Tag Archives: tutorials

Botanical Bird Themed Junk Journal

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Spellbinders Cathe Holden Vintage Flea Market Finds Junk Journal Kathy Clement Kathy by Design

Bird Themed Botanical Junk Journal with Spellbinders Cathe Holden Vintage Flea Market Finds

Hello, Friends!  It’s the first day of Spring, and I have a sunshiny Bird Themed Botanical Junk Journal to share with you on this Make & Take Tuesday.  If you are a fan of bird themed projects, vibrant florals and a vintage vibe, then this easy to make junk journal is going to make you smile.  It features some fun elements from Cathe Holden’s new Vintage Flea Market Finds release over at Spellbinders.

Songbirds and Sunshine

Here’s how I built the base of this simple 5×7 Junk Journal folio:

  • First, cut (2) 11″ x 7″ panels of extra heavy (110#) kraft cardstock.
  • Next, place 1/4″ Scor-Tape on a 7″ edge of one panel.
  • Now remove the tape liner and using the inner edge of the tape as a guide, overlap one panel over the other to form one long strip of cardstock that is 7″ tall.
  • Then place the long panel on your scoring tool and score at 5″, 5 1/2″ and 10 1/2″.  Fold on the 10 1/2″ score line, and continue to score two more 5″ panels.
  • You will have a short 1 1/2″ panel all the way on the right.  This will be a little side pocket.
  • Now, fold the 5″ and 5 1/2″ score lines to form a front and back cover.
  • Finally, accordion fold the remaining panels so that the side pocket panel winds up on top.

You’ll see how the folio folds in the project share video below.

The Spine and Elastic Band Closure

Line the spine of your junk journal with a bit of crochet lace.  I had this pretty 1 1/2″ wide yellow lace in my stash.  Brush the spine and 1/2″ of the front and back cover with gel medium or Dries Clear Adhesive to attach the lace. Then punch a hole in the center of the spine for the elastic closure.  Here’s how to make the elastic closure:

  • Thread a button with elastic thread (available at most fabric stores) and leave the tails long.
  • Next, run the tails through the hole in the center of the spine so that the button is on the inside. (Make sure the button is not wider than the spine!)
  • Now wrap the thread around the middle of the journal.  You want it to be a little bit snug, but not too tight.  Tie the ends together with another square knot, but leave room to thread another button.
  • Run the tails behind the knot through another button and tie another square knot.  Now you have a cute elastic/button closure for your Junk Journal.
A Peek Inside

Accordion fold journals are the easiest to make.  This photo shows how the journal folds into itself and the small side  pocket page that sits at the front of the journal.  All the papers and ephemera bits are from the Vintage Flea Market Finds release.

Here’s a look at the 3 inside panels.  I opted to go with a pocket/insert format because it allowed me to use up scraps of designer paper on tags and pockets.   You’ll get a full tour of in the video below.

Botanical Bird Themed Junk Journal Tour on You Tube

If you’d like to see all the inner workings and interactive elements in this sweet springtime journal, please enjoy this video project share on my YouTube channel.

 

I hope you feel inspired to give this simple junk journal design a try.  You can find a linked supply list below.

Happy Spring, my friends!

Cheerio,

kathy

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April Banner of the Month Tutorial

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Graphic 45 April Banner of the Month Tutorial-Reneabouquets-Kathy Clement-Kathy by Design-

April Banner of the Month Tutorial with Graphic 45 Time to Flourish and Reneabouquets

Hello, Friends!  It’s Throwback Thursday, and I’m here with our April Banner of the Month Tutorial.  We started this through the year series with our February Banner, then last month we got our March Banner made.  Now it’s time to get ready for Easter with tulips, chicks, butterflies and spring flowers.

Even if there’s still snow in your part of the world (I’m truly sorry if that is the case) this sweet banner will make it feel like springtime inside your home.  I thought about Easter eggs when I was choosing the color palette for this banner.  It reminds me so much of the old Pas Easter Egg dying kits I had when I was a kid.

TIP #1: Choose a wide (1 1/2″) ribbon and fold it over the tops of the banner pennants.  Then top it with some beautiful white crochet lace.  Hold the layers together with binder clips as you stitch across the top.  Then turn the banner and stitch along the bottom edge of the lace to make everything nice and secure.

Put on Your Easter Bonnet

TIP #2 : Combine fussy cut images from the 12×12 papers with die cut layers, flowers, butterflies and little tags. Pop individual layers up with foam tabs or waste chipboard to add extra dimension.

TIP #3:  Reneabouquets Printed Beautiful board is a perfect color match with this paper collection.

