Friday 2 April 2010

Bookmark cart tutorial






















I've been asked by Katharina - the owner of  Whiff of joy to make a tutorial for my bookmark cart that I made for the Whiff of joy challenge blog. She wanted me to make it for the Woj tutorial blog. I just posted it there so you can go and take a look, I'm so honoured she asked!  Forgive me if I'm over-explaining things. I know I prefer tutorials with too many rather than too few pics.

You can see on the photo above what it looks like when it's done. It's not hard to do at all and you can embellish it however you'd like depending on the occasion and person you're giving it to. And best of all, it costs you almost nothing and makes you dig out all of your favourite stamps.


















Beside a couple of scraps of paper and whichever stamps, colouring medium, embellies and punches/nesties you have you will need:

* a couple of grillsticks (I used 6)
* doublesided tape (and/or glue)
* a sponge - those you use for cleaning will do or if you have oasis for dries plants or anything porous you can come up with
* ruler
* white or matching ribbon

Use what you have rather than buying new things for every new project you see.

You can start by choosing your images and colouring them. Here I have used Alison Acton's party animals and coloured them with oilpencils and a kind of alcohol rubber to smear them out. Decide on what shape you want them to be so you don't unnecessarily colour in the whole image (like I did with the kangaroo at top right). Cut out the images and cut out two bigger pieces of cardstock per image - one to have behind the image and one for the backside. They should be the same size. We want the back to be just as nice as the front. I used cream bling to have behind the images and brown stripey patterned for the backside. Attach the images to the cream bling.
















Now cut your ribbon into about 25cm (10") pieces. Here's a tip: I only buy white ribbons and then colour them in with my promarkers to match exactly. I think it's a brilliant idea because it not only saves you money, but you will also always have the right colour! Here I have coloured with "caramel". Note that the colour usually gets a little darker, so you might need to use a lighter colour, not the same you used for your image.
Now make a little loop/bend on one end of the ribbon and glue together. This will be the top. Put the ribbon between the two cut-outs and glue together. Do that with all the images and set aside to dry.


















Let's do the cart. I have drawn the pattern on white paper so it's easier for you to see. You can of course do this closer to the edge to save paper.I used cardstock which is perfect. You can also use heavier double sided patterned paper. Just remember to use a bit heavier paper. You can use this pattern and adjust it to any size.
First draw a square around the sponge. Mine measured 9x6cm 3 3/4x21/2).
















 Then you need to add the height of the sponge. Mine was 3cm (1 1/4). Add a 3cm line on all sides of the square.
















Almost there. This is a rookie mistake. You can't cut it out like this because you won't have anything to adhere to. This would be ok it you would tape the corners, but it doesn't look as nice. That's why you need to add flaps for glue:
















Now cut the whole piece out and fold on the lines. I use an embossing tool and a ruler to make crisp folds. See now why you need the flaps? You will put the glue on the back of the flaps (not on the side where the text is)

















And ta-daa, the box is done.
















Now you need some decorative paper to wrap around the sponge. Mine was too short, but it's ok as long as it's wide enough. Here you can just tape with whatever you have since this side will go on the bottom. You can also put double-sided tape here so the sponge sticks to the bottom of the box. Put the sponge into the box.
















Now for the fun part: decorating! Here are some details of my cart. You can make it anything you like. I'm all for using what you have. If you don't have circle nesties, cut them out by hand or make some other shape. Why not egg-shaped for an easter cart? Let your imagination fun wild.

I made wheels with my nesties and added liquid pearls to the middle. I attached little tags that could hold the recipient's name or left as is. I also made a little "handle" from a strip of bling cardstock.

















The front of the cart got a cute text that worked wonderfully with the challenge's "coffe and cream" theme:
















The final step is to take your dried bookmarks and attach them to the grillsticks. First though you can poke holes into the sponge. It's easier to do it now before the bookmarks are attached to the sticks. I inked mine a bit, but it didn't turn out that good. You could paint them if you want. I attached doublesided tape about 2,5cm (1") on top and bottom of the stick. Just remember that a bit of the bottom will go into the sponge, so check where you need to put the tape. Attach the image of the bookmark on top of the grillstick and wrap the ribbon around, attaching it at the bottom. Put in the grillsticks in the pre-poked holes in your cart and...

YOU'RE DONE!


Hope you liked my tutorial and that it inspired you to give it a try. Please link to your work if you do. I'd love to see what you came up with.

If you want to show off things you've made I found this blog today where you can do that. It's a link party and will be held every wednesday. There might be a giveaway too...Go HERE to read all about it and see other people's creations.


/Katarina

April blogcandy

Lexi 1

Pops  1

Emma  2

Madeleine  is celebrating some changes on her blog and her upcoming birthday. Candy ends 3:rd.
Arine is hosting a candy to celebrate her move to blogger. Her candy ends 4:th.


Jodi has some magnolia candy. Ends 5:th australian time.

Elaine is celebrating 100 followers with a cute dandelion candy. Ends 5:th 6pm GMT.


Cheryl  6:th 8pm GMT

Bev  has a wonderful candy to celebrate her upcoming 40:th birthday. Happy birthday Bev! Ends 8pm 7:th.

Maddy wants to thank all her readers that leave nice comments and make her giggle. Ends 7:th.

Angie has some easter candy for us. Ends 6:th.


Jessica  10:th.

