Deadline: MET.

I was asked to make the guest book for a wedding shower, and since I'm one of the bridesmaids (and I'm a sucker for projects like this) I quickly agreed. I think all together it took between five and six hours of work to put this one together. Probably more because of my indecisiveness than because of the actual hands-on work, though. Now that I know what I'm doing I could probably turn another one out a LOT quicker!

Here's the binding. It looks super-fancy but it literally took under 10 minutes to put it together once all the holes were punched:



I hand-tore all the white cardstock pages so they have deckle edges all the way around.


Since I helped the bride with her wedding invitations, I was able to secretly snag a leftover piece and use it on the title page.



The pages look a little plain right now, but will soon be much more exciting. On the left side of each spread I put in photo corners sized for a 4x6 photo. My plan is for her to put pictures from the shower throughout the book. On the facing page are two little envelopes. I also cut a bunch of little cards - each guest can write their little message and tuck it into the book for Heather and Chris to read together later on.



Here's the finished product:



The final dimensions of the book are 10 1/2" x 5". I added in extra sheets of cardstock inside the spine to compensate for the extra thickness that will be added with the photos, envelopes and insert cards. Otherwise the open end would fan out and the book would never lay flat. Hopefully I added enough - I'm sure I'll hear soon enough!

So now I have the urge to make about 20 more of these in all different shapes and sizes... some with different sized envelopes inside, others with the traditional lined sheets for signatures, some landscape-oriented like this one, and at least one in portrait orientation. I want to try different materials for making the spine, and maybe even some different bindings. And what would I do with twenty guestbooks? I guess hope I get invited to lots of events that need a guestbook! Hee hee! Actually I have to get back to Father's Day cards first. It's only a week away! EEK!!

Have a great evening everybody. (YES ALL TWO OF YOU I KNOW)

Love Shelley!

Ah, the sweet smell of... dandelions.

Well, now that I've gotten that pesky Christmas card off of my mind, I was free to work on a Father's Day card. This one is for an order but I like it; I think I'll make another one for the sale box!



Here's the inside - simple, just like Dads like!



And now if you'll excuse me, I have about two acres of grass to cut. Then if my hands aren't numb from the steering wheel on the lawn tractor, I might just make another card.

Have a great Sunday!

Love Shelley

Okay, if you usually come here looking for cards, I apologize for the detour off into other topics... but in case you ARE interested, here are some pages from the art journal I've been doodling around in. First up is the cover:



I actually used painted aluminum and embossed all the designs right into it, then sanded the black off so it shows the aluminum underneath. To me it looks pretty unbalanced and messy but it's my first attempt and I'm going with it! After all, the pages themselves are made from 9x9 pieces of old newspaper stuck together with glue stick, so it's not like I have a lot invested in this project. Actually, that makes it easier to experiment, knowing I'm not messing up something "nice" or expensive!

See? This next one is totally not what I'd call "awesome" or even "hey, that's nice," but I had fun fooling around with paint and stuff making it. It's about where my mind randomly goes sometimes.



And here's a page that is just waiting for some love. This is the back of the cover. I had taped the metal to the cover with that polka-dot gaffer tape, and folded it over; so the back has an instant frame. I love it already just the way it is; so it might be hard to start adding stuff to it.



Working on this loosy-goosy painting stuff really makes a nice change for me from making cards, because they tend to be fairly nit-picky to make. But now that I've got that out of my system: cards. I have to; I have orders to fill! Wheeeee!

More soon,

Love Shelley!

Where IS that girl?

One of the things I worked on this week was this book of lists for a swap I was involved in. Don't you love that cover paper?



I started off with two of these daytimer booklets that I had lying around. I took them apart and threw away the covers first. And before you get all, "Oh-emm-gee, she knows BOOKBINDING!" um, no. Not really. I just folded and stapled the new cover onto the two sets of book innards, see? The paper is simply double-sided cardstock.



I put a strip of black cardstock along the spine to hide the messy staples and to make the whole thing look a little more finished, and voila! Fancy shmancy.



A prompt on each page, with random stamped images throughout, and a little love on the cover, and it's done. It only took a few hours (mostly for the prompts, not the cover treatment) and I'm happy to put my name on the back. Wow, do I love that paper. I'll have to find something cool to use the scraps on!



Next up: I'll show you what I've been doing with that art journal I've been working on. In the meantime, I have to make some CARDS! And then I'll show you those too, pinky swear.

Enjoy your weekend!

Love Shelley!

The Best Laid Plans. Pfft.

Oh yeah, did I tell you? I was going to make a heroic attempt to make and post a card every day. Or at least every other day, since it was working so well at the end of April. But then... but then... well, I don't really know what happened. The magic stopped. The run of inspiration ended. I got busy doing laundry. Anyway, I've been experimenting in the craft room and I'll have more to show you soon on that topic, but in the meantime, I HAVE DEADLINES TO MEET!

So without further ado, here is the card I'll be delivering tomorrow for a very sweet customer. A close friend of hers is moving away and she wanted something with happy colours, because she's already afraid she's going to cry when she has to say goodbye.



I just want to tell you, I had SO MUCH FUN making this card. I got to cut, and paint, and paint some more, and doodle, and, even though I had a mild panic attack worrying that it wasn't going to come together - well, it did. Phew! Now I kinda love it and I want to make one for myself!

Here's the inside:



She picked the verse herself, so I know it will be just right for her. I printed it in dark brown ink - black would have been too stark for this card. I don't usually line both sides of the card, but I thought I would leave her a bit of extra room to add her message, since this isn't your garden-variety happy birthday greeting.

Anyway, I'm kind of buzzed now that it's finished and I can't wait to get back in there tomorrow! Hopefully I can sleep tonight... sometimes visions of patterned papers dance in my head. : )

Love Shelley!

Second verse, same as the first!

So I changed up the colours a little. Still working on Mother's Day creations, but this blue and green was just so pretty that I couldn't resist. Especially once I discovered that I had the perfect buttons and flowers to match!

I rounded the bottom edges just to soften the look a little, and some faux stitching since I ran into a bit of trouble with my new-to-me sewing machine when I tried to do this with real thread. That's why there will only be two of these cards; I messed up the third one pretty good!

The inside, with a little bit of the outside on it:

Ready for someone to list all the reasons why they love their mom and wish them the best Mother's Day EVER!

Love Shelley!

NOW we're getting somewhere.

Um, except for with the photography portion of this programming. Somehow this card came out looking a little walleyed. But it's clearer! And the colours are pretty true! So really, two out of three ain't bad, right?

I just LOVE this young lady, she looks so very sweet! She's a Sugar Nellie stamp that I ordered all the way from Scotland. Believe it or not, that order was delivered in five short days. Yay for fast shipping!

Anyway, since I had already picked out the patterned paper I wanted to use, it was pretty easy to colour her up to match. The trim and the letters are actually cardstock stickers, and I used the same trim on the inside of the card.

See? That's a lot more how I picture the insides of my cards turning out. I think I'm finally making progress!

I coloured three of these and I've almost finished putting the finishing touches on the other two cards. Each one will end up with a different trim pattern, but they're all pretty, so I'm cool with that.

Okay, gotta go. I'm going to pack the kids some sandwiches and let them eat their "supper" in the old car. They already have an entire plastic tea set out there, so now all they need is some grub. I never thought I'd be so happy to have an old abandoned car in my driveway, but I should totally be inviting the neighbourhood kids over and CHARGING ADMISSION! Heyyyyy..... that's not bad. HAHA!

Later gaters,

Love Shelley!