Hey, y’all!

Welcome to June! Did you get a chance to check out the kit reveals yesterday? This month’s kits are just fab!

For my first June project, I made a little tag-filled folio using this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit from Tres Jolie Kit Club, a few extras from my stash (ink, thread, & eyelets), and a cut file I created (I have the measurements I used listed below!).

So, grab your supplies and make yourself a little tag-folio!

I have a two-part tutorial (well, I talked a lot at any rate!) for this folio, part 1 is the tag cutting and base construction, and part 2 is the decorating and final touches. I go over cutting your folio base by hand if you aren’t using an electronic cutting machine, and my assembly process when putting everything together.

Part 1: Tag Cutting & Base Construction

Part 2: Decorating & Final Touches

First, a quick look at all the tags I made for my folio. I die cut a full sheet of the white cardstock, and six sheets of the patterned paper into a variety of tags – some to use this week, some to have ready for the rest of my projects this month. I used the white tags as my base, tore the patterned paper tags at about a 1/3rd – 2/3rd split, and mixed and matched the sides. I have had those butterfly eyelets for years now, and I thought it was about time to use some up, so I popped them into the holes on the tags.

I used a full sheet of the white cardstock to make my base. I have vertical score lines at 3-3/4”, 4”, 4-1/4”, 7-3/4”, 8”, and 8-1/4” and a horizontal score line 6” from the top. I didn’t cut the bottom 1/2” with the barcode and “KaiserCraft” off my sheet, so I have a score line at 12” also. I actually used that little bit during the construction to “protect” the bottom edges of my pockets during construction! Check out the image below to see all the measurements, plus I have some slot placement templates.

Slot Measurements:

Slot positioning templates are available as a PDF from my personal (non-Tres Jolie!!) DropBox for personal use only, please (attribution appreciated, but not required). When printed, the panels should be 4”x6” for an easy lineup with your edges and score lines – although printers & printer settings may vary! (Note: when testing, I made sure to print “actual size” from the printer dialog box and not “to fit” because Adobe and/or my printer wanted to make the 8-1/2”x11” image smaller to fit with margins on an 8-1/2”x11” sheet of paper!)

I made a pocket for each slot of my folio, but I have also added the measurements for alternate pockets so you have a variety to choose from:

Part 1 of my videos covers the construction of the folio base, so I’ll just add some refresher details here on the blog. I lined my pockets up carefully, and got them in place – they are sized to be able to just be folded in half to fit – more or less – there may be a couple that requires some tweaking by folding slightly more than half. I used a combination of double-sided tape and glue to hold everything together – because I like adhesion! You could easily put it all together with just one or the other!!

Before I folded the folio over to close it up, I added a length of the seam binding from the kit across the middle, cut a slot in the hinge between the middle and last panel so I could feed the seam binding through and I would be able to tie it together when that last panel was folded in. For the end of the seam binding that came out of the edge of the folio, I added a couple of tiny staples to help keep it in place through all the tying.

I wanted to reinforce the hinges some, but I didn’t want to add a lot of bulk, so I used the cover sheet from the paper pack to reinforce the hinges on the [folded over] inside of the folio and to reinforce and add some more color to the hinges between the panels on the [visible] inside of the folio. After I had the folio folded in half and glued together, I added the last bit of seam binding to the outside of my hinges to help reinforce all the bending of the paper and cardstock.

With my base finally put together, it was time to start getting the finishing touches done, so I added the papers I had chosen for the outside of the folio. Since I was going to be adding stitching around my edge, I didn’t worry about making sure my adhesive went all the way to the edge, if you aren’t going to add stitching, you will want to make sure you have a secure seal so your cover paper doesn’t pull up!

