Hello, Annette Green back again with some fun handmade journals made from the General File Folder 1 and 2 die sets today. I’ve created a video below as I share how to make these 3 different ways, from easy to intermediate to more advanced in assembly.The easiest style is the three-hole pamphlet stitch assembly. These little journals came together in a jiffy and would make great little gifts for the holidays or any occasion. In the video, I share some tips on prepping your pages and assembly in two different versions of this simple journal. One is quite basic and the other is lined on the inside covers, stamped on the pages, and has a ribbon closure. For both I used the General File Folder 1 die set, and papers from 49 and Market and The Book 5 (coming soon!)The intermediate journals are custom sized traveler’s notebooks which I show you how to make yourself in the video. For both journals I used Kraft Tex, but you can use leather, faux leather, or any flexible yet sturdy material as your base. The word plates on the covers of these are from Sidekick Essentials 1 (“Noted) and #14 Bookmark 1 (“moments”), and the label frames are from General File Folders 1. The insides of each are similar in construction, but the black one simply contains pages and no file folder dividers. The tan one has three signatures with the file folder dies (both 1 and 2) along with plain pages inside for writing and notes. In the video you can see more details.The more advanced book is a hard cover, stitched binding journal made with medium weight chipboard, papers from The Book 5 and 49 and Market and dies from both file folder sets as well.There are six signatures in this book, each sewn into the inner spine binding. In the video, I take you through all the steps to this process.This stitched binding is not difficult once you get the hang of it, and it’s certainly the most sturdy and book-like journal of all three styles.I plan to use this hard cover book as my 2023 grateful journal, so watch for more on that in future posts. Thanks for joining me today, and I hope you take time to watch the video and try making your own journals. Enjoy!
Hello everyone, Annette Green here sharing my take on the new Blank Canvas Planners. I finally had some time to play and experiment with this new addition to the planner line, as I’ve been so inspired by other design team members’ amazing creations. I wondered what would happen when using washi tape, embossing glaze, rub-ons, and Archival ink with stencils. I had some great success and a bit of a failure which I share in the Craft With Me video below.I had so much fun, I continued the same techniques inside one of the two planners I had. In the video I share all the details on what I’ve done here. The bottom line is when the planner is pre-treated with gesso and then sealed at the end with gel medium, washi and rub-ons worked great! A tip I would recommend following: avoid the spine areas since it folds sharply, as this can make the rub-ons crack over time with use.I love how the linen texture of the blank planner offers some nice effects when embossed as you can see in this close-up. As you will see in the video, I created two planners each with different rub-ons, but basically the same techniques. Another tip I offer in the video when placing your elements on the planner is to overlap. You can see what a nice effect it has here in this close-up. It would look completely different (and less pleasing in my opinion) if all the elements were spaced out from each other.Another valuable tip when stenciling with inks is to use Archival ink rather than water based. As I show in the video, I had some water based ink on the dauber when I pressed it into the archival ink and as a result, after stenciling it, when I sealed over the top with gel medium, all the red completely smeared! Not to worry, I show how I fixed it at the end of the video.I found the perfect rub-on for the protector tab and made sure to seal it with the gel medium afterwards. This is important since this tab folds over rather sharply and can crack the rub-on if not sealed. I hope you enjoy my take on altering the covers of these planners and I hope you take a moment to watch the video as I show you everything, step by step. Thanks for popping in today!
