Another Art Show How To (or this is how I did it; packaging edition)

If you're just finding this post and haven't read my previous post where I focus on creating an eye catching display using mostly materials I already had on hand click here and catch up. I'll be adding a link there to this post so you'll be able to find your way back.

The drawers we used for display, the one in front is
filled with our ornaments, tissue
and our packaging

So while I was spending the last few years making mental notes about the best ways to do a craft/ art sale some pretty cool ideas were filed away in the back of my head. One of my favourite blogs from an artist who has some pretty fantastic ideas and tutorials for this type of stuff/ not to mention just in general is ArtMind. She's posted tutorials on making your own scratch cards, contemporary price tags, adding your brand to your packaging and of course recycled bags. Mitzi of Artmind is someone who I would love to emulate. She spends her days being super creative and artistic, she's major organized and she loves sharing her ideas.

Our folded envelopes and Tissues

While I was sitting down on the computer to find her tutorial on making the recycled bags (which is something that I will be using in future, when I have way more time and a lot more energy to plan for a show) I started to think about other options that would be less time consuming, use less materials to create and would be self contained. Add in the Peanut's recent obsession with origami and I decided to look up folded envelopes as an option for creating packaging. I came across a tutorial for a simple origami envelope that was self contained, required less than half a minute to do for each envelope and was self closing.

I played around with different paper sizes to get the best package size and decided to use the holiday themed scrapbooking paper I had got on sale last year and that full 12"x12" sheets that were the best bet. They were a little bigger than the ornaments but if I was factoring in tissue to cushion the glass and business cards the larger envelope was the way to go. Also using a full sheet meant I wasn't spending my time measuring and trimming paper before getting down to the business of folding.

Detail of the branding we attached to each envelope

The packages we wrapped our ornaments in looked elegant and charming which fit with our branding and were eye catching to boot. I wrapped each ornament in it's own envelope so that they could be given away as gifts without further need for wrapping. They will look beautiful placed on a tree branch filled with our ornaments or another charming little gift. I used the clear ink jet sticker sheets to print off our shop name and web address and attached them to each envelope as well so the person who bought the ornaments has another reminder to check out our online shop and the person receiving the ornaments can check us out too. One of my customers even asked if I was selling the envelopes which may not have been a bad idea...

To keep the ornaments safe once we sent them off with new owners (to be hung on trees, attached to floral arrangements or gifted to someone special) we used gift wrapping tissue paper from the dollar store. Also from the dollar store we picked up a booklet of receipts to give to customers as well as a decorative book to collect names and email addresses to use in future marketing.

 Next post will talk a little about money and payment options. 

How To make a signature for a hand bound book

Last time I showed you how to find the direction your paper grain runs in your paper to optimize for the best fold for a hand bound book. now that you have a stack of precut pages all ready for folding, with the grain of the paper parallel to where you are going to fold I'll show you how to fold your sheets and get them ready for sewing.















What you'll need:

Precut sheets (cut to the height of your book and double the width)
Ruler
Pencil
Bone Folder
paper clips or alligator clips
Awl or a Long needle or pin
Rubber Mallet


Measure for your score
The best way to fold a sheet of paper is to score along where your fold is going to be using a bone folder. A bone folder is generally made of pig bone and has a pointed end and a rounded end, the bone is smooth for burnishing down your paper once it's scored.

To start take your ruler and measure out where your fold is going to be. My book is going to be 5.5" x 7" so my precut sheets are 11"x 7". Measuring in from the edge along the 11" length of the page I will make small pencil marks at the 5.5" length on my ruler. Remember to measure down the sheet in at least three places so that you are in effect measuring twice (or more) and scoring only once. Because the edges of my paper are deckle edges measuring in more than one place is even more important since the edge of my paper isn't even.

