A VICTORIAN-INSPIRED STATIONARY HOLDER

Hello my wonderful friends, and thank you so much for coming out to support and encourage me on my debut as a Sassy Designer.  First, I'd love to thank Sheila for having me present my project on (and I know we all agree) her beautiful and talent filled blog -- I am happy and honored to be here!

I'm also posting particularly early this morning as I later have a lot of running around to do preparing for a vacation trip I'm leaving for very early Friday morning.


Because my project involved quite a few steps to complete, this may be pretty lengthy and I apologize for that; but I am going to try to get through it as thoroughly as possible so as not to bore you or turn Sheila's blog into a craft novel -- LOL!  If you should have any questions, please feel free to contact me by leaving a message on my blog:  http://cuteandsome.blogspot.com/  I'll respond as soon as I possibly can.

Let's begin by first having a look at my completed project, which is my version of a victorian inspired stationary holder.  This first view is with stationary in the holder:

Here I'm giving you a front and back-front view; notice both the covers show the decorative covered sides facing the front (not the back black covered sides):

Before I began this project, I first assembled what I wanted to use to embellish the front of the holder:

1. 
   
   Silk Fower - I made this using the candle buring technique with off-white material.  I then prayed the flower with expresso colored alcohol ink and burnt red Glimmer Mist, and embellished the edges with gold Stickles.
2. Victorian Lady's Face - I resized and printed the face from an ephemera program I have (but you can easily find some on the internet if this holder inspires you to make one); I then covered the face with 3D Crystal Laquer to give it dimension.
3. Plastic (flat bottom) Bead Ribbon - I purchased this at Walmart, cut it the length of the side of the CD I placed it on.
4. Layered Feathers - I first sprayed the top feather with burnt red and tatered leather colored Glimmer Mists, and glued it to a plain white feather for effect.
5. Love Label - I stamped the word "Love" on a strip of transparency with a black Versamark inkpad and traced over the word with  lavendar colored Stickles;  I then placed the word over a leftover piece of the paper used for the CD covers and trimmed the label around the word.
6. Tulle - One (1) 12" long strip cut, folded, and fanned out along the top folded edges. (Cut off excess tail when and where needed after attaching to cover behind flower)
7. A purchased crystal star sticker which I tried to give a more aged appearance by rubbing litely with the expresso alcohol ink.
8. Cabachon/Cameo - purchased from the Dollar Store; it was attached to a hair band.  I probably won't use this but I'm putting it here just in case I need extra adornment.

Now to get started on the holder.  Starting with two (2) old/used CD's I traced and cut out the covers for the 2 front CD's by using one of the CD's.  The cardstock covers for the front of the CD's I made by scanning  and printing out some old sheet music I have around the house onto plain white cardstock.  For the back covers, I traced and cut out 2 black cardstock covers:

To give the front covers an aged look, I sprayed them with burnt red and tattered leather color Glimmer Mists:

 I swiped the edges of the front covers with the antique linen color Distress Inkpad around the edges, and then litely swiping pad randomly on the covers:

Next I stamped a spiral design on the covers using Versamark ink and covered the ink with gold embossing powder:

Removed excess powder from image and paper, and dried powdered image with my heat gun:

To bring out the aged look on the front covers, I went along the outer edges with rust and gold colored Stickles:

Lastly, attach/glue front and back covers to each CD (I use modge podge because I think it adheres the paper to the CD better than most glues -- it doesn't separate paper from CD due to heat or cold).

Set your CD's aside and let's move on the the construction of the holder bases;   I cut 1 pressboard/cardboard square 3.50" x 1.75", this will be the base that secures the CD's together to hold the stationary; cut another pressboard/cardboard square 3.50" x 3.75", this will be the bottom base for the holder.  I completely covered each base by gluing black cardstock to them:

Next I arranged (to my liking) and added the embellishmets to the front cover of one of the CD's.

I then added the first base, the stationary base (3.50" x 1.75"), by aligning and gluing it (using a very strong glue such as Crafters Pick and/or hot glue) near the lower bottom edge of the CD where the longer ends of the base meets the edges of the CD on the back of the CD cover.  This should be about 3/4 down the back of the CD.  (If you make this holder, make sure before gluing on the base, the cover of the CD is aligned properly -- wouldn't want the base to end up at the top or side of your front cover):

Lastly, I glued the other (back) cover to the base making certain both CD's are evenly aligned to each other. I now have the base that holds my stationary.   Caution:  If you make this holder, because you'll want both front-side covers to be facing to the front, make certain the front cover on the back is facing the back cover of the front cover (embellished side) before gluing in place.  

Finally I added the last bottom base which will add more security to the entire holder at the very bottom by  gluing the front and back CD's in the middle along the length of the bottom base (3.50" x 3.75"): 

That's it!!!  Place your holder upright and just add your stationary!!!  No, the pedestal isn't part of the project but the holder does look nice perced on top of it, doesn't it?  LOL!!!  And I really didn't need the cabachon after all!

Again, thanks to Sheila and to you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed my project!

I'll be seeing you!