Lisa's Craft Blog: Ephemera

Showing posts with label Ephemera. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 12

Tutorial: Memory Keychains

This project is so much fun to make and very rewarding when you're done!! I know you're all going to love this tutorial!!

SUPPLIES

Wood shapes ("Woodsies")

Crop-a-dile (or other strong hole punch)

Acrylic craft paint

Decorations (photos, scrapbook paper, ephemera, lace, etc.)

Keyring

Chain

Charms or beads (optional)

Metal jump ring

Pliers

Step 1: MAKE WOOD BASE

The wood shapes I purchased were inexpensive and relatively thin so I chose to use 2 for each base. If your wood shapes are made of a heavier wood, you could get away with just using one.

Pair up 2 wood pieces that are the same shape and size.

Punch a hole at the top center of one. Line up your two pieces and mark where to punch the hole on the 2nd piece and then punch that hole.

Add a layer of glue (preferably wood glue) to the back of the two pieces and press them together.

Clamp the 2 pieces together using clothes pins or other method and let dry.

Once the glue has dried sand off the excess glue and any rough edges.

Step 2: DECORATE

There are so many possibilities for decorating these keychains!! I'll list some of my ideas after the tutorial.

Paint the edges of your wood base using acrylic craft glue; you may need 2 or more coats.

Using a decoupage medium glue and seal your decorations onto the wood base, making sure to seal the painted edges too.

Step 3: ADD KEYRING & A CHARM

This is where we turn the little decorated wood shape into a keychain!!

Using pliers, add about 1" of chain to the keyring.

If you want to use a bead, rather than a charm, you'll need to add a headpin and a pair of round-nose jewelry pliers.

Once you have your bead/charm and keyring ready, add them to the wood base with a metal jump ring as shown above.

FINISHED!!

As I mentioned in the tutorial, there are so many possibilities when decorating your wood base!! Here are just a few of the ideas I was able to come up with:

Vintage ephemera (shown in tutorial)

Photo(s) of a loved one

Mini scrapbook page

Map or image of a favorite place

Mini collage of something you enjoy

Your name

This list could go on and on!! I'd love to hear your ideas so feel free to add them by commenting!!

Thanks for reading!! Until next time...

Wednesday, March 14

WOYWW #8 and A Tutorial

This is going to be an especially looooonngg post, but I promise it will satisfy your curiosity as well as your creative hunger!!

Welcome to my 8th edition of WOYWW!! If you're not familiar with WOYWW, click the button above.

This week I've been busy deconstructing antique books. At the bottom of this post there is a tutorial on how to take apart books and remove the individual pages with as little damage as possible.

Before I get to the pages, let me tell you why I'm taking apart so many books...

Basically, I'm a craft supply shopaholic and found some great deals online. Soon I'll be selling excess ephemera in my new Etsy and Artfire shops.

Now lets get to WOYWW...

Here are just a few of the deconstructed books. The piles in the bottom row are all part of an 1880 hymnal that I was in the process of taking apart. The small stack in the back is another 1880 hymnal that I'd already finished (I have 10 total).

The ginormous stack on the blue case, is made up of pages from 3 antique books dating from 1877 to 1942.

Here's a close-up of the 1877 dictionary pages...

When I start listing some of this ephemera on Etsy and Artfire, my plan is to offer a wide variety of themed packs such as the ones below.

For those of you that have been wondering where I disappeared to, now you know what I've been up to! Don't worry, the Crafty St. Patty's Party will resume shortly and the March Madness Giveaway will begin tomorrow!! Included in each of the 10 prizes will be some of this 100-year-old ephemera!! Pretty cool, huh?

TUTORIAL: DECONSTRUCT AN ANTIQUE BOOK

Note: This is a very messy project so be prepared to clean up when you're finished!!

SUPPLIES

Antique Book

Craft knife & mat (optional)

The book I'm taking apart is a Lutheran hymnal from 1880.

Step 1: REMOVE COVER

Using whatever means necessary, remove the covers and as much of the spine as possible.