Scoring for your fold
just as you would if you were cutting along your measure, take your straight edge and line it up along your pencil marks. Run your bone folder along the edge remembering to keep your other hand pressing down on the ruler and moving it so that your bone folder hand and your ruler hand are at approximately the same place. It helps to have some extra scrap papers under where you are scoring to act as a cushion. This will give you a deeper score in your page making folding even easier.

Making the fold
Now that you have a scored line in each sheet you can create your fold. Using your scored line as guide, fold your sheet along the scored line and press down using the flat of your bone folder to finish the fold.

Make your signature
A signature is a collection of folded sheets that make a booklet. one or more signatures can be sewn together to create the pages of a hand bound book. A signature should ideally be made up of no less than three folded sheets of paper or leaves and no more than ten. The paper I have used is fairly heavy; 200lb so I am opting to create two signatures of four leaves.

Collect your leaves together and make sure that they all line up. At this point you can make sure your leaves stay aligned by clipping them together with paper clips or alligator clips.

Since this a small book I plan on measuring for two bindings (the straps that will hold the signatures together when the book is being bound). I'll measure out and make a pencil mark on each signature starting 3/4" from the bottom of the signature and 1/2" from the top of the signature.

The next step involves some math. I apologize but sometimes a little arithmetic is necessary. take your ruler and measure the space between the top measurement and the bottom. Divide this by the number of bindings for your book. In my case four. Measure down from your 1/2" mark with the number you have just calculated and with your pencil make another mark and repeat for each number of bindings.

A second mark should be made under each of these measurements to match the width of your binding tape or ribbon. My binding tape is 1/2" wide, under each of my measurements I will make a second mark that is a distance of 1/2". These marks are where I will punch a hole using my awl.

Getting the signatures ready to sew
making sure the leaves in your signature are aligned, take your awl and place the point on each of your markings where your bindings will be placed. Gently hammer the awl into your signature on each point. It is helpful to have something underneath where you are hammering so that you don't damage your awl tip. I've used an old magazine but an old phonebook would work too.

Next time Sewing your bindings onto your signature

How To: getting paper ready to make signatures for a handbound book

I may have mentioned that I'm getting ready to make a bedtime book for the Peanut last week. I've decided that while I'm doing that, I may as well create a tutorial (or more) during the process; mainly because It's been a while since I last made a hand bound book and talking through it is a fantastic way to learn yourself; or in my case refresh my knowledge.

With the Bean's debut just around the corner I'm not up to major projects at the moment so I may get a few tutorials done before she comes along and I may just get this one done and follow up once we're all sorted as a family of four instead of a family of three. We'll see how things go and I'll just ask for your patience now and get it out of the way.

The first step in making a hand bound book (outside of getting text together and breaking it up into page sized bits) is getting your signatures (or in my case; a signature) ready. A signature is a group of folded pages that make up a booklet which is then sewn together and attached to the hard cover of your book.

Today I'll show you how to find the grain in your sheet of paper so that you can cut your paper to make a signature for a hand bound book.

What you will need:
Paper
Ruler
Pencil
X-acto Knife
Soft Bristle Brush
Water

Paper Grain
When working with artist grade paper especially when you are going to be using artist grade paper for book making you should be aware of which way the paper grain is before you measure and cut your paper for signatures and for accordion folds. Paper grain refers to the direction that most of the fibers that make up the paper lie. During paper making the fibers that make up the paper tend to align themselves in one direction. Most artist grade papers are made using cotton fibers.

The best way to figure out which way the papers grain runs is to bend your sheet of paper. One side will roll easier than the other; the smaller the sheet of paper you are working with the more dramatic the difference will be. The side that bends the easiest is where the grain runs. You will be folding your signature parallel to the grain.

Measuring and Cutting
Now that you know which edge is parallel to your paper grain measure your paper for cutting. For my book I am making a 5.5"x7" book. I will be cutting sheets for my signature that are 11" x 7" with a fold made 5.5" in on the 11" length that runs running parallel to the grain of my paper.

