Ocean Breeze – A Graphic 45 Mini Album

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Sis Patterson

I made a little Graphic 45 “Down by the Sea” mini album to capture a week-long vacation at the beach.

The structure of my book is Kathy Orta’s hidden hinge system. It may take a while to watch the video and understand, but believe me, you can do it! Here is the link to Kathy’s tutorial. There are other tutorials available for making the cover.

And here is the 5″x7″ mini album I made. It has a clear acrylic cover and chipboard back. I primarily used Graphic 45’s Down by the Sea Collection.

It has a two-inch spine and I added a Tim Holtz hanger brad to the spine before adhering the hidden hinge framework. Here is a close up of the front – the same little Cricut houses are used on the front and the inside front of the clear cover. The middle house is adhered on a layer of chipboard for some added dimension. I added a banner title and a little paper eyelet from a Martha Stewart border punch. My new Cricut Explore cut a lot of this project – I am still getting used to the clunky software, but the machine is awesome!

The challenging thing about using acrylic sheets is determining what should go behind it and aligning it correctly. In this mini album, the next under page has a banner in the same place with the second line of the song.

Here is all of the first page:

All together, I used three different page types. The page above is made by cutting the paper 6.75″ wide by 10″ long and scoring (along the long edge) at 0.5″ and at 4.75″. Fold in the flap and adhere, making a tube. You will want to burnish the top and bottom edge for a smooth page. Leave one end open for inserting tags and use the other open end to attach to your hinge system. You can also add a die cut or paper to make a pocket on top of your page. Here is the back of page one:

And here is the little tag that tucks in behind the car die cut:

For the second type of page, I used strips cut from 12″ pocket page protectors and I added a paper “header” to attach to the hidden hinge system. When cutting your pocket page, make sure you cut below the line that forms the “stop” for the row above it. Once you get a pocket page in the trimmer, you will see what I mean. I used a bone folder to accordion fold one row of 4″ square pockets for one page and a row of 3″ x 4″ pockets for a second page.

Here is how I added the header: measure the height of your row/strip of pockets. Mine measured 4.25″ tall. I cut a strip of paper 1″ wide by 9″ long. Along the long end, score at 0.5″ and 4.75″. Add ScorPal tape on the outside edge of your page pocket row along the side with the plastic header and holes for putting in a larger album with rings.

Check your row of pockets to ensure that pockets are facing up. then tuck in the .05″ flap, and wrap your header band around the pocket row lining. Your pocket row should be attached to one side of your header band. After that, adhere it to your hidden hinge binding. Add a little pull tab to the side of your accordion folded pockets, and you are ready to fill your pockets.

The last type of page is a flap page. With a 12″ piece of paper, cut a 4.75″ width of paper (so the design will run horizontal) by 10″. Score at 6.5″ and fold the flap. Cut another piece of paper that measures 4.75″ wide by 6.5″ and adhere on 3 sides leaving one end open for a flap. Adhere that paper underneath your flap. You can mix and match patterns to your heart’s content.

A Tale of 3 Recipe Boxes

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Sis Patterson

I recently participated in a partnered recipe box swap with a group recipe card swap. Each participant made one box for a partner and one recipe card for each member of the group of 35. At the end of the swap, each participant had a decorated box and 35 holiday or winter sweet recipe cards to fill it.

Box 1 above used Bo Bunny papers and Lettering Delights’ “Eskimo Pie” collection. I added a few cut files from the Silhouette Online Store to add canisters, tools, and a gingerbread cookie to the sled. The “recipes” title brads are from Farmhouse Paper Company.

On one of the sides, I used another cut from the Eskimo Pie collection and cut off the fishing pole and replaced the fish with more gingerbread men.

As I did on the front die cut, I used my Copics to add the skin tones and fur texture and a Uno Signo-Ball white pen to add the icing details.

For the second side, I used Lettering Delights “Jan’kufuudo” cut set to add the hot chocolate mug.

