Kathy Orta December Daily Reworked - C6 size

I just love, love, love Kathy Orta's patterns (if you are familiar with her videos you will know she uses the phrase 'love, love, love' quite a bit), so when she published her free December Daily mini album I couldn't resist making one of my own.

If you want to watch the preview of her album you can view it on You Tube here.

The envelope and card kits she uses come from Michael's.  The cards measure 5" x 6 1/2", with the matching envelope measuring 7 1/4" x 5 1/4".  These are not available in Australia, and the closest we can get is the C6 card size which measures 105mm x 150mm (pretty close to 4 1/8" x 5 7/8") with the matching envelope measuring  4 1/2" x 6 5/16".  As you can see that is a sizable difference, which if course is going to mean an adjustment throughout to many of the measurements.

So this post follows Kathy Orta's instructions but converting them down to a C6 size for those of us who can only get access to that.  I am sure you are all capable of doing this without someone telling you how, this is mostly so when I make another one (and I plan to make several), I have all the measurements recorded.  

This mini will be smaller than the original so on most pages and page inserts it won't take a standard 4" x 6" photo, but it will take the 3.5" x 5" print which is the next size down.  Of course you can always custom size and crop your own photos according to your own needs, but the 3.5" x 5" (or 9 x 13cm) print size option should be readily available worldwide in any photo store.  You can, however, put a simple mat on as many of the pages as you want, which will (just) take a 4" x 6" photo.

 

December Daily Part One

You can watch Kathy Orta's original video on how to make part one of the December Daily here.  Watching her video is essential for understanding how the album is constructed, I am merely giving my measurements for using a smaller C6 size envelope and card.

Card Page One

The measurements for this page remained the same as the original.  Go ahead and make the cuts at 2"and trim down to 3".  Trim the corners as desired.  Adhere together as shown and then trim off 1/2" off the side that doesn't have flaps.  Your card should measure 3 5/8" across.  This gives room for the hidden hinge binding and still allows your card to fit in nice and flush.

Card Page Two

Trim the card at 1/2" to the right hand side of the scored edge.  Keep the piece you trimmed off and put it aside to make a pocket later.

Envelope Page One

Go ahead and seal the envelope as instructed.  Trim a sliver off one end, and then trim the other end so that the envelope measures 4 1/8" across (the same width as the card).

Envelope Page Two

Adhere the flap of your second envelope to the first envelope page as instructed.  Trim the second envelope so that it too measures 4 1/8" across.

Pocket One

Take the extra piece you trimmed away while making the second card page and trim it so it measures 5 1/8" along the long edge.  When directed, score each edge at 1/2" and adhere as shown to create the pocket.  This creates a pocket 4 1/8" wide (same width as the card) and 3 5/8" high

Twin Pocket (Variation)

I felt that given the reduced overall size of the album that the twin pockets were a bit too small to have any practical function, so I adjusted it to make one large side loading pocket.  I wanted a pocket that measured 6 1/4" x 2 1/4", so I cut a piece of cardstock at 7 1/4" x 2 3/4" and scored at 1/2" on three sides.

 

December Daily Part Two

You can watch Kathy Orta's original video for part two of the December Daily here.  Watching her video is essential for understanding how the album is constructed, I am merely giving my measurements for using a smaller C6 size envelope and card.

The Envelope Pages

Adhere the two envelopes together as shown.  Place envelopes into your paper trimmer and line up so the edge of the envelope is just a smidge over the 5" marker (this is where Kathy lines hers up to the 5 3/4" mark).  This should place the fold line for the envelope flap directly on the half inch marker, giving you a half inch flap when you trim.

In the original version the envelopes are then folded in on each other, and the top facing envelope is trimmed down to 4" in width. This is a reduction of 1 1/4".   We are actually going to trim off an extra 1/8" so that when our pages are all folded there is an even 1/2" spacing between the three pages.  So we are going to trim off 1 3/8".  You don't have to, you can keep the original measurement, but I am a kook for symmetry.

Slide the envelope into the trimmer so the bottom facing envelope is being cut and trim so that it is 4 1/8" wide.

The Middle Card Pocket

The original directions tell you to trim off 1/2" off one side, do this by lining up your card fold at the 3 5/8" mark.  Score and assemble as directed.  To attach this page to the envelope pages measure 5 3/8" up from the bottom (instead of the 6" in the original instructions).

The First Pocket

On the inside of the first page is a pocket, the original measures 5" x 5".  Ours will measure a scant 4 1/16" x 3 1/2".  Score on three sides at 1/2" and assemble.

Back Page Pocket

Cut one card in half as directed.  Trim the long side of this piece to generous 5 1/6".  Score at 1/2" on three sides and form a pocket.

Belly Band

For the belly band on the back of the middle page, take the bottom flap that you cut off to make the middle card pocket and score it at 1/4" at each end.

To show you just how versatile this album is, I constructed one that was only three pages .

December Daily Part Three

You can watch Kathy Orta's original video for part three of the December Daily here.  Watching her video is essential for understanding how the album is constructed, I am merely giving my measurements for using a smaller C6 size envelope and card.

First Envelope Page

Adhere the two flaps together as shown.  Trim envelopes down to 4 1/8".  Trim the excess off the flaps so it measures 1/2".

Envelope Half Pages

Seal the envelope as directed. Fold in half and trim along fold line.  Trim a sliver off the closed end of each envelope half, which should make your envelope halves now 3 1/8" wide.

Assembling the two parts

Make a snip in the excess flap as shown at the halfway mark, which will be approx 3 3/16" (this measurement doesn't need to be precise).  Attach the two half pages as shown.

Front Page Pocket/Sleeve (to insert the hidden hinge)

Cut a piece of pattern paper 3" x 7 1/4".  Score half each at each short end and attach as shown.

Pocket on Inner Page

Cut a piece of cardstock 5 1/2" x 5 1/6".  Score at 1/2" on 3 sides and fold to form pocket.  Attach as shown.  As this album is smaller than the original, and it already has so many pockets, I chose to omit the pocket here and simply mat with a piece of card cut at 6 1/4" x 4".  This will allow me to put in a slightly trimmed 6" x 4" photo.

December Daily Hidden Hinge Binding Strip

You can watch Kathy Orta's original video on how to make the hidden hinge part of the December Daily here.  Watching her video is essential for understanding how the album is constructed, I am merely giving my measurements for using a smaller C6 size envelope and card.

The only measurement here that is different is the height of the binding strip, which will be 6 1/4".

December Daily Album Cover

You can watch Kathy Orta's original video on how to make the album cover of the December Daily here.  Watching her video is essential for understanding how the album is constructed, I am merely giving my measurements for using a smaller C6 size envelope and card.

There are three parts to the album cover... the back panel, the front panels and the side spines.

The original back panel is cut at 7 3/4" x 7 3/4" which works out to be 1/2" taller than the envelope used in the original.  We can keep the same proportions.  Our envelopes measure 4 1/2" x 6 5/16".  Because this is the cover and 1/6" of an inch extra to the height of this album won't make any difference we are going to round these proportions up to 4 1/2" x 6 3/8".  So we will cut our back panel piece to measure 6 7/8" x 6 7/8".

The original album front panel cover pieces are cut at 7 3/4" x 6" which works out to be 1/2" taller than the envelope and 3/4" wider than the original envelope.  Once again we can keep these same proportions and cut two panels that measure 5" x 6 7/8".

The original side spine panel pieces measure 7 3/4" x 2".  Ours will measure 6 7/8" x 2".

December Daily Album Cover - My Version

The original album cover is done in such a way that the pages interleave.  I think this creates excess bulk in the centre of the album, we have six pages evenly spaced at either end, but in the centre those six pages overlap creating the bulk of 12 pages.  Depending on how you load your pages this can create too much bulk in the centre, so I widened the cover to allow the pages to sit next to each other, rather than on top of each other.

There are three parts to the album cover... the back panel, the front panels and the side spines.

The original back panel is cut at 7 3/4" x 7 3/4" which works out to be 1/2" taller than the envelope used in the original.  By increasing the width an extra inch to 8 3/4" this allows our finished pages (which measure 4 1/4" each, to sit side by side without overlap.  So for my version I cut the back panel piece to measure 6 7/8" x 8 3/4" (this is an inch wider than the original width).

To compensate for the extra inch width to the back cover, we will add an extra half inch to each front flap, cutting two pieces at 6 7/8 x 5 1/2".

The original side spine panel pieces measure 7 3/4" x 2".  Ours will measure 6 7/8" x 2".

