Couture clipboard

By Spotlight

A Helen Bradley exclusive design - Use 35mm slide preserver sheets & a small office clipboard to make this marvellous display piece.

Final Result

Materials

• small size office clipboard
• 10 pieces of fabric cut to the clipboard size
• acrylic paints - maroon, silver, gold, flat black
• assorted jump rings
• black plastic chain
• recycled clothing tags
• alphabet rubber stamps
• tag - Home Sweet Home
• number plate metal alphabet
• Dymo labeller & black tape
• duct tape
• mini tags
• cardboard stencil numbers 0-9
• white rub on alphabet
• white paisley shape rub ons
• slide mount pockets
• 5cm x 5cm photographs
• fabric flowers
• assorted brads
• small seashells & sand
• mini-crayons
• word stickers
• exposed film strip
• Tim Holtz distress ink - Vintage Photo
• confetti hearts
• 5cm x 5cm printed quote
• small pieces assorted scrapbook paper
• mini compass
• book ring (black)
• alphabet beads
• head pins
• eyelets & eyelet setter
• sandpaper
• craft drill
• crop-o-dile or similar hole punch
• dimensional adhesive
• matte gel medium
• dark colour markers
• adhesives
• dry erase marker
• stapler
• corner rounding punch
• needle & thread
• paper trimmer
• sewing machine - optional

Step 1

Prepare the pages
Each page of the book is a sheet of fabric cut slightly smaller than the size of the clipboard with its corners rounded. Across the top of the back of each page, affix a strip of duct tape to give the top of the page some stability.

Around each page draw an edge for the page using a coloured marker darker than the fabric used on that page.

Cut the slide mount pages so that you have sets of four slide mounts plus the edge with the holes in it used to store the slide mounts in a binder. Use your sewing machine and a zigzag stitch to attach the plastic slide mount across the middle of the fabric page. Trim the corners to round them.

Step 2

Make the page numbers
Paint the cardboard stencils using silver paint ensuring that the brushstrokes go in one direction only so you get a faux metal look. When the paint is dry, use sandpaper or a distressing tool to rough the surface of the painted elements. Rub Vintage Photo distress ink into the roughened surface and wipe away excess ink with a paper towel. You need one number for each page of the book - it should be sized the right size to fit into a slide mount pocket.

Step 3

Prepare the clipboard
Sand the clipboard to roughen the surface and paint with two coats of maroon acrylic paint. When dry, sand the edges to distress. Drill a hole in the top left corner of the clipboard large enough to take a book ring.

Step 4

Here is how we decorated the book: Cover page.

Hand sew large number plate style letters to the left side of the page. Fold a piece of duct tape in half so it sticks to itself. Cut a large heart from the tape and adhere paisley rub-ons to it. Punch a hole in one corner of the heart. Write words on mini tags and attach through the hole in the heart shape. Affix a single slide mount pocket to the page and staple heart on top. Add Dymo label words to the page.

Step 5

Page 2
Apply rub on letters to the top of the page to spell the title. Wrap paper around the stencil number and affix with brads. Paint the page number with gold paint and affix over the top of the slide mount. Tuck photos into slide mount pockets and add a layered fabric flower to the page using a brad.

Step 6

Page 3
Affix a small sheet of scrapbook paper behind the page number. Add photos to the slide pockets. Trim a 5cm x 5cm piece of cardstock, layer with gel medium, add small shells and dust with sand. Set aside to dry. Attach with double-sided tape to the front of the slide pocket.

Step 7

Page 4
Cut a small piece of cardstock and attach the mini-crayons using dimensional adhesive. Set aside to dry. When dry, affix on top of slide mount page. Add photos to the slide pockets. Place a piece of scrapbook paper behind the number and affix using brads. Tear a corner from the number and add more paper behind it. Use Dymo label tape for the message and add a sanded and inked brad.

Step 8

Page 5
Using rub ons apply letters and flower element to the page. Using brads attach the number to a piece of scrapbook paper whose edges have been sanded. Add photos to the slide pockets and adhere a word sticker over the top of the slide mount pages.

Step 9

Page 6
Affix a small sheet of paper behind the stencil opening then attach this to another piece of scrapbook paper using brass brads. Slip a strip of exposed film in the keeper down the right side of the page and affix rub on letters to fabric.

Step 10

Page 7
Cut a swirly edge from a sheet of scrapbook paper and affix to the right hand edge of the number. Affix the number to another sheet of scrapbook paper using brass brads. Apply white rub ons over fabric and plastic to create the page title.

Step 11

Page 8
Ink a small quote using distress inks. Slip photos and the quote into the slide mounts. Tuck small confetti hearts into the pockets on top of the photos. Affix the number to a piece of scrapbook paper and attach a small heart shape brad. Create the title using two contrasting rub on alphabets.

Step 12

Page 9
Tuck photos into the slide mounts and add mini tags with handwritten labels. Attach a piece of paper under the slide mount plastic to the fabric itself using fabric glue. Apply rub on letters to spell the page title.

Step 13

Page 10
Apply white rub on letters to create the page title and add additional words using Dymo label tape. Affix a mini-compass to the slide mount pages using dimensional adhesive. Trim two of the edges of the stencil number using a corner rounding punch and affix the number to a small map fragment using silver metal brads.

Step 14

Beadwork & tags
To create the bead words, assemble alphabet beads onto long head pins and form a small loop to close the ends. Loop a large jump ring through each and affix to a very large jump ring and then to a piece of nylon chain. Paint discarded clothing tags with flat black acrylic paint and affix an eyelet through one of the tags. Stamp words on the tags and handwrite text using rub on paper. Create a tag with the creator information and a photo. Adhere a diamante heart to one of the tags. Through each tag loop a large jump ring and attach to a piece of nylon chain. Stack the 10 pages of the book on top of each other. Mark a position in the top left corner through all the pages and punch using a crop-o-dile or similar punch.

To assemble the book, loop the book ring through the pages, through the ends of the nylon chain and through the clipboard.

Handy Hint

Place bulky embellishments at the foot of each of the pages so that you do not make the top of the book too lumpy. Because the pages are fabric they will hang nicely over the elements on the pages below.

Handy Hint

Slide mounts make a great start to a mini-book. Make all your photos the same size and place in the pockets to create a neat mini arrangement. Here we’ve used faux metallic numbers as a fun design element to add variety and continuity to the pages.

Handy Hint

The white areas on some slide mount pages that are there for you to write on can be removed using dry erase marker. Cover the white with marker and rub with a paper towel to remove the ‘white’. If your slide mount pages work this way, you can also write words with the marker, allow to dry and then ‘wipe’ off the words and the white areas so that the word shows as a transparent area in the white.