Its that time again for a sneak peek of Urban-Anthology's new monthly kit. This was the very last kit I was commissioned for by my friend Kari, and I had an absolute ball with it. I wanted to go out with a bang! So it has all my favorites in it! There are tons of Webster's, Making Memories, Hambly and ohhh a smidgeon of Sassafras and a bit of Marie Antoinette herself too! (shhhh! dont' tell anyone I leaked that last part out).


You can pre-order "Let Them Eat Cake" now... just head over to the Urban Anthology Store, and it will ship before January 15. December's "Its a Wonderful Life" was SOLD OUT so I'd rush over to get this one before its SOLD OUT too.

I've had an absolute BALL in designing the last 6 monthly kits for Kari at Urban-Anthology because we got to grow our friendship during this time. Its definitely been both a learning and eye opening experience into the industry, and I have nothing but kudos for all those kit club pioneers who came before us. Its HARD work!! But to see the fruit of our labor is sooo sweet!! I'm soo very very thrilled for the success Urban-Anthology has achieved in such a short amount of time. Cheers to you Kari!!

And thank you, Kari, for inviting me to continue as your Kit Designer for the next 6 months!! I"m thrilled and wish you continued success!! (And I can't WAIT til CHA!!! Whoohoo!! We're gonna have so much fun seeing all the stuff IN PERSON this time around.)

Its almost Hump Day and just 9 more days until Christmas!! So I thought I'd dig out these class instructions for this "Our Vacation" Travel Envelope Accordian Mini Album class that I originally taught at Scrap 'N Yap in Monrovia, CA this past summer to share with you all here.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment and I'd be glad to help you out. Enjoy!

Materials Needed:

• 5 envelopes or any odd number – any size will do, but the larger the better as the envelope size will determine the size of your work surface on each panel and how large your pocket will be, should you decide to use the pockets. NOTE: my envelopes measured 5.5 x 8 inches each.

• 1 Extra envelope to use as a pattern template (you’ll be using this to trace the inside pages as well as the inside of the cover flap. This extra envelope will NOT be incorporated into your envelope accordion album.

• A few sheets of coordinating patterned papers (I used a total of 5 12x12 Heidi Swapp World Traveller patterned papers as I was able to cut 2 qty of 5.5x8 panels from each sheet).

• A few sheets of coordinating solid cardstock (I used 1.5 sheets of 12x12 Bazzill cardstock.

• At least 1 yard of ¾ inch wide ribbon which will be used to tie your accordian album together.

• Various embellishments (I used the entire package of Heidi Swapp World Traveller chipboard accents, a few Creative Café chipboard frames and colored office tags, a handful of prima flowers, 1 Karen Foster large round rhinestone brad, stickles, MM tiny alphabet stickers, Heidi Swapp “Escape” acrylic stamp, and travel themed stickers from Blue Cardigan.)


Tools Needed:
• Exacto Knife to make slits to attach your ribbon.
• A really good adhesive. I used UHU glue stick. I swear by that stuff.
• Glue dots – I can’t live without these boogers as I used it to attach the bulkier embellishments like chipboard and ric rac ribbons, etc.
• Pencil or pen for tracing.
• Paper Trimmer
• Sharp scissors – I prefer the short handled yellow Cutterbee scissors.
• Distressing tool – I prefer my distresser from SU to distress the edges of all my papers and the Basic Grey Distressing Kit for all their various skinny sized files.

Instructions:
1. Glue the INSIDE of the FIRST envelope flap (the area that is usually gummed) to the bottom of the FRONT of the SECOND envelope (this is the area underneath where you would normally write the addressee information (vs. the return address which would be written at the top left).

Here’s a picture of a few of the envelopes lined up, so you can see what I’m talking about. Hope I didn’t confuse you.



I stagnated the envelope flaps so you can see more clearly in this picture.


And here’s what they look like normally when the flaps are glued to another.


2. Now you have 2 envelopes glued together which are connected by just one of the envelope flaps. Continue to glue the envelope flaps together to connect all the 5 envelopes. In the end, you should have a chain of envelopes glued together. On one end, there is just ONE envelope flap which will serve as your cover for the entire album.

If you lay out the entire “chain,” all your pockets should be on the same side. For the rest of this class, we will refer to this side of the chain as “Pocket Side.”