I will be using two methods of cutting my paper for this book. the tops and bottoms of my pages will be cut using a blade for a straight edge and for the outside edges of my signatures I'll be making a deckle edge using water and a brush.

Straight Cut:
Using your ruler and a sharp pencil measure out where your cuts are going to be made. I measured down the length of my paper in 7" increments in three separate places along the page. This way I can line up my ruler along each mark and double check that my measurements are exact before I cut.

Laying your straight edged ruler along your measure line you can then take your x-acto blade and run it along the straight edge. It is best to use light even cuts and go over the cut more than once than to put a lot of pressure on a single cut. Keep your hand on the ruler to hold it down along where you are making your cut. This means that you will be moving your ruler hand along with your cutting hand as you make your cut. This gives your ruler edge support during the cut and also ensures that you are paying attention to what your blade is doing.














Deckle Edge:
Now that I've cut the straight edges on my sheets I have a tidy stack of four 7" x 22.5" sheets.

I want to make these into smaller 7" x 11" sheets with a deckle edge along the 7" edge of the sheet. I'm using Opus European Watercolour paper which has deckle edges already so I will be creating a deckle edge to match when I make the sheet smaller.

To illustrate paper grain a little more I've included two more images with these smaller sized sheets, you'll notice that the paper bends much more easily along the longer edge of the sheet. The paper grain then runs parallel to the 7" length of my sheet. This is the length that I will eventually score along for folding

To do this you need to measure where your tear is going to be made just as if you were going to cut the edge as before. Lay your ruler along the marks for your edge and run a wet paintbrush along the edge. I use a soft bristle brush so that I don't scuff my paper surface. Let the water soak into the paper. The paper I am using is 200lb paper which means that it is quite a heavy paper and needs a few moments for the water to soak in before I can start to tear. As with cutting with a blade keep your hand on the ruler along where you are tearing. Lift the edge of the paper where you want your tear to start and pull. Move your hand farther down the straight edge and tear further along your edge until you have reached the edge of your sheet.

Next time: scoring and folding to make your signature

Circle 'round and I'll tell you the tale

of the first ever extreme makeover that turned a lowly scullery maid into a beautiful princess to send her to the ball.

Growing up we moved a lot, wherever we ended up living my Mom always planted a bleeding heart in the front garden. My Mom taught me this when I was a little girl and then promptly regretted it when I denuded all her bleeding heart blossoms to do it myself. So here we go How to tell the story of Cinderella with a flower:




take a full bleeding heart blossom from your plant (if the flower doesn't belong to you please ask permission first) turn it so that the bottom of the flower is facing up. this is the beautiful ball gown created by the Fairy Godmother.








Very carefully pull off the outer pink petals to reveal the magical coach. you can imagine the wheels turning as she speeds over the roads to get to the ball before midnight.















Every Princess needs to accessorise. Gently pull the heart shaped pieces apart. These two pieces are Cinderella's drop earrings.










And of course the heart of the story: Shoes. pull the center of the coach apart to make a lovely pair of slippers to fit on her tiny feet, notice that the slippers are perfect for dancing until midnight.







And in the end; none of it would have happened had there not been a magic wand to help create it.

Making your own Advent Calendar Tutorial using recycled materials

A few weeks back I came across this idea when reading Good Mourning Glory's blog. On her post she linked to a page of handmade calendars where I found this calendar . I used the template referred to on Julieree's blog which she got from Brownie Point's blog here. So how's that for linking back?

Of course, telling you how to make one of these in the first week of December defeats the purpose of the calendar but I think you can start a little late with the calendar and still have the fun of it. And next year, you can start at the beginning of the month.

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been toying with the idea of getting an advent calendar that can be used and re-used for years to come. There are any number of beautiful premade ones on the market, but I like to go the extra mile... (read: I like to do all the extra work. Well actually, I look at an idea and the the amount of work involved doesn't quite click in the head until I'm knee deep in the middle of it). In this case it was so worth the effort and I'm very happy I took on the project.