Hello everyone, Annette Green here to share some fun and festive holiday pages. I’ve finally caught up in my scrapbook planner for 2021 and have created a video to show all the new dies and stamps I’ve used to make these last few pages. The Photo Pocket Pages are great for quickly popping photos inside and now even easier since we have Pocket Page Filler dies, as I talk about in the video. All supplies I’ve used are linked below the video as well.The new Half Page dies are perfect for a layered look where you can see other pages peeking out behind them. Here I’ve used both the Half Page 2 and the Half Tab Page, along with accents from Sidekick Essentials 23 and new stamps (CS276 Circles with Sentiments and CS275 Peace & Joy).The Lantern Page die is great for either a full page cut-out or simply for the lantern itself. I show in the video how easy it is to assemble. I’ve used some new page reinforcements also, which will be available soon.The final page in my 2021 scrapbook planner is this pretty one featuring the new Holly Page die. In the video I share how I layered this die to help the holly stand out better on the black background. To finish off the page, I fussy cut some images from the Graphic 45 papers, Warm Wishes. Now my planner is officially complete! Thanks for popping in today. I hope you take a moment to watch the video.
Hello again, Annette Green here to provide all the details for our upcoming online class called December Days Sidekick Class with Annette Green. The class will be held in a private Facebook Group, Saturday October 15th, 2022 to all who purchase our special kit. We’ll have three 1-hour sessions to complete a full December daily style planner. I’ve created a special video showing all the kit contents and other supplies you’ll need, plus more details on where to get a kit, how to join the group, what you need to do to be ready for class, and what times the sessions will begin. I hope you take a moment to watch the brief video, as it covers everything you need to know. If you still have questions, feel free to ask them here on the blog or in the video comments section. Hope to see you October 15th!
Hello! Annette Green here today with some new pages in my Nature Journal. The focus today is learning how easy it is to make your own background papers with the new Planner Stencils. I have a video tutorial at the end of this post taking you through all the steps. Then I share what I call “Make Aheads” which are small collaged embellishments which you can make in advance for any of your planner pages. As shown in the video, my backgrounds are made with Distress Oxide inks onto different surfaces such as Soft Finish White cardstock, dictionary page, or book pages from old books.For added embellishment, I used the scraps from dictionary pages to die cut leaves and mushrooms plus some fussy-cuts from papers in The Book 3. I made small journaling spots with the new Framed stamp set and coordinating die (Photo Film Slides). With a few dies, some fussy cuts, stencils, you can create really pretty and simple pages for your photos. Here’s an example of one of the “make aheads” and in the video below, I share several more ideas for embellishments.Most of the items I’ve used here have been made ahead of time which I keep in a tray on my craft table. The photo slides are some of my new favorites!I recommend stamping the slides before die-cutting for the best outcome. I experimented both ways and this worked best for me. In the video I also share how to use pages you don’t necessarily like very much by die-cutting smaller images from them and enhancing them with color, and also layering the page onto another page once the shapes have been cut out, like this one with the maple leaves cut away. I hope you take a moment to watch this fun and informative video, and if you have any questions, please put them in the comments.
Hello, Annette Green here with a fun tutorial on how to make your own Halloween album with pop-ups, a Planner Essentials page die (#35) and of course the new release of Monster dies and stamps from Joset. I’ve got a video below taking you through all the assembly steps so I hope you have a moment to check it out.Using the General Pop-Ups set (all links below) makes this a super easy and very impressive way to create interaction in this mini album. I’ve used Graphic 45 “Charmed” Patterns & Solids papers, but you can use whatever you have to recreate this.Throughout the album, I’ve used lots of pieces from the new Party Time dies to create easy and fun embellishment on the pages.The Monster Hugs stamp set is perfect with these cute monsters. I used one of the double pop-up dies here; one for the monster and one for the stamped expression. Some of the photo mats, like the one shown here, are from the Stitched Indented Squares set. While some of the pop-up flaps open bottom to top, others open right to left like a card. You’ll have to watch the video to see who is behind this one!I had the best time making these cute monsters. It’s really hard to stop! I hope you take a moment now to watch the video tutorial to see for yourself how easy this is to make. I hope you give it a try. Thanks for popping in today.
