Handmade Planner for 2010, or the Most Overdue Project Ever

Hey everyone!  Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

Are you ready for a long post?  I have a project to share today that truly took me about three months to complete — a ridiculous amount of time.  It had so many components, which might explain the time a bit, but mainly it’s due to my going off in too many different directions to simply get the thing done.   Might as well be honest.

So here it is – my 2010 planner, which has been in the works since December.  A labor of love.   Here’s a look at the front cover of the book.  I found the fabric that covers the front and back covers of the book late last yea and fell in love with it immediately (I’ve mentioned my fixation with blues many times here).  I knew just how I wanted to use it.  

This book is really quite large, about 8×10.5 inches.  To figure out what size I needed to make, I first tracked down the calendar pages that I wanted to use. And to get a full month’s calendar on one page (and be able to actually write stuff on there), I really needed to make things pretty big.  In case anyone is interested, this is where I got my 2010 calendar.  It’s a cool site – you can customize the calendars in all sorts of ways.  Here’s a view of a calendar page, along with the pocket on the inside of the front cover.     

And here is a close-up look at the fabric – I wanted to show you the detail on it, since it’s got this silvery, shimmery outline around the flowers. I love this stuff! And to give you a LOL – I spent a LONG staring at pieces of hardware, trying to determine which had a pewter finish, since that would match with the silver in the fabric and the antique silver of the binding wires. And I finally went with this piece pictured here. And is it pewter? NO, it’s gold-toned! And when did I finally figure that out? When I saw these photos! The hardware all looked so similar to me that I could not even tell them apart, but yet, it’s so OBVIOUSLY gold in the photos!  So weird!

But at the same time, my perfectionism and fussiness know no bounds, so I will most likely switch out that hardware. It might just bug me all year.

And finally – here is a view of the book when it’s closed.  It’s the size of a phone book, true?  I actually measured it – it’s about an 1 1/2” tall.  After the calendar pages are a ton of blank pages.  Since adding pages to a bound book like this involves taking the entire thing apart, trashing the binding, and then re-binding, i thought I would err on the side of caution and make the book enormous.   For the tabs with the months, I used a Stampin’ Up! tab punch along with a set of date stamps from Making Memories.

So what do you think – was it worth all of that work?  I am pretty much happy with it, gold hardware and all. 

Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!

Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge 59 – Sparkle!

Hey everyone & Happy New Year!  I’ve been away from blogging for a bit but I’m back today with a Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge! 

Today’s theme for TTIC59, brought to us by Margie, is all about sparkle!  Margie challenges us to “start the New Year with a bit of Sparkle! Create a project using something that sparkles or shines – glitter, bling, etc.”  And for the comment portion of the challenge, you can share your inspiring resolutions for the New Year!  Click here for all the challenge details and play along with us! 

We have something very cool happening this week – a new Design Team member has joined us – Jodi!  Welcome, welcome, Jodi!  Visit Jodi at her blog, Inked Inspirations, to give her a big Twilighty welcome!  And visit the other Twilight Tuesday Design Team members to see their sparkle for this week.

Alison ~ Dani ~ Donna ~Erica ~ Jen ~ Jodi ~Margie ~ Rebecca ~ Tonya

So my sparkle for today comes from a new little crafty thing I’m doing – I have been wanting to make beaded charms for a while for the journals that I make (to hang from the bindings) and I finally starting working on that lately!  Amazing how quickly a fun idea turns into a big old obsession for me – within a couple of days, I made about 2 dozen of these little charmy things!  It’s been SO much fun. 

I’ll post more about these charms, and the journals that they will go with, soon, but for now, here’s a quick look at my craziness.  I was not kidding about the obsession part…  

For today’s project — I had a Twilight-themed journal in mind for a while and this was a great opportunity to finally get that done and share it!  This is an 8”x8” journal covered with some really beautiful Bo Bunny paper from Tonya’s Stamp Happens Shop.  This paper is from a holiday line, but I think it still works really well with a Twilight theme. 

Here is a look at the entire journal, featuring an Artful INKables stamp:

And a look at the charm, in action!

And here is the charm on its own, so you can see it a bit better:

Thanks so much for visiting!

