Magazine Card File

Recently while on Pinterest I found this cute little idea here for holding cards. I frequently make card sets for individuals as gifts and have wanted a way to gift them to the individuals. I think I have found my answer. The lady who shares this idea has a detailed tutorial at the link above as well as a picture of the cuts on graph paper with dimensions which I printed out as my guide.  She made her example out of white card stock and banded the magazine file with two different papers and added embellishments on the front of the box.  I chose colored paper for my files, just to change things up.  Here is my first one using a nice deep grass green color... I created a white band for around the box and used a Martha Stewart punch (Starburst I think) for the edges. 

The circumference of the box is greater than 12 inches by about 2 inches, so I stopped the border punch at each front edge and just did a plain white piece on the front.  I then added a scrap of pretty floral paper from K&Company and brought that around the perimeter of the box and stopped at each front edge.  I used the big flower punch by EK Success and punched it out of the same floral paper and layered on top of it a piece of white card stock.  I inked the edges and stamped it with a sentiment from my friend Shawn's

new stamp set you can check out here.  I had made some monogrammed note cards with green card stock as the accent pieces so this magazine file went perfectly with them.

Next I chose a blue card stock without pattern.  The instructions are really straightforward and this is just a breeze to make.  It goes together quickly and easily.  After putting the box together I again chose a piece of white card stock to make the first band around the box.  This time I used my StampinUp! floral border punch.  This was a little more complicated making sure the borders matched top and bottom.  Again because of the circumference being longer that 12" I pieced together the part that went on the front of the box...I made it the width of the front of the box and and extra 1/2 inch on each side and matched as closely as possible my punched border to have continuity.  The inside floral boarder was from a package of K&Company adhesive borders that I bought with the papers mentioned above.  I also had some separate embellishments/stickers which I used on the front of the box and then again on the back spine of the magazine file.

  These cards were monogrammed note cards and I used a light lavender card stock for accent.  These card magazines hold about 10 A2 notecards and envelopes nicely.

I hope my friend enjoys her gifts.  Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

 

Christmas Mini Clipboard

While in the Dollar Store over the weekend I was wandering around, after picking up what I'd gone in for, and happened upon these little 6" x 8" clipboards.  I thought it would make a really cute gift idea...didn't know what exactly but picked it up to give it a try.  Today I took a vacation day to extend the long weekend just to play and craft, and so decided to work on the clipboard.  I pulled out different paper pads, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with it.  Well with Christmas approaching, my mind is on what to do for Christmas gifts.  So...I marched over to my paper stash and grabbed my Christmas paper pads from last year and started leafing through them.  I found this cute paper in my DCWV Winter Wonder paper pad and got started.  I chose the patterned paper with the polar bear because I thought it was cute and appropriate for the person I'm thinking of gifting this to.  I cut it down to size for the front of the board and on the back side I used one of the other silver and white sparkly snowflake papers from the same package cut down to size.  After adhering the paper to the front and back, I took 1/8" wide blue ribbon edge with silver that I picked up last Christmas from Michael's and adhered it all the way around the edge of the board.  When I had picked up the Winter Wonder paper at Jo Ann's, I had also found a package of matching stickers and embellishments to go with the paper.  I pulled some of those from the package and added to the back of the board.  I also added some Jolee's snowflake embellishments with bling and added some additional blue bling I had in my stash. At the top of the board on the clamp, I added two pieces of silver ribbon on each side of clamp.  To finish it up I added a small pad of plain card stock stamped with Christmas words in the lower right corner.  On top of that I tied a small framed Christmas sentiment "May the magic of Christmas be yours this season."  I cut the frame using my Cuttlebug fancy tags die and threaded it with 1/8" white with silver edges ribbon and tied it around the clamp, centering it over the small notes. 

Since I had leftover paper from the front and back of the clipboard, I used the other side of the polar bear paper to create a small matching photo book.  It it is very simple, I had two good corners of the original paper left with snowflakes, so cut those down to a 5 3/4" x 4" front and back cover.  For the inside pages of the book I used some matte silver card stock which I cut down to 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" wide.  I didn't add embellishments to the pages as I didn't want to limit what the recipient could do with the book.  On the outside I added the Let It Snow sticker and a Jolee's snowflake with some bling.  I punched two holes in the left side of the book and used snowflake brads for the holes.  I then added a couple of rings through the brads and covered them with ribbon in blue and silver.  To make the book a little more sturdy, I used my EKSuccess corner punch to punch some corner reinforcements from the silver snowflake paper used on the back of the board.  I then used them on all of the corners, front and back, inside and outside.  Once pictures are added to the book I'm sure it will stand up nicely.

Finally, the finished product with the plain stamped card stock in the middle of the clipboard under the framed sentiment.  All in all, I'm satisfied with the finished product and will probably pick up a few more of these dollar gems to do up some more Christmas gifts.

Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Journal/Planners



Black Friday Shopping
Gal Pals



So last fall, a friend of a friend and fellow blogger Cathy –Scrapping Cat! took the journal idea to a whole new level by making it into a holiday planner with beautiful Christmas papers.  Well I just had to give it a try as soon as I saw it!  They would be a gift for my Black Friday shopping gal pals!  These turned out great and very beautiful…the papers and embellishments out there today are wonderful. These particular papers are DCWV The Christmas Combo stack. 



Christmas Planner and Mini Book



I also found mini composition notebooks at the Dollar Tree store!  Love that place!  I used leftover scraps to doll up a small version as a little shopping list notebook, or place for notes, or whatever!  Just the right size for the pocket or pocket book!  



Everyday Planner



These have tabs at the top of the book with 4 different focus areas for the holidays: to create, to bake, to buy, to do, all subjects that Cathy had used in her original design.  Once I had done a few of these I was chatting with a co-worker on how they could be made for everyday use and what the tab subjects would be. We came up with the following subjects: Shopping, To Do, Appointments, Bills. I then made one that can be used for everyday use.  I used my Cricut to cut some hearts of the matching papers from My Mind's Eye "Home" paper stack, added some texture to the hearts with a dots embossing folder, cut a label for the front, and used my EKSuccess edge punch to give it some swirls and added a little bling in the corner.  This was a birthday gift for a sweet friend who is an expert list maker!

So this idea as Cathy mentioned in her blog lends itself to a variety of adaptations, daily planners specifically tailored to individual needs, travel planners, etc.  You get the idea.  Soon I’ll be posting another take on this traditional idea that my niece came up with.  First I need to send her the finished product!  Until next time… Imagine, create, enjoy!