Art of Memory: February 2015

Club Scrap Blog Hop: London Calling!

Welcome to this stop on the Club Scrap Blog Hop!

I was so excited to get this kit, since I have loved London for such a long time! In August of 2012 I went to London with my daughter and my parents, and I'm pleased to report that my daughter loved it absolutely as much as the rest of us. I have big plans for finally scrapbooking those photos, and those plans are just going to be waiting a while longer...

In the meantime, here's a little project that shows our love for the grand old city of London and its country.

This is a 12" x 8" canvas that was first painted, and then collaged with papers and an embossed telephone box. I added some dimension on top of those layers with Ranger's new Transparent Gloss Texture Paste and the Club Scrap Tin Tiles Anniversary stencil. The letters were made by covering some thin chipboard with Vintage Mini Postage Stamps from the Club Scrap Lite kit, and die cutting them, then coloring the edges with black marker. I used a very vintage embellishment -- a Making Memories vellum tag (circa 2002) -- which I embossed with gold embossing powder, then stamped and embossed with red and blue embossing tinsel. This was followed with an assortment of embellishments. I used nearly every variety of item included in the Club Scrap kits!

The Club Scrap materials include:

12 x 12 London Calling ivory print (CS Deluxe Kit)

8.5 x 11 London Calling ivory print (CS Deluxe Kit)

12 x 12 London Calling light green print (CS Deluxe Kit)

London Calling Phone Booth Masking Stencil (CS Lite Kit)

London Calling Underground Washi Tape (CS Deluxe Kit)

London Calling Vintage Mini Postage Stamps (CS Lite)

London Calling Antique Bronze Keys and Crown Charms (CS Deluxe Kit)

London Calling Borders and Backgrounds Unmounted Rubber (CS Kit Add-On)

Tin Tiles Anniversary Stencil

Here are a couple of closeup photos that show the glossy texture paste, tinsel embossing powders, and the postage stamp letters:

London Calling is an extremely versatile kit as well! Here's a spot of dessert to enjoy after the main course: a simple card using a stamp, Distress Markers, layered paper from the London Calling HPOP, and a slip of seam binding:

I hope you've enjoyed visiting my blog on the Club Scrap London Calling Blog Hop!

Your next stop on the Hop is at Wendy's blog Life, Paper & Soul. She's one of the artists on the new Club Scrap Artist Team, so it's sure to be a treat.

Thanks for hopping by!

~cat

Posted at 03:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBack (0)

Club Scrap Valentine's Day Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog today, and Happy Valentine's Day! I hope your day is sweet as a Valentine treat.

For Valentine's Day, I've made a little stitched book that is perfect for holding small photos and little notes for someone you love.

This book is made using Club Scrap's new Love Ink kit. It's a smallish book, measuring 3.75 inches wide, and 5 inches tall. It is embellished with cutouts and dimensional stickers from the kit.

Here's a glimpse into how I made this little stitched book:

1. I had an idea (almost always a helpful place to start!) so I started sketching it out in my composition book, and planned how many pages I wanted, what size they should be, and how to cut them out of the 12x12 papers. I also worked out how to stitch the spine and add in both the dimensional heart stickers and some beads.

2. Next I cut the papers down. They are nested into two types of signatures, the pages themselves, and some spacer signatures. The spacer signatures are both decorative, and serve the function of balancing the spine after photos and cutouts are added, so the book will be the same thickness at the spine and the outer edge with the ribbon tie. The signatures of pages are graduated as well, so there are decorative spine balancers in the middle and a smaller piece nested inside a larger. This makes every page colorful, and inner pages of each signature don't extend past the outer ones. After the pages and spacers are cut, they are all scored in half vertically.

Sometimes it's nice to have a friend guard the cut papers while you're scoring!

3. Next, the spacing of the holes from the stitching plan are marked onto one of the spacers.

4. Once the holes are pierced into the spacer, the spacer is used as a template to pierce the holes in all of the other pages. You might want to get a nice relaxing cup of tea before starting this process, because this is a LOT of hole-piercing!

5. Now it's time to set up all the materials for stitching: a needle, waxed linen thread, the dimensional heart stickers, a paper piercer, beads, and the signatures to be sewn together. I also have the stitching guide, so I know the placement of beads and hearts for page signatures. The spacer signatures are sewn onto strips of ribbon, without extra embellishment.

6. I added the dimensional stickers to the spines as I went along, as they aren't super-sticky, especially when trying to get them to stay right on the fold. A paper piercer was used to make holes in the stickers to line up with the stitching holes.

7. After the signatures are sewn together, the covers need to be prepared. Cut the bookboard to the size of the largest (outside) pages, 3.75 x5 inches. When cutting bookboard, I use a bit of tape to hold the ruler in place so if I need to take a little break, the ruler stays in the correct location.

8. After the boards are cut, they are covered on one side with patterned paper. The ribbons that are part of the binding are glued down with a wee bit of bookbinding glue. The ribbons that will tie the book shut are also glued down to extend on the edge of the book. Next, apply a conservative amount of glue to the entire back side of the cover, and adhere to the back of the book, over the ribbons and thread end; repeat for the front cover.

9. All that's left is to add a little embellishment to the front cover, and place the cute cutouts throughout the pages!

Here are a couple more views of the completed book. When it's open, it will pop open into a circle standing up. You can see when it's closed and you look down at the top that there is plenty of room to add photos and other embellishments without worrying that the book won't tie shut properly. It makes all that hole-piercing worthwhile!

And here's a final look at the book, along with spine detail.

I hope you've enjoyed this stop on the Club Scrap Valentine's Day Blog Hop!

If you have any questions about the project, please don't hesitate to ask.

Your next stop will be with Anne Marie at her blog Artfully Balanced.

If you haven't seen all of the blogs in the Club Scrap Valentine Hop, you can start at the beginning!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a LOVE-ly day!

~cat

Posted at 02:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (23) | TrackBack (0)

London is calling me!

This month's Club Scrap kit theme is amazing! It's London Calling, and the images are fantastic, with unmounted rubber sheets filled with a taxi, a double decker bus, the London Eye, a telephone box, Big Ben, and so much more.

I've made a tag following the style and techniques of the February tag for Tim Holtz's 12 tags of 2015.

It is completely appropriate for me to make a London-themed tag for a Valentine-oriented challenge, as I love London!