Ditto for the other side, which should be the “front” of your envelope that would normally be the place you put the return and sending addresses. For the rest of this class, we will refer to this side of the chain as “FRONT Addressing Side.”

3. Take your EXTRA envelope that I had you set aside for your measuring template. Measure yours to determine the size of your panels. Cut 10 panels (in my case 10 qty of 5.5 x 8 panels) from your patterned paper stash.

4. Adhere each panel of patterned paper to each of the envelope panels on the FRONT ADDRESSING Side of your accordion chain. You will have used up 5 of the 10 patterned paper panels so far.

5. Now take the same EXTRA envelope that now serves as your template and use it to trace

a) The envelope flap - For the envelope flap which will be the accordion album’s OUTSIDE top cover, I measured the entire flap and allowed a few extra inches so that it will wrap around partially on the other side (which is the FRONT ADDRESSING Side) so that when you open and close the flap on your finished book, its smooth. In my example, I used the the brown swirly HS patterned paper that overlays the houndstooth 5.5 x 8 panel.



b) The envelope flap – for the inside of the envelope flap which will be for the INSIDE album cover flap. In my example, I cut mine out of just black cardstock.



c) the lip of the pocket portion of the inside of the EXTRA envelope using the remainder of your 5 patterned paper panels. I used a pencil to trace onto the backside of the pp panels, and then used my cutterbee scissors to cut off the excess.

TIP: BE SURE to cut along your traced lines ALONE. Because the small remaining part can be used as LINERS for the top insides of each envelope pocket area.

6. Now that you have all your pieces traced and cut out, grab your accordion “chain” and lay it out so that the “Pocket Side” is facing up.

7. Adhere the larger patterned paper panels to the coordinating top side of your envelope pocket panels.

8. Adhere the remaining trimmed pieces to the TOPS of the inside of each envelope pocket so that they become liners. In effect, you have created an envelope accordion book with functional pockets.


9. Adhere both the top cover and the inner cover of the envelope flaps. Now all the surfaces of your envelopes are now covered with some sort of patterned paper or cardstock.

10. Grab your exacto knife and make slits to allow the width of your desired ribbon on both sides of your LAST envelope panel which still has the cover flap. See my picture. Thread your ribbon through. I glued my ribbon down so that it would not get loose as a result of regular handling of the accordion album.


11. Decorate/Embellish each panel and cover as desired. NOTE: I distressed all the edges of my patterned paper panels before adhering them.

12. My finished product, when laying “Pocket Side” face up with the envelope flap on the my left hand side, should fold into each other, one panel at a time beginning from the right side.

Here are pictures, panel by panel of my finished Envelope Accordian Album. I can’t wait to see yours!!!

Cover:


Cover Open with Flap Open:


Page 1 -2 (This is me unrolling the accordion pages AWAY from the envelope flap)



Page 1 -2 -3 (This is me unrolling the accordion pages AWAY from the envelope flap)


Page 1 -2-3-4 (This is me unrolling the accordion pages AWAY from the envelope flap)


Page 1 -2 -3-4-5 (This is the ENTIRE ”Pocket Side” Pages all unfolded out..the entire accordion chain on display)


This is the ENTIRE “Front Addressing Side” accordion chain on display:



Thanks for looking! :)

So, I'm cleaning up some files on my laptop when I realized that I never did share this tutorial on my blog for a challenge I shared for Paper Popsicles way back in July for one of our cyber crops.

My challenge and tutorial was to create a card using a "fishscales" border since I was and am still very much in love with circles. My fishscales was inspired by Christine Middlecamp who had done a tutorial on her blog earlier this year on the same technique.

Step 1: Pull out a circle punch (I used a 1 1/4th sized circle punch as it was closest to the circle design of the patterned paper.)

Step 2: Punch out circles from 2 different types of patterned papers. Choose one with a pattern or bold color and for the second, choose a plain one.

I hand cut the round medallions that was in the patterned paper, and then used a metallic gold paint pen to outline all the edges to give it a bit more dimension. I chose my circle punch that was most similar in size to the medallions and punched out solid grey circles. I outlined the grey circles too with my gold paint pen for consistency.

Step 3: Now in this picture, you can see that I drew a straight line on my base cardstock where I wanted to line up the circles. This base line ensures that I have straight "fishscales" once they are all laid down.



