Flip Books!

Hello all, Jenny here!

Today I have something to show which really took me out of my comfort zone. Sarah recently received the new Teresa Collins Flip Books in stock at S J Crafts and asked the DT if any of us would like to have a go with one. I had already been looking at these and thought they would be fun to play with so I said "Yes!"

 Only then did I realise just how far out of my comfort zone I had taken my self. Now I’m not ashamed to admit that scrapbooking frightens the life out of me - all that space on a 12x12 sheet? No thank you I’d rather stick to my 6x6 cards! 

But these flip books are great - they are all ready for you to decorate, made from thick black card which is a nice and neutral for any colour scheme. They are available in two different sizes and have a clever built in mechanism so that when the tab is pulled the pages "flip over" one by one.

I decided I was going to use mine to record Aimee’s first experience of horse riding. I chose to use the Glitz Wild & Free papers as some of the papers had horses on and the rest had lovely bold patterns which went with my photos. I didn't mount any of my papers as the black pages looked perfect as a background for the papers, plus it helped not to make the book too thick so the flipping action still worked. Embellishment wise I used some washi tape, some Studio Calico wood grain enamel dots, punched flowers and some chipboard shapes which I coloured with my promarkers and ink pads. 

I'll warn you that the rest of this post is quite picture heavy ... I wanted to show you each page ... if you have any questions please ask by leaving a comment! 

Front Cover:

Inside Front Cover:

Page 1:

Page 2:

Page 3: 

Page 4:

Page 5:

Page 6:

Page 7:

Page 8:

Page 9:

Pages 10 & 11:

Pull Out Page:

 For those of you that have seen my blog will know I generally make cards but I hope this demonstrates that anyone can try scrapbooking using these flip books .... they really are a great way to record those precious memories! 

Don’t forget Annie from the Design Team also posted her flip book including a fab video, you can find her post here.

Jenny makes beautiful projects and shares them on her blog Dragonllew's Spot, check it out and be inspired!

Flippin' Fabulous Books!

Hi everyone, it's Annie here today with my first post as a member of the SJ Crafts Design Team!

Last weekend I had a lovely time trying out the new Teresa Collins Flip Book Album and I'm delighted with the end result! Here's a little peek ...

Front Cover with layered papers and embellishments from the 
Teresa Collins Daily Stories Collection in the February Kit 

These little books are SO cooool! The clever bit is all done for you, so all you have to do is add your photos and choose whether to keep it simple or embellish to heart's content ... guess which option I went for?!

The bare album is plain black, so would work with any photos, colour scheme and style you choose. To make my book, I decided to use the SJ Crafts February kit which features the Teresa Collins "Daily Stories" Collection - perfect! 

It's hard to see just how brilliant these albums are in a photo, so here is a little video of the Flip Book as it comes, along with the other ingredients I used ...

... and here's another little video showing you how my finished book turned out ...

Here are a couple more pics of the outside of the finished book and some tips and ideas on how to make one of these for yourself ...

Back Cover with an enamel butterfly highlight

Spine decorated with offcut and word sticker

The first thing I did was to work out how many photos I could fit in - I decided on 12 

... after working out roughly where they would go in the book ...

... I got started on the front cover ...

Being a frugal crafter, I "gutted" all the pieces of cardstock which made up the layers on my front cover, and I used the merchandising strips from the patterned papers as decorative borders - waste not, want not!

Here's an easy way to add a knotted ribbon ...

... just tie it in a loop like this, then snip it to the length you need and tuck the ends behind the card before adhering to the background ...

I layered up one of the cut-aparts, a die cut and some border strips, then added a photo of my happy husband and finished with enamel chevrons and a layered butterfly sticker - you wouldn't be able to add this much to the inside pages as it would interfere with the mechanism, but I felt I could go to town a bit on the front cover!

Then I moved on to the inside of my book ...

In the picture above, I've matted one of the patterned papers onto plain cardstock slightly smaller than the album page, then used the reverse of the patterned paper to matt the photo. Being frugal again, I cut the tag into two - saving the other piece to use on another page.

The photo mount was "gutted" as before, not just saving the inside piece to use somewhere else, but also cutting down on the overall thickness of the finished book. I used the extra-strong tape throughout this project, as it will be sent in the post and will need to stand up to quite a bit of handling. I always use a bone folder to burnish it down well, because this makes sure the tape is adhered firmly, and it makes the backing paper peel off more easily.

