A Romantic Wedding Tag Book

- by Lis

Hi! I am honored to be able to share with you a beautiful project that I created for this month’s theme of Weddings. I love making cards and books and have been a crafter and instructor for over 10 years. I currently design for Frantic Stamper. If you would like to see more of my art, stop by at Made For Paper.

My little tag book starts out with three large tags. Pick out some romantic papers and glue patterned papers to each side. Then trim off the excess paper. Please do not use heavy papers to cover your tags.

The prettiest things about this little book are the three heart-shaped tabs on the ends. Here is how I did it!

Heart-Shaped Tabs

1. Choose a punch that you want to use. Things to consider when choosing your punch:

a. It needs to have a larger design. If it’s too intricate and small, it won’t

punch through the tags.

b. The design needs to have a part that can be used for the tab. (Read through the

instructions below and look at the pictures to better understand this.)

3. I started by putting my first tag in the center of the punch and punched out my shape. (Note that I used plain tags for illustration so you could see clearly.)

4. I used scissors and cut parts of the punch design off, leaving the heart “tab”.

5. I took my next tag and placed it to the right, in my punch. I made sure that the design I wanted to keep (the heart) was lined up correctly. Then I punched out my design. I again trimmed off part of the punched design to leave the heart.

6. Here you can see my middle and my right heart tabbed tags.

7. For the third tag, place it in the punch on the left side, punch and trim design.

8. Here are my three tabbed tags.

Decorating the Book Pages

For all of the pages, I took Victorian pictures and, either framed or matted, decorated them.

Page 1

I matted my picture with a deep burgundy, edging my picture with a gold paint pen. I mounted it to my page at an angle.

I used a crocheted ribbon in ivory and added three burgundy paper flowers.

I glued a pearl to the center of each flower. I decided to add a heart decoration. I cut this out from a piece of scrapbook paper I had. I edged this in gold also before I attached it with a glue stick.

Page 2

First, I took some sheet music I had (actually patterned scrapbook paper) and added a folded piece of it to my base tag with glue stick. I matted my picture onto a pink background paper, edging my picture in gold so it would stand out more. I added another heart (edged in gold) also.

I chose to add more of the ribbon and a flower to the top left corner to tie this page back to my page one. I layered another burgundy flower on top of a pink one this time to match the pink mat behind my picture. I added another flower in the lower right but a different top color for interest.
Page 3

Because my background paper was busy (all those music notes!), I decided that a simple design was best. So, I put a chipboard frame around my picture (I painted it in silver) and mounted it to my tag with glue dots.

I added a rust colored flower and a smaller ivory one with a pearl in the middle.

Page 4

I really like this page! I love the circular frame (painted with acrylic paint in pink) decorated with tiny little ivory paper flowers each with a pearl in the middle.

Any paper flowers work really well, I added the pearls myself.

You may have noticed that on pages 3 and 4 that I added punched strips of my design in gold glossy.

I matched up the two punched strips so that when the book is opened, the hearts are together. I glued them on and then trimmed off the excess.

For My Cover

I took some of the music note paper and cut out a fancy oval. I cut out a plain smaller oval in gold glossy.  I used the Spellbinders oval dies but you can any similar ones or punches. I layered the ovals together (smaller onto larger) with glue stick. I attached the ovals to my cover with mounting tape. I chose some micro letter stickers in pale pick for my title.

I added a pink rose (actually it was a button – I just cut off the shank and added a glue dot to attach.  I added three small pearls and a pink flower eyelet. If you are making this book for someone special, you could put their names or initials for the title! How cool would that be?

To Bind My Tags Together

1. I started out with 10 inches of white satin ribbon about 7/8 inches wide.
2. I folded it in half, with a fold at one end.
3. I took the fold and threaded it through all three of my tags (make sure they are in order!).
4. I folded my ribbon over.

5. I pierced a small hole through all four layers (you can use a sharp instrument to make the hole.)
6. I added my green tassel so that it was within the ribbon loop.
7. I added a brad to hold the layers together.
8. I trimmed my ribbon ends

My little book has three tags but you can make it larger by adding more tags. You could also use different sized tags. I hope that you try out this little book. It’s easy to make and lots of fun to give.

Lis Whiting is a member of the Frantic Stamper design team and her art can be found on her blog, Made for Paper.  A lover of arts and crafts, Lis is a designer and teacher living in Southern California.

Beach Wedding Card

- by Esther Peck

Hello - I am very excited to be bringing you this step-by-step for a wedding card, which I made for a couple that were having a beach wedding! I immediately thought natural colours, pearls, seashells but had to bring in some purple to co-ordinate with the bridesmaids.