Gypsy Caravan, Christmas Style

Caravan front.

I am totally in love with this project.  The concept is just fabulous, and open to so many different style interpretations.  The pattern is called Gypsy Caravan by Laura Denison of Following The Paper Trail.

Caravan side, with the shutters closed.

This is just my practice project, one I 'whipped' up to make sure the instructions and pattern was accurate, before using my good paper.  I am glad I did too, because the instructions are at times a little mysterious, which is helped somewhat by watching the Ustream videos, but even then I threw out the first attempt because one of the measurements were incorrect and you weren't advised until the second video that this was the case, at which point it was easier to just ditch the one I had made and start again.  There are also instructions not included in the downloadable pattern that she goes through on the video, so be prepared.  If you want to make this project I strongly urge you to sit through all the videos before you start construction.

 

Caravan side, with the shutters open showing the cubby space.

I buy my chipboard in 30" x 17" sheets, and this used almost a full sheet to put together.  The paper range I used is by Jodie Lee called Father Christmas Papers which you can still find in scrapbook stores printed under the Pink Paislee label, or you can download it digitally from Jessica Sprague. That is exactly what I did, and then printed it out on matte photo paper using my inkjet.

Caravan rear, with shuttes and drawer closed.

The pattern comes with instructions to make a mini album to fit in the trunk of the caravan, but I wanted something simpler and quicker to make, and also something that would suit anyone, not just photo enthusiasts.  So I whipped up a little drawer that fits in that space which could hold all manner of doo-dads.  Notice it's a wee bit wonky?  That's why I do a test run, it lets me see what fits and what doesn't, so when I do a 'proper' one I am aware of any issues before hand.

Caravan rear, with shutters and drawer open.

 

The fabric trims and buttons I bought in 2011 in a clearance sale at Spotlight(Australia's poor cousin to Joann's or Michael's).  I liked them so much I held onto them and held on to them waiting for that special project... sound familiar?  Aside from the fabric trims I haven't added any embellishments.  As this was a practice project I think I will probably donate it to my son's school for a raffle, or donate it to the local hospital or something like that, and let the recipient fill it with goodies and add any extras.

Linking up with the following blogs:

Make it Monday:  Always Anything Goes

Use it Tuesday:  Make It Sparkle (gold tinsel on buttons and trim)

Inky Chicks:  Anything Goes

Shopping Our Stash:  Use Your Old Buttons (buttons as hub caps on wheels)

Through the Craft Room Door:  Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp & Show:  Embrace the Old (used up hoarded trims and buttons)

Well Hello Little One

 

My best friend has had his first child, a son, little JJ.  He was born a healthy 8lb on the 5th January 2013.  I had already made a substantial gift for him (which you can see here), but I wanted a small token to take with me when I went to visit for the first time in hospital.

I used a left over sheet from the same paper collection for this hanging frame that I used for the baby blocks, so it will co-ordinate nicely in his room.  His Mum is a lover of lady bugs, so the cute little darling from Mo Manning was perfect.

He is coloured with Prismacolor pencils on Kraft, and matted with Duck Egg Blue card by Kaisercraft and some left over from the Little Darlings by G45, with a liberal dash of Stormy Sky Distress Ink, which thankfully hides all manner of flaws!

Linking this up with Mo's Challenge Blog, the flavour this week is Anything Goes.
Also linking up with the fab crew at Make it Monday, where it's always Anything Goes.

Church Trinket Box

Cricut + SVG Cuts = Last Minute Life Saver!

Here's a Christmas cutie that took me all of 10 minutes to throw together.  The pattern is from SVG Cuts, the paper is Twig and Berries by Kaisercraft, the sigh of relief is mine! 

 

Linking it up with the fabulous folks at Make it Monday.

Baby Blocks (not so) Mini Album

Excuse me while I collapse in an exhausted heap!  Have you ever undertaken a project that was so big part way through you thought to yourself "what have I done?"  This baby blocks album is one of those projects.  It's huge.  Enormous.  Pain staking.  Totally worth it but I swear I will never EVER make another one in my life!

This album is an impressive decor piece that consists of a functional draw and three blocks, each block measures 5.5" square, and in total the piece when assembled sits at around 14" high.

The pattern is called "A Year In Review" and if you would like to see the album in live action you can watch this video by the patterns author, Kathy Orta.