TIP #4: Mix and match pastel spring flowers to achieve that Easter Egg Basket or Jelly Bean color palette.  It’s a great way to use up leftover flowers from previous projects.

TIP #5: Tie Baker’s Twine bows between each pennant and top with a vintage style button

TIP #6: Cover Ivory ATC tags with the G45 ATC Tag Die, then hang vintage keys and enamel flowers from the grommet on the bottom for extra fun.

April Banner of the Month Tutorial on YouTube

If you’d like to follow along as I make this sweet banner, please enjoy this video tutorial on my YouTube channel.

This banner is so much fun to make and I hope you’ll give it a try.  I’ve added a linked supply list below this post to help you find the supplies you’ll need.

You can also purchase this banner!  Please shoot me an email or comment below if you’d like to have it hanging in your home.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy

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How to Make a Southern Magnolia Paper Flower

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How to Make a Southern Magnolia Paper Flower with Spellbinders Victorian Garden

Hello, Friends! Today I’m going to show you how to make a Southern Magnolia Paper Flower.  If you’re lucky enough to live in a region where  magnolias trees grow, then you understand what a treasure they are. These showy, oversized, fragrant blossoms are true Southern Belles! When we had our magnolia tree, I used to pluck the blossoms and float them in shallow bowls of water.  The soft fragrance filled the house, and the beauty of that enormous blossom added a sense of grace to the home.  Picking the leaves up from the yard every day was not as wonderful, but the flowers were so beautiful, we forgave the tree for making all that mess!

Project #1: Eyelet Lace Frame Top Fold Card

Simple Stories Weathered Garden-APG Eyelet Lace Frame, Spellbinders Susan's Garden-Victorian Garden-Southern Magnolia-Southern Foliage-Kathy Clement-Kathy by Design-Photo 01

Spellbinders has just released a new set of Susan’s Garden etched dies called Victorian Garden.  I shared some Mason Jar & Lavender and Victorian Tea Cup projects made with these amazing dies over the weekend.  Today we’ll be working with the Southern Magnolia and Southern Foliage Dies.

Creating paper flowers is a very relaxing and rewarding pursuit.   I’ve put together a Make & Take Tuesday tutorial showing you how I colored, shaped and layered these elements so you can have fun, too!

Here’s a peek inside my first card.  Both cards are made with Simple Stories Weathered Garden papers, but you can use whatever papers you have in your stash.

Project #2: Southern Magnolia and Foliage Easel Card

Spellbinders-Susan's Garden-Victorian Garden-Southern Magnolia-Southern Foliage-Simple Stories-Weathered Garden-Kathy Clement-Kathy by Design-Eyelet Eyelet Lace Frame-Amazing Paper Grace

The second sample I have for you today is this botanical easel card. One of the things I love about this particular flower is that you only need to add one blossom to dress up a card.  I’ve layered this one with some of the Victorian foliage and dressed it up with a Reneabouquet’s butterfly.

TIP:  Add a pocket to the interior of your easel card.  This gives you a place to tuck in a gift card or a treat and it also doubles as a brake for the easel mechanism.

I created a little chocolate wallet to hold a tasty treat, and I added a blank sentiment card to finish things off.

How to Make a Southern Magnolia Paper Flower Tutorial on YouTube

If you’d like to see how I colored, shaped and layered my magnolias and foliage, then please enjoy this video tutorial on YouTube.

I hope you feel inspired to try your hand at making these lovely blooms.  If so, you’ll find a linked supply list below this post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy

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Graphic 45 Flower Market April Folio Tutorial

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Graphic 45 Flower Market April Folio Tutorial Guest Starring Kaisercraft Flower Shoppe

Hello, Friends!  Is it really time for our Graphic 45 Flower Market April Folio?  Well, the calendar says it is, so here we come with the next folio in this year-long Make & Take Tuesday series.  This April Folio features daisies, one of the most cheerful flowers of the field.  The cheerful/joyful theme of this month’s folio is perfect for springtime.

Graphic 45 Flower Market April Folio Tutorial Kathy Clement Kathy by Design

We will follow the same basic construction format that we’ve used in the January–March folios. But  you know me…I don’t like to do the same thing over and over again, so there are a few subtle changes in this month’s folio.  I’m always looking for ways to improve the basic design.

A Peek Inside

This month’s “guest star” is a selection of papers and ephemera from Kaisercraft Flower Shoppe collection.  What a lovely surprise to see how well these two collections work together!  If you don’t have Flower Shoppe in your stash, just substitute another collection!  I do talk a bit in the video tutorial about my process for picking papers from other collections to go with the G45 papers.

