Friday, August 24, 2012

Twists of Twine

First of all, I want to thank Cheri for her gracious invitation to appear on her blog as a "guest designer."  (Personally, that sounds too highfalutin' for what I do!)  Cheri is an amazing crafter, and I love her video tutorials.  A video would have been just a little too intimidating for me for this, my first blog post!  I hope the pictures and instructions are clear enough.  I borrowed ideas from Cheri's "Ribbon book" video, (click here  to see this tutorial) as well as various YouTube videos.  Click here to see a simple video on making your own faux baker's twine.  (What can I say?  I'm cheap!)  For this project, you'll need:



1 or 2 empty cereal boxes (depending on size of box) - cut 2 pieces at 3.5 x 7.5 inches; cut 4 pieces at 3 x 7 inches
various papers in coordinating colors- (I cannot give credit for the papers I used, because they were all from my scrap stash.)
2  1 inch opening rings (I only have twine on two pages so far.  If I go to the third/fourth pages, I will need bigger rings.)
good adhesive (I used my ATG gun)
decorations and embellishments of your choice
twine (or f aux twine) of your choice
regular hole punch

Here we go! 
Cover:
Cover outside
-Take your two 3.5 x 7.5 inch pieces of cereal box (cardboard).  These are your covers for your twine holder. 
-Cut 2 pieces of paper or card stock of your choice at 4 x 8 inches.  Center cardboard on wrong side of paper.  Using strong adhesive on outer edges of paper, fold paper over edges of cardboard.  Press down firmly to crease edges and secure paper to cardboard.  (If using card stock to cover, you may want to score on fold lines first.) 
-Decorate front cover according to personal preference.  I cut a coordinating paper at 3.25 x 7.25 inches, and adhered securely to my front cover.  Next, I used a piece of plain, white card stock from Staples, cut at 2.75 x 6.  I cut a design at each end, using my Fiskars Daisy Dew border punch.  I adhered this to the front of my cover, leaving a larger margin on top, for punching my holes.   I stamped the word "TWINE" on the front, using a set of letter stamps I picked up at a yard sale.  This was stamped on a 2.25  x  .75 inch piece of white card stock.  The purple mat behind it is cut at 2.5 x 1 inches.  The pink flowers were something I had picked up at a convention.  The pot of flowers stamp is from Stampin' Up, but I don't know from which set.  This pot was stamped on a 1.2 x 1.2 piece of white card stock.  I colored the flower pot with Sharpies. The purple mat behind it is cut at 1.75 x 1.75.  The purple dots were Amethyst Beads in a Bottle by Tulip.



(Oh! I attempted to ink the edges of my cover with a sponge and Dusty Durango ink by Stampin' Up, but my ink was too heavy.)  Be creative, and use what you have and like to decorate YOUR twine holder!
Cover insides:  Cut two pieces of coordinating paper at 3.25 inches x 7.25 inches.  Apply adhesive to paper, covering edges well.  Adhere to insides of covers, covering edges of first paper used.  I punched the holes at half inch from top of front and back covers.  I edged the holes with my Fruit Punch Stickles, both for appearance and sturdiness.



Pages: 
-Take your 4  3x7 inch pieces of cardboard and cover them on both sides with 3 x 7 inch pieces of paper.  Be sure to secure edges well.
-In order to be sure that your cover and pages line up properly, center each page (one at a time) under one of your covers, and put a pencil mark in the center of each hole at the top of each page.  (The tops of your covers and the tops of your pages should line up flush.)  Punch your holes in the tops of each page, centering your pencil mark in your hole punch window. 
-Along the sides of pages 1 and 3, using your hole punch, punch half circles on the two long sides.  Your half circles will start a HALF inch from the bottom, and then every inch from there, making 6 half circles on each side.
-Along the sides of pages 2 and 4, punch half circles on the two long sides.  Your first half circle will be ONE inch from the bottom, and then every inch, making 5 half circles on each side.



*** The half circles on the odd and even pages are staggered, so that when your twine is wrapped around each page, the various colors will nest inside each other, rather than being right on top of each other.



-As you wrap each color of twine around your pages, cut a small slit above the wrapped twine to secure the end.



This is Cheri from DJ's Sundries and you have officially been hacked.  Oh alright.  I guess it's not hacking since you actually gave me your password to work on some things earlier in the day.  I just wanted to welcome you to Bloggie Land.  I am so excited to see the wonderful Morsels of Miscellany that will be coming.  My prayer is that many will be inspired by the wonderful projects you have in store.  More importantly, I pray that this will be another outlet for many to come to know the Lord you love and serve.  Thanks for letting me be a little part of this journey my friend.
WELCOME to my blog, such as it is thus far.  I am most definitely a rooky at this!  This is just a place where I hope to share some of the things I love, which are varied- thus, the name of my blog.  I welcome input from you experienced bloggers on how to get my blog to look as amazing as some of yours!  This morning, I don't have much time for a lengthy post, so let me leave you with one of my favorite Scripture passages:  Philippians 4:7 says, "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."  I have known this peace in my life, at times when it simply doesn't make sense to be at peace.  Only Christ can give that kind of peace.  If you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I'd love to introduce you!  Have a wonderful day!