Materials

• Textured Card
• White cartridge paper
• Lilac pearlescent paper
• Vellum/parchment paper
• Gold mirri card
• Ranger Distress inks – Tattered Rose, Pumice Stone, Iced Spruce, Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord
• Embossing ink pad
• Brown die based ink
• Pearl Embossing powder
• Derwent Inktense blocks – or other watercolour medium
• Self adhesive pearls
• Small heart stickers

Stamps

• Seashell background –Personal Impressions
• Star and large shell – Craft Stamper Freebies
• Small shell trio – Rubadubadoo
• Wedding rings and Seahorse – unknown manufacturers

I start with a sheet of A4 (210 mm x 297 mm) and use my scoreboard to create the gate folds. The score lines are about 7.5 cm in from each short edge. You will also need 4 panels of cartridge paper slightly smaller than the ‘gates’ and 1 for the center panel inside – again slightly smaller.

Apply Distress inks in assorted colours (see materials list) on a craft sheet, spritz with water. Sweep the paper panels through the ink, until you’re happy with how they look. I clean up and re-apply the ink between each panel to avoid a muddy mess – a video showing Tim Holtz demonstrating this technique, and others, in more detail can found on the Ranger Ink site.

Once the Distress ink is dry, stamp Seahorses (I’ve used Dusty concord DI). I always stamp some images off the page to give a more random, natural look. Stamp wedding rings on two of the panels in gold pigment ink - I’ve used Encore (these will be inside the card).

Use an oval paper mask on the large center panel and mask the seahorses on the remaining two side panels (I’ve used artists masking fluid). Stamp the background seashells stamp – I’ve used a brown dye based ink (Memento Rich Cocoa). Run the ink pad down the edge of each panel, mat and layer onto lilac pearl paper to give a slight border.

Stamp shells and starfish on heavy vellum. Emboss with a pearl embossing powder and paint with watercolours or similar – you could use distress inks. (I’ve used Derwent Inktense blocks) – be careful not to over wet or the vellum will wrinkle. Cut out individual shells and starfish.

Computer generate the sentiment square and other word strips. Stamp the wedding rings inside the square. Mat and layer square and strips on lilac paper then gold mirri card.

Now, it’s time to put it all together. I use double-sided tape to attach the paper panels and silicone glue for the shells and starfish. Stamp Seashells on envelope to create a matching border.

Esther Peck's art can be found on her blog, Crafty Effusions.  She is on the design teams for Stamp Addicts store blog and the Craft Room challenge blog.  Esther shared a little about herself with UPA.  "I've been crafting for ever - My mum still has a Mr and Mrs snowmen creation that comes out every Christmas from when I was about 12 !! I've tried my hand at most things over the years, cross stitch, paper making, candle making, soap making, encaustic art, but now generally stick to papercrafts.  That's it really - I'd love to do more with my art/crafting but I work full-time to pay the bills (including my crafting habit!) which means I don't have as much time for it as I'd like!"

Gingerbits: Wedding Memory Box

- by Carol Fox

I have decided to put two of my favourite themes together for this project, vintage and altered, to make a memory box to keep all those little wedding mementoes in that you seem to accumulate from the big day : the little knick knacks that you collect because they are pretty, but really have no use for. I personally have apart from the usual bits, like the odd cake decoration and champagne cork, a small bag of the used confetti that was thrown at me as I left the church, a rather random drawing that someone did of me at the reception, and ohh so many little bits that needed a home. So I am going to rehouse them and show you how I have done it along the way.

I started with a plain wooden box that I kept all the hardware on as I wanted to age it with the box. My box measures 24 x 15 cm and is 7cm high.

I gave it a coat of cream acrylic paint, painting over the hinges and clasp, dry it with my heat gun and then lightly sanding it down and then wiping with a dry cloth before giving it a second coat with the same paint. I now put my lid back on my paint and balanced the box on it to dry, so it did not stick to my work surface. You can dry it with a heat gun, but keep the heat moving over the box because if you heat the paint to much it will bubble and at this point you need it to stay smooth and pretty so you can make it old and manky later.

When dry gently ease the lid open to free it from where the paint has sealed it shut. Close it again to carry on.

Pick up a very SMALL blob of pale brown paint on a wet baby wipe and work it onto the top and sides of the box in the direction of the grain, apply and removing the paint as you go so you get an uneven and aged finish as opposed to a layer, applying more to the edges and around the locks and hinges, the natural places where you would get wear to the paint from the box being handled. I now lightly sanded the box again.

I now gave it a coat of glue and seal, matt or gloss it makes no difference, its only to prepare the surface for stamping onto. (if your stamping goes wrong you can remove it before it drys as the glue and seal stops it sinking into the paint).

Then stamped all my images using black archival ink, using a stamp positioner and masking where necessary. ( the acrylic blocks with grid lines are very handy when stamping onto 3D items as they really help you line up your images) I now took a black dabber and inked all the edges off the box to make the black stamping less stark and to bring the whole thing together.