Another tip I find really useful is to just peel the backing tape part-way off, leaving the ends folded out to the sides as you can see above - then when you position it on the background it will allow a little movement to get it just where you want it ...

... and once you have it lined up perfectly, you can grab the ends and remove the backing tape!

I used a border punch on some of the offcuts of patterned paper and cardstock, using them to trim the facing pages ...

This clock face was a die cut from the kit - it was too white for my page, so I coloured it with Distress Ink in Antique Linen before attaching it to the patterned paper with one of the decorative brads. All the edges throughout the book were inked with Black Soot Distress Ink, because I hate to see raw edges!

I continued to work through the book like this, keeping embellishments very flat now on the inside pages but still using lots of layers ...

There are lots of patterns layered together in the pages above, but they all go together perfectly, finished with some ribbon, a little word diecut and an enamel dot.

In the page below left, I've used the other part of that tag I cut up earlier, as well as some more of the die cuts and cut-aparts. On the opposite page I was a bit crafty ...

... this tag was the right colours and I like the arrow, but it wasn't long enough and the word on it didn't fit my page - so, I cut it up, stretched it out and covered the offending word with an offcut of a contrasting paper - BINGO! - once I add the photo you won't see the join!

By now, my photos were getting bigger and the pages were getting smaller ...

... so I kept these pages very simple and just added some word stickers from the kit ...

Well, I think you can tell that I am totally smitten with these clever little flip books and I will definitely be doing some more - they would make lovely presents for Mothers' Day, or a Brag Book for Granny's handbag or a friends's birthday maybe.

They are available in two different sizes and you can Click Here to find them in the shop.

If you make one of these we'd love to see it - remember to leave a link in your comment or come and show 'n' tell on our Facebook page.

Cheerio for now.

Annie

Annie joined the S J Crafts Design Team last month. She regularly blogs over at her blog: Artyfarty Annie and she would love it if you popped over to say hi!

Fast Festive Scrapping with a Mini Book

Happy Monday to you! 

Louise is here today to show us some ideas to speed up our festive crafting!

Louise:

Last week Lisa-Jane shared her process for telling her Christmas story in this post and this post! . She explained that gathering together and organising your scrapbook supplies helps with the whole Christmas Journal process. I really do second this and for several Christmas seasons this is exactly what I have done.

This year finds me restricted with my mobility. This limits the activities I might otherwise have been involved in over December which means unlike other years  I'm unlikely to have a daily photo. It has also meant that I've not been able to pull together all of my Christmas supplies.

It is still important to me that I record my Christmas however I didn't want the structure of a daily photo or entry so I started to think along the lines of a little book to hold some photos and record some stories in December, along with the big day itself.

Once I'd decided on the format for my little Christmas book - I found it a quick and easy project to undertake. This is an ideal project for a busy time of year, when lets face it most of us feel there aren't enough hours in the day.

Today I'd like to share with you five quick and easy steps to construct a little book for recording your family photos and stories during the month of December. 

There's also another five optional steps with ideas to help you add to your little book if you find you have more time available to craft than you thought, or if you find that you have more photos and stories you would like to include. Or you could add to it in January.

1. Restricting your supplies for a project can be more productive. If you are like me then you can spend hours looking for the right papers and embellishments. To narrow down your supplies use a Christmas collection Kit. I chose the gorgeous Echo Park's 'Tis The Season Kit perfect for this project. Within the collection kits you have your co-ordinated double sided patterned papers, including journaling cards, a sheet of alpha's and a sheet of festive stickers.

2. Pick out just one or two tools that you will use for the book.In addition to this Christmas collection kit I chose one punch (yes just one!) to use throughout the book.

3. Next, you will need to cut your papers to make the pages of the book.
I knew I wanted a smallish book so I selected some patterned paper from the collection kit for the pages and cut them to 6 x 7 inches.  I liked the squarish look of the album and decided to shape only the top cover into a tag shape. Of course, you can cut your pages to whatever size and shape you like.

I put a hole through the top of each page to hold them all together with a book ring.

4. Once you've got your pages and a front cover, you can use a few stickers to embellish. Try to limit yourself to using only the sticker sheets in the collection kit or if you're not using a kit choose just one or two sheets. This will make the whole embellishing process quicker and easier. I used stickers to decorate the front cover of my little book....(with a little help from the Teresa Collins Santa list sticker sheet, which in my defence just happened to be close to hand at the time!).

