Decorated Edge Flip-Book

I am always trying to think of new, cute ways to add more pictures to my scrapbook pages.  I love doing little books that open up and have pictures underneath, but I also want them to be decorated to match my page. So, I decided for a Christmas layout to add a flip book with a decorated edge.  On the edge, I also wanted to incorporate the papers I was using.  This is very easy to make when you have the directions in front of you, so I hope you find this tutorial helpful and inspirational!

Step #1: Cut the cardstock you want as the background color.  I've chosen an 8.5"X11" confetti white.  You can chose to have your flip book flip open sideways or up and down.  The picture above is a sideways flip book and if you scroll down, you will see pictures of an up/down flip book.

To do a sideways flip book you need to cut your cardstock so that we end up with four 4"X5.5" pieces.  So first cut 1/2" off the width (so you now have an 8"X11" sheet), then cut the cardstock lengthwise in half (result: two 4"X11" pieces) and then turn and cut in half again (result: four 4"X5.5" pieces).

To do an up/down flip book you will need to cut your cardstock so that we end up with four 4.25"X5" pieces.  So first cut 1" off the length (so you now have an 8.5"X10" sheet), then cut the cardstock lengthwise in half (result: two 4.25"X10" pieces) and then  turn and cut in half again (result: four 4.25"X5" pieces).

Continue this step until you have enough for all of the pictures you want to use in the flip book.  An 8.5"X11" sheet makes four squares and each square holds two pictures, so one sheet is enough for eight pictures.  (Example: you want to use 12 pictures in your flip book.  You need to make 6 squares.)

Step#2: Cut your decorative edge using a fun scissor, tool, or a machine that cuts edges.  For the sideways book, cut one of the edges that is 4" wide.  Do this for each square.  For the up/down book, cut one of the edges that is 5" wide.  Do this for each square.  Here is a picture of the up/down book edging:

Step #3: Add your pictures.

For the sideways book you can cut the pictures if you want to have more space on your decorative edge, but it's not necessary.  If you do want to cut them, cut the side that is 4" wide.  Then adhere the pictures to the cardstock.  Line the picture up with the edge of the cardstock that isn't trimmed with the decorative edging.  You will be flipping through the book when looking at the completed pictures, so you need to make sure when pasting that the pictures won't be upside down.

For the up/down book we need to cut 1/4" off the height of the picture to add more space for our decorative edge.  Your 4"X5" picture should become 3.75"X5".  You can cut off more or less depending on how big you want your edge to be.  Then adhere the pictures to the cardstock.  Line the picture up with the edge of the cardstock that isn't trimmed with the decorative edging.  You will be flipping through the book when looking at the completed pictures, so you need to make sure when pasting that the pictures won't be upside down.

Step #4: Crease your edges.

Step #5: Adhere coordinating paper to the decorative edge.  This is only done to the "front" of the flip book.  Then cut along the edge where you had your pretty trim, using the same scissors or tool you used on the cardstock.

Step#6: Connect the squares.  Punch two holes in same spot on all of your edges.  (To make them even, I stacked mine in the order I wanted, then I punched hard through all of them at once leaving a score on each edge.  Then I went back and punched each hole individually.)

Adhere each square to the next by putting adhesive on each edge. Then, tie a coordinating ribbon through the holes for extra strength and for cute factor.

Step #7: Adhere to your scrapbook layout by putting adhesive on the decorative edge.

There it is!  So fun and so many more pictures to see! Yea! Click here to see another flip book tutorial or click here to this scrapbook page completed.

Scrapbooking Technique

  While scrapbooking, I stumbled upon a cool way to add dimension to my page without having to do too much!  It was really fun and I wanted to share!  So, what I did was I simply added a very symmetrical box to the border of pieces on the page (title, picture, ...) using a ruler and a coordinating pen.  Here's a few pictures: 

To see how the whole layout turned out click here.

Fall Decor

 Here's some Fall decor we have out!  I am so excited to have my first fall wreath...had to wait for it to go on sale...

These wood pumpkins I made with my church's mom's group!  They come from old fence posts and were pretty easy to make!  

Do you have any fall decor out for the holidays?  Leave me a comment about what you are doing this year!

Floor Cushion

Originally, I wanted to get my kids some bean bag chairs, but I came across this cushion and thought that it would be really cool to make instead (and cheaper!).  These are awesome too because they have a fun handle for the kids to carry around, they make a fun chair, and they can be a little table!

I decided to make a tutorial to go along with the pictures.  You can check it out here.

I originally found this project at Living With Punks.  Her tutorial is awesome too, but I wanted to make my own to add a few details and in case I ever lose hers!

Polka Dot Cupcake Party Invitations

For my niece's first birthday, she had a polka dot party.  It was so cute with a bunch of round foods (like cheese balls, Oreo cookies, grapes, ...) and a ball pit (round balls!) and you were supposed to wear polka dots to the party and if you didn't than you got "polka dotted" with some round stickers!  For the invitation, my sister, my mom, and I made these invitations that looked just like the tableware. 

