Father's Day Inspirations at The Cuttlebug Challenge

This week the Cuttlebug Challenge Sweet Treat Design Team was asked to create some projects for Father's Day.  Be sure to visit the Cuttlebug Challenge Blogspot to see what the rest of the team created.  You can always find inspiration and lots of great contests at the Cuttlebug Challenge!

I created this "DAD" wordbook using Design Studio and the Base Camp cartridge.  Wordbooks are easy to create when using Design Studio and they make wonderful gifts.  You can buy chipboard wordbooks and cover them with decorative paper but it can be a slow process to trace and cut each shape.  With Design Studio you cut your base and the decorative paper from the same file so they are a perfect match!

I don't care for the look of chipboard and don't want to spend a lot of time fussing with the edges of  my book.  I have tried a few alternatives for cutting the base pages.  One is heavy art paper.  It is acid free and will cut well with multi-cut set at 2 or 3.

To cut the base pages for this book I tried something different.  I used this plastic report cover material.

I got mine at Staples - here is the bottom of the label.  I imagine it comes in other colors but I found only black at my store.  The material is strong but thin and very flexible.

The plastic has a rough side and a shiny side.  I put the rough side down on the mat.  I set the multi-cut to 2 and used the regular blade and housing, maximum pressure and speed on the dials and blade depth 6.  This material cut beautifully.  I simply used my large guillotine trimmer to cut the plastic for the back page.

After I cut the plastic pieces, I cut the pages from decorative papers.  I wanted them to coordinate so I  used paper from just one stack.

I chose papers from this DCWV stack.  The papers are "masculine" and have lots of copper foil detailing.

 

I  set up the file so I could cut all three letters on the same mat.  The papers is cut at 4 x 6 and arranged as shown.

I forgot to turn off the multi-cut so these were cut twice.  It might be a good idea to cut all of the pieces two times to insure clean and smooth cuts.

I used my ATG gun to adhere the paper to the plastic base.  I had tried some liquid glue on a test piece but after leaving it sit for a few days the paper came loose at the slightest bend of the plastic.  I used plenty of tape and I tried to get very close to all of the edges to prevent lifting of the paper.

I chose darker colors for the backs of the pages to provide some quiet space for photos and journaling.  Remember to flip your paper (place it patterned side down on the mat) so the cut will fit perfectly.  If you are using solid paper you don't need to worry about flipping the paper.

I used the Bind-it-All to punch holes and bind the book.  I centered the group of six holes on each page and when they were done, I threaded the wire rings through all of the holes and crimped them into the locked position.  This was simple to do since I wasn't trying to have the rings going up and down the entire spine.

There is plenty of room inside to add photos, journaling and embellishments - I'll post more photos when I have decided just which photos to add.  You can download the file here - I'll try to do another "video tour" of the file and how I created it very soon.

DAD word book

For my second project, I made this coordinating card using the Wild Card cartridge.  The decorative paper is the same as the paper I used for the layer of the "A" in the word book.  It is cut at 4 x 5 1/4 inches and the edges are inked.

There is an entire keypad nearly full of interesting frames on this cartridge.  I altered the dimensions of this shape to fit an A2 card, setting the height at 4 inches and the width to 5 1/4 inches in the Shape Properties box.

The "Happy Father's Day" is cut at 2 inches in Real Dial Size.

I inked the edges of an ivory A2 card with cosmic copper ink to coordinate with the cardstock.

The frame was cut from DCWV metallic cardstock and the "Happy Father's Day" is cut from a brighter copper metallic cardstock from American Crafts.

I wanted to add "rivets" at the holes on the four corners of the frame and I chose the second row of gems in the black gradient gem sticker pack from Creative Charms (here is a LINK to the page where you can find these gems).

The final "project" is so simple that a young child can participate in making a gift for Dad.   I cut a 12 x 2 1/4 inch strip of the cardstock that I used for the "D" letters on the wordbook.  I cut the strip in half and then scored it at 3 inches so the strips would fold over neatly.

I have several sets of these magnets that have been sent to me with magazine subscription solicitations.  I popped out the centers (saving the pretty frames) and cut them in half.

I applied tape from my ATG gun to the printed side of the magnet and stuck the two pieces together.  I centered the magnets on one side of the strip and then folded the other piece down on top of the magnets to adhere the top magnet to the other side.  This guarantees that you will not get the polarity of the magnets backwards and have a bookmark that does not "click" together over the page in a book.

This simple page marker will be useful for a reader (without a Kindle!).  You can also use plain cardstock and let a child draw pictures on it.

I hope you enjoyed these projects.  If you make your own versions, I'd love to see a photo.  You can leave a comment here or post it to the Capadia Designs Facebook page HERE .


Now - let's go find out what is new today for "Hello Thursday"!



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