Santa's Little Helpers Set - Part 2

These are the last two paper projects for the set and for the rest of the year. One of the artists that creates beautiful albums and other items for Tinne at Vectoria Designs, created this perpetual album. 

His name is Paul Ford and he did an amazing Alice in Wonderland project from the paper kit called "Wonderland Adventures". He decided that he would include a tutorial for making a perpetual album.Keep in mind he made his with the Alice papers, I have used the Santa's Little Helpers kit. You can make these in a day and with any papers. You just have to decide on the size of the album and the papers, but the process is the same for any size.

Tutorial here. It is a long video, but worth watching for the techniques alone. I might even make this myself. The section for the perpetual album starts at 2 hours 36 mins. Here is mine. I used chip board (I think it's 3mm thick), and makes for very sturdy front and back covers. I made nine pages. 

And finally, my Santa's Little Helpers Advent calendar. I made it just like the tutorial as an advent calendar, but mine will be used as a decor item. I made it "chunky" as Tinne likes to say. I added the pockets to the pages (you will see in the tutorial) and inside each pocket, i added file folders from the embellishment pages. 

There were no numbers for the calendar included, but there are lots of Etsy sellers that have advent calendar printables. I found some vintage style ones. In the center of the album is a pocket and I made an envelope to go in there as well as another pocket on the inside front cover. Inside the envelopes I added the extra embellishment words, IE... joy,merry and so on. So enjoy and I will be back in a few days with the Busy Elves SAL I am just finishing.... 

  

  

 Santa's Little Helpers Set - Part 1

Tinne of Vectoria Designs created this beautiful printables kit, and I have to say it's one of my favourites. I decided I couldn't just make the advent calendar that Tinne made the tutorial for, so I got busy and decided to make a complete set of projects.

       Printables Kit here.....             Advent Calendar Tutorial here.....

Today I'll post two of 4 parts, of my set. A few posts back I showed you mini cat and dog specimen albums. I picked out some of the papers from the Santa kit and created this very cute Santa's Helper specimen album. I chose the faces of some of the adorable little creatures to use in the slides. There is a page in the kit of large size postage stamps, which turned out to be the perfect size for this album. If you follow the link above the kit, you will see in the left column of the listing, a sample of the postage stamps. 

The second project for today, is a moving card. I showed you a couple posts back how to make them. This is the tutorial Tinne created and at this link, you can also download the free Jane Austen printables to make your own cards. Tinne also has a template for these cards, on her Etsy site and with the blank template you can then do what I did, and choose any papers you want for the cards, to suit whichever event you would like to make them for. 

Mine of course is made with papers from the Santa's Little Helpers kit. The first picture is the envelope to hold the card. The next picture is the front of the card and the last two are the front and back once you pull them open. So much fun to make. Enjoy.....

  

 Nutcracker Folio

I have a love for Nutcrackers. They originated in Germany. and probably because my family immigrated from nearby Austria and Czech, I connect with them. That seems natural to me, you will always feel, in some way, connected to a place in the world that you maybe have never been to, but family came from there. 

While there are countries that claim certain styles of Nutcrackers (there are endless types), the general concensus is that Germany was the originator. These were the simple and most recognizable Nutcrackers. Some today are very different in things such a mechanisms, and their colours are a span of every part of the colour wheel and mixes of colours. However I prefer the original wooden, and the limited palette of colours for Nutcrackers. The original palette was simply red, orange, blue and yellow.

You can read more here if interested.  

This folio is not necessarily what I would choose for these theme because it's not based on my preferred look. But it is still a pretty paper collection an I will take what I can find. The search will continue. ;o)  This printables kit is on for a very special price for only a few more days if you decide to try it.

Printables here.....        Tutorial Here.....

I am used to most designers talking through the tutorials to guide you along, but this one is only with background music and you will watch the steps as the folio comes together. You can do it, but will require you to focus more. So with that, here is my version. I haven't included pictures of every part of the folio but you can see a short video on the Etsy page or watch the tutorial where they will do a flip through. The only part I would change if I were to make it again, is to make a different closure. I would place it on the side rather than how it is below.