Paint a large grungeboard flourish with distress crackle. When dry, colour it slightly with distress inks and distress stickles until you are happy with its appearance.

The roses are made using the Tim Holtz Pine cone die and you can see how to make them from a tutorial he has here on his blog  I did not use Core'dinations (Kraft-Core) for mine as I dont have any. I used a textured printed card and then once they were assembled and dry I sprtized them with walnut stain and a bit of moon-shadow mist, lastly adding some distress stickles once they were dry.

Lay everything on top of your box and once happy glue them all down into position.

This is it the basic box. You can see from the photo at the start of this post that I have added other little odds and ends to the lid box, but as these are not hand made I have not included them in the tutorial. They are just odd bits and pieces from my personal stash.

This took me a couple of hours from start to finish to make. Boxes like these are fun to alter, fairly inexpensive, make great little gifts and very easy to adapt to your own style.

If I have inspired you at all I would love to see what you make and you can share your own creations via the Unruly PaperArts Facebook Group.

If anyone has any questions I can be contacted via my blog and I will be happy to help.

Transform Your Wedding and Honeymoon Ephemera into a Work of Art

by Helga Strauss

When you celebrate big events or go on vacation, do you find yourself collecting papers, receipts, business cards, etc.? I sure do!

So, when I got married, I found myself with a big bag of papers that I had saved up: my wedding invitation, receipts from our honeymoon and oh so much more. I just had to do something with it all. And one sleepless night gave me the answer...

I collaged and painted this beautiful heart painting that now hangs in our dining room.

If you look closely, you'll find bits of ephemera that remind us of this special time in our lives. Here, under a layer of paint, you can see the flap with the return address that was on our wedding invitations.

It's tough to see but this was the key card for the room on our honeymoon in New Orleans.

And peeking through the green paint, you'll find a newspaper clipping from our wedding day...record high temperatures...no wonder we were all sweating, lol.

You can make a painting like this too! Simply purchase a large canvas. Paint it with yellow ochre acrylic paint. Then glue on all of your treasured bits of ephemera in a puzzle like manner. Then, with acrylic paints, paint a heart over top and add layers of acrylic paints in your favorite colors. Wipe away some paints to make it so that words and such can shine through.

Before you know it, you'll have a special work of art that all will enjoy.

Helga Strauss is an artist, designer and owner of ARTchixStudio. Subscribe to her blog, My ARTistic Life for weekly inspiration and fun, creative giveaways.

Luce Change: Minimalist Millinery

- by Lucy Edmondson


Wedding Hats! What a horror! For me anyway: I definitely don't have a head for hats. I don't know which is worse, me in a hat, or the state of my hair when I take it off! I would rather have my hair done for the occasion and go for a more minimalist option, so I thought as my contribution to this issue's wedding theme I would offer you a floral fascinator.

As you may know by now, I like to upcycle, especially as a money saver, so for my hairpiece I have made some flowers out of clear packaging material, the kind of thing you normally (by which I mean normal people!) throw away. I first tried this as an experimental substitute for Clearly for Art heatable film when I did a tutorial for Gingersnap Creations, but didn't dabble that much with using the packing material with fabric, which I thought had more possibilities to explore.

I bought a pack of three plastic head bands from Matalan for £1.50, so using up scraps of fabric this 'make' would cost not much more than 50p.

Ingredients

• Fabric
• Clear Packaging Film
• Heat Gun
• PVA Glue or Gel Medium
• Plastic Hair Band
• Hot Glue Gun
• Flower Stamps (I used Crafty Individuals CI 206)
• StazOn, Jet Black
• Flower Centres such as pearls or sequins

1. Choose your fabric.

2. Glue to a piece of clear packaging film using PVA glue or gel medium and allow to dry thoroughly.

3. Choose your stamps. I used Crafty Individuals' flower stamps and chose the ones with descending sizes of the same style.

4. Stamp all over your prepared piece of fabric, on the fabric side, using Jet Black StazOn.

5. Cut them out.

6. This bit is optional, but I added a little pink ink around the edges with a sponge as some parts of the fabric were quite pale and I wanted to pull all the colours together.

7. Warm slightly with the heat gun and bend the petals into your desired shape.

8. Stack the flowers together in groups of descending sizes using a hot glue gun. Add centers to your flowers as desired, such as flower gems or pearls.

9. Start to glue the prepared flowers to the head band using the hot glue gun. Don't you just love how the glue drips everywhere you don't want it to?

10. Keep adding the flowers, mixing the smaller and the larger and tucking some underneath.

11. The finished Fascinator - although of course you could add leaves - or even feathers!

I just used the fabric I had to hand, but why not make one to exactly match the outfit

you are planning to wear, and make a matching corsage at the same time?