BARAKAH LIFE handmade

Tissue Butterflies

I love this pretty little project.

Materials

• tissue paper (cut into 4" x 2 1/2" pieces)
• pipe cleaners
• string or ribbon
• construction paper (4" x 2 1/2") & pencil for pattern
• scissors

Directions

1. Cut the pipe cleaners into 3" pieces and then fold them in half.
2. Fold construction paper in half.
3. Draw the butterfly wings starting on the fold of the paper.
4. Cut on the lines. This will be your pattern.
5. Fold all of your tissue sheets in half.
6. Place your pattern over the tissue, trace and cut. 
7. Open the tissue butterflies.
8. Lay two to three on top of each other and then attach in the center with the pipe cleaner and twist at the top.
9. If you'd like to make a butterfly garland just do one last twist with the pipe cleaner onto the string.

Recycled Notepads

Here's a little something to make with all of that used copy paper. You can re-purpose the paper and create simple and useful notepads.

Materials

• used copy paper, just a few sheets
• decorative paper 2' wide and then cut to the length of you notepad
• paper clips
• sewing machine

  
  

  

DIrections

1. Fold a sheet at a time in half with the clean sides outward.
2. Stack the folded sheets on top of each other. Since they will be sewn with the sewing machine don't use too many.
3. Fold the decorative paper in half
4. Place the spine (folded decorative paper) on the ends of the paper. It will be the non-folded edge. Placing the spine there will keep the used paper out of site.
5. Paper clips can be used to hold the paper in place until you sew.
6. Sew the binding on the paper.

Simple Long Book

These books as well as the books from the last post were made by children 5-7 years old.

Materials

• 2 Covers (front & back) 6" x 13"
• Pages 6" x 13"
• Spine 3" x 6"
• Raffia or ribbon for binding.
• Hole punch.

Directions

• Fold  spine in half width wise.
• Center & punch to holes in the spine.
• Place one of the covers right side down.
• Lay the pages on top of the cover.
• Place the cover right side up on the pages.
• Insert the covered pages into the spine.
• Punch holes through the holes of the spine into the covers & pages.
• Bind pages with raffia or ribbon.

Simple Bookmaking

Colorful Fun

These little books are fast & easy to make. The pages are hand sewn to the covers and then the spine is glued on. If your making many books then the pages can be machine sewn to the covers.

Materials

• Cover Paper 6" x 8"
• Pages 6" x 8"
• Spine 3" x 6"
• Needle & Thread
• Glue Stick

Directions

• Fold cover length wise, make sure to make a nice crisp fold.
• Fold pages length wise.
• Insert pages into the cover and then open them up.
• Sew the pages to the cover either by hand or machine.
• Fold spine in half width wise, again making a crisp edge.
• Open spine and glue the entire surface.
• apply the spine to the cover fold.

Simple Folded Journal

This book requires a little sewing for the spine but beyond that it is all done with folds. Adhesives are not required. The papers are from K & Company, from the Amy Butler collection.  The journal can also be made with children using their paintings or drawings for the outside covers.

 

Visual Directions for Folded Journal

Directions

• Spine, 1 piece 3" x 6" (spine gets sewn to inner core)
• Journal pages, 9" x 6", minimum 6 sheets, once folded each sheet makes 4 pages
• Inner Core, 2 pieces,  4 1/2" x 6"
• Inside Cover, 2 pieces, 9 1/2" x 6"
• Outside Cover, 2 pieces, 4 1/2" x 8 1/2"

   

Design Book

Covering Blank Books

Lesson Book before it's covered.

I wanted to create some design books to hold my sketches and ideas. I had a few Waldorf lesson plan books that I had bought from PAPER SCISSORS STONE www.waldorfsupplies.com. They come in a couple of different sizes and are about $2. a piece. The covers are plain so I thought I'd personalize them by creating covers. Here's the super simple directions.
Materials

• Lesson Book
• Pellon's Wonder Under (double sided fusing)
• Fabric or paper for the books covering, it should be a little larger the the cover

DIRECTIONS

• Open the book with the cover side up
• Cut the Wonder Under down to the size of the book
• Lay Wonder Under on top of the cover with the fusible down, iron it on
• Take the paper off the fusing
• Lay the fabric or paper for the covering over fusing, iron
• Trim material to the edge of the lesson book cover

The Best Part of Making Things

Making Things Garland
I asked my sewing students to think about what they liked best about making things.  Once they wrote their thoughts I placed each on an eight sided star and laminated them. Between the kids thoughts we added tissue mosaics that they had made.

 

 

Photo Garland

Sewn Photo Garland
I had about 150 photos of my sewing students and wanted to display them in a way that they could be clearly seen. I sewed each child's photos in a set and hung them in swags. It worked out nicely because at the end of the event each child could take their photos home.

Presentation Book

Another Skewer Possibility

I had a project due this week that needed a presentation folder and decided to use what was on hand. Since the last post of the Skewer Book was still fresh on my mind I made a larger version, 9" x 12".