I have one last Christmas project to show you, but in the meantime, enjoy this.....

 Christmas Mini Book 

Back on October 14th, I posted a paper art book called Natural History Mini Book. That was so much fun to do and a challenge since my experience with this type of art is very limited. But I kept going and it was made so much easier following the tutorials that the designer posted on YouTube. Alexandra M's. work is always a surprize, you just never know what's coming next. 

This is what came next.... so exciting. This is her Christmas Mini Book. In this video on YouTube, you will see the newest Christmas themed book, as well as two new sets of add ons, which you can then find on Etsy. 

Christmas flip through on YT..... Follow this link to her paper kit on Etsy.....

If you are going to try making this book, you can follow this playlist of videos Alexandra put together when she created the Natural History Mini Book. The layouts are exactly the same in this new book, it's the papers that change. I've taken lots of pictures, so here we go. Enjoy.....

Inside Front and Back Covers

Extra Large double sided tags that fit inside the pages.

Five double sided pages

And here is my finished book. I really love details, so when it came to the outside, I played a lot with the spine and the Santa face on the cover. On the spine I used eyelets and bakers twine to create the laced up look. I then used bulb pins and added Christmas charms to places on the lacing. The closure on the side is a piece of the same Lime Green Kraft -Tex I used on the spine. On the cover of the book, I gave Santa some hair for his face and trim for his hat.

 Christmas 3 

These are the last two smail Christmas printable projects and one other, not Christmas but adaptable for that.

This one is called Cozy Christmas. It's a pretty little folio and one you can hide little notes and things in, maybe the recipient won't even be able to find them. ;o) If you go to the tutorial, those secret places will be revealed. As in the case of other tutorial, this is the same project as the tutorial, but using different paper. If you've been following my posts, you will recognize the tutorial.

Printables here.....     Tutorial here.....

The second folio is Frozen Christmas. Another Santa theme but done in unexpected colours. So pretty. 

Printables here.....        Tutorial here.....

The last part of the post is non Christmas but it can still be made using Christmas or any holiday or occasion papers. These are Moving Cards. Maybe you've heard of them. I seem to remember them from a long time ago, but Tinne refreshed that memory by creating these. She will provide you with the printables for free with this project and if you like them, you can find a whole new kit for a complete collection of the papers on her Etsy site.

 Tutorial here.....     

I've mentioned before that you can use your own papers for these, but to make that easier Tinne has provided plenty of Templates you can purchase for many of her folios etc. As well, in the files, she gives you options for using the templates.

Click right here for those.

These cards also come with a printable for an envelope, a nice way to present them. You will see how different these are and how fun to make. I have another one made, but I am working on a couple of other parts for that post.

 CHRISTMAS 2 

This post will feature three more projects. Two are little books (love those little books). The first mini book is Pink Santa. It is made using the exact same tutorial as the cat and dog specimen books I posted a few days ago. Who says Santa can't be pink. 

A lot of the projects I am showing you, have a number of secret pockets, tabs and more. It would take many more pictures than I post, but the tutorials I add the links for, take you step by step through the whole thing and you will see all those extras.

Printables here.....              Tutorial here.....

Here we have even smaller books. The first one is approx. 3 1/2" x 3 1/2". These ones are Christmas in Pink. I didn't measure but guessing they are approx. 2" x 2", maybe a little bit bigger. These are cute and fun to make. When opened they unfold like an accordian. You will be able to embellish both sides with all the extras in the kit. I also printed more of the tiny envelopes so I could add them to the pockts on both sides, that also helped to bulk up the books. The tutorial is for the same book but done in different papers. The kit comes with enough papers to make two of the little books.

 

Printables here.....           Tutorial here.....

The last one for today is Purple Christmas. A folio with a numbers of inside pockets and tabs. Another beautiful set of papers from Tinne of Vectoria Designs. They are so quick to make, you could spend a couple of weekends making all your Christmas gifts out of these kits I'm showing you. The tutorial is for different papers, but bonus, you get the alternative printables for that project for free on the YouTube page of the tutorial, just by clicking the link in the description box of the video.

Printables here.....           Tutorial here....