What I Used (for the Journal):

Paper:  Bo Bunny Press St. Nick-Noel designer paper from the Stamp Happens Shop

Stamp:  Artful INKables from the Into the Moonlight stamp set

Ink:  Versafine in Onyx Black, Papertrey Ink Vintage Touch inking system

Coloring:  Copic markers

Accessories:  Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Five

Create, Inspiration Will Find You

I have a project to share with  you today, but first, a quick note about New Moon – Friday’s the day for the movie release (of course) and also the day of the Twilight Tuesday New Moon blog hop! Visit Twilight Tuesday for all of the details and join in!

And here’s my project for today — a journal that I made for the lovely and talented Alison, one of my fellow Design Team members for Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge. Alison very kindly sent me a package of gifts, including a beautiful necklace that she made herself, and I wanted a way to thank her.   So this journal is for her!  Alison is very creative so I could just imagine her sketching or writing away in this journal.  Here’s a look at the front cover of the book.

And a closer look at the quote on the front cover, with a quote that I love and thought was suitable for Alison: 

Create – follow your heart, inspiration will find you.  Find your heart.  Be yourself.

What I Used:

Paper:  Anna Griffin designer paper; Stampin’ Up! Rose Red & Pink Pirouette (on inside covers); Bazzill grey

Stamp:  Hero Arts

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Rose Red

Accessories:  Zutter Bind-it-All machine and o-wires; Spellbinders Nestabilities long rectangle and scalloped long rectangle dies; Prima flower, Dew Drops

For the Birthday Girl!

For my post from earlier today about Twilight Tuesday and the New Moon Blog Hop, please click here!

And onto the new post – I am excited to share these two projects because I had such a fun time making them!  This set, including a birthday card and a journal, is for an 8-year-old girl and I loved using these bright, cheerful colors and the lovely fairies!  I’ve got lots of photos to share – let’s get going!

Here is the front cover of the journal.  The fairy stamp is from Inkadinkado and the letters for the name were cut with my Cricut and the Don Juan cartridge.  I love the look of that font – it’s clean-looking and whimsical all at the same time.  I wanted the fairy to be really colorful, so I stamped the image with a Kaleidacolor Spectrum ink pad and colored it with Copic markers with touches of glitter from Sakura Gelly Roll pens. Here is the inside of the journal. The inside covers are covered with Stampin’ Up’s Cameo Coral and the pages are plain white.

And here’s the birthday card! Another fairy image from the same stamp set is on here, and I colored her with Prismacolor pencils and added lots of glittery touches. I managed to get a couple of photos that actually show that, which never happens – see below! I am loving these new Nestabilities Labels (these are Labels 9) – such a lovely shape.

I don’t yet have any items like this for little girls in my Etsy store, but I hope to add some items like this there soon.  Thank you for visiting – see you again soon!

What I Used:

Journal:

Paper:  DCWV Posies designer paper; Papertrey Ink white cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Cameo Coral cardstock; Bazzill Bling in diamond (white); Bazzill purple cardstock (for back cover of book, not pictured)

Stamps:  Inkadinkado Beautiful Fairies stamp set

Ink: Kaleidacolor Spectrum ink pad and Stampin’ Up! Cameo Coral ink

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Spellbinders Nestabilities petite oval dies; Cricut with Don Juan cartridge; Prima flower; Copic Ciao markers and Sakura Gelly Roll pens

Card:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Cameo Coral and Lavender Lace cardstock; DCWV Posies designer paper

Stamps:  Inkadinkado Beautiful Fairies and Collaged Expressions stamp sets

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Stampin’ Up! Cameo Coral

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 9 dies and ribbon slide die; Fiskars Threading Water border punch; EK Success deco corner punch; Kaiser rhinestones; Papertrey Ink ribbon; Prima flowers; Robin’s Nest Dew Drop; dimensionals; Prismacolor pencils; Sakura Gelly Roll pens.

Journal for the Breathings of Your Heart

I totally stole those words.  They’re not mine…but I can tell you where you can get ‘em!  That line is from a quote by William Wordsworth, and comes courtesy of a beautiful new stamp from Beth Schultz’s StampInsanity Stamps.  The stamp is from the set called Meet Henry & Morgan and is available exclusively at the Stamp Happens Shop.