Step 4: I laid down the FULL grey circles first along my pencil line.

Step 5: Then I put down the medallions from the patterned paper that were cut into halves.

Step 6: Lastly, I slipped another row of medallion halves UNDERNEATH the 2 completed rows.

I trimmed the excess from the sides as needed.

Voila!!

Here's my finished card using this technique. I loved it so much that I used the same technique to create a border for a layout too!



Here's my layout I created of my sweet kitty. The Paper Petals paper mixed well with my Making Memories, ki, Hambly, 7 gyspies and Prima stash.



Here are some close ups of my layout and of the fishscales border.





I will share additional belated tutorials in the next coming weeks. As a blogging newbie, it didn't occur to me, back then, to actually share them on my blog too when I was posting my tutorials on message board forums. Live and learn!



"Happy Birthday" Card
Paper: Upsy Daisy "Paper Petals" line; Bazzil Grey CS
Embellishments: American Crafts Apha Stickers; Michaels brand Ribbon
Accesories: Circle Punch; Metallic Gold Paint Pen; Martha Stewart Royal Butterfly Punch

"K is for Kitty Cat" Layout
Paper: Upsy Daisy "Paper Petals" line; Making Memories Noteworthy Ledger Paper; Basic Grey Euphoria; Hambly Transparency; Bazzil Grey CS
Embellishments: 7 Gypsies "K is for Kitty Cat" 97% (Phrase) Stickers; KI Bloom Chipboard; Lil Davis "Simply Adorable" chipboard; Prima Flowers; K&Co Wild Saffron Fabric brads; CK jeweled brads; Heidi Swapp bling; Doodlebug Paper Lace Trim; Journalling Spot from Etsy; Upsy Daisy "Paper Petals" Rub Ons; EK Success Stickers
Accesories: Circle Punch; Metallic Gold Paint Pen; Martha Stewart Royal Butterfly Punch

It's the Eleventh Day of Christmas Contest at Paper Craft Planet, and Embellish-Online is the proud sponsor of Today's Challenge!!



Here is the challenge: "On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me Eleven Pipers Piping"....No problem -- 11 pipers piping... definitely, lets make a paper craft using musical instruments!

Load your creation into the photos area using the keyword/tag "12day11" (all lowercase) and you'll be entered to win a $25 gift certificate from Embellish-It Scrapbooking. You have until midnight EST to enter. (That's 9PM for us California girls!)

If you are not a member yet, be sure to join the Embellish-Online group at PapercraftPlanet.

Good Luck Everyone!!!!

Come see our Design Team's December Gallery over at Embellish-Online. It's full of inspiration featuring BasicGrey's new Christmas collection, Wassail, which is available in the store for 20% off if you use code GLITTER.

The warm colors give the projects a cozy feel...and we have lots of eye candy....cards, gift ideas, decor.....come check it out!

I'm a HUGE Basic Grey fan and when I saw this latest Christmas themed line from BG, I just KNEW I had to have it!! I still love Blitzen, BG's first Christmas line, but Wassail is simply irrisistable, wouldn't you agree?

Here's what I created for our "Oh Christmas Tree" theme for December.

I've been enamored with this card sketch (SCS #201) challenge over at SplitCoast Stampers for awhile, so I was inspired to create this Christmas Bird card with it.

LOL...I also just got my SU Bird (Sizzix) die back from my good friend Eva who had borrowed it from me a couple of weeks ago. When I saw those beautiful holly leaves, I just knew I had to have my birdie rest on a few twigs of holly. I applied the BG Wassail holly leaf and twig rubons to the solid greyish BG patterned paper, then hand cut them out and used foam pop dots to give them some dimension on my card. The bird is cut from accompanying solid red paper that's included in the BG Wassail 6x6 paper pack. I wanted to give my card a very wintery feel, and that row of BG snowflakes was the perfect finishing touch along with a few dabs of Distressed Gold Stickles and my golden Prima leaf. The SU sentiment was stamped and then punched out using one of my smaller SU oval punches.

Next up is my Surprise Message Card that's interactive. When I saw those gorgeous present rubons in several sizes, I knew I had to do something to highlight them on a card. I, again, rubbed them onto the BG solid greyish paper as well, hand cut them out and then used foam pop dots to give them dimension again. I do love dimension, lol.....can you tell? When you pull at the top of the card, it reveals my Christmas sentiment which I got from Michael's $1 bin last year. (I'm stoked that I'm finally using my $1 stamps. Seriously! I've bought so many over the years and they just sit. LOL...I know I can't be the only out there who rarely devirginizes her stash until years later, right?) Here are a couple of views of my card.





