How to Make a Paper Bag Album

Start with a stack of paper bags, folded shut.
Stack them alternately, open end, closed end. As seen below:

Now, sew them together through the middle axis, or alternately you can staple them together. I used a big bulldog clip to hold mine together and punched holes in them with my Crop-A-Dile. Then I sewed them together. Finally, I laced paper punched flowers through the holes.

Fold your album like a book, with the sewing line as your binding (as in a book.

Decorate the cover. Put a clear adhesive laminate film over the cover for stability. (Contact Paper will do fine.)

Decorate the inside pages and enjoy!

Yet Another Page Kit

Nuri Wallace is offering cute page kits at Etsy. I think this one is really adorable...

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27754606

I'm curious...how many of you buy page kits through the Internet? After looking at my new home in the Washington DC area, I've decided I'll be doing a lot more shopping online. I couldn't find a LSS...much to my disappointment. I thought about saying, "I won't move here! There are no local independent scrapbook stores nearby!" But gee, that seemed a little rash.

There are two chains--Michaels and A. C. Moore. I like chains, but I love the individuality of independent stores as well.

Any thoughts?

Page Kits

My friends at The Scrapbook Tree have cute page kits available for mail order. Reasonably priced, too. This is a sample of how you can make one of them up. Check the rest out at

http://thescrapbooktree.com/salesmain.aspx

4th of July Page Kit Now Available--

This now available from www.youpublish.com/joannaslan Along with journaling tips and art.

You can download this file for free for a limited time.

The Answers to Your Questions

I love your mail, and recently, a lot of you have been asking me questions after reading Cut, Crop & Die:

1. Will Detective Chad Detweiler appear in Book #3?

Yes. But I won't tell you if Kiki and Detweiler get together. My lips are sealed. Tell me...do YOU want them to get together?

2. What happens with Sheila and Police Chief Robbie Holmes?

Um, it's complicated. Sheila is definitely in love, but she's also a very inflexible person, isn't she?

3. Will Kiki stay in St. Louis?

As some of you know, my husband David and I are moving to Washington DC.

But Kiki will stay in St. Louis. At least for the time being. That said, I really think Kiki should
* go on a scrapbooking cruise
* or a scrapbooking retreat
* or to a big scrapbooking convention, don't you? Let me know! Write me at joannaslan@aol.com

4. Will Paper, Scissors, Death and Cut, Crop & Die be available on Kindle?

My publisher has told me they have submitted the books to Amazon for inclusion on Kindle. However, it's up to Amazon to decide how FAST they put the books on Kindle. I suggest you let Amazon know if you'd like them to hurry up.

5. Will Paper, Scissors, Death and Cut, Crop & Die be available on audio books?

We're working on this, but it's not going to happen any time soon. (Probably not in 2009.)

6. Why are there two covers of Paper, Scissors, Death shown on some bookseller sites?

Because one is the large print version.

7. When will Book #3 in the series be released?

In Spring of 2010.

Cute Coaster Album

How to make your own coaster album:

1. Decide which coaster will be your first, second and so on in the album chain. Also decide what will be your album "cover." You might want to play with your shapes to decide this!

2. Now decide how you will attach your album "pages" (coasters) together. This will help you determine what sorts of holes you'll need and where they'll go. You might even wish to draw a small thumbnail sketch of your album so you remember where your attachment points will be.

3. Cover your coasters with paper. Again, think in terms of pleasing patterns! I chose to alternate pink and green. Also, think about where your photos will go. I decided my cover will not have a photo. All the inside pages will. On the green page with the big heart, the photo will go under the heart. On the other pages, the photos will go above the words "dreams" and "love."

4. Do the same for your back sides. (Uh, of the album! You know what I mean!)

5. If you decide to have an image extend beyond the edge of the coaster, remember it will show its reverse side on the reverse side of the coaster. For example, next to my cute little tree, I have a "sun" with a heart in it. The reverse of the "sun," the round shape, also shows when I flip the album over. So I had to cover both sides of the "sun" with paper. (You can see what I did by looking above at the album, the far left coaster shows the backside of the "sun.")

6. Punch your holes, add ribbon. Enjoy!


TIP: You'll notice that the second coaster from the left above doesn't have flat paper. I should have spread my glue across the center of the coaster rather than just around the edges. My bad.

Paper Piecing Tips

Paper piecing is fun and easy. Over the years, I've gotten better at it. Here are some of my best tips--and I invite you to share yours as well!

1. Make two copies of your pattern--always. That way, when you cut the pieces apart, you can tell what goes where.

2. Find patterns by going to "google," clicking on images, and putting in "line drawing + WHATEVER." Of course, you'll change the word "WHATEVER" to rabbit, deer, or whatever you want. Also try "cartoon" instead of "line drawing." Now, you don't have to limit yourself to simple drawings, but it does make it easier.

3. Use Herma's Dotto repositional glue dots on the back of your pattern to adhere it to the paper you want to use as a base. I always cut out the biggest part of the pattern first. You don't want to be piecing together small bits to make the overall shape of your image. For example, with the deer above, I cut out the whole body from brown paper. Then I peeled off what was left of my pattern, stuck it on the lighter paper, and cut those pieces out next.

4. Remember that your paper piecing won't really look great until you add pen or pencil and chalk. For my deer, I filled in the inside of the ears and his mouth with white pen. Then, I put a thin layer of pink ink over the white pen. I also used the white pen on the black of the eye, around the iris of the eye, and on the nose.

5. Use chalk as your best friend! It adds tons of definition and totally melds your pieces together. Remember that dark colors are the shadows or the receding portion of an image. Light colors are for the highlights, for areas that are nearest you.

6. Touch areas you wish to lighten with a rolled up eraser, the gummy kind, to lift away chalk. Since chalk can be hard to control, the type of gummy art eraser you can manipulate is perfect for getting into small areas. You don't have to scrub your paper. Just touch down the eraser.