• 3D printing - Blog - Creativity

    My style notebook

    February 12, 2024 - By 

    I am a prolific list maker and idea jotter. I am constantly grabbing a sheet of notebook paper to quickly write my ideas. It gets a bit chaotic with some many pages of half crossed lists laying about. I started thinking that if I could have a smallish notebook with me that I could keep everything in one place.

    This idea, like so many others, has been rattling around in my head for a while. Lately I was inspired by an image of a stack of small pamphlet stitched notebooks on Pinterest. That in combination with a Readers Digest Condensed book cover I had in my stash and thinking of the function of a travelers notebook I put the three together to create my own version to better suit my needs.

    As I said before, I constantly have papers to jot ideas or work things out visually. Such as this drawing on how I wanted the elastics to work in the spine. Originally I was going to have 3 signatures to my book but after drawing it out I realized that I’d need 4 to have the elastics at the same end of the book.

    I used my new book cradle to assist in the binding process. 

    Mr. G 3D printed and assembled this very sturdy tool for my bookmaking. In the past I’d used an old phonebook for this process with very mixed results.

    This book cradle makes it a breeze to accurately make holes in the spine with an awl. The results are perfect.

    I added a but of reinforcement to the spine of my gutted Readers Digest Condensed book.

    Then used eyelets to reinforce the holes for the elastic cording.

    A bit of lace covered the unsightly bits quite nicely. All that was left was assembly.  And the glamor shots.

    Anyone remember Glamor Shots at the mall circa 1990s? Oh yeah… I have some cringe worthy photos from that place. Faux fur stole and white gloves…geesh. Sorry…ADHD squirrel moment!

    The glamor shots…

  • Blog - Crafts - Creativity - Fun & Games

    T Tuesday: minecraft edition

    April 26, 2021 - By 

    Hello and welcome to another edition of T stands for Tuesday.

    It’s been a pretty standard week for me…work, home and errands keep me busy. I was tasked with a project by Mini-me though. She has been playing Minecraft for 10 years now. If you’ve never heard of it, here’s a very basic explanation…it is pixel and block based building game so everything is square but check out the link if you want to know more.

    She wanted to make the windows in her room look like glass blocks in Minecraft.

    Out came the Silhouette portrait machine. We fudged the blocks slightly so that they would be attached for easy placement. Something you’d never notice on the final product unless I told you.

    My crafty neighbor had gifted me with some white vinyl a while back, I wasn’t sure how it would work but Lord knows I kept it just in case. It actually worked perfectly!

     

    Look at the fun shadows it creates as the sun sets.

    I can’t leave without sharing a sweet photo of Marvin on Caturday Saturday.

    And this is just a photo of Marvin being very helpful as Mini-me works on her classes.

    I’m totally loving my new mugs with one minor issue…I usually bring a cup of coffee with me to drink on my way to work. My new mugs do not fit in the cup holder of my van. Yes, I use really mugs with open tops in the van. I’m a nut, its okay, I’m good with it.

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today?
  • Blog - Creativity - Fun & Games

    3D Loot Crate gift box

    March 27, 2017 - By 

    I was going through photos on my phone and realized that I never posted about the gift box I created for J’s birthday. The major gift he was getting from us and his uncle was a subscription to Loot Crate. Since there was nothing physical to give at that point, we thought a coupon of sorts would be in order. Loot CrateThen the wheels started turning and I thought how about a 3D crate that he could keep as a memento on a shelf as well. A physical reminder of the subscription.

    I started with black foam core cutting it down to create the box.Loot Crate

    Next I stamped a wood plank rubber stamp on the back side of a cereal box with Staz-on ink.Loot Crate

    I then used walnut ink and watered down acrylic paint to make the cardboard appear as wood.Loot Crate

    After assembly I added more light stamping for a distressed appearance. I wanted to make it look as if that crate had traveled the world. Loot Crate

    It was a fun little project and had much more impact than a plain old coupon.

    Loot Crate