I used some light weight cardboard in my project as a money saver (I had it on hand and it was going to be recycled anyway which makes it a greener option than using all new supplies.) This calendar will probably last a few years before it will need replacing; which is much better than the cardboard pop out ones that you can find at the corner store, also I'll get to put the kind of chocolate I like in the boxes and forgo the cheap waxy chocolate flavored stuff.

What you'll need:

heavy card stock (I used recycled materials, the backing for a newsprint pad, a frozen pizza box, a cardboard insert from a sticker sheet you'll need enough for 24 boxes)
decorative paper
acid free glue stick
ruler
x-acto knife
bone folder
stickers
holiday wire hangers (for Christmas decorations)
tape
garland (for hanging you boxes on)
marker
your preferred chocolate and small slips of paper for writing messages and activities



As I mentioned above, I found the template for the boxes I'm using on Brownie Points Blog, you can download the template there. There are three templates on an 8.5" x 11" sheet. Because I was using cardboard from food packaging to make my boxes, I cut out one of the templates onto the board and used that to outline all the boxes on the board before cutting them all out. Use a ruler and an x-acto blade when cutting the boxes out to get straight lines.


To save a step, you can use heavy 8.5" x 11" card stock sheets; printing out the templates directly onto the card. you can find this at art supply and craft stores, then you can decorate using rubber stamps, stickers, pom poms, glitter or whatever you want. You can also try scrap book supply stores for holiday themed papers and attach laminating sheets to the backside to give the boxes support.



I covered my cardboard with some decorative paper using an acid free glue stick. This allowed me to use up some of the decorative origami sheets I've been hoarding for the last 8 years. To apply the paper to the board, apply the glue to one side of the template and apply the decorative paper with the front of sheet facing up. Burnish the paper with the bone folder.




The next step is to mark the fold lines and make the boxes. Use the printout of the template to make the score marks on the card side of the box. Lay the template down on the cut out shape and, using your ruler again, score the fold lines with the bone folder. Use the pointy side of the folder to make the score, then use the flat side to fold along your score.

Attach the hanging wire to the inside of the box using a small strip of tape, the hanging hook will stick out of the top of the box when the box is folded. Once the hook is attached form the box by folding in the walls into shape.

Fill the box with your chocolate and a small slip of paper with a special activity or craft idea to do that day.

Close your box by folding the bottom flaps together and sealing them with a decorative sticker. Each box should have a number from 1 to 24 on the outside. you can hand write the numbers, use rubber stamps or stickers to date each box.

For hanging I picked up a snowflake garland from the Dollar Store and hang each box along the garland, which is hung on one of the shelves in the living room bookcase. I let the Peanut hang each box in random order.


Some of the activities we included in our boxes; are baking days, snowman crafts, going to the Santa Clause Parade, taking a ride on the Bright Lights train, Decorating a Ginger Bread House, Visiting the local heritage town to take a rid on the Carousal and some other fun holiday crafts.

Tutorial: How to Embelish a Collage using Handstitiching Techniques

A round the time that we were heading into our first season of baby showers, I started to make mixed media cards that could double as nursery and bedroom art for my Mom friends. Because the Peanut was still under 1 and not too interested in making cards for her friends yet, I also made cards for her friends too. Most of these cards were stuffed animal inspired and I began including simple stitching as part of the work which led to opening up a shop on Etsy.

The stitch that I use most often when I make hand made cards is the simple back stitch, to learn how to do the embroidery back stitch you can learn how from this youtube tutorial by Lolita charm, her tutorial is simple to follow and I happen to love her manicure.

Friday before last, I featured a very talented digital collage sheet artist; MagpieMine. In the feature I mentioned that I'd come across Maggie of MagpieMine through the Totally Tutorials Exchange program.

