Hello dear friends and family! Welcome to my happy place and to another quick post.
I realized a long time ago that if there is something specific related to my industry that I need but does not exist out there, I just simply have to make it myself. I do not think that I am reinventing the wheel here, but simply giving ideas and solutions to something that nobody even thinks about.
I was in a desperate need of a portfolio for my greeting cards. I figured since there is a lot of organizational things for crafters all over the globe, there simply HAS to be something that will help you preserve your work and something that you use to show off your design. But guess what, there isn’t! I looked all over for different photo albums and online storage, but nothing was there. After a very long search I decided to customize my portfolio the way I like it and envision it.
One thing I knew from the get go was the size of my portfolio. I wanted my designs to fit in the scrapbooking case which fits 12″x12″ pages. I pay a visit to my local Michael’s Store and I grabbed all the supplies I needed, among which was this 12×12 scrapbooking album. Since I already had my logo created and saved in my Cricut Space files, all I had to do is turn on my machine and cut! Yes, it was that fast! For the first time, I used vinyl that does not require cutting mats. This is something new that Cricut just released for their new Cricut Maker 3 machines, but you can most definitely use it with Cricut Marker 2; That is the one I have and it absolutely works and it’s magical! To be honest, I don’t think I will be buying regular vinyl any longer. Once that was done, and it honestly took 10 minutes, it was time to create my pages.
To create my custom pages I used plastic sheets that were meant for scrapbooking, Fuse Tool (I got mine a few years ago at Tuesday Morning, but you can grab one at We R Memory Keepers site), metal T-Ruler, masking tape & small, sharp scissors. Before you begin, make sure that you are working on the surface that you don’t mind damaging. Do not use paper for it will burn! I suggest wood or a cutting mat, also silicone mats would work great with this technique. You can also try a glass mat but it could be a little slippery and you could end up with poor results. Most Fuse Tools come with at least two tips: one tip is for fusing plastic sheets together and the other one, the pointy tip, is for creating pockets on pages. I first made sure that my page is secured to my work surface and and aligned with the gridlines on my work surface; For this I used masking tape. Once I had that in place it was time to make pockets. I simply aligned my greeting cards and used gridlines as my guide. I made sure that my fuse tool is hot and I simply just “drew” a line with it using a metal T-Ruler to help me keep my strokes straight. I then used a pair of pliers to remove the circular, serrated tip and replaced it with the pointy tip. Please be very careful when removing this tip, it gets really hot super fast and it will burn you! I simply repeated the same process – “drew a line”. This made an opening on the plastic sheet and created a pocket for my card. If for some reason these two sides get attached to each other, simply use a pair of small, sharp scissors and cut little hangup-s. And that is it! The pockets were created in no time! Just a perfect, completely customized portfolio and the way I like it!
Yes, I used this technique to create my portfolio, but please keep in mind that with this fuse tool you can create photo albums, journals, scrapbooks… truly anything you would like to showcase.
Staying organized just makes me so happy! I love how this looks and what is the most important, it helps me stay organized. It helps me show my work to potential vendors and gives customers ideas when they want to order a personalized card.
Thank you so much for visiting me today! Enjoy your week and I will see you soon with a new post and some new crafty ideas! Feel free to leave a comment, a question or a suggestion on what you would like me to see create.
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