Cinema Blog Hop

Welcome to the hop! Today's blogger projects star Club Scrap's August Cinema collection.

Last year at our annual Retreat, I taught an altered composition notebook project. Ever since then, I've been enamored with the concept . . . how something so simple, so utilitarian, can be easily transformed into something special and fun. And with it being back-to-school time, these handy notebooks are readily available at a great deal.

My children spend many a Friday night with my parents. It's a tradition started long ago when they were babies. Mom said the key to a healthy marriage is "date night" and her gift was Friday night sleepovers. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) Friday night at Gma and Gpa's usually involves watching the latest DVD releases or playing board games--or both!

I thought it would be fun for Hunter, Emma and Max to keep record of the movies they've seen, maybe even jot down notes or "reviews" of the movies. That's where this twist on the typical altered comp book comes in. Here's how it's done:

Use a craft knife, cutting mat, ruler (and lots of elbow grease) to cut comp book in half.

Spread bookbinding glue onto front cover surface with foam brush; add paper.

Flip cover over and trim away excess paper with craft knife and cutting mat.

Spread bookbinding glue on inside cover. Add paper, leaving
a 1/2-inch gutter between paper and spine. Trim away excess.

Embellish as desired.

I decorated the front cover by adding CS Cinema ribbon near the binding, washi tape along the bottom edge, and Cinema Lite Alphabeans stickers matted on a black strip. I also added the beautiful blue velvet ribbon to create a "bookmark" of sorts.

I used the other half of the comp book to create a log for game nights, using papers and fibers

from our Big Deal collection, Cinema Lite Alphabeans stickers and scrabble tile stickers from my stash. 

There you have it! Two fun-sized journals/logs for the price of one. Are you ready to see what our other bloggers have in store for us? Julie at Cape Cod Scrapper is up next. If you get lost along the way, there's a complete Hop list below. Enjoy!

Julie at Cape Cod Scrapper

Ink Stains with Roni

Deb Duz Scrappin'

Jill's Place

Tricia at The Efficient Crafter

Hetty at Craft Chaos

Kay's Keepsakes

Cathy at The Artful Gamut

Anne at Crzymom's Tidbits

Debby at Masculine Inspirations

Dishing with Janet

Tiare Smith Designs
Lisa at Carpe Memoria

Marya at A Notebook Novel

Annette at Digital Musings

Donna at The Crafty Colonel

Made by Wendy Bellino

Retreat Project Review

As we prepare for the upcoming Club Scrap Retreat season, I still relish the great memories and Retreat Projects we enjoyed together last year!

"Is this really going to turn out?"

Bookbinding glue is the best!

Once the Desktop Organizer is assembled, there's a place for everything . . .

Desktop Organizer

The Magnetic Messenger is as useful as the desktop organizer, and it's available in two sizes . . . 12x12 and 8x8".

Magnetic Messenger Boards

Show off your favorite photos, organize coupons, write notes to the kids, and keep track of your grocery list with the fun messenger board.

The ever-useful Altered Composition Book was our Thursday evening workshop.

Altered Composition Notebook

Everyone at the office carries their little notebooks to weekly meetings. Mine is almost full of sketches, lists and notes.

And then there's the Clock Tower project. I made a small army few of them. It's a good thing they don't chime on the hour, or it would get a little loud around here.

2013 Retreat Clock Tower Project

There are three different sizes available.

All sizes include a clever cutapart that creates an accordion door, clock face and other tiny embellishments.

The black and white clocks are cool, but once you get your hands on some inks or acrylic paint, the creative time really starts ticking away.

Thanks for taking this walk with me down Retreat memory lane. If you haven't had the chance to participate in past Retreat workshops, keep in mind you'll receive printable instructions and a full how-to video with every project kit!

Plans are in full swing for another great batch of workshops at our upcoming Retreats. (There are a few final spots available in August. Are you in?)

Kay at Club Scrap

2013 Retreat--A Noteworthy Project

Happy Saturday to all! Thanks to Kay for officially kicking off "Retreat Week" here on the blog yesterday.

Now that our August and October events are completed, and most of our Retreat in a Box participants have received their precious cargo, we, as Retreat Workshop instructors, can finally share the projects we've kept a secret for so long!

I had the pleasure of leading two of the awesome Workshops taught at this year's Retreat. The first was held after dinner Thursday night. Thursday usually involves a long day of travel for our guests, so we like to offer a unique and interesting but yet not-too-mentally-challenging project. Our Altered Composition Notebook workshop fit the bill perfectly!

This isn't just ANY composition notebook, mind you. Ours features 5x5 graph paper inside, rather than notebook lined pages. The graph paper is perfect for jotting down crafting notes or sketching out card and page ideas. In fact, if you have that layout sketch stencil from a few years back, it is scaled appropriately to work with this notebook. Pretty cool, eh?

We added another twist to the project by creating file folder tab-style dividers to separate the notebook into different sections . . . using the Envelope Punch Board of all things! Everyone really seemed to love having yet another use for their punch boards. Oh, and the addition of a  handy pen/pencil holder was pretty clever, too.

There are just a handful of Retreat in a Box packages left in our online store, so if you like what you see, you may want to act quickly. I hope you'll join us daily on the blog throughout the week next week as we celebrate all things Retreat.

SPECIAL INVITATION: On Saturday, November 9, we'll host a special Retreat Project Linky Party as a finale to "Retreat Week". So gather your completed Retreat projects (past or present, whether you attended Retreat or not), get 'em photographed, and prepare to share them here on the blog on Saturday for a chance at some yummy blog candy!

Creatively yours,
Karen