Hello! Annette Green here today with some helpful tips on getting caught up in your scrapbook/planner. I am working in my 2021 planner and am making progress getting caught up, so if you are in the same situation, you may find this post and my video helpful. There are a number of ways to speed up the process of getting caught up. One of the best ways is to utilize the new Pocket Pages. I alternated paper pages and pocket pages in my planner, but you can do ALL pocket pages to really make it easy and fast.Another way to speed things up is to use stickers and cut-aparts from your paper collection. I used ready-to-go 3 x 4 cards and stickers from some Fall papers in my stash. This really helped the assembly go quickly.Another way to make this process easy and quick is to utilize Planner Essentials dies, of course. The page dies are a great way to begin, then the little embellishment pieces like tabs, tags, labels and shapes are quick and easy decorative elements.In the video I explain how I do the layering method where I begin with all of my base pages first, then add mats or frames for all my photos, then I size and print my photos, then add the final embellishments. By following this method I was able to complete the five layouts shown here in just an afternoon! I hope you take a moment to watch this “Craft With Me” style video and that you find it helpful. Thanks so much for stopping in today. Have a wonderful day!
Hello everyone, Annette Green back again today with a fun little mini album project you can create in an afternoon using three Sidekick Essentials dies, a few stamp sets, your favorite papers and some chipboard. I’ve created a video tutorial so you can follow along and hopefully make one of these yourself!I’ve used the Sidekick Essentials 1, 12 and 16 for this album because each one has a base page to use along with very versatile embellishment pieces. I’ve used Graphic 45 papers in my stash, but really any papers will do, so I encourage you to go to your supplies you have on hand.I ended up using images from five different stamp sets (Memorable, Paper Love, Planted with Love, Home & Nature and In My Garden) but you can use whatever you have to make this album work for you. I’ve linked everything below if you’re looking to expand your collection.As I describe in the video, I mixed Graphic 45 collections along with 49 & Market to make a really feminine, garden-themed album, but I can imagine this album with masculine papers too. So in the video, I share the basic assembly of the base album first, then I show how I decorated it toward the end of the video. I hope you find it interesting to watch and that it inspires you to give it a try. Thanks for stopping in today.
Hello again everyone, it’s Annette Green here today with some more Summer planner pages featuring the new Flower Pot/Bucket die set from Joset. I combined Planner Essentials dies with the flower pot and Strawberries die to showcase some cute photos of my dog Suki eating strawberries, as well as a visit from my parents last year. I’ve created a “Craft With Me” style video if you’d like to follow along as I design and assemble these pages.As I describe in the video, to make more room for journaling and large sized photos, I added a half-page in the middle of my two full-size pages using the Planner Essentials 14 Bookmark 1 set. This is an interesting way to layer and still see some of the elements from the other pages peeking through.The star of the show, besides Suki, is the rusty bucket full of strawberries. With a few alcohol inks and some silver metallic cardstock, you can get the same look quickly and easily. It makes a fun embellishment to the page to help tie everything together. I hope you take a moment to watch the video, as I share some techniques I used and helpful design tips along the way. All products I’ve used today are linked below, in addition to some of the other new dies I showed in the video which I used on other projects. Thanks for stopping by today. Have a wonderful week!
Hello again, Annette Green here today with some more planner pages, including a fun, interactive page using the Slider Pockets die set, Planner Essentials 31. I’m still catching up on my 2021 planner from last Summer with these bright and sunny colors and photos. I’ve included a “Craft With Me” style video below to share how to assemble the Slider Pocket page, in case you’ve not tried it yet. Once you get the hang of it, it’s easier than you think!
Prior to the Slider Pocket page, I created this spread in my full-size planner, where I used parts from the Summer Special Insert like the palm tree and some of the leaves, and the word Summer, and the new Photo Pocket Pages for the two photos on the right.The photo pocket pages are one of my new favorites for keeping things simple while adding additional photos to your layouts. So what’s under those interactive flaps on the right page? Watch the video to find out, as I share how to engineer this die, how to add photos, and some tips about altering the pull tab in the middle. Thanks for popping in today. Have a lovely day!
