Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Vintage Christmas Needle Book Tutorial

Hi everyone! I have a cute little book tutorial to share with you today, made for this month's Eileen Hull Art With Heart challenge. Favourite Things is the theme this month.

Layers of ink - Vintage Christmas Needle Book Tutorial by Anna-Karin
I made a little book using Eileen's new Needle Book die, which is such a great die. It comes from her new Stitchlits collection. The papers come from Graphic 45 A Christmas Carol collection. The Stitchlits are so fun to use together with some embroidery and here my old metallic floss came out of its box where it had been hiding for quite some time.

Start by die cutting the needle book from mat board.

I also die cut one needle book from patterned paper, to use on the inside. It would have been better to adhere it to the mat board before die cutting, but I only thought of it later.

Die cut Stitchlits flowers and stems from patterned paper. You can read more about these dies in my Emboidery Hoop post. They work best together with the Sizzix Magnetic Platform.

Paint the book gold.

When the paint is dry, sand the edges and ink with Ground Espresso.

Cover a small piece of mat board with natural sticky-back canvas for the closure piece and die cut with the Needle Book die. I also tore two pieces of patterned paper with text from A Christmas Carol.

Decorate the flowers with gold floss. There are many ways in which you can stitch the floss through the holes, or wind it around the flowers.

I also added some green and red metallic floss.

For the inside pages, manila cardstock was coloured with Antique Linen, Pumice Stone and Broken China, by smearing them on my craft sheet, misting with water and pressing the paper into the ink. Colour both sides of the paper.

I die cut the pages with the Recipe Card die, which is the perfect size for the needle book. They were stamped with images and words from Graphic45 A Christmas Carol 1 set, using black and brown ink. Fold in half and use two at a time for each signature.

The flowers were glued to the front and I added a pearl to the bigger one.

I also tucked in a sentiment, cut from the patterned paper.

I used Velcro to close the book on the front. 

At the back, the closure was adhered with a brad.

Pierce holes through the signatures and the cover and tie with twine.

Isn't this a great sentiment, and not only for Christmas.

I haven't quite decided what to do with this little book yet, I might give it as a gift, or use it to document a specific Christmas tradition.

I left quite a bit of space for journaling inside the book. 

Layers of ink - Vintage Christmas Needle Book Tutorial by Anna-Karin
This little book could be made for many different themes and it is so cute, measuring only 2.25 x 3.6 in.

Thank you so much for looking!

Happy Christmas crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:





11 comments:

  1. Gorgeous little book Anna-Karin. Love the vintage tones and each of the signatures. Tracy x

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  2. I love your needle book Anna-Karin! =)

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  3. This is amazing Anna-Karin! I love that the Recipe Card can be used for the signatures!

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  4. You are just the best at making wonderful little books Anna-Karin! I love your covers and lovely stamped pages - so clever to use the needle book for a Christmas book! Julia xx

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  5. Beautiful book. The book design, colors and front texture is awesome. I'm sure anyone who receives as a gift will thoroughly enjoy...my vote...should give as a gift :o)

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  6. I love that. You know I am a huge fan of books, so this will be added to my collection.

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  7. Your little mini book is gorgeous Anna-Karin! So many lovely features to see. Thank you for sharing this sweet little treasure for inspiration. :)

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  8. Hi Again - wanted to let you know that I just posted a Christmas book on my blog - using your wonderful Halloween book tutorial and I linked back to your post - you can see it here: http://createwithjulia.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-vintage-journey-creative-guides.html

    hugs,
    Julia xx

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    1. Thank you so much Julia! I love your little Christmas book!

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  9. Amazing project! I really love your stitching on the die cuts!

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Happy Crafting!