For the most part, I use original paintings for my mixed media projects, embellishing with hand stitching and beads to make my simple subjects pop. When I saw Maggie's entry for the tutorial exchange I was immediately excited by the possibilities. So much so, that after I entered my tutorial idea for her exchange, I went back and purchased some other sheets from her shop. As luck would have it, Maggie picked my entry for the exchange and I now have an abundance of fantastic digital clip art to work with.

For this tutorial, I will show you how to use a simple back stitch and beading to add more dimension to a 2 D collage. The final artwork can be matted and framed to fit into any fairy lover's decor. Mine will be a baby blessing gift to my new niece.

For this project you will need:

Your choice of digital Collage Sheet from MagpieMine, I used the Elves and Fairies in the Woodland sheet.
Heavy watercolour paper or card stock
x-acto knife
Glue Stick
Beading Needle
Embroidery Floss
Seed beads
Scissors

Lets get started

Cut it out

To start, print out your collage sheet. It is best to print onto artist quality paper. Once printed use the x-acto knife to cut the image. I use an x-acto blade to cut out the image because the blade allows me to get into the more detailed areas for a crisper edge.

use glue stick to apply glue to the back of the image

Once cut out, apply glue to the back using a glue stick. Because I'm gluing a smaller, organic shape, I use a scrap page to apply the glue onto with a small stick to help hold my fairy down without getting my fingers all sticky. The scrap paper gets any of the extra adhesive, keeps the front of my image glue free and keeps my workspace clean and easier to work on.

place cutout onto collage background

After gluing the back of the fairy, put her onto the background paper. I've used a piece of watercolour paper because it's sturdy and can withstand having holes punched in as well as having wet media used on it (in case you wanted to paint onto your project before adding your fairy.)

get the collage ready for stitching

Once she's been placed on the background paper, make needle holes for stitching. When using embroidery stitches on paper it is easier to have pre-existing holes for placing your stitches along, it saves time and you can put a little more thought into where you want your stitches to go.

work in progress lit from behind to show where stitching will be placed

I wanted to add interest to her wings on this fairy, so I chose to follow along existing lines in her wings. Using a needle, I poked holes along where my stitching was going to go. I use a thimble to help with this part of the project to save the tips of my fingers and thumb.

lay out threads to see which colours work best with your subject

Once the holes are poked into the image, it's time to choose which floss will work best with the fairy. This stage can also be done during the earlier stages, but I prefer to do it after I've got my layout put together.

If I were using a background that incorporated other designs, an image or colours, choosing my thread at this stage is very useful as all the picture elements are together. For this fairy I've chosen a combination of gold and silver floss.

begin stitching from the back of the work

Following Lolita charm's back stitch instructions, start stitching on the backside of your work. I start my stitches in the second to first hole and stitch backwards from there.

hold the end of the floss for the first few stitches so that
you don't pull it all the way through

continue stitching until the area you want embellished is done. You can finish off by sewing a knot in the backside of the work or by using the techniques in Lolita Charm's back stitching tutorial.

To add beads to the fairy, punch a single needle hole where each bead will go. Choose a needle that will fit your beads. Sometimes beads will have varying sized holes; it's a good idea to try more than one to see if most will fit over the needle.

sew beads onto front of image

Again, you will begin your stitch on the back side of the work.
Pull the thread through while holding the tail end of the thread in place. Add your bead to the thread and then put your needle back into the same hole you came up in. Move on to the next hole and repeat until all your beads have been applied.

All finished and ready for framing

Once finished, trim any extra threads and if you prefer, you can apply decorative paper onto the back of the work to hide the stitches in the back. Because I'll be matting and framing this fairy as a nursery decoration, I'm going to leave the back unfinished.

here is another example of this technique using another of MagpieMine's faries on a coloured background:




I'd like to thank Magpiemine for her super collage sheets and of course you can also visit her on Etsy to get started on your own projects.