 The back read "Sweets, Treats, and Loads of FUN... Let's celebrate as Ellie turns ONE!" along with all of the party info and was printed on vellum paper.  Here was the picture from my head:

The original design:

 

And the mess we made:

Check out the awesome gift I made her as her gift here (it's a book to teach her colors).

Polka Dots Cupcakes

For my niece's first birthday party, she had a polka dot theme.  I made the cupcakes with a Funfetti cake mix, and the frosting was an awesome cream cheese frosting recipe.  Then I got Skittles and M & M candies and turned them letter side down on the top to make "polka dots".  For her own cake, I made two stacked 9X9 circle cakes and covered it with the frosting and candies.  It all matched the tableware and the invitations we made.

Reupholstered Chairs

We were recently given a table and chairs set for our dining room.  It's a really nice set, but very well worn and doesn't match my style so I am attempting to alter it to match our home better.  I found some really pretty fabric at a garage sale and made my first attempt to reupholster a chair!  I was worried I wouldn't be able to do this, but it's actually super easy!!  

  Most seats are attached to the chair by a screw on each corner.  Remove those screws.  The first step is to cut your fabric with about an 1" to 1/2" overhang around the seat of the chair.  Make sure to iron out any wrinkles in the fabric.  

Using a staple gun, staple one edge of the fabric to the back.  Staple about every inch to two inches apart.  

Then pull and staple one of the corners next to the stapled side in either a triangle pattern or by folding on top of the other side you have already stapled down.  

Staple the second edge, keeping the front free of wrinkles and continue steps until you come back around, pulling and keeping fabric tight.  

Reattach screws and you're done!

Mom's Group Card Project

For a mom's group craft project, I decided to make a couple of fairly easy cards so the moms can either use them or package them together as a gift.  

I got the sketch ideas from a blogger who makes clean and simple cards (but also super cute)!  

I cut all of the pieces for about 20 cards of each type.  I then put the little pieces to each card in sandwich bags and put all the rest of the pieces in a large freezer sized bag so it's all organized and ready to distribute.

I love how simple these cards were to make, but they are really cute too.

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles Birthday Party

For my son, Elijah's, first birthday party, we had a planes, trains and automobiles theme.  The invitation looked like a ticket and all of the info like ticket number was the birthday boy's birth date.  The row, section, and seat number was "CHUG" "CHOO" "CHOO".  Then I made paper airplanes and tucked the blue ticket into the yellow paper airplanes.  Yellow and blue were the colors.

Some decorating things I did were: hanging paper airplanes from lights with a little patch of fiberfill clouds at the top, a black paper construction road with toy cars, homemade signs of planes trains and autos, signs around the house that look like real street signs, I collected toys that the kids already had that had a transportation theme and decorated tables with those, I put candy rocks in some truck beds, some runts in a farmer tractor, some milk duds in a dump truck, at the present drop of there was a sign that said "Cargo", at the goodie bags table there was a sign that said "Baggage Claim", a train that the kids could ride on, we had a sign that looked like a Driver's License where the kids could stick their head through and get their picture taken which I then had printed and mailed with the thank you cards which were a really cute picture of Elijah in a conductor's outfit.

For games we had an airplane throwing contest.  Prizes went to kids who had longest throw, shortest throw, throw closest to a particular target, ...  I was also going to play a game of musical chairs, but make it be musical bus and make the chairs look like a school bus and play "Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round..."  but it was too busy to play that game.  We also did a train pinata.  

In the goodie bags I had pull back cars, rubber duckies that were driving a car, a train or flying a plane, an airplane, a RXR package of roll up gum, coloring pages with a transportation theme,

See the cake I made here.

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles Cake

Here is my finished Planes, Trains and Automobiles cake!  

I did a "road" out of crushed Oreo cookies for the automobiles, a little cone and racing flag on the road, and there was candy that looked like rocks (from the candy store) in the center of the road circle, holding the candle up. 

I added a train track made out of black licorice for the train to ride on, along with a "R X R" sign.  

For the airplane I pinned him in with some toothpicks and covered those up with cotton candy that looked like clouds.  

The frosting underneath it all was very sweet and sugary, not your typical butter cream frosting.  I am still looking for the perfect birthday cake frosting, but this would be really good for a fancy occasion--like a wedding cake.  It also comes out extremely white (although I dyed it green to look like grass).  Click here for the recipe.  I also have some more pictures of my fondant images here and the recipe for the marshmallow fondant (what the images are made from) here.

White Wedding Cake Frosting

Ingredients

• 2 cups shortening
• 8 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons clear imitation vanilla extract
• 6 fluid ounces heavy cream

Directions

1. Cream shortening until fluffy. Add confectioner's sugar and continue creaming until well blended.
2. Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream blend on low speed until moistened. Add additional whipping cream if necessary (up to 2 ounces). Beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.