If you're in the Los Angeles area, come and make all sorts of pretty gift toppers with the amazing and wonderful (can you tell I love crafting with this lady?) Jeannine Stein author of Adventures In Bookbinding: Handcrafting Mixed-Media Books and Re-Bound: Creating Handmade Books from Recycled and Repurposed Materials. Hope to see you there!
The details:
Etsy Craft Night: Gift Box Toppers
Led by Jeannine Stein
7:00-9:00pm on Thursday December 1, 2011
$5 admission (includes materials, drinks, and snacks)
Take your holiday gifts from frumpy to fabulous with colorful, festive gift toppers! With some simple folding and cutting, you’ll transform maps, decorative papers, and felt into funky layered flowers, firecracker embellishments, and fan toppers that can double as ornaments. Your gifts will look so great they may stay unopened!
RSVP suggested to [email protected]
The Craft and Folk Art Museum
5814 Wilshire Boulevard (at Curson)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.937.4230
http://www.cafam.org
Parking: There are three large public parking lots within a block of CAFAM as well as two hour street parking. CAFAM does not validate for public lots.
Now if you aren't in the Los Angeles area but would still like to make some of these cute projects, here are the directions for you!
Paper Roses
Center a small bead in the middle of a 12” piece of paddle wire. Bend the wire below the bead and twist both pieces together to form a stem.
Cut an 8” piece of floral tape and stretch out the first couple of inches. Stretching floral tape activates the adhesive. Wind the tape a few times around the wire just at the base of the bead. Stretch more of the tape and begin to wind it around the wire at an angle, making sure to cover every bit of wire. Continue to stretch and wind the tape until the entire stem is covered. Bend the end of the stem up about ½” from the bottom.
From any type of thin, lightweight paper cut three small petals, three medium petals and three large petals, using the template. With your finger or a small paint brush apply a thin layer of white glue (such as Elmer’s) to the base of one small petal, about ¼ of the way up.
Pinch the base of the petal around the taped wire stem so that the bead is just showing. Hold in place for a few seconds until the petal is adhered.
Continue with the second small petal, placing it so it overlaps the first petal about 1/3 of the way. Adhere the third small petal the same way, forming a complete circle of petals. Adhere the medium-size petals the same way, centering them where the small petals have overlapped—in other words, try not to place one petal directly behind another. Gently fold the tops of the petals back. Continue adhering the three large petals the same way. When all the petals have been adhered and are dry, wind another 8” piece of floral tape around the base of the petals and down the stem as you did before.
Paper Fan Gift Toppers, Ornaments and Garlands
Punch out six plain or scalloped circles and fold each in half, right sides together. Apply glue stick to one wrong side of a half-circle and adhere to another wrong side of a half-circle, matching edges. If using scalloped circles or other shapes, make sure that the scallops and shapes line up exactly when folded in half. Continue gluing all six pieces until you have a fan shape.
To attach to a gift, glue or tape the first and last half-circles to a box or package. Or, punch a small hole in the center of the first and last half-circle about a quarter-inch from the edge. Lace a thin ribbon through the holes as shown, taking the ribbon through the hole from the top of the first half-circle, lacing it under the fan, then taking it through the bottom of the last half-circle.
To make an ornament, glue six to eight half-circles together as above. Before gluing the first and last half-circles together to make an orb, string a bead through a 7” piece of 1/8” ribbon and knot it just under the bead at one end. Apply glue to the wrong side of the first or last half-circle. Set the ribbon in the middle of the ornament with the bead against the bottom. Form the top of the ribbon into a loop, tucking the end into the middle of the ornament. Adhere the first and last half-circles together. For a garland, start with a longer piece of ribbon and attach several ornaments to the ribbon at evenly spaced intervals.
Felt flower
Cut a 3” x 11” or 12” piece of felt. Fold in half lengthwise and press it with your fingers. Place a bead of tacky glue on the inside of one bottom edge and press both edges together to adhere. Set it aside for a few minutes to dry.
Make angled fringe cuts in the felt starting from the folded edge and spaced about ¼” apart. Stop cutting about ¼” from the bottom.
Place a bead of glue along the bottom edge and roll the piece up, starting on one short side. Try to keep the bottom from telescoping as you roll it up—it should remain flat. If the felt starts to pucker as you’re rolling it, tuck it in and continue to roll.
Felt Firecrackers
Cut a piece of felt 1 ½” x 11” or 12”. Fringe the piece by making ¼” cuts into the felt along the 1 ½” side, stopping about ¼” from the bottom. If you accidentally cut through the felt don’t worry, it can be pieced together.
Run a bead of tacky glue along the bottom and roll the felt piece up. Make sure it doesn’t telescope it as you roll—the bottom should be flat. Fan out the fringe. Cut a circle of felt the same size as the bottom. Apply tacky glue to the bottom of the roll and adhere the circle. Use hot glue or tacky glue to attach the firecracker to a gift.
To use two or more colors, start with a shorter piece of felt. Fringe and roll it as above. To attach another piece, apply tacky glue to the roll, about a half-inch away from the cut edge. Place the next piece right next to the edge of the previous piece so there is no gap. Add a bead of glue to the bottom of the new piece and continue to roll. You can add as many colors as you’d like!
Cut a felt circle the same size as the flower bottom. Apply tacky glue to the bottom of the flower and adhere the circle. Fan the flower petals out. Use hot glue or tacky glue to adhere the flower to a package.
More about Jeannine's books about making fabulous books:
Adventures In Bookbinding:
Handcrafting Mixed-Media Books
by
Jeannine Stein
Each project in this book combines bookbinding with a specific craft such as quilting, jewelry making, or polymer clay, and offer levels of expertise: basic, novice, and expert. Illustrated step-by-step instructions and photographs demonstrate how to construct the cover pages, and a unique binding technique, easy enough for a beginner to master.
Each project also features two other versions with the same binding geared to those with more or less experience. The novice version is for those who have no knowledge of the craft and want shortcuts, but love the look. For the quilter's book, for example, vintage quilt pieces become the covers so all that's needing in the binding. Or if you're interested in wool felting use an old sweater. This offers great opportunities for upcycling.
The expert version is for those who have a great deal of knowledge and proficiency of a certain craft - the master art quilter, for example. For this version, an expert guest artist has created the cover and the author has created the binding. This offers yet another creative opportunity - the collaborative project. Since crafters often get involved with round-robins and other shared endeavors, this will show them yet another way to combine their skills.
No other craft book offers the possibilities and challenges that Adventures In Bookbinding does. Readers will return to it again and again to find inspiration and ideas.
Re-Bound:
Creating Handmade Books from Recycled and Repurposed Materials
By
Jeannine Stein
Re-Bound shows readers how to take every day materials from around the house, flea markets and thrift stores, and hardware and office supply stores, and turn them into fabulous books. Instead of saying, What can I make a book out of, readers will be thinking, What can't I make a book out of? In Re-Bound, a vintage souvenir wallet becomes a photo album. Last year's trendy sweater becomes a takealong journal. Even potato chip bags get a second life as a handy pocket notebook. This fun pursuit is economical as well as ecological. A variety of attractive, uncomplicated bindings, how-to instructions, and step-outs bring each project to life.
Jeannine Stein has been making books for more than fifteen years, exploring bindings, mediums, and techniques. In addition to teaching book-binding, she is an award-winning journalist, and she has written extensively about paper crafts-artists' books, scrapbooking, rubber stamping, and letterpress.
