Nancy Wethington:

. . . STENCILS. Mary Beth Shaw is the owner of Stencil Girl Stencils and I am happy to say lives near me. I've been a fan of her stencils for years. This month, we're thrilled to be sharing some of her stencils on our Mini Album Makers Challenge blog.

Since I'm waiting for paint to dry, I'll share one of the first projects I ever did with Stencil Girl Stencils.

Love the detail she gets in her stencils.

And the list of artists who design for Stencil Girl is a who's who list!

(Stencil used on the above book: Bird in Window)

This month on Mini Album Makers Challenge blog, I've re-created a book I did a loooonnnnnggggg time ago. It's a super-easy binding with a flexible spine. Let's get started:

For the binding you will need:

2 pieces of chipboard for the covers, each measuring 5" wide X 7" tall
6 pieces of cardstock for the page binding, each cut 6-3/4" tall X 2-1/8" wide

You will also need decorative paper for the covers, binding and inside pages. I used an A-4 pack from Prima Marketing.
Scor-Tape or your favorite wet glue. I used scor-tape.

For the binding:

Score each of the 2-1/8" pieces of cardstock at 1" and 1-1/8".

I call that middle section a gusset and the left & right side a margin. There is a *right* way to fold on score lines. One side of your score line is a valley (indented) and the other side of the paper shows score lines as a mountain (bursting up). Always fold towards the mountain. It will give you a crisper edge.

So you'll end with 6 pieces that look like this:

Working with just one side of each binding piece, place scor-tape on the left and right margins. DO NOT OVERLAP tape on the gusset.

Tape one margin of one binding piece to the next binding's margin, until you get a look like this:

Notice that there will be left & right wing margins that will not be attached to anything. That's how we'll attach this binding to the book (later).

Time to decorate:

1. Cut 2 pieces of decorative paper for the outside covers. I'm wrapping the cover so I will be cutting my paper 1" larger (all around) than the chipboard. My chipboard is 5" X 7" so my decorative paper will measure 7" x 9".

2. Place scor-tape on one side of the chipboard.

3. Remove the scor-tape and center the chipboard, tape down, onto the center back of the decorative paper. Repeat for the back cover.

4. Next, I fold all the edges in towards the raw chip. This makes it easy to tape the paper. Miter the corners being careful not to cut too far into the paper. The idea is to cover the corners without chipboard showing.

5. Place tape on the edges and fold over onto the chipboard. Repeat with the back cover.

NOTE: If you fold the top and bottom over first on the front cover, do the same on the back cover. Looks a bit more professional ; )

Adding the spine to the covers.

Cut a piece of decorative paper 3" wide X 7" tall. This paper will show on the outside of your book.

With the front & back cover facing up and the decorative spine paper in the center (also facing up) . . .

attach score tape to each side of the spine paper - 1" on each side - leaving a 1" center spine paper showing:

Remove one piece of tape and attach one of the covers to the tape, up to the 1" tape. Repeat with the 2nd cover.

You will see both covers + the spine paper showing in between the covers.

TA DA!

Open the book to insert the binding system. This binding system is not attached to the spine. Rather, we will be using the two wings (left & right margins) and attach those to the front and back cover, avoiding taping anything to the spine.

Place scor-tape on the underside of both the left and right margin of the binding. Attach the left margin to the front cover and the right margin to the back cover. The margins will not touch the spine at all, but will sit securely onto the covers.

Add pages to the binding:

There are 5 pages in this book and 5 fins sticking up from the binding.
Cut 10 pieces of cardstock measuring 4-1/4" wide X 6-3/4" tall.
With scor-tape, attach one piece of cardstock to each side of a fin. If you wish, you can add scor-tape to the top and bottom of the cardstock to create a side pocket.
Cover each page with decorative paper.

Cut 2 pieces of decorative paper 4-3/4" wide X 6-3/4" tall for the inside front & back cover.

Attach decorative paper to the inside covers.

Next up, the cover and Stencil Girl combined with Prima Marketing:

Select the Stencil Girl product you want to use. I chose this Pressed Leaf pattern.

Place the stencil on top of the paper (or the substrate chosen). You might want to tape the pattern down with painters' tape so that it doesn't move.
I'm using Platinum Crackle Texture Paste for my medium and spreading it on top of the stencil.

I don't worry about getting it smooth. Let dry thoroughly.

Once dry, there's a shimmering crackle that looks beautiful with a simple pattern.

I chose to use the crackle in it's own color. You can add color to the crackle with Prima Marketing Artisan Powders. Mix the powders in thoroughly with the crackle before applying to the stencil.

Instead, I chose to color the background with Artisan Powders and a small round paintbrush, giving it a bit more depth: