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Recipe Book/Card Holder

Becky Lemire
Crafty Cruisers
Intermediate Stamp Team Designer

My original idea for this project was a recipe book holder but the acrylic frames were too lightweight to hold a book up the way I was engineering it, so I decided that it was just going to hold my recipes to keep them out of the food I was preparing (I am a very messy cook).  My husband was full of tips for me for this project.  Things like sanding the acrylic where I was going to put the epoxy was a big one.  I didn't do that the first time and I pulled the two frames apart almost immediately.  He also suggested that I heat the bottom edge of the frame to soften the acrylic enough to bend it back a little further.  By doing this, I might be able to use this as a recipe book holder like I intended.  He sure is good to have around because by using his tips, my recipe book holder idea became a reality that really worked.

Supplies:
Rose Garden rubber stamp set (TAC)
Twists & Twirls rubber stamp set (TAC)
Burnt Umber Palette Ink (Stewart Superior)
Landscape Palette Ink (Stewart Superior)
Chartreuse Palette Ink (Stewart Superior)
Water Lily Green Palette Ink (Stewart Superior)
Belle Rose Palette Ink (Stewart Superior)
Red Brick VersaMagic Ink (Tsukineko)
Brick Red Cardstock (unknown): two pieces cut to 4 7/8"" x 6 7/8" and a piece to cut your letters out
Ivory UltraSmooth Cardstock (TAC): cut to 4 5/8" x 6 5/8"
White Vellum (TAC): cut to 1" x 8"
Two 5 x 7"Acrylic Frames (Dollar Tree)
Cricut Original (Provo Craft)
Jasmine Cricut Cartridge (Provo Craft)
5 minute epoxy (Bob Smith Industries)
Craft Stick
Sanding block
Double sided tape (3M)
Heat tool (Marvy)

Instructions:

1.  Cut all papers as stated in the Supply section.  Ink the rose background stamps with Belle Rose ink and stamp onto the ivory cardstock.  Stamp the rose outlines using the Red Brick ink.  Stamp the leaves using the green inks.  Once the flowers are stamped, ink up the Twists & Twirls stamp with burnt umber ink and stamp around the edges of the ivory cardstock overlapping the flowers and leaves.  Stamp the Twists and Twirls on your strip of vellum as well and set aside to dry.  

2.  Cut out the letters for the word "Recipe" using the cricut machine at 1 1/2" letter height and a piece of the red brick cardstock.  Adhere the letters to the center of the vellum strip using a glue pen or other adhesive of choice.  Place this strip of vellum onto the rose stamped piece (centered but at an angle) and fold the ends of the vellum to the backside of the rose stamped piece and tape down on the back.  Adhere this to one of the pieces of Brick Red cardstock.  Insert this into the acrylic frame so that the images are toward the back side of the frame.  Insert the other piece of Brick Red cardstock into the other frame. 

3.  Before adhering, heat the bend in the frame (the frame that will be acting as your base) with a heat tool and slowly bend the frame and the foot a little closer together.  This will make it so it won't tip forward when you place a book on it.

4.  You will adhere the two frames together by placing the bottom of one frame's "foot" to the "front" of the other frame (which will be the back of the finished project).  See the photo for placement.  Scuff up the areas that will have the epoxy using a sanding block.  Wipe clean and mix the epoxy.  Apply the epoxy using a craft stick and adhere the two frames together.  You can use tape or clips to hold the pieces together for the time it takes for the epoxy to set. 

You could finish the edges with ribbon or beads

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