Ladybug Notebooks Tutorial

Hello everyone! I hope you had a good weekend! Here, things are returning to our normal routine. It is surprising how much longer it takes to pack school bags when you didn't have to do it for quite some time. I am so glad I don't need to pack lunch in the mornings, since they get food at school. 

This week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog we have a Back to School theme, very fitting for this time of the year. Don't miss the wonderful project by our August guest designer Anne Redfern.

I made four notebooks, which have already been given away as teacher's gifts. Handmade notebooks are such great little gifts, and you can easily make them fit a certain person, interest or occasion. Since I made four of these books, I kept the design pretty simple, with the focus on a very true quote by Nelson Mandela from the SSS Thank You Teacher set, and a beautiful ladybug stamp.

I used watercolor paper for the covers and stamped the ladybug from Tim Holtz's Entomology set in three places and once on the back cover.

Smear Candied Apple Distress Ink on a craft sheet, mist with water and watercolor the ladybugs. Leave a white highlight.

I wanted the ladybugs to keep both their bright red color and the white highlight and protected them with a thin layer of Distress Micro Glaze. The glaze is waterproof and protects the ladybugs in the following step.

Smear Distress Inks on the craft sheet, mist with water and press the papers into the ink. This is such a quick way of coloring paper and as you can see, the ladybugs stayed just as they were.

Stamp sentiments with black ink.

For a little texture, stamp the dot stamp from Tim's Tiny Textures set here and there and emboss with white ink. Cut Sizzix Little Sizzles Mat Board to the same size as your watercolor paper. Mine were 4 x 6 in (10.5 x 15 cm). Adhere the watercolor paper with Matte Medium and place under a heavy book. Round the outer corners when dry.

The final touch on these covers is Glossy Accents on top of the ladybugs - put aside to dry.

Use a Crop-A-Dile to punch holes in the covers and cut papers for the inside, slightly smaller than the covers. Bind with Tim Holtz Mini Book Rings.

For the inside, I used a mix of white and kraft papers, rounding the outer corners for a finished look. You can also use patterned paper, or maybe watercolor paper. One of the great things with making your own notebooks, is that you get to pick the inside paper yourself. I am not very fond of the lined, often flimsy paper, you find in a lot of store bought notebooks.

These are quick to make, and if you want more details on the cover, you can just add more stamping. I like to keep notebooks quite flat and rarely use dimensional items, but you can of course add embellishments such as flowers too.

Don't worry if the embossing powder strays, it leaves additional texture. I didn't remove any stray powder on purpose.

This is such a great quote, and a little extra special for us because of our South African connection. I have even seen Nelson Mandela in real life twice, albeit from a distance.

On the back cover, I just stamped a single ladybug.

The covers are pretty similar, except for that I placed the stamps a little differently on this one.

The Glossy Accents gives a really nice look to the ladybugs and make them look and feel dimensional.

I just had to add one more photo of the ladybugs with their glossy surface.

I hope you will join us this week in our Back to School challenge. As always, you have a chance to win a $50 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until next Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in.

Don't forget to follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, they post great stuff daily. 

Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog today!  

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

Supplies:

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