Because I am totally obsessed with making Bind-it-All books lately, I thought of using this stamp on a journal as soon as I saw it.   This one is an 8”x8” journal covered with one of my all-time favorite papers from K & Company.   I know from past experience that carrying books around is really hard on any embellishments that are on the covers, so I like to keep books that will actually be regularly used (rather than displayed) really simple.  So to reinforce the die cut labels on the front of the journal, I backed them with a lightweight chipboard and then ran them through my Cuttlebug.  I think I ran them through twice to be sure they cut properly, and that resulted in a really clean cuts and embossing – see below: Here’s a view of the entire front of the journal.  For the labels, I used Papertrey Ink’s Rustic Cream cardstock, which is really nice with its flecks of fiber, and the green shade is Stampin’ Up’s Sage Shadow, a really lovely color. 

The inside covers of the journal were done in Sage Shadow and the back is covered with Stampin’ Up! Creamy Caramel, one of my all-time fave colors.

What I Used:

Paper:  K & Company designer paper; Stampin’ Up! cardstock in Sage Shadow and Creamy Caramel; Papertrey Ink cardstock in Rustic Cream

Stamp:  StampInsanity Stamps, Meet Henry & Morgan set, from the Stamp Happens Shop

Ink:  Versafine in Vintage Sepia

Accessories:  Cuttlebug with Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four dies; Zutter Bind-It-All machine, covers, antique brass o-wires

New Blog, New Name, New BIA Project

Notice anything different? 

You are on an entirely new site!  I have moved from Blogger to WordPress and have also changed the name of the site and the URL.  The old name – Stars Fall Creations; new name – Stars Fall Designs. 

Why the name change?  I just like “designs” better.  It’s that simple, really.  And since I was planning to switch to WordPress anyway, this was the right time to take the plunge and make all the changes at once.  This new blog has been up since last week, but I waited for a few days to actually post about it since I was trying to sort out some business with the feeds.

And speaking of feeds, the change brings along some growing pains.  The main thing is that my feed address is different now, so if you are a subscriber to my old “stars fall creations” feed, you will need to resubscribe to my new feed; click the icon below to do so.  If you would like to receive updates by email, you can click on the second icon to sign up for that. If you’re currently receiving email updates, no need to sign up again – that will continue on.

I know this is a huge pain, and I apologize!  I promise that I won’t be making any other big changes any time soon. Thanks for your patience. 

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Ready to see the Bind-It-All project?  I made this 8×8” book for my fellow Twilight Tuesday administrator Jen, a very talented artist – I thought she  might be able to use this as a sketch book. Or for whatever else she might want to do with it.  The inner pages are blank and white, so the choices are limitless!

So here is the front cover of the book, which is covered with K & Company designer paper, my favorite brand.

And here is the interior of the book.  The inside of the front and back covers are covered with Soft Sky from Stampin’ Up!. And the back cover, which is covered with WorldWin ColorMates paper.  I just happened to have one sheet of this paper and it matched with the designer paper really well – one of those lucky breaks you get sometimes!

What I Used:

Zutter Bind-it-All 8” square chipboard covers; The Paper Company white cardstock (inner pages); Stampin’ Up! Soft Sky cardstock; WorldWin ColorMates cardstock; Zutter Bind-It-All 3/4” o-wires in antique silver; and Zutter Bind-It-All machine.

Covers and O-Wires from the Stamp Happens Shop

Father’s Day Gifts

Today I’m sharing the two projects that I (or we, including my daughter) made for Father’s Day.  And because I am totally obsessed, both were made with my new and exciting Bind-it-All!  I cannot get enough of this thing!

First up – a gift from my daughter to Daddy.  This 6”x6′” book started as a sort of elaborate Father’s Day card, and ultimately turned into a mini-scrapbook of family photos from the past year or so.  This is the first time I have bound on the top edge – I love this!  My husband mentioned keeping it on his desk at work.  I love that it can stand on its own and be a little showpiece!  And how cute is that Imaginisce paper covering the book?  It’s double-sided, and the back of the book is covered with the back of the paper (see the photo below).  It’s also somewhat embossed, with glossy accents on the animals. 

