4th of july... already?

well, almost!!
Got a little distracting creative energy tonight, and I had so much fun putting this little project together…
for those of you here in the USA, most likely you have wonderful plans next weekend of swimming parties, backyard BBQ’s and homemade strawberry ice cream! I have so many cherished memories of the 4th of July Celebrations growing up… my memories are filled with rodeos, parades, s’mores, mountains and family!

Rhonna created this fun, simple kit for the 4th of July- I love the whole vibe of this kit and I immediately wanted to create a book- something that I could have ready to just place the photos. Here are some step by step photos to show you my process…

I used some of my new favorite products…Claudine Hellmuth’s acrylic paints and sticky back canvas (by Ranger) and my “Bind-it-All” by Zutter.
Quite frankly…I am having SO much fun with my “Bind-it-All”… I have only had this little gem of a tool since May, and if you don’t have one: BUY ONE!! I LOVE that I can make ANY size, style, look, type of book that I want at any time! I used to go to the copy store by ASU to get my books bound like this, and now I can do it all by myself! dang, I am seriously obsessed with it!! and it’s SO easy to use, and well- it’s PINK! What is not to love!?

First off, I created an 8 ½ x 11 size compilation of elements from this kit to print onto the Sticky back canvas. If you have PS or PSelements, you can simply drag the .png files onto a new document. If you don’t have one of these programs, you can open these files right into a word document, and print them that way. There is a little tutorial here on the House of 3 blog for using word. I love the texture you get with the canvas, and for sure the ease of use w/ the sticky back- it’s perfect.

For the cover, I actually decided to morph 2 of the .png elements into one for the cover.

The front of the book is 6”x9” and the back piece is 6”x10” so there is a 1” overhang that I placed another printed canvas element on.

I added a piece of red Cardstock along the left edge of the cover, and layered a series of stamps- I just partially stamped some music, text and script…I sanded a bit around the edges.

The Claudine Hellmuth paint is so nice to use, because you can simply dip the paint brush into the little bottles, instead of squeezing paint out to use. It’s wonderful paint- and the ‘sky blue’ matches the project perfectly!

I brushed on the blue paint around the edges (I really like this paint brush set- I used to just use a ton of sponge brushes, but I like this SO much better-it’s a very nice set, and pretty cheap for 6 brushes- I like the biggest one most). I also painted a couple (heidiswapp) chipboard stars.

After the blue dried a little, I added ‘blank canvas’ (white) paint. Just simple brush strokes.

I printed a couple inside pages with some of the other elements from the kits. I used the Bazzill ‘Dotted Swiss’ for the inside pages.. (love that stuff).

To put it all together, I used the ‘bind-it-all’. I used a ¾” ring… now it’s ready to just add photos! Now the challenge is for me to get some great photos next weekend! I think it might be photos from all month! That works!!

Email me if you have any questions! I hope you have fun creating this 4th of July book!

Comments

yup, now i want a bind it all....i've been seeing 'em but now i NEED one! great book...love that you didn't put photo mats...great idea!

Posted by: Aphra Bolyer | June 27, 2009 at 05:17 AM

Seriously Heidi - you have got to stop being so dang creative! I LOVE what you've done (again) and I've gotta go do my own now. Really! I can't keep up! Aaaaaa!

Posted by: Stefani Meyer | June 27, 2009 at 08:33 AM