Even though I wasn’t going to be doing my stitching yet, I wanted to get my holes made so I would know where my stitching would be, so I made a template that would help me make sure everything was spaced evenly and lined up where I wanted them. You can grab that template as a PDF from my personal DropBox if you would like to use it for your personal folio. I have it made to print on two sheets, with a little overlap in the middle to help line the holes up. Printers being what they are, you may or may not get lucky enough to have it print “perfect!” I didn’t get that lucky, but my second page was only a hair “off” so it wasn’t a big problem. (Note: Just like with the slot templates, make sure you print “actual size” and not “to fit”!)

After my holes were all poked through, I cut some 3/16” stripes of white cardstock and a 1/8” strip to use as a spacer so I could even out how my hinge papers looked. I used the 1/8” strip to add the space between the edges of the holes and the edge of the 3/16” strip. I also added 3/16” strips to the outer [vertical] edges so my slot reinforcements would sit evenly (I also have a layer of cardstock under slot reinforcements – so my tag slots are super reinforced now!). I inked up my slot covers and glued them in place.

Now it was finally time to start thinking about how I wanted to decorate the folio, and which finishing touches I wanted to add. I used my “Royal Purple” StazOn to stamp my butterfly images and to dye my seam binding tie closure. For my main image/cluster, I go over getting permanent ink to bleed out and create the shadow effect in the second video. A helpful “fix” for images that don’t stamp clearly! (Personally, if I were to do this project again, I would add my stamping to the cover paper before adding it to the folio. It was all the pocket layers that caused the stamping issues because it was no longer flat!) Anyhow, even if something goes “wrong,” there is always a “fix.” In this case, I used some 91% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol to cause my StazOn to bleed. I added my inks to the cardstock, then stamped the image on and fussy cut it out. The flowers and leaves are glued flat to the surface, offset just a touch to give a shadow effect, and the butterfly is popped up on some foam. The rest of the images I just stamped and left however they came out. (I did use a strip of cardstock to protect my seam binding covered hinges when I wanted to stamp across them.) I popped on some of the orange pearls and thought about what I wanted to add to the panel that folds in.

On that third panel that folds in, I didn’t want to just leave it blank, so I added a couple of the tags I had cut out. I glued the middle-sized tag on white cardstock near the bottom horizontally and added a tag in the next size up (second largest) as a flap with a simple tab added on. The “bloom” was stamped using the P13 stamp set that had been in February’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit.

Finally, I decided it was time to add my stitching! I just have a simple blanket stitch around the outside of the folio and some straight stitching along the hinges. I added some extra stitching to wrap up the corners of the folio, and added the last little bits to the decoration – the Prima flowers under the butterfly wings, and the green pearls along the bottom of the tag flap. With all that done, I added my tags to their slots and closed it all up!

Thank you for joining me here in my corner, I hope you enjoyed this folio project and have a chance to check out the videos that accompany it! Don’t forget to check out my Etsy shop to get the discounted cut file!

Stay Crafty, Friends

In addition to this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit (*from previous Tres Jolie Kits), I used (some non-Tres Jolie Kit Club items contain an affiliate link where I earn a small commission with no extra cost to you!):

*Tim Holtz Distress Ink “Dried Marigold;” *P13 “The Four Seasons: Spring” Stamp Set; *Memento Dew Drop “Angel Pink;” CornerScrapsStudio “Folio” Digital Cut File; StazOn “Royal Purple;” We R Memory Keepers: Foam Mat, Craft Knife, Crop-A-Dile, Crop-A-Dile II, Tab Punch; *spray bottle (with water); bone folder; butterfly eyelets (1/8”); Silhouette Cameo 3; Nicapa 12×12 Cutting Mat; Sizzix Big Shot Plus; EK Tools Score Board; awl; needle; blending brushes; 91% isopropyl alcohol; rainbow variegated embroidery floss (J&P Coats); Art Glitter Glue; 1/8”, 1/4”, & 1” double sided tape; Aleene’s Tacky Glue; JudiKins Diamond Glaze; Fray-No-More; doubled-sided adhesive foam strips