The insides of the covers (not photographed) are covered with Stampin’ Up! Apricot Appeal, which I also used on the front panel.  My daughter made lots of choices for this project – she chose the paper at Michaels, the stickers, the orange Prima, and the polka dotted ribbon.  And somehow, it all kind of matched!  She applied the “daddy” stickers, so proud of spelling the word without help – and she did an expert job on those letters, I think!  She managed to get that cute skewed-letter look without even trying.  We had a good time making this!

And another Father’s Day BIA project – this one is a blank 8”x8” journal.  This book is covered in paper from K & Company’s Blue Awning set – I LOVE this paper!  It’s elegant and masculine all at the same time.  I used Stampin’ Up! Creamy Caramel on the tag and on the insides of the covers.  A Paper Company navy cardstock covers the back cover.  I love this navy and caramel combination.

That wraps up today – but be sure to check back in tomorrow for a special Twilight Tuesday announcement!

Book components:

Book #1

Paper:  Imaginisce Twitterpated Hey Foxy designer paper; Stampin’ Up! Apricot Appeal and Green Galore cardstock

Accessories:  Zutter Bind-it-All machine, 6”x6” covers, and O-wires; Stampin’ Up! ticket corner punch; Making Memories blue glitter stickers; Prima orange rose; American Crafts ribbon; dimensionals

Book #2

Paper:  K & Company Blue Awning designer paper; Stampin’ Up! Creamy Caramel and The Paper Co. navy cardstock

Accessories: Zutter Bind-it-All machine, 6”x6” covers, and O-wires; Spellbinders tag die; Making Memories brad; My Mind’s Eye rub-on letters

Adventures With My Bind-it-All

Hello, readers!  I have been doing everything in the world but posting to my blog lately, and I’m really sorry about that!  Things are keeping me very busy, but the good news is that I have a backlog of projects that I can post about, so I hope to be around a lot more.  And I will try to make up for my lack of posting with a marathon post today!

Today is all about my new Bind-it-All.  I am in love with this thing.  IN. LOVE.  So much so that I have barely worked on anything but Bind-it-All projects lately!  I have a couple of BIA books to share today, and there will definitely be more BIA posts to come.  I have recently moved on to covering books with fabric – and there is a LOT of trial and error with that process  – too little batting, too much adhesive – you name it!  So I’ll share some of the fabric projects soon as well.

First up, a sketchbook I made for a birthday gift. 

How about that paper?  The always generous Tonya sent me some of this S.E.I. paper from the Chocolat line a while back and it is just amazing.  One of the many things I love about Tonya is the way she just has to share the wealth when she finds something good!  (Thank you for that, lovey!)  The papers have beautiful prints and some are glittery (including the ones I used) – it’s just gorgeous.

This 8”x8” sketchbook is covered with one of the S.E.I. papers.  In the S.E.I. stack that’s available at Michaels, solid-colored cardstock is included that matches perfectly with the colors in the designer paper.  Which is a really good thing, as the colors are really unusual!  The rose-pink shade of the butterflies is really unique.  The inside covers of the book are done in that rose shade, and the back cover of the book is covered in that chocolate brown-greyish shade visible on the cover.  This book is filled with plain white pages – all ready for drawings! 

I also decorated a gift bag for this present with another of the S.E.I. papers.  This was a simple kraft gift bag with designer paper cut to fit on the front – it takes two minutes and I think it makes such a difference in the presentation of your gift.

Ready for the next book?  Here’s one that I made for my five-year-old daughter —

She loves to write and draw up a storm – things that I definitely want to encourage!  I thought she’d be even more excited to do that stuff in her own special little book.  This book is a 6”x6” size and filled with plain white pages.  The Hello Kitty paper covers the front and back of the book, and white cardstock is on the insides of the covers.  I did a little research to find the font that resembles the official Hello Kitty font (probably only available on a Cricut cartridge) and I settled on one called “CAC Pinafore.”  I think it looks like the real thing!  I printed the name tag and mounted it on Nestabilities long rectangle dies.  A little bow on the wires finished it all off.

My friends Eve and Tonya were both very helpful in providing me with tips on BIA use – a big thank you goes out to them! 

So any other BIA lovers out there?  What do YOU like to make with yours?  Leave a comment so that we can talk about it! 

See you again soon!