Arnold Grummer's Design Team Blog

Take advantage of Arnold Grummer's 20% off during the month of July!! Use code: JulyPromo. By: Carole Lassak Yes, you read that right, It did say Christmas. Yes, I know it's July. But, Christmas is my favorite holiday, and I think about it year round. Today I'll show you an  accordion booklet that doubles as an ornament and a gift. I started with an Arnold Grummer's Mini Zig Zag Book and a sheet of handmade paper that I created using an Arnold Grummer's Papermaking Kit . I followed these standard directions when making my paper. Here are the steps you can follow to create your own zig zag book: Ink the edges of the chipboard book covers. Coat one side of each of the book covers with an aggressive adhesive. I ran my covers through my Xyron. Decide side of your handmade paper will be the right side. With the right side of your handmade paper face down, place the adhesive side of the covers on the handmade paper. Firmly brayer to ensure a good bon...

Now that the winter holidays are over, I'm ready for spring!! And my crafting thoughts are turning to spring, as well. Arnold Grummer's Papermaking is getting ready to usher in spring as well. To celebrate National Crafting Month they are offering a 20% discount off your total order!! The special discount code is March20 . Offer ends March 31, 2013, so take advantage of this deal while it lasts. I selected a variety of patterned papers, vellum, and a treasure envelope for the pages of my booklet. The papers were cut 6" x 6" to match my handmade paper cover. Pages of the booklet I used a Sizzix die to cut the flower petals from paper that I made using Arnold Grummer's papermaking kit . I added a couple organza flowers between the paper petals, and secure all the layers with a black velvet brad. Close up of handmade paper flower embellishment I punched the cover, pages, and treasure envelope as shown in the following photo. This particular punch arr...

Thanksgiving is just past, and I'm moving on to Christmas. I made these two booklets using Arnold Grummer's  mini zigzag books  to give as greeting cards. For cover of the booklet on the right, I paired USArtQuest's Duo Adhesive and Arnold Grummer's Gold Dust particles. I daubed a foam wedge in the Duo and pounced it randomly on the surface of the brown handmade paper. The Duo goes on as a white liquid and is effective when it dries clear and tacky. When the Duo was dry, I liberally sprinkled the surface with the Gold Dust particles. Next, I used a textured sponge to remove the excess Gold Dust, leaving a beautiful, randomly gilded cover. Close up of Gold Gilded ZigZig Booklet I embellished each cover with snowflakes punched from handmade paper. A rhinestone in the center of each snowflake adds just the right touch of bling. The inside of the blue snowflake booklet was also done with Duo and Gold Dust, but this time I used the Duo with rubber stamps, using...

This mini matchbook album is the perfect project to use small pieces and scraps of your handmade paper. I started with this lightweight chipboard matchbook. Next, I covered each page and the matchbook cover with a different piece of handmade paper and inked the edges of each page. After some experimentation I discovered that the best adhesive to adhere the paper to the chipboard is  USArtQuest's Great Tape . I dug into my stash to find stamps and embellishments to decorate each page. The pink heart on the cover was made using Arnold Grummer's Three Hearts Template. Here's the finished matchbook mini album. Visit my Create & Craft blog to see more of my projects.

Handmade papermaking is so much fun!! And Arnold Grummer make is easy, too. When I started my paper factory one nice sunny morning, everyone got involved—my son Seth, daughter-in-law Joanna, and my two year old grand-daughter Chloe. Even my husband Steve, who generally shuns my projects couldn't resist. We made lots of paper—all from recycled junk mail. How cool is that to take something worthless and transform it into a beautiful handmade piece of paper. We tried lots of different types of inclusions, too. We even used torn pieces from a dictionary page as inclusions. Here are the pieces that I selected for this project. The plain one is for the inside cover of the booklet.  Here's a close-up of all those beautiful inclusions. I used the Arnold Grummer 3"x3" Book Cover Template to trace the outline on the reverse side of my cover sheet so I could cut it out. I cut the cover liner 3"x 6 3/4". I glued the book boards in place using USArtQuest...