Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Fair Maidens and Evil Queens

I'm having a little bit of a love affair with this ATC Sized Faux Book Box, so I've carried on making a couple more, but this time it's all about fairy tales.....specifically ''Fair Maidens and Evil Queens".
A book box for each, and I admit, though you probably already guessed this, the Evil Queens were my favorite!
I've also had a couple of e-mails asking how I used the linen hinging tape from my last two books, so I have included a wee tut on that as well. Easy peasy and thanks for asking!

























Let's start with the Fair Maidens, shall we?
Those girls, always getting into trouble! Whether from their own choices or others machinations, the situations they get themselves into are pretty crazy.
Curses, sleeping for a hundred years, household slavery, poisoning, betrayal....it's a real soap opera!
Here are a few of the girls tucked away in their box.


























And here they are having a bit of a stretch. I'm not going to leave them out too long. There's no telling what mischief they'll get themselves into!



























I used a lot of pretty luscious collage sheets from Alpha Stamps for the images of the girls and they are listed in the supplies below.


























We'll say goodbye to the girls for the moment and move on to the queens.


































Ah, Evil Queens......they're just not happy without a good poisoning or a beheading, are they? Looks like this one is holding the head of a knight. He must have really pissed her off. That or Mrs. Grumpy Pants got up on the wrong side of the royal bed.


























Here's a lovely shot of Queen Eleanor forcing some poison upon the pretty, but hapless Fair Rosamund.

And an array of nasty tempered ladies just looking for someone to whack with their scepters.


































Overall, I think they are a fairly sneaky group of pestilential ladies and prefer less obvious means of torture, murder and mayhem. Ooh, this is interesting. A secret stash of poisons! Okay, which one of you 'ladies' smuggled those in here?
Or did all of you connive together? Hmmmm, better keep my eye on you!



































For a link to supplies, click HERE for supplies for Fair Maiden and HERE for Evil Queens Supplies.

Supplies list:
Fair Maidens Supplies

ATC Sized Faux Book Box
Graphic 45 Enchanted Forest Scrapbook Papers
Rapunzel Collage Sheet
The Ball Collage Sheet
Midnight #1 Collage Sheet
Cinderella Cleaning Collage Sheet
Sleeping Beauty #2 Collage Sheet
Fair Rosamund Collage Sheet (?)
Thin Fleur Dresden Borders-Black
Gold Mini Rosette Dresden Borders
Liquid Pearls-Platinum
Liquid Pearls-Gold Pearl
7mm Flower Washers
Old Fashioned Roses-Red
12x12 Chipboard

Other
Burgundy Ribbon
Linen Hinging tape


Evil Queens Supplies

ATC Sized Faux Book Box
Graphic 45 Enchanted Forest Scrapbook Papers
Evil Queens Collage Sheet
Fair Rosumund Collage Sheet
Skeleton Slides Collage Sheet
7mm Flower Washers
Gold Mini Rosette Dresden Borders
Black Zig Zag Dresden Borders
12 Tiny Glass Bottles
Corked Vials
12x12 Chipboard
Sparrows Compass Brass Link (substitution for the filigree flower on the Evil Queens Mini Book Holder)
Stickles Christmas Red
Stickles Lime Green
Stickles Black Diamond
Liquid Pearls Blackberry

Other
Round Corked Glass Vial
Craft Jewelry Box Lid (cut in half)
Manila File (cut into a strip and folded accordion style for the Evil Queens mini book)
Linen Hinging Tape

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

A little tutorial on linen hinging tape and how I use it;

For hinging the Fair Maidens Book Box, whose cover opens and lies flat, I first cut two pieces of tape slightly shorter than the length of the box.
I 'loosely' stuck them on making sure I left enough wiggle room in the space between the covers to allow for the width of scrapbook papers. If you don't allow for this important step, your book may close properly at this point, but won't later on after you've covered the chipboard with papers.
I measured the gap and it's about a quarter inch (1/4) of tape showing between each chipboard piece.


































After I was satisfied with the placing of the tape, I used a bone tool to rub the tape onto the chipboard, making sure I had good adhesion.
For extra strength, I laid a piece of tape vertically across the book and used the bone tool on that one well.

















Now that the fussy part is finished, I prepped the surface by painting the tape black just over the actual hinge-y bit. It's easier to do this at this stage rather than trying to fuss with painting after you've got your papers on.

















While I've got the paint out, I prep any other surface I need to before the papers go on, including the corners of the inside of the box so no light brown from the chipboard shows.

For the Evil Queens box it's the same thing, more or less.
Since there is only one hinge to deal with, it's one piece of tape vertically, making sure once again to leave an appropriately sized gap for papers.
For this application I use two pieces of tape horizontally for strength. Then prep with paint as needed.

















I should also mention that I pre-cut all of my papers before I tape things together. Much easier that way!

Thank you for stopping by!

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Birds, birds and more birds.

We are having a lot of fun over at Alpha Stamps with our bird themed April! Here are a couple of fun and fairly uncomplicated projects I came up with noodling around with ATC sized book boxes.


























Two very different styles, but both with lots of blue. Same theme, same boxes, but so very different from each other!

The darker, Blue Bird Box, I constructed using all the pieces, including the side binding that enables the book to open and the top to lie flat.

























Inside I have a sweet set of bird ATC's to browse through......

























For the pale blue Trellis Box, I omitted the 'spine hinge and attached the cover directly to the box. I love having options!


































To attach the spine and covers of the books, I used linen hinging tape (which you can get HERE), I taped the pieces together and used a boning tool to polish the tape on, making sure I got a good bond, then I attached my scrapbook papers using matte medium. That way, the only part of the linen tape that actually shows is the itty bitty line of 'hinge' connecting the pieces, but there is enough tape on both sides of the covers to give a really strong hold.

























Inside the Trellis box is a (surprise!) trellis that I painted white and use as a mid-ground piece between the nest of eggs in the background and the bird sitting in the front.

I really enjoyed using the same platform for two very different pieces!

For a link to supplies from Alpha Stamps, click HERE for the Blue Bird Book Box and HERE for the Trellis Book Box.

SUPPLIES LIST

(Blue Bird Book Box)

Bees,Birds and Butterflies Collage Sheet
Bird Book Covers Collage Sheet
Victorian Garden Collage Sheet
Blue Birds Collage Sheet
Bird Words Collage Sheet
M For The Magpie Collage Sheet
Vintage Dot Orange Citrus Collage Paper
Vintage Dot Chiffon Collage Paper
Vintage Dot Island Mist Scrapbook Paper
Serendipity Glee Scrapbook Paper
Serendipity Chronicle Scrapbook Paper
Vintage Dot Blueberry Scrapbook Paper
Antique Brass Birdhouse Charm
Liquid Pearls-Platinum
Fancy Bronze Mirror Frame Setting

( Trellis Book Box)

Bees,Birds and Butterflies Collage Sheet
M For The Magpie Collage Sheet
Frolic Petits Moments Scrapbook Paper
Mini Rose Buds-Pink cream Variegated
Tiny Paper Roses Pink Cream Variegated
Antique Silver Birdcage Charm
Doodled Cage With Solid Back
Liquid Pearls-Platinum
Ivy ATC Frame
Mini Birds and Nests Shape Set



Additional Supplies:
Linen Book Binding Tape
White Acrylic Paint
Colored pencils in purples and blues


Thank you so much for popping by!





Sunday, April 3, 2016

Estelle

Just a quick and fun card I made for the folks at Alpha Stamps!


































For a list of supplies, click HERE. Thanks for coming by!