Looking back on my August makes, I see a lot of albums, journals, etc. At the moment, I am a little obsessed with book making (albums, journals, etc.). This time of year is a nice break from card making because I don’t have too many birthday cards to make. So I’ve been dabbling in bookbinding and learning how to create my own journals (more on that to come in September). This is why I love papercrafting — there’s always so much to learn and explore!
Below are projects I made in August that have YouTube videos. If you’re curious to see what I’ve been crafting, feel free to check them out. I mentioned in my July post that I’ll be making holiday gifts probably from now to the end of the year and some of the projects below are things I can cross off my holiday make list. Yay!
If you want to jump to a particular sections, I’ve divided my YouTube videos into categories and listed the projects under each category below.
List of Videos
- Mini Album Delightful Dresser
- Snow Much Fun Penguin Ornament
- Vintage Mini Album
- Luggage Tag Box
Books – Albums, Notebooks, Etc.
- Pocket Notepad
- DIY Coloring Book (Cinch Binding)
- Light-Up Snowglobe
- Photo Display Stand
- Magnetic Die Stand
My Holiday Make List
- Holiday cards for family & friends (unique cards for everyone) – started
- Holiday cards for my consulting business (one design for everyone)
- Advent calendars (6-10) – started
- Totally Tomes Albums (9) – started
- Tag gift sets (6) – started
- Holiday cards gift set (6)
- Gift card holders (6)
- Gift boxes for handmade soap (8-15)
- Mini-Albums (2-6) – started
- Perpetual calendars (3-5)
- Journal books (3-5) – started
- Stationery set – new
- Gift Tag sets – DONE!
- Coloring books (5) – DONE!
- Year-round cards gift set (2) – DONE!
I’m glad I have this list that I can refer back to and posting it for you to see is extra motivation to keep myself accountable. I added a couple items to it, so I may remove a couple items later, but for now, I’m keeping it a wish list — things I wish I have enough time to make. 🙂
Makes With Tonic Studios Dies
Featured: Delightful Dresser Gift Box Die Set
This project lived in my head for weeks as I eagerly awaited for it to arrive. I tried out some new techniques (or at least new to me) and this labor of love turned out beautifully! There’s one flaw that nags at me, but otherwise, it’s one of the rare projects that turns out just how I pictured. I can’t wait to make another one for myself. 🙂
Featured: Snow Much Fun Die Set
This is a double-sided ornament with the year foiled on one side and the name of my niece and nephew (they will each get their own ornament) on the other side. It does use up two shaker blisters, but I think having a double-sided ornament that’s special on both sizes makes it well-worth it!
Featured: Tonic Craft Kit – Vintage Pop-Up Sentiments (no longer for sale). Here’s the September Craft Kit
This vintage album is one I’m keeping for myself! I actually made it to house old photos from a family trip my husband took when he was a wee young lad. 🙂
Featured: Luggage Tag Box Die Set
I always planned on making sets of gift tags as presents so when I saw this die set, I thought it would be so perfect! How cute to have a tag box full of gift tags!
Books – Albums, Notebooks, etc.
Featured: Bigz Lynda Kanase Mini Album
Technically, this die is for a mini album and even includes dies to cut a stacked hinge. But I love the small size of this book cover. I think it’s perfect for things like this pocket notepad. You could punch some holes and add some elastic bands to create a mini traveler’s notebook. I show an example of that and the stacked hinge album in this video.
Featured: Molly Harrison Stamps, Cinch V2 (Alternatives – Mini Cinch, Heidi Swapp Edition Cinch)
This DIY coloring book project was SO easy to put together. Stamping all the images was probably the the longest part of this project. The Cinch is a really easy and fast way to bind a book. It also gives a really professional finish. I have another set of smaller coloring books that I have a video (posted in September).
Other 3D Makes / Gifts
Featured: Paper Discovery Diorama, Paper Discovery Village
The video above is my tutorial video, but be sure to check out the showcase video for a critical tip I learned when I made the third snowglobe. To make it more stable and less likely to tip over, I added 8 pennies to the base of the snowglobe. I wouldn’t make another one of these without those 8 pennies. 🙂
Featured: Sizzix Display Stand by Eileen Hull
This is another Bigz die that I find really useful. Cover some mat board, die cut and fold and you’re pretty much done with the basic/core display stand. In this video, you’ll see some extra measures I went to with Tyvek reinforcements, but that’s totally optional. You can “dress” this stand in multiple ways to create different uses. In the first video above, I made a photo display stand. In the second video, I made a magnetic die stand for my craft room! You can change the orientation of the stand for even more styles and types of projects!