Remember this from earlier this year?

I really enjoyed the Mouse Paper Scissors online workshop and without much thought, signed up for the extension “Mouse Paper Scissors Mom”.  Admittedly, our Mothering Sunday had been and gone, and sadly I no longer have my Mum around to cherish.  But still, I thought I’d enjoy working through the workshops and creating a kind of tribute to her perhaps, and learning a few new tricks along the way.

I downloaded the materials and printed the papers out – a lovely selection of soft colours and pretty patterns.  But here, I made my first stumble.  As in the earlier class, all the papers were formatted to US Letter size and only after I’d printed and taken a second look through the files, did I spot the A4 versions.  Duh.

I especially like the idea of asymmetrical pages – working with a ratio of 6:4 left an opportunity to do something on the smaller side, to embellish the edge with tags, frills or whatever.  That’s clever and something I must remember to add to my repertoire!

But here, the A4 paper didn’t quite fit the plan.  Were I to cut the page with the frame to 4”, then it would look a bit odd…the US Letter size paper had the frame located differently on the page, so this wouldn’t happen.  Of course, by the time I’d worked this one out, it was too late to do much about it.  I left that page the full 6”, which is a shame because it contains a tabbed pocket which doesn’t really show up.

I liked the spinner idea too…that small page allowed room to insert a circle of card held in place by a small brad.  That’s another feature I’ll use again, I’m sure.

I’ve finished the structure of the basic book and planned to use today to finish the thing off completely.  But as I took it out of the folder and set to work, my heart sank rather.  I’m really not happy with it and think that perhaps, I’ll start again.

For a start, look at that cover.  My copy of Book Three of Proust’s “A la Retour de Temps Perdu” is missing a few more pages (not that anyone will ever find that out, I’m sure!) and though the frill is a pretty idea, painted with the Chandelier Glam, it’s really messy and the few sparkly stones don’t really do much for it!

Though the pages were cut from the same pattern and I tried very hard indeed to cut them accurately, they don’t really match up.  For sure, there were warnings about the shape being asymmetrical and advice to mark the pattern template with “TOP” and an arrow, which I followed.  But for some reason, it still didn’t really work.

And although I can hide some inaccuracies with a bit of stamping ink and sandpaper, some horrible bits just can’t be resolved at all.

So, I’m a bit disappointed in this one. 

I do, however, have a sheet of the most glorious butterflies, printed first onto card and then onto an acetate sheet so they can be layered together.  I think that means it’s worth starting another book all over again and hoping that, next time, with the knowledge and experience gained on this first prototype model, I might achieve a more satisfactory outcome.

(you’d never believe I worked in Education, would you?  ;-)