Farmhouse Harvest Week :: Patchwork & Balloons

 

Amazingly, it's already day "3" of Crate's Farmhouse Harvest blogging event! If you're just joining us for the first time this week, a quick glance at the last two days worth of posts is highly recommended as there's been an abundance of projects and giveaways thus far - all giveaways are to remain "open for participation" 'til this upcoming Sunday {November 5th, 11:59pm Central Time}. And just so you're aware, we still have TWO more giveaway surprises up our sleeves! Make sure to stop by tomorrow for a chance at the final prize!! Winners are scheduled to announce next Monday!! 

 

 

- Gratitude Mini-Book Tutorial -

Crate Paper Artist: Geralyn Sy

Hi everyone, this is Geralyn here. For Crate’s Farmhouse Harvest event this week, I decided to make a little 4x4” gratitude mini-book. It has some pockets which are perfect to house additional photos or more personal journaling. The mini-book is very simple to put together, and I have an easy tutorial for you all if you would like to make your own.

The Supply List:

Crate Farmhouse (Patterned Papers, Accent Cuts, Alpha Label Stickers, Phrase Stickers, etc.)
Several Sheets of Cardstock
Thin Cardboard
Sewing Machine or Paper Piercer, Needle and Thread
Adhesive Backed Fabric Paper, Wide Decorative Tape, or Something Similar 

 

First, I started with several sheets of white cardstock, each trimmed to 4”x8” and folded in half. You can use as little or many sheets of cardstock as you want for your mini-book. I decided to use 6 pieces, which gave me 5 pages and 5 pockets in the end.

 

Now take two of the 4”x8” cardstock pieces and hold them together, as shown in the photo. Don’t adhere the two pieces with adhesive, because you’ll be stitching them together to create a pocket. Using your sewing machine or by hand, sew along the left, bottom and right sides. This creates a top-loading pocket.

 

Take another sheet of 4x8” cardstock and add it to the pieces you just sewed together. This time, sew along the top, left and bottom sides of the pages to create a side-loading pocket.

 

Continue to sew the rest of your pages together, alternating between creating top-loading pockets and side-loading pockets. Here is a photo of my completed pages, after I finished sewing.

 

Next, adhere a 4”x4” piece of thin cardboard on both the front and back covers of the mini-book, to strengthen each side. Pick out your favorite Farmhouse patterned paper and trim two 4”x4” pieces to adhere onto the front and back covers.

 

To cover the exposed spine, you can simply use a strip of adhesive backed fabric paper or something similar in your stash. I used a piece of Studio Calico’s fabrip to cover my spine. Now your book is finished and you can embellish it however you want to and then start documenting things that you are thankful for!

 

Here is the photo of my completed mini-book again. I decorated the cover with some Crate Farmhouse phrase stickers, a border sticker, chipboard pieces, and a cute little Crate button. As for the pockets, I tucked in some Farmhouse Accent Cuts. The Farmhouse Accent Cuts are perfect because they are just a little bit taller than the pockets and I love how they look, peeking out on both sides of the mini-book.I used some stickers from both the Farmhouse alpha/labels and the Farmhouse phrase stickers as little tabs for the accent cut journaling cards.

There you are – I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and decide to make your own simple gratitude mini-book!

 

- Farmhouse Harvest Card Set & Layout -

Crate Paper Artist: Kinsey Wilson

Patchwork is vastly popular these days! It seems that around every corner, crafters are coming up with new ways to add patchwork to their projects - the options are boundless; there's the playful patchwork formed from free-cutting and messy paper piecing, and then there's the cleaner, more quilt-ish type patchwork like that done by Kinsey here - no matter which direction you go, it always ends up looking shabby and cute! We love this newly blossoming trend!! 

 

Crate Paper Artist: Michiko Kato

This adorable set-up by Michiko, with the balloons, clouds, title banner, life-size laundry sign, and free-flowing leaves, is one of our faves this week! We simply love it! If you look closely, the balloon bouquet is anchored by one of Farmhouse's buttons, along with perfectly positioned lengths of twine - too clever! 

 

 

And now for an embellishment combination of Farmhouse Goodies up for grabs!! Today's giveaway entails each of the following: Sew Brads, Trims & Buttons - to get in on the deal as a possible WINNER of all three items, tell us your favorite method for using odds and ends like ribbon, buttons, and other misc. materials that you enjoy incorporating into your work. A winner will be selected from the host of comments next week! Best of luck to you!

Comments

[Karin BG]

Wonderful projects! Love the layers of all the beautiful patterned paper!

[Miss Cooper]

I love to use my ribbon scraps to make my own flowers. I twist the ribbon and hot glue it to a chipboard circle to make my own embelishments from scraps.

[April Y]

I love using brads and buttons as flower centers, and using different trims and ribbons on tags, cards and layouts to add texture and interest!

[Sherry]

Extra buttons are great to use to dot your i's and j's. It adds some depth to page!

[Keesha]

I use extra brads as backing for heavy embelishments. I hot glue DIY flowers or fussy cutting to the brad... Then attach the brad. It's a great way to attach heavy embelishments.

[J. Jones]

I save all by ribbon scrap to use on the binding for my minis... It looks great to see a varity of colors and textures tied in knots on binding.

[Lara Carson]

I love to use ribbon bits on cards, and little buttons on flower centers!

[Sarah A.]

I like to use them in little clusters of embellishments on my layouts. And I LOVE the Farmhouse line!!

[isabel]

All these projects are so beautiful, love the buttons with a flower.

[Sue D]

Great projects! I use buttons and brads as centers of flowers or in a cluster or row on a project. Ribbons and twine I tie in a bow or wrap around the card.

[ShellyJ]

Your buttons are simply adorable! I love clustering them and using them as centers for flowers :)

[Amanda J]

I love using buttons and brads to add extra dimension...a layout never feels complete to me until these are added.

[Natalie (QSOgirl)]

I love making little clusters of embellishments on my layouts... and I often find myself adding ribbon to create horizontal movement.

[kaz]

Buttons and brads are good as flower centers or small embellishments.

[Julie Tucker-Wolek]

I loveeeeeeee the mini and the lo!! Both are GORGEOUS! And I use my odds and ends on so many different things... on my cards, lo's when I am in the mood to use up some scrappy stash...altered items (I love making those)! I can use them on anything! :):):):):):):):):):):)

[Jolaine]

This collection is so beautiful and the projects shown are very inspiring. Thanks so much for the opportunity to win the matching goodies!

[Barbie]

I use buttons for inspiration, I pick out a couple of unusual shapes or colors and let my imagination go from there.

[Rebecca]

These are so pretty! I love adding odds and ends onto my pages, around the photos, usually to look like fasteners. Thanks so much for the chance!

[Regina]

I love using buttons on the spines of my mini albums when it is wide enough. Love the texture of it. Have to make this gratitude album for Thanksgiving. Thanks for the chance to win.

[Laurel S]

Fabulous projects! I just love sprinkling buttons here and there on my cards and layouts!