Finished the other Circle book and Handbag!

Yep, in between teaching classes I managed to finish it with a few days to spare!!  I want to be able to take them back to the UK with me next Tuesday so that I can post them off to my Mum while I am home. 

I love the handbag charm dangling from the bag... it took me an hour to make that this morning... probably not a cost effective use of my time when I have a pile of ironing waiting to be done... but given the choice I will pick playing with beads over playing with my steam iron every time!!

Oh and if anyone has any influence with the weather... please put in a request for the snow to be gone before my plane lands in Heathrow Tuesday morning? 

It's My Birthday and I'll...

eat cake if I want to!!  In fact, I did... eat cake, that is, and quite a lot of it!!  My friend Trudie made me a lovely chocolate cake for my birthday and my friend Ping bought me a really decadent cheesecake along with lots of lovely little chocolate sweet/cake thingies.... so I am all caked out!!  Eat cake now for tomorrow we may diet....  The girls who take mini book classes from me completely outdid themselves and made me the most fabulous mini book, each doing a page.  I'll photograph it in daylight tomorrow and show you... I must be a heck of a teacher or they must be excellent students... not sure which!! ;)

My Mum had two of her Granddaughter's to stay for Christmas and she asked me to make them a mini book each to put photos of thier holiday in so I have been busy getting the first one done...

I used K&Co Sera Sera papers and opted for one of my favourite designs.

This is the book opened up and viewed from the top.

This is the handbag to hold the mini book, I quite like the way its turned out.  Now I just need to get on and do the other one... similar so as not to cause arguments but different enough so that they are individual...

Handbag Instructions for Circle Book

A few folk have asked if it was possible to get instructions to make the handbag that the circle albums fit into.... well, as I made the first one and didn't measure anything I have made another and hopefully worked out what I did!! LOL

Obviously all the measurement I use are based on the size of the circle book I made - and as I have no idea what size you have made yours - please adjust the measurements to suit. The BIA versions are wider than the straight forward ones. Measure your book and allow an extra 1/2" on the tallest part.

Cut 2 pieces of chipboard 6 1/2" x 6 1/2"

Cut 2 pieces of chipboard 6 1/2" x 1 1/2"

Lay your book onto the squares and draw a line at the height you require and remove that corner so that you have the shapes in the photo.

Lay the chipboard pieces onto your chosen patterned papers as shown in the photo - make sure you have one of the rectangle side pieces at the bottom and one to the side.
Cut small V's at all corner section of the chipboard so that your paper folds nicely. Use double side tape (DST) on sections of chipboard except the length marked with an X on the paper. This is the piece that you will use to attach the sides to each other!!
Cover the insides with patterned paper - either the same or a contrasting colour. Note that the triangle is still free - do not glue it down yet!
Now DST the last 2 pieces of paper inside to form the sides of your bag.

Cut a length of cardstock to make the fold over flap/closure and cut one end into a point. Cover with your patterned paper leaving a border of colour. I used DTS to adhere it to the back of the bag and then added 2 brads to make sure it stayed in place.
Cut 2 lengths of ribbon to make the handles and fasten to front and back of bag with brads. Now you can glue the triangles of patterned paper inside the bag and cover all the bits you have poked through like the legs of the brads.
I used a Basic Grey large magnet to keep the flap closed. You can now add some flowers or braid or ribbon to decorate your bag as you wish. :)
Voila!! You are finished... enjoy!!

Handbag for Lib's Circle Book

Well, I was sitting here on the forum with the mini book classes in case somebody needed help with the destructions... so I thought I would make a handbag to put the Libby Circle book in... and I love it!! I even made it a little handbag charm to dangle from the strap. LOL Wonder how long it would last if I used it???? Hmmm perhaps not!