Check out this awesome tutorial by Polly’s Paper on how to make a book via book binding! I’m definitely going to try this out sometime soon! :)

Polly's Paper Studio

I’m just popping in to deliver the promised tutorial on binding the sweet little books I have been creating. Please keep in mind that a Sharpie marker is about as technical as I have time for today…. so no fancy computer graphics for this tutorial.

Please begin with 4 legal sized manilla folders. These folders are acid free and super easy to cut. I use a long armed cropper to keep everything square.

Leaving the file folded as it comes in the box cut through both layers 5 5/8 inches off creating a long folded card shape. Sorry I got 1 pic ahead here….yours will just be straight across.

Leaving the scored portion on the left hand side measure over 6 inches from the last score mark and trim only the top layer. This will be the front of your book.

Fold your cover on the score mark. This will…

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Cute flower pincushion!

Hey everyone! I’ve been prepping my studio space for a major project I’m going to be working on this semester. The simple description of it is a series of collages whose subject matter is an introspective self-portrait. I will first create the base of the design on Photoshop, print it on canvas, and then sew fabric, beading and chain on them. It’s going to be VERY cool (and VERY expensive. xP), and I’ve been setting up the studio space I was given to accommodate for this when I came to the realization that I don’t own a pincushion! It’s such a small thing, but SO nessecary!

Buying one when I have all the materials for it is silly. That being said, I looked up cute patterns online and found this awesome flower pattern by Tammy’s Times: http://lovetocrochetandknit.blogspot.com/2006/07/flower-pin-cushion.html

Here is my version of it:

Sorry for the blurriness, all I have on me is my phone to take pictures with. As you can see, the pincushion was SO necessary because I’ve been storing all my pins in a pencil sharpener for YEARS! Oops?

NOTE: If you want your pincushion to be a certain size, make the circles you cut about half again as large. Else you’ll end up with a super tiny pincushion!

à Megève 2009

(NOTE: I’m going to write this post in both English and French, since I’m writing about my time in France. :) Je vais écrire ce blog en anglais et en français parce que j’écris de mon temps en France. :) )

I decided to do something new for this scrapbook page. I’ve barely seen snow so far this winter, and was really missing it, and so I was reminded of one of my happy memories of my time with my second host family in France. We went to Megève, a village and ski resort in the Alps where my host family has an apartment. We went hiking, sledding, and my family also went downhill skiing. I don’t downhill ski, but I did get to cross-country ski once for only 2€50!

J’ai décidé de faire quelque chose de nouveau avec ce page de mon scrapbook. Je n’ai pas vu presque aucune neige cet hiver, et ça m’a manqué beaucoup. Donc, je me suis souvenue d’une mémoire heureuse de mon temps avec ma deuxième famille d’accueil en France. On est allé à Megève, une village et station de ski dans les alpes où ma famille d’accueil a un appartement. On a fait des randonnées, de la luge et ma famille d’acc a fait aussi du ski de descente. Moi, je ne fais pas du ski de descente, mais j’avais la chance de faire du ski de fond une fois pour seulement 2€50!

In the photos (starting in the upper left going clockwise): Victor and me; Victor, my host mum, and Julien; the view from the apartment.

Dans les photos (commençant avec le photo en haute et à gauche, dans le sens des aiguilles d’une montre): Victor et moi; Victor, ma mère d’acc, et Julien; la vue de l’appartement.

I wanted to use a simple combination of blues and off-white colors, and so here I’ve used a sheet from my solid stock papers as well as a DCWV page that I’ve cut using a pair of my fancy scissors, a pretty blue border, cut light blue stock paper and various embellishments. The snow flakes are made of wood and (I think) look super cool. :)

J’ai voulu utiliser une combinaison simple des bleus et des blanchâtres, et donc ici j’ai utilisé une de mes papiers solides et aussi une papier DCWV que j’ai coupé avec mes ciseaux spéciales, un liseré bleu, une papier bleu clair coupé et des divers embellissements. Les flocons de neige sont fabriquées de bois et (je trouve) ils sont cool. :)

I love all of the different textures and patterns in these pieces, and the blue of the sky in the photos matches almost perfectly with that of the embellishments.

J’aime toutes les textures et les motifs différents  dans ces pièces, et le bleu du ciel dans les photos est presque le même couleur que dans les embellissements.

In this page/Dans ce page:

• DCWV paper/papier DCWV
• blue border (unknown)/liseré bleu (inconnu)
• Joann’s star brads/clou de finition étoile fabriqué par Joann’s
• embellishments by s•e•i (Polished Pearl)/ embellissements par s•e•i (Polished Pearl)
• snowflakes by Maya Road/flocons de neige par Maya Road

Little Rascal

Hey everyone, sorry about the long delay between posts. I was at my grandfather’s without internet for over a week, and the past week I’ve been doing inventory at a local jewelry shop from open to close with no break. Now that that is over with, I can get back to blogging!

I realized (too late) that when I brought all of my scrapbooking things home for break I forgot to bring my photo box. (I’ll get some photos printed in the next couple days, not to worry!) I lucked out when I found one photo mixed in with my papers, the first one I ever took of Rocket when Anthony and I got her in November 2010.

I used a mixture of fun papers here, including some that I bought at a garage sale. The white tag and pinkish-red flowers come from Maya Road (which I am in LOVE with, if you haven’t seen my posts on the brand before.)

Here is a close up of the embellishments. The white floral lace bit with the rhinestone in the middle is from an Etsy seller named The Kraft Room. I bought their Bridal Shower set of embellishments because I fell in love with these flowers and an owl ribbon. They have tons of great products that you should definitely check out!

This bookmark is a found piece at a local thrift shop. The pug pin in the cluster of flowers was attached to the bottom of this. I absolutely love the text here, and it fits so perfectly with Rocket. <3 I added the stars at first to cover up the hole made by the original pin, but they are very cute in their own right.

Items I used on this scrap:

• thrift store bookmark
• floral paper from a garage sale
• Joann’s star brads
• DCWV blue background paper, “notebook” paper, and  cut wood-print paper, all from their Stack 7 paper stack (180 sheets, and it costs the same as their 42-sheet stacks!)
• pinkish-red flowers and white tag from Maya Road
• quote and paw prints from Sandylion Sticker Designs
• Title alpha stickers from BoBunny’s Mama-razzi combo stickers sheet
• Brown floral doily-like paper is from Creative Imaginations’ Harvest Moon Collection, Trickery Pattern