September SUSIE-Q FUN TIP–Spooky Mini Book
Well, it’s September already and time for another SUSIE-Q FUN TIP tutorial from me, Susan (susiestampalot). Something ya’ll may or may not know about me is that I LOVE to make stuff for Halloween AND I LOVE to make little mini books from unlikely items.
One thing I know about YA’LL is that ya’ll LOVE to get more use out of your dies and use them in different ways other than the obvious. With that in mind, how about a little tutorial on how ya’ll can use the POCKET DIE SET and CLIP IT DIE SET for the basic “bones” of a little mini book? If you’re not so much into the Halloween theme, I hope you glean the info about making the book anyway, and you could decorate it to fit any theme!
Ok, off we go….
All we need to get the actual book made are the two die sets mentioned above, some cardstock, Scor-tape (or other tacky tape), and 2 binder rings.
First, die cut the Pocket Die for as many “pages” as you want. I did 3. That may not sound like a lot, but once you fill it and decorate it, it’s plenty. I like big books and I cannot lie. But it’s up to you, just be sure your binder rings are big enough! (These look like t-shirts to me at this point…hmmm…another mini book, perhaps?)
Here’s where it starts getting cute (and FUN)! Use the border dies that come with the POCKET DIE SET to make interesting edges. This will be the sides to your pages. Make them all the same, or change it up! I like the variation!
Don’t forget the little card inserts for your pockets. Cut these to match the number of pages you made using the rectangle from the CLIP IT DIE SET. Don’t ya’ll love my spoooooky colors?
I’ve got a plethora of pockets now.
See how cute these are? I love the little zig-zag on the kraft pocket the best. He will now be my first page. He wins.
LEAVING THE INSERTS OUT OUT and OUT, stack and line up all three pockets along the straight edges and punch two holes for your binder rings using a Cropodile. I just eyeballed it. I’m fun like that. Or depending how strong you are, wait and punch these holes after you have all your background papers adhered.
I’m always too impatient and want to put the basic book together just to see how it will look. This is when I decided what pages would go in what order and what color inserts I wanted in each to make it most cohesive. Then I took it all back apart to finish the decorating. It’s just easier.
Now is when the magic starts to happen. I wanted to be able to pick and choose what to use on each page, so I just premade a bunch of stamped images and sentiments, and die cut a bunch of doodads from various YOUR NEXT STAMP Halloween stamp sets and dies. Here’s a few links to some of what I used:
The finished pages, 2 and 3 (if you count the front as page one!). I “colored” the witch, pumpkins and the haunted house on the next pages with orange and black Stickles in order to keep up my color scheme. Neat trick. Or is it a treat?
The finished pages, 4 and 5. The chipboard frames on the cover and each right side page are some I picked up from Michael’s. This one was a little large, but I still used it, overlapped my binder ring holes and repunched them with my Cropodile. No problem!
And the back. I added a ton of ribbons and twine (maybe too many, the pages don’t lay flat when I open the book) to the binder rings for texture. It looked great with them off as well, but I really wanted to use that skeleton ribbon! ACK! It’s so fun and I’ve hoarded it for a long time but thought it was perfect for this! And before ya’ll ask (because I know ya’ll will), it’s pretty old, from Cosmo Cricket.
Ok, that concluded today’s episode of my SUSIE-Q FUN TIP tutorial. Did ya’ll like it? I can’t wait to hear what you think…