5. To complete the book you can add a page pocket to the back page of the book for somewhere to keep all of my Christmas memorabilia.

And that's all there is to it!

  

A little Christmas book all ready to be embellished and journalled in!

Optional Extras

Not only does a project of this type fit nicely around your hectic December schedule, it is also a superb project to add as many or as little pages as you like, when you like. Next Christmas....even!!

6. If you find that you have an hour to spare here and there, then you can add inserts or overlays. For example while I was waiting for the next few photos and stories to include in my Christmas book, I cross-stitched (freehand) this cute reindeer head from this pattern on Pinterest.

 I framed the reindeer and now it sits on top of the front cover.

7. Inserts can be in any form. Acetate pockets filled with confetti, decorative tags, envelopes for that special journaling. If you have the time and inclination these inserts can add interest and decoration to your book. This time I chose to
 include a glassine envelope to hold my children's Christmas wish lists.

8. At this busy time of year when we are trying to find the perfect present, inspiration can be lacking. This is the best time to consider a scraplift. I did it! I scraplifted a Christmas card (thank you Kandis Smith). It's a little inserted page that adds decoration to my book. Later on it will hold a photo and journaling.

9. Another quick and easy way I like to add interest to a project, is to add stitching. Hand stitching can be time consuming....so I dusted off my sewing machine. I do love how decorative stitching can transform a page.

10. Finally, no Christmas project is complete without bling. A pack of gems or enamel dots is a quick and easy way to bling up your little book.

I hope that this project has inspired you to put together a small book to record your Christmas. 

Please leave us a comment and let us know if it has!

I will be sharing the finished book on my blog after Christmas when I've recorded and included photos from Christmas day.

Happy Christmas Scrapping 

Louise x

Louise shares stories and her papercrafting projects at her blog Boys, Bugs, and Beautiful Buttons

P.S. Don't forget about our Design Team Call!

Carta Bella Mini Book ~ By Louise

Hello ... Louise here again!!

Last week I shared some projects with you using the Carta Bella Beach Boardwalk Collection Kit. Today I want to show you a small mini book, created to sit between the 12x12 layouts in my holiday album.

I didn't really have a plan for this book. I just jumped straight in!!

The patterned papers I picked out of the collection Kit were very busy patterns so I made a decision not to use any Mister Huey Mists. My fingers and my dining room table were pleased with this decision!

I started with the back page cutting it roughly to 7"x8"

 

Then I made a large tag, cut roughly 7" x 5.5"

 

The top of the tag was scored so it could be lifted up to reveal the page underneath (See below)

Before cutting any more pages I worked out what photos I wanted to use....ideally I should have done this first.... sometimes though I like it when I have no plan to see what I end up with. Once the photos had been selected I added the circle page (10 x 5.5"), cutting off the overlap and scoring along the edge so that it folded over nicely.

The front flap was cut to 7 x 4" and the edge scored along so that again it folded over nicely too.

The pages are all held together with stitching. My machine did find it a little tough to go through the papers as they are a thick/good quality paper but we got there in the end.

I have used photos and titles in this book to tell the story. Let me see if I can show you what I mean.

The underneath of the tag has a pocket holding journaling cards which my three boys used to record what they liked/thought about the water park. The arrow pointing down links the tag page to the back page...

 

 

...which reads "Riding the Waves @ " with an arrow pointing to the inside of the circle page.

The inside of the circle page holds a photo of the Water Park name. Blizzard Beach. So hopefully you can see that when the pages are opened out it reads "Riding the Waves at Blizzard Beach"

The inside of the opening flap for this book holds a title to accompany the first photo on the tag page. When my son was little I used to read to him the "Harry and my Bucketful of Dinosaurs" Books. Mainly because they had his name on them but also because he loved them. When I saw this photo of him with his bucketful of ice-cream I had my title!

Here's my completed book all folded up.

I will be punching some holes along the left hand side so that it sits in my holiday album between the 12x12 layouts.

I like how this little book turned out and may well make a similar one for another of the parks we visited. If this inspires you to make your own please link up in the comments so we can come see.

Many thanks once again to Sarah for letting me have the pleasure of working with the wonderful Carta Bella Boardwalk Collection Kit.

All elements except the wood veneers hearts, arrows and camera and some of the alphas are from the Collection Kit.

I still have some more 12x12 layouts to share with you from this collection kit and will be back very soon to share them with you.