ID: VSN July 2011 - Books  - Trees
Closed Size: 4.5"w  x 6"h

Created: July 13, 2011
Modified:
 

This is my submission for the Vamp Stamp Magazine for the September 2011 issue with the theme of "Books".

I'm using hand made moulded papers and hand made beads

I always keep a bag handy to drop scraps of paper in to for paper making. So I ran them through my pasta machine at the fettuccini setting - made life real easy since I don't have a paper shredder...

I then soaked them in some warm water for a couple hours to save on my blenders motor. Added some of the soaked paper and lots of water in the blender and pulsed till I got mush. My paper making tools are all stuff from around the house (a firm plastic grid for my base, some window screening & a small premade picture frame). I placed them in that order in my plastic basin, and holding the frame down firmly with one hand, just gently poured my paper mush into the frame. I then lifted everything up, let it drain for a bit, placed it in another basin to catch the water, lifted the frame off, placed another screen on top of the mush, then pressed down with a sponge to remove all excess water. When I was happy, I peeled off the top screen, placed my Cedar Canyon "leaves" texture plate on top, lifted and flipped the other screen with the mush over. Pressed down with the sponge into the rubbing plate, then removed the screening and continued to press down, sopping up excess water. Set it aside to dry.

The other pages I just pressed the water out between the screens, removed the screens, then pressed the paper onto a flat piece of acrylic, which gave me a rather smooth surface when dried. The other side of that paper, kept the texture of the screening.

I carefully folded the pages in half to create my booklet.

Cover page: I used a bone folder to smooth out the area where I was stamping my quote (Quietfire Design) using Versafine Black onyx.

Page 1: Colored the leaves (gg designs) with Tombow watercolor markers (#126, then touching with #249), misted the air with water and stamped onto my page. Stamped the quote (Quietfire Design) with the black. Sponged Distress (Scattered Straw & Crushed Olive) around the edges.

Page 2: Sponged various Distress colors (crushed Olive, Peeled Paint & Broken China), misted with water and allowed it to bleed. When dry drew in my lines with a black Zig Writer, then wrote in my text with a medium tipped Micron pen in a funky monoline journaling style lettering. I then colored some of the open areas with Prisma colored pencils.

Page 3: Sponged as page 2. Stamped the pine trees with Distress greens. Die cut the large pine tree (Sizzix Tim's Pine tree #657004) from white cardstock, ran it through my machine with the Sizzix Regal Flourishes embossing folder #656648  and sponged it with the same greens. The quote is stamped using Just Rite alphabet stamps set "Brayton" and the black.

Binding: Punch 3 holes into the spine of all the pages using a Big Bite punch and the large hole setting. Cut a piece of ribbon approximately 24". Put one end into hole "A" from the outside to the inside. With the other end put it through hole "C". Bring both ends up, from the inside, through hole "B", one on either side of the outside ribbon. To this point it's a basic pamphlet binding and can be tied off here.

I went a little further and brought one of the ends back through hole "B" making sure it crossed over the center ribbon, then brought it back out of hole "A" from the inside.

I cut two more pieces of ribbon approx 12" each. I then brought the other loose end up and tied a double knot at the "A" hole, slipping the two pieces of ribbon I just cut into the knot I was tying.

I strung some hand made beads and tied a couple knots to prevent them from slipping off.

Beads were made from misc scraps on my desk. Cut a triangle shape approx 10" long and about 1" wide at one end. Roll using either a bamboo skewer or chuck's Bead Roller using the medium sized roller. Adhere end with some Glossy Accents, smearing it all over the bead with your finger. I added some Liquid Pearl gold or Stickles green dots around the bead.

The large floral bead is a bunch of medium sized Sakura blossoms punched out from decorative paper, one side adhered to a side of the next flower. When all are adhered, the last one is adhered to the first one creating the bead.

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