You may want to use a craft knife to separate the covers from the first and last pages. With really old books, the covers will almost fall right off!

This was just something neat I found inside the spine of one of the 1880 hymnals. It looks as though the covers and spine were actually made from old newspapers!! And to think that we consider recycling and reusing a new thing!!

Step 2: BREAK INTO SECTIONS

Take a close look at your book and you'll see that the pages are actually "signatures" sewn and glued together. If you're familiar with book binding you'll already be familiar with signatures.

In order to remove more of the spine and glue and also to help make the next step a little easier, separate your book into smaller sections.

Note: When you create your sections, make sure you do it between the signatures and not in the middle of one.

Step 3: SEPARATE SIGNATURES

Gently pull apart the signatures from the binding.

This part is really messy.

Step 4: TEAR (CUT) PAGES

You'll notice that most of the signatures will still have some glue on them so you'll need to try and remove as much as you can. It usually scrapes off, but if you're having a tough time, try opening the signature and removing the glue while it's open.

Open the signature to center. Depending on your own personal preference either gently tear or cut the signatures down the center. If you choose to cut the signatures, I highly recommend a craft knife and cutting mat.

FINISHED

Ta da!! Now you have hundreds of great antique ephemera pages!!

Unfortunately you're also left with a huge mess to clean up!! This little photo doesn't even begin to cover the mess from this project!!

If you're nit-picky like me, you'll want to separate the pages by topic!! hehehe

Be sure to stop by tomorrow so you can enter my March Madness Giveaway for your chance to win one of 10 crafty supply packs valued at $10 or more each!!

Thanks for reading!! Until next time...

Tuesday, January 17

Version: Framed Heart Button Art

It's not too early to start working on Valentine's Day projects is it?!? If it is, oh well!! I went ahead and did it anyway!! hehehe

In this post, I'll show you how I made this Framed Heart Button Art!! Pretty nifty, huh?!?

When using another blog's tutorial, I always want to take a moment to tell you about that blog and the original tutorial. I just think that's the right thing to do, don't you?

Today's project was created by following the

Button Ghost and Pumpkin tutorial over at A Pumpkin and a Princess.

Crystal is super creative and does a great job with her blog, A Pumpkin and a Princess!! Her blog is packed full of crafty tutorials, delicious recipes, decorating ideas, storage & organizational tips, and much more!! You gotta see this blog!!

When I found the Button Ghost and Pumpkin tutorial at A Pumpkin and a Princess, I knew I had to give it a try!! Here's what Crystal's button art looked like...

I'd never made button art before, but Crystal made it look so easy!! Since Halloween was long gone, I decided to use a heart as my button art image. I also decided to decorate my frame a bit!! Here's the tutorial for my version...

SUPPLIES

$1 Wooden frame

Old book pages & sheet music

Acrylic craft paint

Burlap

Cardstock (matches burlap)

Various sized buttons

Glue

Decoupage medium

Paint brush

Step 1: PREP FRAME

Remove the frame backing, glass, and anything else that came inside. You can get rid of the glass, but keep the backing.

Step 2: COVER FRAME

Cover Frame: Decoupage torn pieces of old book pages onto the frame, covering the entire front side and overlapping onto the inside and outside edges.

Note: You do not need to completely cover the inside and outside edges of the frame because you'll be painting over them shortly.

Add Accents: Add torn strips of sheet music to accent the frame.

Step 3: PAINT FRAME EDGES

Paint the inside and outside edges of the frame with two coats of acrylic craft paint.

Step 4: PREP BACKGROUND MATERIALS

Trace & Cut: Trace the frame's backing onto your burlap and a coordinating sheet of cardstock. Cut them out.

Glue Together: Glue the burlap onto the cardstock, making sure to line up your edges.

Place in Frame: Put the burlap/cardstock sheet in the frame with the burlap side facing out and replace the frame's backing.

Step 5: TRACE SHAPE

Trace your desired shape onto the burlap using a pencil.