My third card is my version of the circle medallion technique that cleverly makes use of the many corner punches I own. I used to be a punch queen fanatic with almost 400 punches!! When I had contemplated moving to Europe once upon a lifetime ago (due to a guy - we talked about marriage, etc...but that's another story), I began selling off most of my punches. While I'm sad that my relationship didn't work out because I did truly love him, I'm glad that I did lighten my load, so to speak. :)

Anyways, thankfully, I still had my Wrought Iron corner punch and hadn't sold that off back in the day, which allowed me to attempt this technique. I'll admit, the birdie makes another appearance because my spacing was off on the medallion, so .... it was a good use of some left over red scraps. :) I want to thank my friend Stacey for teaching me how to make these folded paper flowers.



And here's my last card highlighting more of the BG Wassail snowflake rub-ons that was inspired by SplitCoast Stampers Card Sketch #205. I used my EK Success Circle cutter to cut out all those custom sized circles containing each of the snowflakes, then used my Gold Metallic Leafing Pen to outline the edges before I used foam pop up dots to give them dimension on my card. I got to break out my new QK Jolly Font Set for this one....lots of fun toys for Christmas, indeed.



We have so much in store for you at Embellish-Online this month!

Check out the Special Offers page - there are always tons of things on sale - this week it is Just-Rite stamper, Basic Grey papers- 12 x 12 and 6 x 6 paper packs!, and SATIN May Arts ribbon too!

We even have an on-going affilitiate program, which is a super offer!! You could earn 5% of any sales that have been linked up through your blog!!

And if that isn't enough, our November/December contest is up and running!! You could win The Fairest of them All Collection, plus Rub-Ons, plus Stamps!!

Lastly, Embellish-Online is a proud sponsor of a new hub for crafters called PapercraftPlanet, and we're participating in their Twelve Days of Christmas Event.


On the Eleventh Day of Christmas (tomorrow, Monday) there will be a very special challenge and a very special prize for one lucky person.

If you are not a member yet, be sure to join the Embellish-Online group at PapercraftPlanet as this very special challenge will be held over there. Stay tuned for more details and get ready for some fun-fun-fun!

Our Friday Challenges will resume NEXT Friday. Don't miss out on this one as it will be hosted by Michelle Pearson.



A Christmas Bird
Paper: BG Wassail; Bazzil Barkley and Java CS
Embellishments: BG Wassail Rub-On's; Prima gold leaf; Ranger Distressed Stickles in Gold
Stamps: SU Small Script
Ink: Versafine Black
Accessories: SU Small Oval Punch; SU Ticket Corner Punch; Sizzix Bird Bigz Dies; Foam Pop Adhesives
Size: 4.25" x 5.25" rectangular

Christmas Gifts Surprise Message
Paper: BG Wassail; Bazzil Barkley CS
Embellishments: BG Wassail Rub On's; Red Sequined Ribbon from Joann's
Stamps: $1 Michael's stamp bin "Merry Christmas"
Ink: SU Baroque Burgandy
Accesories: Fiskars Scoring Blade; EK Success 1.25" Circle Punch; Foam Pop Adhesives;
Size: 5.5" x 4.25" Pop Up Card that folds down flat

Circle Medallion
Paper: BG Wassail; Bazzil Barkley and Java CS
Embellishments: Heidi Swapp Clear Bling
Stamps: SU Best Yet
Ink: SU Baroque Burgandy
Accessories: EK Success Wrought Iron and 1" Circle Punches; SU Scalloped Border, Ticket Corner and Designer Label Punches; EK Success Circle Cutter and Swivel Knife; Sizzix Bird Bigz Die.
Size: 6" x 6" square

Be Jolly Snowflake Flurry
Paper: BG Wassail; Bazzil Java CS
Embellishments: BG Wassail Rub On's and Brads; Gold Leafing Pen; QK Jolly Font Set
Accesories: EK Success Circle Cutter and Swivel Knife; Foam Pop Adhesives;
Size: 5.5" x 4.25" rectangle