Take a Tag!

Hello!

What a rotten few days we have had weather wise! Started doing the garden ready for the school holidays, but no.. rain stops weeding.. I object to gardening at the best of times.. no way am I drowning while doing it!

So.. I went through my cupboard, and I found the beautiful kit I got from Duck Pond Crafts... it really is stunning, and I decided I really needed to do something with it, but what?

Tags seem to be huge at the moment.... in all the magazines, all the groups.. tags everywhere... so I decided to .. Take a Tag.... but do what exactly? Well.. combine it with my favourite crafty pastime of the moment, and make a book....

Are you sitting comfy? We shall begin! :-)

Take three A3 sheets of cardstock.... the fat Ginger Tom doing his Olympic Gold Star Ignoring Me Technique because he knows he shouldn't be there, is totally optional!

Take the Bloom Kit from the Fabulous Duck Pond Crafts.....

OK.. Roughly position the tags on a sheet of A3, and decide how big you want each "pocket" to be.... then score a lip at one end, so you can stick this sheet to the next...

Then decide how deep you want each pocket to be.. I have given mine fairly deep pockets.. and score... do this on all three sheets...

Then you need to fold them all so they are concertinaed (is that spelt right?? Blogger spell check says it is.. I am not sure myself!!) and fit neatly together. Folding back the thin lip you first scored so it is out of the equation, fold each sheet in half, then the edges to the middle to make four panels in each sheet of card,

Then open and fold up the Pockets you scored, and using a bone folder and some hefty pressure (LOL) crease everything into place!

Now... Quick Heads-Up at this point.. it pays to think ahead instead of making it all up on the spot.. having creased it all.. I realized I folded the wrong way.. so quick unfold, and re-crease! Durrrr! When it is all folded, you want the first pocket to be inside the "book" not as the cover! Oh well! (the third sheet I then decided to cut down so I had ten pockets (as I had 10 tags) but that is up to you how many pockets you want!)

Now to make the cover.. This is done using very technical and exact measuring.. so pay close attention! LOL
Lay a sheet of card on your mat, portrait, and position one of your folded pockets on the bottom corner (either will do)Landscape. Score a line a little bit bigger than the pocket is so it will cover it nicely.... Remember what size you scored at! Now the technical bit! Hold all the pockets together, and stand up just above the score line.. give them a bit of space to fit easily, and score another line... then score again using the measurements of the first score (you know what I mean!) Turn the card and score it so it is just bigger again that the pocket, and cut and crease....

OK.. Now we have everything folded the right way.. onto the fun bit... Getting Inky! Put a sheet at a time somewhere getting messy doesn't matter.. I have a Spray Box.. and get inking and spraying and all that other messy fun stuff! Then leave somewhere safe to dry.. which in my house means somewhere the Fat Ginger Tom can't reach! Ink and spray the covers too!

Once they are all dry.. (I inked up a couple of tags while I was getting messy!)

it is time to decorate... taking the (I may have said this before) Fabulous Bloom Kit... which has soooo much in it.. look!!!!... And play.

Obviously this is very much up to personal taste.. but here is my cover..

...and assemble...... Now another Heads Up Here.... if you want a ribbon tie on your book... NOW is the time to add it.. DO NOT stick the front cover down then remember the ribbon, cos you need to rip it off really quick to get the ribbon on it before it all sticks together forever!!!! I have only stuck the front cover so far, as I might want to use brads etc to decorate the pages, and it will be easier if I can still get to the backs of the pages to do this! See.. sometimes I DO think ahead!!!!

(yes.. this was the point I realized I had forgotten the ribbon tie and panic set in!!)

I have quickly tied it together to give the look of being finished.. and I have also started playing with a couple of tags... I will let you know how I get on with them..

So.. thats it! If you stuck with me all the way to here.. Thank You and Gold Star! If you liked what you saw.. leave me a message.. makes me feel like I have friends! :-) If you love the look of the kit as much as I do.. pop over to Duck Pond and grab one.. they are soooooooo fantastic... and if you decide this looks fun and you want to make a tag book.. please let me know.. I would love to see it!

Right.. off to do battle with my slightly broken and temperamental kettle.. cos I need a coffee after that huge blog post... Happy Crafting, stay inky, have a good day and see you soon

Hugs xxxxxx