Note: Make sure you choose an image that is very basic! Choosing a complex image will be hard to make out when it's covered in buttons.

Step 6: ADD BUTTONS

Before gluing any buttons down, you will want to plan them in advance.

Place 5-8 buttons onto your shape, making sure there are no large gaps in the image.

Once you have figured out where they're going to go, glue them in place.

Cover your entire shape with buttons.

FINISHED!!

Real quick, I want to show you the first image I tried turning into button art.

This was supposed to be two hearts side by side, but ended up looking like an upside-down bikini top!! Since it was so hard to see, I decided to re-do it as just the one heart. So when I said, "Choosing a complex image will be hard to make out when it's covered in buttons.", I knew what I was talking about!!

Anyway, I hope you like this tutorial!! Be sure to look at the original tutorial, Button Ghost and Pumpkin tutorial, over at A Pumpkin and a Princess!! There are a few differences in our tutorials, not to mention Crystal's blog just rocks and you need to check it out!!

Thanks for reading!! Until next time...

Tuesday, January 10

Version: Recipe Box Renovation

I'm super excited to share this Recipe Box Renovation tutorial with you today!!

Before I get into the tutorial, I want to take a moment to tell you about While He Was Napping, the great blog where I found the original Recipe Box Renovation project!!

Krista has so many wonderful projects and sooo much more!! You definitely need to visit While He Was Napping and maybe even link up to the Weekend Wander linky party that takes place every week!!

If you're expecting or know someone who is, then be sure to follow While He Was Napping because the Bundles of Baby event starts January 29th!! I can't wait for this event because I have friends who are expecting or have recently had children!!

A couple months ago I linked up to the Weekend Wander linky party over at While He Was Napping. Afterwards, I found a perfect Recipe Box Renovation tutorial as I was looking through all of the great tutorials Krista has there. I knew right away that I had to make one too!!

Krista's tutorial is so thorough, so if you plan on "renovating" your recipe box, you definitely need to take look at her step-by-step Recipe Box Renovation tutorial.

Let's get started on my tutorial for my version, shall we?

SUPPLIES

$1 Recipe box

Various papers

Fabric

Cheesecloth

Decoupage medium

Glue

Lace (or ribbon)

Stamp & stamp pad

Buttons

Step 1: COVER PRINTED IMAGES

To keep these images from showing through, cover them with torn pieces of brown craft paper. Use your decoupage medium to adhere the craft paper to the recipe box.

Step 2: TEAR PAPERS & FABRIC

Tear your paper and fabric into small rectangles and squares that are less than an inch wide.

Step 3: DECOUPAGE

Decoupage the torn pieces onto the box, making sure to cover all visible areas.

Note: Keep your recipe box closed as much as possible while working on it and while it dries. If you decoupage it while it's open it will not close!!

Step 4: ADD CHEESECLOTH

Cut random pieces of cheese cloth. Decoupage the cheesecloth onto the recipe box in random patterns. Let dry.

Note: I did not incorporate the ribbon method that Krista did in her tutorial, but I wish I had and may still find a way to do it. I highly recommend you refer to Krista's original tutorial for how to get around that wonky fold in the back.

Step 5: ADD LACE

Glue a length of lace on the lip of the box, which is only 3 sides of the recipe box.

Step 6: ADD LABEL

Stamp the word "Recipes" onto a pretty piece of scrapbook paper and cut it out. I glued mine to some chipboard so it would stand out a little bit. Glue the label to the front center of the recipe box.

Step 7: EMBELLISH

Add buttons or other embellishments at this point. I added a few wooden buttons which matched the color scheme of my recipe box perfectly.

FINISHED!!

I really hope you enjoyed this project as much as I did!! I know I had a blast getting all messy with the decoupage medium!! hehehe

Thanks for reading!! Until next time...

Navigation

Tuesday, June 12

Tutorial: Memory Keychains

Wednesday, March 14

WOYWW #8 and A Tutorial

Tuesday, January 17

Version: Framed Heart Button Art

Tuesday, January 10

Version: Recipe Box Renovation

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