and tripled.  The website also had some blank ones, so you could personalize your own coupon if you wanted.

After I chose which coupons I waned to use, I cut them out and trimmed them down, and cut a half circle at one end.  To make it easier to tear out the coupon, without thread, I stitched along the left side of each coupon.

Stitched Edge

I marked where I wanted to punch my holes, and added a Prong Fastener to bind my Coupon Book. 

Easy Peasy!

ZENTANGLE CLASSES

Yesterday I had two Zentangle Classes back to back at Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations in Palm Desert.  

In the morning I taught a Basic Zentangle Class.  Here are the tiles they created:

It's amazing how the same thing is taught, but each student makes it uniquely their own. 

 I think they are very talented

My Creative Students

Right after that classes I taught a Zentangle Classes using the Opus Tiles.  What fun we had with that.  Here are my very talented and very creative students and their tiles.  Two of my students are missing in the photo, so I apologize for not getting them in the photo.

I have to give credit to Gleynis (the lady on the far right in the blue and white top) for taking these pictures for me.  I forgot my camera and she was kind enough to offer.  Thank you Gleynis.

ARTbar

SNOWFLAKE COMPASS

Spent the day at the ARTbar last Saturday, February 21st.  Who knew you could make a compass from a snowflake.  Did you?  Remember when you were a kid and during Christmas time you made paper snowflakes either in school or at home.  Well, that is exactly what we did. We made paper snowflakes and created a compass from them.

Here is my creation or interpretation of a compass from my snowflake.  

First I cut out my snowflake.  Then I used a Sakura 05 pen to trace around.  I used Tombow pens to outline the compass with some color and then with a blender pen moved the color from the outside towards the center.  I drew two lines of circles around my compass and added gold foiling.  I drew a checker board in the center, added my directions (N, S, E, W) and foiled them as well.  I found an old map on the Internet and printed it on tracing paper.  I placed the map on top of my compass to determine where I wanted it, traced the compass and cut that part out, so the map was around my compass.  I glued the map down around the compass, making it look as though I placed the compass on top.  I had to do it this way, because I had already started on my compass and did not want to start over.  

Even if I do say so myself, I think it looks pretty good for my first time.

52-Weeks of Book Binding, Journals and more...

WEEK EIGHT

"Journal Cover"

This week's post is a journal cover.  I found this Journal Cover design on the StencilGirl website designed by Linda Kittmer.  I am not going to do a whole tutorial on the cover.  For more information on how to do the cover, you can go to the StencilGirls Tutorials and there is a tutorial on how to do the cover.

This will be the front of the journal.  I used Golden Heavy Body Acrylics to paint my fabric.  The design was outlined with a permanent fine tip marker.

 The original design had the turquoise tree on the backside of the cover too,  

but I wanted mine only in the front.

 This is a close-up of the heart.  The title of the book cover is "Heart Swirl Love".

After the paint had dried and all the designs had been done, I folded over the fabric and stitched  along the top and bottom edge to make pockets.  This time around, I am using a gridded "Composition Notebook"  instead of a Sketch Book or Journal.

Back side of Journal Cover.

52-Weeks of Book Binding, Journals and more...

Week 7

I'm a couple of days behind for my post.  Have been out of town visiting the South; Atlanta, Georgia to be specific.  Just got back yesterday.  Although the trip was great, it's always good to be back home.  I guess it's true when they say, "Home is where the Heart is". 

I mentioned earlier, for the month of February, the books would be related to Valentine's Day.  So, I thought, why not a heart book.  It's very plain, very simple and can be created in one day.  The book can be left plain, or fully embellished.  How apropo that the post fell on Valentine"s Day.

I took two pieces of corrugated cardboard and drew a heart pattern, then cut out two, one for the front cover and one for the back cover.

I punched three holes to add rings for the binding and another for the lock and key, which I will add later.

I went through my stash of scrapbook papers and auditioned them to see which ones I liked best for the outside of the covers and which ones I liked best for the inside of the covers.

When I found the ones I liked, I traced the pattern on the back side, cut them out and glued to the outside and inside covers.  Remember to punch holes in the papers as well.

Then I traced the pattern on twenty sheets of 110# cardstock and cut them out.  Yes, I traced all twenty hearts and cut each one out by hand. 

Twenty heart shapes cut by hand

Now, punch holes in the cardstock, matching the holes on the cover.  Before I added the key rings, I drew little  hearts around the holes on the front cover.  The lock and key I got at a discount store.  Cost me only $1.

Your done! 

 It goes a lot faster If you have an electronic cutting machine to cut everything out.  I did not. 

 "Happy Valentine's Day!!

ATCs

Every month I participate in Blue Twig Studio's monthly challenge.  January 2015 challenge was "Circles".  Here is my interpretation of circles.

You can go here to see a slide show of all the ATCs submitted for the month of January.

Here are some past ATC challenges:

 December ATC Challenge

Winter Wonderland

November ATC Challenge

Give Thanks

52-Weeks of Book Binding, Art Journals and more...

WEEK SIX

Valentine's Day will soon be upon us, so for the month of February, I will be creating Valentine/Love Books.

This week's book is called a "Three Pocket Journal".  Although the book may look complicated, it is quite easy and simple to make.

Front Cover

The covers were made from cardstock folded in half and glued together to make them more sturdy.

Here are some of the pages in the book.

Some of the pages were embellished with left over scraps from the book.  Plus, a few additional supplies I already had on hand.

I punched out half circles at he top of each page and used some of them for embellishments.

I am not really a scrapbooker or cardmaker, so embellishing is not really something I like to do. I did, however, had fun adding the few embellishments to he book and I think added to the look of the book as well.

The reason the book is called a "Three Pocket Journal", is because each page has three pockets.  Diagonal pockets on the front and back and one in the middle.

A Look Inside

A journal to keep all your love notes, thoughts and treasured memories.

5 Simple Ribbon Projects

Easy Peasy Ribbon Projects

I received one of the "Ribbon Club Kit" from Blue Twig Studio.  When I received the kit, Ii have to admit, I did not know what I was going to create.  As I looked at the beautidul ribbons, the juices started flowing.  What I created with the ribbons are fast and easy to make for a quick project when you don't have a lot of time.

These are just a few:

A plain card is not so plain with two ribbons and a bit of glue.

Here's one that can be use to create with kids.

Bookmark

For more on the tutorials, go to Blue Twig Studios here, or for the monthly Ribbon Club Kit, go here.  Just think of all the possibilities.

ARTbar

Zentangle day at the  ARTbar.  

Once a month I drive down to the ARTbar in Santa Ana, California.  Yesterday was no different. Each month at the ARTbar we learn a different Zentangle pattern or different Zentangle technique.  The people there are wonderful and our instructor Nicole is not only a great teacher, but also inspiring.  We learn, we laugh, we play and we enjoy the camaraderie. 

So, yesterday, we learned all about stippling (making lots of little dots).  In honor of Valentine's Day, we created heart(s).  Although, each one of our designs were so different from each other, each one was just as beautiful. This is my Zentangle stippled design:

I have to say, we not only get to learn a new Zentangle pattern or technique every month, we get to make something out of them too!  I mounted my tile on red cardstock and an old book page. We could choose from either a "goodie box" or a "CD mailer".  I chose the CD mailer to mount my Zentangle tile, because I am going to make a book card out of mine.  

HAPPY TANGLING!