Each block houses a draw that holds two hinged frames, and each hinged frame holds two albums, for a total of four albums per block.

 

There are three blocks, giving a total of 12 albums, hence the title "A Year In Review".   The entire project is intended to record the baby's first year.

 

Each mini album has three pocket pages inside, and there is a double photo mat slipped inside each pocket page. This album has a lot of real estate for holding those precious baby moments. 

I have used the beautiful Little Darlings paper range by Graphic 45 throughout the album, offset by Vanilla card stock by Kaisercraft. I am so glad this is done! 

This project has taken me a good two months to complete. Not every day, but every minute I have had spare to craft I have spent it on this and finally completed it two days ago in a mad pre-Christmas-I-bet-the-baby-is-going-to-come-early panic. 

My dearest friend and his lovely wife are expecting their first baby in a matter of days. Girl, you can pop that little Prince out now, his present is done! :o)

Sharing this with the lovely folks at:

Make It Monday - Always Anything Goes 

Crackers!

 

This is the last Christmas Crafting! challenge before Christmas and things in my personal life have been so chaotic and dramatic that when Arline offered me a free pass for this month I almost took it.  But then I stopped and thought, it's a rare few who don't go through chaos and drama at this time of the year.  So I set my mind to coming up with a project that was quick and easy, something we all need as the days count down.

These sweet little crackers come from SVG Cuts, as part of their Gingerbread Chalet collection. 

They take no time at all to cut with the cutting machine and assembly is as simple as gluing the long ends together and then gathering up the ends with ribbon.  I reckon it took almost four times as long to take the photos of the crackers as it did to make them!

The paper collection I have used here is Mint Twist by Kaisercraft.

If you have a moment this holiday season where you feel like everything is falling down around you and you maybe, just maybe, be going a little bit crackers,  I hope that you can take a deep breath and remember that some how, some day it will all be ok.

Edited on 4th December to add:

Arline just emailed and said that Blogger is being difficult and she hasn't been able to upload the new challenge yet (and here I could have had a few more days up my sleeve LOL).  She is working on it and will have it up as soon as possible.

Cookie Factory Recipe Album

The challenge this month at Christmas Crafting! was to use decoupage.  I have a thing for recipe albums at the moment, and when I went through my stash and rediscovered my Santa's Village Collection by Laurie Furnell, I knew I wanted to make a recipe album with her gorgeous artwork.

To start I printed off four copies of the cookie factory image and sealed the back of them with Liquitex Gloss Medium (Modge Podge will do the same thing).  This is important because the Liquid Scrap Dots that I used for dimension is essentially the same stuff as silicone and will leach through the back of unsealed paper leaving a dark spot.

Once sealed, I set aside one image to be used as the base and then cut up each of the remaining three images for layering.  Most kits purchased today have done the guess work for you, but it's not that hard to look at an image and think about the perspective and then cut out what will be the background, middle and foreground.

I didn't get too intensive with the layering as this is a functional item and I didn't want either too much height, or fiddly bits that might drop off when the album is used.

The yellow frame I made with scrap cuts of chipboard adhered together in two layers, and then covered it all with Jo Sonja Texture Paste.  This is a thick, white paste that lets you create dimension, in this case I used it to make the frame look like it was covered in frosting.  Once dry I painted with acrylic paints and dusted with glitter.

Once the image and frame were ready it was just a matter of assembling them onto the cover.  The front and back covers are thick chipboard covered with papers included in the Santa's Village kit, and the interior pages are all cut from plain Kraft card.  I inked the edges of all of the pages with white ink to give it a 'dusted' appearance, and then used the Zutter to punch and bind it all together.

The recipe card was created using Word and the elements from the Santa's Village kit.  There are 18 pages in the album in total, 9 of which have the recipe card on the front and back, and the remaining 9 have been decorated with either white rick rack to simulate the icing on gingerbread, or with ribbon and 'gumdrop buttons'.  I left 9 blank pages so that the recipient could either put in photographs or use it as a scrap book and glue in recipes found in magazines.

The finishing touch was to decorate the wire binding with ribbons and fibres. Don't tell anyone but this hides any imperfections in the binding!


 

I hope I have inspired you to go and create something fabulous using the decoupage technique.  Remember you don't need to purchase special kits, just find an image that you like and use your own perspective to create dimension. 

