February 25, 2015

Secret Garden Star Book

Today I'd like to share a new project I just completed - it is a star book

A star book is a type of accordion book.  Each page has multiple layers that vary in length and thus form a multi-layered star when the book is open and the covers are placed back to back.

This book features the Graphic 45 Secret Garden paper collection.  I used both the 12x12 and 8x8 pads to create the project.

The project also features Spellbinders Shapeabilities dies - four of the pages have a panel created from one of these dies using a special cutting technique to create a mirror image or extended diecut panel.

I videoed the construction of the book as I went along, so if you are interested in making this project yourself you can use those videos as a guide.  More on that at the end of the post.



Cover

The cover is very simple- just the feature sheet from the 8x8 pad.  I kept this very simple and flat so the star book would stand open properly











Page 1: Blue Roses

Background - “Seed Fairy”
Panel 2 – Blue diecut Inset- Spellbinders “Butterfly Garden” die framed with “April Showers”
Panel 1 – Frame “Coming Up Roses”, accented with fussy-cut roses from “May Flowers” cut-aparts




Page 2: Flower Fairies

Background - “April Showers”
Panel 2 – Purple diecut Inset - Spellbinders “Grateful Lattice” die framed with “Sun Kissed”
Panel 1 – Frame “Coming Up Roses”.  Scene created with Tim Holtz “Brick Wall”, grass with Poppy Stamps “Grassland Border”, Flowers and Fairies fussy cut from “May Flowers”.  The top border was cut using Spellbinders “Gilded Life- Petite Monarch” and the bottom of the panel has a fussy cut strip from “Posy Patch” with some additional flowers.


Page 3: Fence & Flowers

Background - “Posy Patch”
Panel 2 – Collage created from top of “Secret Garden” paper with fussy cut girl from “May Flowers” cut-aparts
Panel 1 – Fence from “Secret Garden”






Page 4: Beautiful Blooms

Background -  “Sun Kissed”
Panel 2 – Cream diecut Inset - Spellbinders “Basic Lattice” die framed with “Coming Up Roses”.  The lattice was decorated with flowers fussy cut from cut-aparts and other flowers
Panel 1 – Frame from “Beautiful Blooms”





Page 5 - Leafy Treetops

Background - “Leafy Treetops”
Panel 2 – Green diecut Inset - Spellbinders “Botanical Swirls” die framed with “Pretty Primrose”
Panel 1 – “Leafy Treetops”







Diecut Panels
Each of the diecut panels was created using a Spellbinders Shapeabilities die cut twice to create either a mirror image (Butterfly Garden, Botanical Swirls) or an extended design (Graceful Lattice, Basic Lattice).  If you are interested in how these diecuts were created, I made a YouTube video explaining the technique.





Construction
The panels for each page have hinges to connect them.  The three-panel set was then attached to a green cardstock back panel.  The five pages were connected together with cardstock hinges at the front edges.  There is a set of videos detailing the construction, and also a construction guide which lists the papers needed and some of the cutting dimensions.

Links to Videos:
Link to Construction Guide on Dropbox.

Completed Project
There is also a YouTube video if you would like to take a tour of the completed project and see the pages in more detail and the project in three dimensions.

2 comments:

PaulaB quilts said...

Wonderful,for spring, needed right now. A delight.

Linda FS said...

This is such a glorious project. Each of the panels is beautiful on its own and then together as a whole. I particularly like the fence and flowers panel with the lovely picket fence. But my favorite panel and construction video has to be the flower fairies. The 3D grass effect was such a great idea and the sticky die cut brick wall and then all those colors. Absolutely glorious.