Hello and welcome!! It's Papertrey Ink Countdown time and Nichole will be featuring sneak peeks of new stamp sets over at her blog for the next 5 days! I'll also have projects to share with you each day, featuring sneak peeks of my newest stamp sets, Top Ten and Top Ten Additions!
I think that you'll find Top Ten to be a super handy set for making fun cards as well as scrapbook layouts! It's a fun set that will allow you to create all kinds of custom lists of things you love! For today, I thought we'd start with a really simple mini book, but don't fret if you're not a scrap-booker. This fun mini book is really the perfect scrap-booking project for card makers! Basically, you can think of it like this......all we're gonna do is make 10 little 'cards' that just happen to have photos on them and we'll tie them all together with ribbon. :) If you've got a little card stock, ribbon and a few embellies, you can totally whip up your own mini-book whether this is your first scrap-booking project ever, or whether you a scrappy pro!
To get started, I cut 5 pieces of card stock, each measuring 5" x 5". Next up, I punched a border along one side of each piece and since several of you have been requesting a video on using border punches, here you go....... :)
Hopefully this video was handy for those of you that had some questions about border punches! So, now that you've seen what we're going to build our little mini-book out of, let me tell you about my photos.
How many of you remember these???
Old-school Polaroids are so popular right now so I decided to crop my pictures down and create my own mini-Polaroids!
I opened the photos in Photoshop and cropped each one down to a 2" x 2" square. Then I dragged them over onto an Illustrator document and lined them up with space around each one and then printed the sheet of mini photos out on my own printer. (I bought a package of Kodak photo paper at Wal-mart, so that I could print my photos here at home.) Next, when I trimmed the paper off around the photos, I left a wider border under the bottom of the photo making it look Polaroid-ish. Make sense? The bottom strip under the photos is about a half inch high. Now I know that not everyone has Illustrator or even Photoshop, but if you can print your photos at home and you can crop your images to make them a square, then you're all set. The rest is just about how you trim the paper around the photo after it's printed!
Cute, right??? I was so excited with how they turned out! All that was left to do to the photos was to write a title for each photo on that wider portion of the border!
Title Page:
This is page 1 of my mini book. I didn't want to have any journaling on this page because I wanted to focus more on creating a title. That's where my new Top Ten stamp set came in!! The '10' and 'things I love about YOU' stamps are both from Top Ten, as well as the cute brackets that I stamped, cut out and adhered around the '10' on foam adhesive. For the banner at the top, I simply created that using my Trajan Monogram stamp set. I rolled the card stock around a pen to get the curvy shape and then adhered it with some foam adhesive.
I should also mention that I had some jumbo brads from Stampin' Up! that I used in the upper left corner of each of my pages, just to reinforce the holes a bit but that step is one that you could easily skip if you don't have the jumbo brads and a Crop-o-dile.
Pages 2 & 3:
On page 2 (on the left) you can see that I included one of my hand-made poofy flowers (check out my video tutorial on how to make them) and notice the strips of dots that the journaling is written on? That is another stamp from Top Ten! You can easily create your own journaling lines in any color you want!
On page 3, notice the journaling lines on the bottom of the page? See how they're wider than the lines on page 2? That's the same stamp! I just stamped it once on page 3 while on page 2, I stamped it once and then stamped it again by placing the lines in between the first lines I'd stamped! That way, you can have journaling lines that are wider or more narrow ruled, depending on the size of your writing! I also used one of the word stamps from Top Ten Additions -- 'sweet'!
Pages 4 & 5:
On page 4, on the left, I stamped a different journaling line stamp from Top Ten in the upper right hand corner. This one is not a long narrow stamp, but instead has shorter rows and more of them. That way you can customize your journaling lines to totally suit the space you're needing to fill. Notice that 'Happy' sentiment too? That is another stamp from Top Ten, that I stamped 4 times in a row. The words in Top Ten and Top Ten Additions have been designed to fit perfectly on those journaling lines!
On page 5, I stamped the 'BLISS' sentiment at the top of the page with my Trajan Monogram set. That fun '5' in the lower right hand corner is also from Top Ten -- I stamped it, cut it out and mounted it on foam adhesive to give it a bit of dimension.
Pages 6 & 7:
On page 6, you can see that I stamped a couple more brackets from Top Ten, to frame my photo. I also used some bitty dot basics patterned paper behind the photo as well as a bit of vintage book print. The bow is tied with pure poppy topnotch twill.
On page 7, you'll probably notice a cute flowered border that I stamped across the bottom of the page in berry sorbet ink. Watch Nichole's blog for more info about that in the next few days! *wink!* You can also find another word from Top Ten on this page -- 'cute'. Plus, I created the little journaling card by stamping the journaling lines on kraft card stock.
Pages 8 & 9:
On page 8, I simply stamped my journaling lines all the way down the left side of the page, directly on the rustic cream base. I added some bitty box basics patterned paper, some rustic cream button twine and a jumbo rhinestone.
On page 9, I decided to use the 'things I love about YOU' stamp again (the same one I used on the cover) along with some journaling lines, to create a fun little list of things that I love about the island of Burano. I also have a piece of kraft card stock in the background that I stamped Polka Dot Basics II on with VersaMark ink.
Page 10:
On page 10, I not only used the small journaling lines stamp (stamped twice) but I also used 2 more stamps from Top Ten that you haven't gotten a peek at yet. The small numbers on the left are broken into two stamps (1-5 and 6-10) and they were designed to be used in conjunction with the journaling lines to help you create lists. I also used the '10' again, that I used on my title page. I loved putting the little button next to the '10', sort of as a period at the end of a sentence.
Here's the book, all tied up with a bow. A couple things to note when making a mini book like this for yourself.....first off, keep in mind what will be on the back side of your page when you're working on the front side. For instance, if you're going to tie a ribbon all the way around the page, be mindful of what that might do to the design on the back side of the page. Also, when tying your bow to tie all of the pages together, don't pull the ribbon too tight thru all of the pages. You want the bow itself to be tight so that it doesn't come undone, but you want it to have enough give in the actual loop that's threaded thru the pages, so that you can turn the pages. If it's pulled too tight, your pages will get bent when you try to turn them.
So what do you think after your first peek at Top Ten??? Can you see yourself making a quick and easy mini book like this for yourself? How about instead of a mini book about a place you love, why not make one about a PERSON you love? Wouldn't a mini book like this be so cute for each of your children? Or as gifts for grandparents? There are so many possibilities with Top Ten! I'd love to hear your thoughts!!
Don't forget to visit Nichole Heady for all the latest scoop on what's coming out this month at Papertrey Ink and Betsy Veldman's got a project up her sleeve using another fab set from this release! Alli Miles will give you a look at her newest stamp set and also, pop over to see Kim Hughes -- she's got a fun template project to show you!
Thanks so much for visiting me, Dearies. I'll be back tomorrow with TWO posts for you......lots of sneakie peek goodness!!
Until then, have a goodie!
{Italy Mini Book supplies}
Paper: kraft, vintage cream, berry sorbet, pure poppy, dark chocolate, bitty box basics, bitty dot basics, vintage book print
Stamps: Top Ten, Top Ten Additions, Trajan Monogram, Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: dark chocolate, berry sorbet, pure poppy, VersaMark
Other: dark chocolate & vintage cream classic grosgrain ribbons, pure poppy topnotch twill, rustic cream button twine, dark chocolate/berry sorbet/pure poppy vintage buttons, SU! jumbo brads, Kaiser Scrapbook red rhinestone, SU! scalloped edge punch, Fiskars upper crest punch, Fiskars apron lace punch, EK Success diamond lace punch, EK Success embossed curve punch
