I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to try out for the
Core'dinations design team, what an amazing team that would be to be on. Who doesn't love playing with Core'dinations cardstock, the possibilites are endless! So here are my three projects for step one of the application process. Starting with a faux book gift box. My crafty friend
Tosha recently inspired me by creating one of these amazing faux books and provided a link for the
tutorial on how to create the folded pages part of the book.
The shabby flower I made using paper from the
Core'dinations Super Assortments pad and the Sizzix Tattered Florals die. It's inked with Vintage Photo and Victorian Velvet Distress Inks.
For the book cover I used papers from the Core'dinations
Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic Collection, this is definitely one of my favorite collections, it's just perfect for vintage projects. Here I embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder, sanded the surface, rubbed with VersaMark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder, I love the rich deep tones this effect gives. I also distressed the edges with a distressing tool.
The
Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic Collection from Core'dinations has the most perfect texture for a vintage style book, a little light sanding, a swipe with some Antique Linen Distress Ink and it's as easy as that! If you're wondering how I made the leather look straps, all I used was some thick card (I used the back of an old sketchpad, about the same weight as grunge board I think) cut into a strip, rounded the ends, stained it with some Distress Stains and Vintage Photo Distress Ink, I scrunched it up to age it and inked the crease lines.
So, the trickiest part was actually making the faux book pages, it's made up of four pieces of paper, accordion folded. There is a bit of a knack to slotting them together but it's well worth the effort, the tutorial link above shows you how to do this.
I used a simple seam binding closure for mine. The seam binding I stained with Distress Stains. I really loved making this, there are so many possible uses for this little book, it could be a keepsake box (a baby or wedding version would be gorgeous), a gift box, it would even make a pretty jewelry box.
So inside, there's quite a good bit of space, for whatever you'd like to put in there! Some hidden treasure!
The finished box turned out 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" x 1 3/4". You could personalize the inside panel with a date, name, photo etc.
I used some more paper from the
Core'dinations Super Assortments pad to line the inside of the book. I debossed it with the Swiss dots embossing folder and inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.
The back of the book is decorated the same as the front, embossed, sanded and embossed with clear embossing powder.
I really love how this turned out and I can't wait to make another one already. You need so few materials, some fabulous Core'dinations cardstock is essential though!
Ok, for my second project I thought I'd share a card I just had published in
Paper Crafts Magazine special issue -
Card Creations Volume 11.
I used a beautiful shade of burgundy cardstock from the
Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic Collection, embossed using the Sizzix Flowertopia embossing folder and sanded the surface to reveal that gorgeous Kraft core! The
Guipure Lace from
Craft Fairy I aged using a coffee dye (actual instant coffee and hot water). The sentiment I printed myself. I have another card in this issue too. The Card Creations special issues are one of my favorites, always jam packed full of ideas!
For my third project I thought I'd revisit a tutorial I did for a
Shabby Rose. I chose this one mainly because I found that Core'dinations cardstock worked really well with this technique. The technique used to create the shabby texture effect actually splits the cardstock into two layers. These split layers are more delicate and make perfect lightweight petals. This is a shorter version of the tutorial, you can see my
full version here.
I used the same splitting cardstock technique for the flower on the faux book but I distressed that one a bit more. For this flower I used cardstock from the
Core'dinations Gemstones Collection. I used Spellbinders Rose Creations dies and Sizzix Tattered Florals die. I'm just going to show you the key technique here, where the cardstock is manipulated, then using a tweezers gently split apart. I teased apart three individual petals first before pulling apart to avoid tearing the joins.
Once you get it started it comes apart very easily, with Core'dinations cardstock it does anyway!
These separated layers are fabulously delicate and make the most perfect petals for your flower. I used chalk inks to color the separated side.
The great thing about this technique is that you have double the amout of layers that you die cut as a result of the splitting!
Once they're all inked up, I layered them and curled the petals inwards with a tweezers.
The result is a fabulously full flower, packed with lots of delicate layers. You can play around with variations of this too, using a mix of split and non-split layers. The technique works best on larger layers.
I hope you enjoyed this post and are maybe now encouraged to experiment with some Core'dinations cardstock now that you've had a taste of the possibilities! It's such a pleasure to work with, especially for those distressing techniques. I hope to share some more techniques with you soon using this versatile cardstock. What do I think I do best? (one of the questions asked) - Cards, paper crafted flowers, 3-D projects. Why I love Core'dinations and why I would be a good fit for the company? I love Core'dinations because of the texture, the possibilities, the colors and the quality. I'd be a good fit because I love cardstock, experimenting, coming up with new techniques and ideas, and sharing those ideas.
