Feature Day at Gecko Galz

This month its 'Garden Bliss' so after doing something digital on the previous post I wanted to make something, albeit using Craft Artist 2 again.

I tried making a minizine a fair few years ago and well, lets just say it was umm, okay.. I gave it Delia as a little present and she smiled and said thank you. Probably still lurking in the dark recess of some drawer. UhUh.

This time I impressed myself - I love it when I do this.Makes me feel like a proper crafter!

So, this is how to make a mini zine:

Tip: I used 300gsm card and it folded and shaped a lot better than something lighter. I also practised with a piece of copy paper first - and you can see the folds in it as well.

Take an A4 piece of paper and fold & score it in half as in a5 card blank so you have a central crease.

Lay it flat and fold one side in to the central crease,

then repeat with the other side, so it looks like this:
















and closed:



then fold over on its self:


then again:



Open it back up and cut along the crease as in the picture:



Open the paper up and it should look like this with a slit along the middle where the scissors are placed.



fold it length ways and 'push' the paper apart



so it folds itself:



then fold it flat in to a little book




Once I'd folded, creased and folded again, I selected which three images I wanted to use and then browsed  The Quote Garden (my new favourite site!) and picked four quotes, one for the front and one opposite each image. I took everything into CAP2 and sized a green coloured square to 3.50 x 2.50 (atc size) and then added an image on top - I did this for each piece, so each one matched. It sounds complicated but it was the quickest matting and layering ever!

Then it was time to printout and construct my minizine, I added a few green pearls to finish it off.

Amanda xx

Gecko Galz - Garden Bliss

Over on the Gecko Galz blog, the challenge for April is 'Garden Bliss'. Feel free to join in and have a play - there is only one rule, and that is you need to use at least ONE product from Gecko Galz shop or it can be one of the free products, stamps, collage images, or digital papers!! The winner will receive a whopping Spring-loaded $50 Gecko Galz shopping spree!

My garden, termed rather loosely, is one of my favourite places - if I'm not in the garden I have the front door open so I can hear the bird song and our chickens chortling. We've just put up a 6x6 wooden greenhouse. in which there will be tomato plants, lettuce etc - cannot wait to get going!
Its not a very scenic garden by any stretch of the imagination but there are shrubs and a few flowers and a lovely big Twisted Hazel tree which I had for my birthday. So I definitely feel  Garden Bliss.

'Floral Symphony Paper Kit'

'Free Birds Craft Kit'

I used the floral paper as my backing paper then overlaid the muscial one on top and altered the transparency of it so you can just see the notes in the background. The four birds came from the Craft Kit and I just placed them onto the page. The quote came from The Quote Garden.

Amanda xx 

For these and many more designs, check out Gecko Galz on Etsy.