Garden Stone Ideas from Caponi Art Park

The garden stonework at this fun park is inspiring and a lot it it is attainable. I think I'll incorporate some of the elements at the cabin.

The top edging is concrete blocks with stone obelisk behind them.

I would not have thought you could have had the paved paths in Minnesota with the frost pushing up the stones but they looked great. One is stone and the other is timbers placed on end.

The garden bench was built into a stone retaining wall.

Flamenco Dancing at Caponi Art Park - Small Adventures Week 3

Flamenco Para Todos with Flamenco Espana performed at Caponi Art Park in Eagan, MN.

There are 60 acres of art in a woodland setting to explore. Most of the sculptures were done by the park's founder, Anthony Caponi. 

Many of the sculptures are incorporated into the landscape and the earthworks become part of the experience.

The Photoshop action for the film strip is Sutro.

The Tall Ships Came Into Duluth, Minnesota - Small Adventures Week 2

The tall ships docked in Duluth 7/25 and were well received by a huge crowd of onlookers. I don't think I've ever seen so many cameras in one place.

Afterwards, we joined another huge crowd at the Portland Malt Shop for the best malts in Minnesota.

We continued along old highway 61 which skirts the lake. We've taken this lovely drive many times but the rain that hit on the way back was new. It struck the windshield like hail and was painful when we stuck our hands out the car windows. Cool. I love a good storm.

This photoshop action is Brannan.

Art Car Parade Around Lake Harriet - Small Adventures 1

Traffic around Lake Harriet took an odd turn last night when the Art Car Parade wound it's way around the lake.

The couch is controlled by a game style controller and it races and spins around the street. 

My daughter's favorite was a Dr Who car with Bad Wolf written on the side.

Yesterday while on a bike ride with my daughter I decided we needed to schedule weekly small adventures where we do something different or learn a new skill.

My family spends too much time in different rooms with everyone on their own computer; we've even texted each other inside the house.

The Instagram style film strip actually was actually taken with a digital SLR camera but I do like playing with my toys. Daniel Box made some very nice Photoshop actions that are very easy to use. This one is Toaster. My plan is to do a photo strip for each of our small adventures.

How To Make a Recycled Envelope Book with Scrapbook Paper Instead of Envelopes.

I remembered seeing an envelope book and thought I could use some more scrapbook paper to make something similar. I chose a tropical theme and will use it for my next vacation.

I grabbed a book from the stack that I'm donating to the library and carefully cut the book free from the cover with a razor blade. I'm keeping the pages since I plan to incorporate them into the finished book later.

I measured the spine to see how big to make the insert. This book is 1.25 inches wide.

Now for the math.

I want the insert to be a little smaller than the spine so that it can lay normally when the pages are filled and the "envelopes" are filled. My spine is 1.25" wide so a 1" wide insert will fit well.

I want a 1/2" flange so the larger piece of paper is 2" x 8.75 (the length of the page I want the finished book to have minus .25")

I want to have a .25" space between the flanges so the next 2 pieces of paper are 1.5" wide.

The fold lines are indicated with a dashed line. A scoring board is very helpful but not required.

The center flange is glued together inside. I used Tacky glue since that was what I had on hand and a glue stick would be strong enough.

All 3 folded flanges nest inside each other and are glued along the bottom.

I used scrapbook card stock to make the spine flange.

The book spine isn't stable enough to glue the spine flange to, so I cut a piece of cardboard to size and glued it in place.

I glued on new endpapers to cover the existing ones and cover the cardboard covered spine. I used white scrapbook paper and since the book is wider than 12" I have a seam in the center.

Make sure you fold the book closed to ensure you don't have the paper glued too tight.

I plan to decorate the endpapers with art so the white will suit my  needs but a more interesting end paper would be fun.

Glue the center flange in place.

My finished envelope pages will be 5.5 x 9 inches. Scrapbook paper is only 12" so I needed to piece the envelope sleeve.

I cut the sleeve 5.5 x 9.5 and folded each piece .5 inch on opposite ends.

Glue the 2 pieces of paper together with the folds on opposite sides to reduce bulk at the seam.

Put glue on both sides of each individual flange and slide the envelope sleeve on. Press in place. Check the pages by turning them (like you were reading a book) since they need to have a little space for turning and you don't want the pages too tight.

The finished book. I'll be cutting watercolor paper to size so I can use to as a travel journal. The nice thing is the scrapbook pages are acid free so it won't hurt the artwork.

How To Make A Book With Pockets From A Sheet Of 12" Scrapbook Paper

I have a bunch of scrapbook paper that I don't know what to do with. I thought a book might be good since the paper is acid free and nice quality. This is a cross between a couple of other books I've previously made and I think it turned out cute.

You don't need a Martha Stewart Crafts Scoring Board and Envelope Tool but it sure makes life good. You rest the paper against the guides and run a bone folder along the groove. 

Score a piece of 12 inch scrapbook paper along the above lines. Fold along the scored lines.

Cut along the dashed line but do NOT cut the remaining 3 inches.

Fold the first side accordion style.

Now's the tricky part. When you get to the end of the first side, you fold the uncut edge backwards so that you can continue to fold the remainder of the book accordion style.

You can see the open space where the uncut side was folded.

Glue the back side of the pages together. I just used a glue stick.

To prevent things falling out of the pockets, I taped the edge with decorative tape and trimmed the excess. Washi tape would be great but I used decorative tape that I found at Target.

You can see the backs of the pages are glued and the 3 open folder edges have been taped.

The cover of the finished book.

You can use the pockets for credit cards, business cards, or mementos. The paper is acid free so it would be nice to draw on the white portion and keep small items in the pocket. I think I might glue some of these inside the cover of my artist journals.