Joycelyn 11

Rach 24

Jacque  is celebrating her first blogoversary with a huge candy. Ends 27:th.
Sarah 28:th

Katrina  28:th.

Debs  is celebrating her first blogoversary with a sugarfree candy. Ends 30:th.


Carlyann  is celebrating 100,000 hits with a huge candy. For every 100 comments she will add another winner. Ends 30:th.
 Kate is having a magical Tilda candy on her blog. Ends 30:th.
Motivet 30:th.
Di 30:th.

In2stamps  30:th.

Janiel is celebrating her first blogoversary with a huge candy. Ends may 1:st.


Lena Marie may 1

Claudia  is giving away a whole sheet of new Whiff of joy stamps. You can enter once daily and winner will be chosen in not too long.



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Wednesday 31 March 2010

Last GDT card for Woj

















Yesterday night I was working on my last card as guest designer for the Whiff of joy challenge blog. I actually forgot it until monday night because I was given 4 themes in the beginning and then Donalda mailed me saying there was one more challenges if I wanted to join since there was 5 weeks in march. I accepted, but it slipped my mind. So yesterday I made the last one. The challenge was to use 1 ribbon, 2 buttons and 3 papers.

I used Willow with strawberry basket and papers "lime rickey" from Basic Grey. I wanted to use some other stamp than Alison Acton's since all my previous ones was from her drawings. I just love Alison's designs and they are truly a favourite of mine. I think there is quite a difference in inspiration from projects made with those stamps or those from Elisabeth Bell. I mean, this card isn't the worst, but it's not as good as my bookmark cart or the easel card.

By the way, I will be giving a tutorial of how to make that bookmark cart on the Whiff of joy tutorial blog april 2:nd so make sure to stop by :)

















I had a couple of challenges in mind while working with this card (besides the one from woj):

Sketch saturday - a sketch
Basic Grey challenges  - tutti frutti
One stop craft - feeling fruity


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Little clutch

















Here is my latest sewing project and one of my first (if not the first) FINISHED bags using a zipper. I have a bunch of zippers I bought in thriftstores but never got around using them. Now I got the chance with a tutorial from Christine which I thought was great. I only had a couple of snags, especially the part of how you attach the tube with the zipper onto the pouch itself. I think I pinned all possibilities before finding the right one, lol. Well, I actually did three tries then I lost my patience and my sweetie explained it to me. He's so good with instructions and "trial-and-errors". He's such a big help when I can't figure stuff out.

I sewed on a couple of beads to highlight the bird and roses. I was smart enough to plan to sew it on before I put the whole thing together, but I had already sewed the lining and outer fabric together at the top. So in the end the little stitches show on the lining fabric...That's one of the things I would like to improve.































 I think the lining fabric is so sweet. Don't you just love when things are well-done allover, not just on the outside? I love the little surprise you get when opening this bag and also to find out it matches the handle! I used a decorative stitch with little hearts on the handle. It's two stitches that I sewed seperately and then aligned so they would be opposite eachother. I attached the handle on the side where the zipper closes, so even if you wouldn't close the pouch properly the items wouldn't fall out. Smart, huh?
















One of the other things I would change when making another one of these is the zipper. First I had a little too much fabric over the zipper itself on the inside so it gets a liiiiitle bit stuck in the middle. It still works, but for a perfectionist like me it's annoying (I'm trying to live with it though and still be proud of this bag ;)
The other thing is that I didn't have the exact same length of my zipper as in the tutorial. My zipper is actually the same length as Christine's, but from end to end, not the zipper part if you know what I mean. This makes the endings a bit - how should I say it - UGLY! So next time I will put a piece of fabric over the beginning and end. It would look much better I think.















































And there you have it - a wonderful little clutch for summervacation. I think I'm going to make one in every colour to match my outfits. I'm usually a more practical kind of gal with a sturdy backpack to carry all of my "neccessities". I like the idea of little purses, but I'm afraid I'll lose them. The handle on this one makes even the most forgetful person safe. Your belongings are stuck on your wrist wether you like it or not :D


PS, New winner for the follower candy has been chosen. Check HERE.

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Tuesday 30 March 2010

Easter wishes

















During the weekend I finished a couple of projects; a bag and a necklace. I started sewing a book (tutorial will come later) and continued crocheting my doxie. I also tried to make a lighttent, but the pics didn't get much better than usual so I'm quite disappointed at my daylight bulb :(

This card is another thing I finished. I used fantasy easter ocean from sweetpea stamps. This stamp is so cute and I wanted to make it very "eastery". I used my newest bunny die. Isn't it a perfect match?















Here's a pic I took in my lighttent with a daylight bulb. It shows off the shimmer and glitter better, but it's so grey. I read somewhere that you can fix it in photoediting. Any suggestions on how to make it better?
















I made the card with a couple of challenges in mind:

Simon says stamp - easter/spring and some glimmer ( I used twinkling h2os on the bunnies on the image and used bling cardstock for the die. The text has some shimmering embossingpowder.
Stamptacular sunday  - flower power. Can't you just see the card overflow with springflowers?
Pile it on  - animal.riffic. Do bunnies count? Maybe I was supposed to have scary animals?
Stampin for the weekend  - Easter
Humblepie stamps  - Easter





I used a sketch, but forgot where I got it from, lol. If you recognize it let me know.
Woohoo, I found where the sketch was from:
creative inspirations.


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