See how well everything flows together?  I’ll share a full walk through in the video tutorial.

Graphic 45 Flower Market April Folio Tutorial on YouTube

Instead of breaking the tutorial into two parts, I decided to publish it as one BIG video.  So grab a cuppa and a snack, grab a notebook and a pencil and let’s get this week’s Make & Take Tuesday rolling!

You’ll find a linked supply list below this post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy

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Nautical Themed Wedding Favor Boxes Tutorial

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Nautical Wedding Boxes Tutorial by Kathy Clement Kathy by Design Photo 01

Nautical Themed Wedding Favor Boxes Tutorial for Throwback Thursday and Wedding Recap

Hello, Friends!  The long-anticipated wedding is past, bags are unpacked, and now I can finally share this Nautical Themed Wedding Favor Boxes Tutorial with you.  I’m still trying to get caught up on all the things that didn’t get done here on the home front prior to the big day.  And I’m still basking in the happiness of what could only be called a perfect day!

Wedding Photos

I thought you might like to see a few photos of that perfect day.  You can find more on my Kathy by Design Facebook page. But I’ll share a few here before we get into the tutorial for the boxes.

Here’s our gorgeous daughter and her new husband…and yes…Liz and Chris DID wear their wedding finery out into the surf after the reception was over.  This photo sums up their adventurous, fun-loving relationship perfectly!

And here’s Liz with my sweet husband Dale.  The only thing trickier than walking in the sand was making it down that long, steep flight of stairs to the beach! Liz is wearing my mom’s pearl necklace.

And this is our new family!  All three of the grandgirls were in the wedding party, along with our daughter Kimberly (back row left).  Chris’ brother is a Navy chaplain, (front row, second from left) and he performed the ceremony, which made it extra special.  I fell in love with his wife, Lisa (front row first left). Our son Peter is in the cowboy hat and his wife Mindy is beside him.  Chris’ mom is in front of them.  Our youngest son Joel is beside me and his beautiful wife Melody is beside him.  Sophie is in the front right and the Littles are in front of Liz and Chris.  We did not know that the groom and the groomsmen would be wearing blue suits when Dale and I chose our blue outfits, but isn’t it nice how that all worked out?

Peter made the gorgeous cake plate with the copper hoop.  Instead of a big cake, they opted for a 6″ version with cupcakes and donuts for the guests.  It was a good decision!

Nautical Themed Wedding Favor Box Tutorial:  Assembly Line Method

Nautical Wedding Favor Boxes Tutorial by kathy Clement kathy by Design Photo 01

When you have to make 82 table favors, you have to have a plan.  I chose to use an assembly line method that I developed back when I was making souvenir menus for BMW corporate banquets.  It really helps to have a designated box or storage spot when you are making in bulk.  Keep all your tools, papers, paint, dies, embossing folders, etc. in that box.  That way you don’t have them scattered all over the house.

Here’s how I tackle this sort of task:

  • First, cut all the box bases.  Box tops measured 5 3/8″ square while box tops measured 5 1/2″ square.
  • Next, emboss all the box tops.  I did these 10-20 at a time, as I found a moment here and there.
  • Then, dry brush all the box tops and set aside to dry.
  • While the box tops are drying, score, fold, cut and assemble the box bottoms.
  • Now, score, fold, cut and assemble the box tops.
  • Next, cut the liner sheets for the box bottoms.
  • Then adhere all the liner sheets for the box bottoms.
  • Stamp the shell image once, scan into your computer and size to fit the project. Then you can copy/paste and print out a whole page of stamped images instead of stamping the same image 82 times!
  • Compose and size the message in the same way, then print on vellum.

Once you have all the pieces prepared, the assembly goes pretty quickly.  Muscle memory allows you to go faster and faster when you repeat the same task over and over.

Nautical Themed Wedding Favor Boxes Tutorial on YouTube

The tutorial for the box we are making today is a bit more elegant than the ones I made for the wedding, and takes just a bit more time.  I decided to create a box with an interior folded edge for two reasons.  One: it looks better, and two: it’s sturdier.  I wish I had thought of this before the wedding, but it actually dawned on me at the wedding reception.  Next time I’ll do better!

Of course, you can use any color cardstock for your box base.  If you don’t want to emboss, you can just cover the box with pretty paper, or leave it plain and dress it up with ribbon, flowers and a little tag.  The possibilities are endless!

Well, my dryer just buzzed, so I’d best go get another load of laundry going.  At least I am never bored!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy

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