altered acrylic binders...101...

I've had several questions recently about how to alter my acrylic stamp storage binders.

Today I thought I'd offer my ideas...
and a few tips...

They come naked, with 3 giant (3 inch) binding rings, so that they can be customized to coordinate with your decor.

The binder makes it very easy to flip thru the pages of stamps, choose your stamp, use it & put it back on the storage sheet.

It's so MUCH better than digging thru a box.

You'll find that you will use them more often, because it's easy.

If you collect cling or Maya Road clear stamps,

blank pages can be added to the binder to store them too.

One pages holds a lot, because you can store stamps on both sides of the blank sheet.

Here's the first binder, which houses my first stamp release.

You'll notice that all the others have a VOL. number on them...

This one doesn't...

since it was my first, I didn't want to jinx myself & say...
VOL. 1...

that assumes there would be VOL.2

If no one besides me liked them, there would be no VOL 2.

But now that we're on VOL 4...

I can safely call this one ...VOL 1!

YIPPEE!

I stamped the border, using jet black archival ink.

I carefully heat set it & you'll see that almost 2 years later, the stamping is still perfect.

It's AMAZING, considering this has been sent across the country many times.

Another option is to stamp on the inside of the cover. Remember to stamp images only...

words won't work on the inside, since they'll show up backward from the front.

I used lots of grungeboard & grungepaper as my base for stamping on all the binders.





Here's VOL 2...

the papers are all graphic 45 and are glued to a base paper.





and VOL 3...

which is a combination of graphic 45 & jenni bowlin papers.

I machine stitched these pieces together to resemble a quilt...






You'll see the newest 2 binders...

VOL 4 in the previous post.


So here's my suggestions for creating them.


The goal is to see NO adhesive on the front.

Remove the protective blue film.

remember...

KEEP THE HOLES ON THE LEFT...trust me!

1. Choose the paper that will be inside the front cover.

it can be one piece...
or mutliple left over strips...

stamped or unstamped...

sewn together or just glued to a paper/cardstock base...

Keep it flat...the embellishments will be added to the front of the cover.

Have it completely ready to go.

2. Lay the paper in place under the front cover, but do not use any adhesive yet.

3. Plan the layout on the front...lay everything in place & move it around until you are satisfied with the look.

4. Glue your largest embellishment to the front of the binder.

5. Open the binder & you'll see where the adhesive is, so put some adhesive there to hold the paper in place.


Now, it's easy to keep words straight, by using the paper as a guide.

6. Add the rest of the embellishments on the front & glue in place.

7. Open the binder again & add adhesive in the adhesive spot areas and press the paper in place.

8. Since the paper is inside the binder, I don't have glue covering it entirely...

It's just where there is something on the front to hide it.

9. TADA! CUSTOM...done & very fun!

One more thing...

I've used several adhesives with success...
Glossy Accents, Art Glitter and Fabri-tac all work fine.

Normally I don't use Glossy Accents for glueing large pieces of paper, because of the quick drying time...
but for this purpose, it's perfect.

Just a tiny dot will hold the paper to the binder.

Remember to be sparing with adhesives.
A little goes a long way & you don't want to see any seeping out.

So there you have it...

altered acrylic binders 101...

If you have a naked binder...
get it out ...

have fun and...

make art!
wendy