Book ’em … the Easy Way

I love making little books for various occasions — some I keep, many I give away. But I also love taking the easy way, which I found using two machines: the Cinch by We R Memory Keepers and the Zutter Bind-it-all. Both are good and easy to use.

Here are some projects:

First, this one was made using the Cinch and coasters I picked up for $1!

Here’s a look at the inside and a close-up of the cover:

(I used a lot of scraps to make the inside pages — yay for using scraps!)

Stay tuned for a Zutter-bound book!

Thanks for visiting.

Booklet Scraps Don’t Go to Waste!

In my last post I showed a quick and easy booklet using the new Carte Postale paper from BasicGrey.

Since the booklet measures only about 5 inches, I had plenty of paper left to make some cards … and another booklet!

Check it out:
First, a look at some of the neat paper and embellishments:

Love this sheet! I left one as-is and cut apart one:

… and used some of the pieces on a card:

The background (if you cans see it under the tickets!) was made using Hero Arts’ new Painted Canvas S5782 stamp inked with Distress inks (frayed burlap, peeled paint, wild honey). Next, I attached the cut-up tickets. I made the rosette (scoring it with my Stampin’ Up! score board) using leftovers from the booklet stock (BasicGrey) and a little somethin’ from the set’s sticker sheet. The airplane image is from Close To My Heart, embossed in Stampendous! Pearlustre platinum. The sentiment is from Tim Holtz’s Simple Sayings set.

Here’s a look at the stickers:

And I still had more scraps! Next post, more cards from leftovers. Thanks for coming by!

Crazy For This Booklet

I learned how to make this fast and easy booklet from a Paper Source workshop, and I’ve been going crazy all week making booklets from scrap cardstock. When I got the new Carte Postale papers from BasicGrey, well… it was a natural fit.

Here’s the front cover:

… the back cover:

…a detail of the spine:

… and a decorated inside page:

… a quick look at part of the process (made easy with a Stampin’ Up! scoring board):

Come back tomorrow to see what I did with all those leftovers!

Book ’em Dano!

While writing an article about bookbinding for Crafts ‘n things magazine (April 2012), I had a chance to explore various bookbinding techniques and kits.

One of the easiest kits I found was from the Paper Source*. (There are similar kits available from other sources.) The kits come with the matboard cut to size and the text block assembled. You get to do the fun part — decorate and assemble!  This, of course, is too simple for purists, but for a beginner such as myself, it was a perfect way to get started — so fast and easy to put together and so satisfying when completed.

I started with two simple accordian books:

Then worked my way up to journals:

I used PVA glue, which is fast drying, flexible and acid-free, and book cloth for the spines. I was so pleased with myself!!

The other newly discovered products that I really liked (again, discovered in the course of researching my article) are these weights, called Heavyweights™, to weigh down projects while they are drying:

Heavyweights™ come in various sizes and configurations, including a flexible version (can you see the blue bag in the back?). They are on the pricey side, but they are so smooth and, well… heavy … that if you do a lot of these types of projects, you will find them useful. Because they are so smooth, they won’t mar the surface of your project. The flexible bags are great for mixed media projects because they bend. I also use these on cards.

Here’s a better picture of the flexible weights:

My adventures in bookbinding continue… stay tuned for my experiments with the Zutter and Cinch coil binders! I could easily be addicted to these!

Thanks for stopping by!

*disclaimer: I sometimes work at Paper Source.

Book ’em ….

There’s not a Fabulous Find today, but I did want to share my adventures in bookbinding.

A few weeks ago I took a class in bookbinding at the coolest paper store — *The Paper Source. They offer material for every level of crafter. The class used pre-made kits, which was great because the hard work was done — cutting the mat board!. The kit came with pre-cut covers, inside paper, binding and cover paper.

Here’s what I made:

Then I got one of their accordian book kits and made this using using decorative paper:

Here’s the inside:

I think I need to make a bunch of these as holiday gifts! I was surprised at how quickly this accordian book came together.

Thanks for stopping by! (And check out www.paper-source.com)

(*disclaimer — I work part time at the Paper Source! And yes, I am basically working to support my paper habit.)