And finally, the inside of the box using some of the Bo Bunny die cuts, some foam, tape, and chipboard:

Box 2, below, is a winter steam punk trunk with an adventurous Echo Park penguin from the Silhouette Online store. I cut several penguin layers in different patterned papers to create his trousers, vest, and cravat, and shirt and then hand-trimmed to make him the little gentleman penguin that he is. I purchased his vintage doll house binoculars from Etsy and added a chain. The trunk features Tim Holtz buckles, brad nails, and Theresa Collins paper. I added Prima flowers, kitchen charms, gears, a clock key, and a mixer from the Farmhouse Paper Company Kitchen metals brads to finish the box front.

The penguin’s map, of Antarctica, is cut from an October Afternoon 12×12 map page and folded.

Metal handles from Kaisercraft are adhered to the sides of the trunk.

Box #3 uses Graphic 45’s Tropical Travelogue and Prima flowers. I also added some metal butterflies, a lock, and key to add a little more G45-like elements to the box. Most of the design elements were hand-cut from 12×12 paper. I learned that it is possible to fold the metal butterfly wings up to add a little more dimension.

The inside of the third box is the most interesting of the three and included several layered G45 elements adhered on chipboard for added dimension.

The boxes I received in return are amazing. Many thanks to my friends, Esther, Amy, and Ashley, for the beautiful boxes that each made for me.

Yorkshire Pudding Recipe Card – Cricut and Silhouette Together Again

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Sis Patterson

I am back on the recipe card swap trail again – this year, instead of starting with recipe categories, we are doing holidays and celebrations and selecting the recipe to fit the holiday. First up for me, is New Year’s. Although it is not a traditional New Year’s meal, I always look forward to roast beef with a pop-over sized individual Yorkshire pudding during the winter celebrations.

So, using Graphic 45’s “Before Your Time” Kraft Reflections cardstock as the background patterned paper, I set out to create a Yorkshire Pudding recipe page. I found a darling Yorkie puppy at the Silhouette On-Line Store and replaced her reindeer antlers with a Happy New Year headband. The Yorkshire Pudding tag was made using the Print and Cut feature on the Silhouette Studio Designer Edition – this feature alone should be enough to propel you to buy this software (and die cutter) if you haven’t already.

My Cricut education lead me to making the Yorkshire Terrier a little more dimensional. The snapshot below shows what I did. I cut the golden fur pieces as designed. I copied the golden “facial ruff” and removed the “mouth” and “blaze” cuts to have a solid black ruff. I also copied the “nose” and “eyes” and removed the small highlight cuts to create a base. The terrier body, black eyes, and black nose are cut from American Crafts card stock in black. The black ruff piece is cut from lightweight black chipboard. I cut the base nose and eyes from white card stock. The gold ruff pieces are cut from a pale golden-peach color and I used Copics 11 and 13 to add furry texture and color. As the ears are specific to the right or left side, I found it easiest to leave the pieces on the mat, remove one, color, and adhere. Then do the second ear.

To start the assembly, I added the Yorkshire Pudding tag to the mouth of the golden ruff piece. I then added the golden ruff (with the tag) to the black chipboard. The other golden pieces were adhered directly to the black dog piece. The completed ruff piece is attached to the dog with a foam dot and another foam dot is under the tag. Unlike Cricut, there are no “guideline cuts” as to how the pieces align. So pick a few “alignment points” like the little swoop on the right hand cheek of the ruff and line that up before adhering. Then layer on the white “highlight” nose and eyes and layer the black pieces directly over them. Finally add some Glossy Accents to the eyes and nose.

The Happy New Year headband is cut from American Crafts white card stock. I colored it with Copics Y28 (Lionet Gold) and used spray glue to adhere some micro-fine glitter in the “warm” color way.

The fourth cut is the champagne glass from Cricut’s Something to Celebrate cartridge. I used Cricut Craft Room to hide the champagne bottle in all of the layers. I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch the bubbles. I filled the bubbles with a combination of gold Stickles and Glossy Accents. Finally, the polka dot label came from Spellbinder’s Nestabilities. The Yorkie is adhered with some foam tape.

And for those who are interested in the recipe, here is the link. Yum!

paper, craft & scissors

Tag Archives: Graphic 45

Ocean Breeze – A Graphic 45 Mini Album

A Tale of 3 Recipe Boxes

Yorkshire Pudding Recipe Card – Cricut and Silhouette Together Again