Linking this up at Make It Monday:  Challenge #113

Nuts About You - Decorated Paint Can

Good morning!  It's a beautiful spring Saturday morning here in Adelaide, I've been to the library, gone for a walk along the beach and now it's time for some coffee and blogging.

Today I have a decorated paint can to share with you.  I love the way you can see through to the contents, being able to see the colours and textures of the contents adds another dimension, although I think it does make decorating a little more challenging. 

For this can I used a Mo Manning image called Monkey Hug... I might be totally in love with her illustrations and find it difficult to colour anything else!  The image is printed onto Kraft paper and coloured with Prismacolor pencils.  Of course, with both a monkey and an elephant I had to fill the can with whole shell peanuts :o)

I have used a Fiskars punch to get the grass, and I cut the leaves on my Cricut using a free svg file from SVG Cuts called tropical leaf. I also used the Cricut and SCAL to cut out the words "nuts about you", which decorate the lid.

I am linking this up with:

Mo's Challenge Blog:  Cute and Cuddly
Make It Monday:  #112

Halloween Lantern

This is a project my son and I created together.  My boy is 12 years old and I think he loves my Cricut almost as much as I do!  I have taught him how to use the SCAL software and he knows how to import the cut files, how to load the paper into the Cricut and use the cut function to get it cutting.  The only thing I did was add and remove the paper on and off the cutting mat, and glue the final pieces together, the rest was all him!

Because of the transparencies and being able to see right through the lantern to both sides I fear I haven't been able to photograph the luminary in such a way as to do justice to it, but hopefully you get an idea of how striking it is when it's dark and the tea light is turned on.  (Note:  as this is paper only use a battery operated tea light).

The lantern is comprised of four simple panels which are glued together and then attached to the base.  The pattern is from the Midnight Jamboree collection which you can find at SVG Cuts.  I used plain black card stock, and recycled acetate from packing so in total the whole project only cost a few cents to make.

The wonderful stained glass was my idea, implemented with total glee and abandon by my son.  I cut out four pieces of acetate and then gave my son red and orange copic markers and told him to colour it in as messy as he wanted.  He loved that part, he giggled the entire time!  I then used a spray bottle containing isopropyl alcohol to mist the acetate which causes the copic ink (which is alcohol based) to bleed and blend into each other creating the gorgeous multicoloured stained glass effect.

Linking this up with the fabulous folks at Make It Monday.

Twig & Berry Mini Album

When I made the Maisie Book Box, I knew immediately that I wanted to put a mini album inside it, a book within a book!

To fit inside the box tray the album had to be 3" x 4".  As you can see from the photo above, once the wire binding was added it made a perfect fit.

I used the same paper range to make the album as I did to decorate the book box, Twig and Berry by Kaisercraft.  As this is going to be a gift I have used plain kraft card to indicate where photos, tickets, receipts etc can be stored.  There are 10 double sided pages in total, with plenty of built in space for writing.

Here goes, a shot of all 10 pages...


 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

I am linking this up to Make It Monday:  Challenge #110

Maisie Book Box

I love old books, so when I saw this project at SVG Cuts, I knew I had to make one.  This book box comes as part of the Spirits of Christmas Past kit, which has 5 projects in total.  I had a few weeks there where I didn't have a sharp blade for my Cricut so couldn't cut anything, I swear I had withdrawals!

 

This box stands 5" tall and is 4.5" wide, with a depth of just under 2.5".  I used regular craft card for constructing the base of the box and used the Twig and Berry paper range from Kaisercraft for decorating the panels.  I've embellished with just a simple cluster of flowers and some twine.

 

The edges of the book have been liberally inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and the inner box panels and the side page panel have been embossed and then treated with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

 

The little draw slides out easily and is very roomy.  I am making a 3" x 4" mini album that will fit nicely inside, hopefully I will have photos to share in a few days.

Here's sweet little Maisie, by Mo Manning.  She is coloured on Kraft card using Prismacolor pencils.  I am a little embarrassed to admit I have put my Lyra pencils aside in favour of the Prismacolor, I just love their creamy texture and they blend so beautifully, but mostly because Prisma has almost twice the colour range.

I am linking this up to:

Make It Monday:  Challenge #110

Anything But A Card:  Challenge #3

Mo's Challenge Blog: B is for... (Book Box)