A very good afternoon to all Maja Design Fans! Welcome to the blog today, it’s Maja here, so happy to share the third guest designer post today!

I chose the Vintage Summer Basics to play with this time, and I had really big plans for this post, especially that our winter break has just started and I counted on having more free time to spend in my craft room. But life has its own ways, and the whole family fell ill with some bad stroke of flu, we slept through most of the week and I managed to finish off just three little creations. But at least the post is going to be of a reasonable length 😉

 

Let me start with one of my favourite wedding mini-gifts – an exploding box with a paper cake inside. As probably the most popular (and practical, I guess) wedding gift is money, I make my exploding boxes to serve as an elegant and nice way to present such a gift. For this box I used a ready-made exploding box cardstock base and decorated it with the gorgeous roses paper. I didn’t want to cover up the pretty design, so I didn’t add any other embellishments.

I decorated the box lid with paper roses and leaves die-cut from the 1946 sheet:

When you take the lid off, the box “explodes” to show the inside:

The inner walls are covered with the 1915 paper – it reminds me of silk wallpaper with gorgeous damask pattern! There’s a place to write in some good wishes for the newlyweds:

…and the three walls are designed to slide in some banknotes. I suggested the causes, such as the new home, the honeymoon trip and…a crib 🙂

The centre of the box is occupied by the paper wedding cake I created just like geometrical solids (would you think those math lessons to pay off that way?) and decorated with paper mini-roses and guipure ribbon.

I think this way of presenting money is at least exdtraordinary and the box itself can make a nice keepsake of the special day.

Supplies:

Papers: Vintage Summer Basics 1922, 1922-bs, 1923, 1915, 1924-bs. Cardstock Box Base: Scrapiniec, Dies: Spellbinders and Magnolia, Other: guipure ribbon, paper roses, pearls, gauze – from my stash.

 

The second creation for today is very, very simple. I love reading, and I often read several books simultaneously, so I’m always in need of bookmarks. My bookmarks are always flat and simple, as they have to be practical first of all. They can’t be too dimensional (the books have to close, right?) or have any sharp emellishments that might damage pages. Here’s the one I made using the beautiful 1921 sheet:

The only additions I made to the paper are fragments of postcards cut out from the Memories paper and a stamp. I also die-cut a decorative tag, matted it with a piece of 1903-bs sheet and stamped in the sentiment. The other side is flat as well, I only cut out some figures from the 1926 paper and arranged them on the bookmark:

And here’s how it works: the tag is glued only to the half, so that you can slide the bookmark over the edge:

This way the little brads that cover the holes in the tag are not a risk to the pages.

Supplies:

Papers: 1921, 1922-bs, 1903-bs, Memories, 1926. Die: Sizzix, Stamps: MME, Tim Holtz, Mini brads copper: Making Memories: Curtain Tassel: from my stash

 

And finally the last thing I managed to create for today is a romantic notebook. Again, I didn’t use many embellishments not to overwhelm the fabulous rose background:

I love the vintage images of the Memories paper, and I knew I wanted to make one of them the main decorative element. And so I chose the little girl image to decorate the front of the notebook. I added some machine sewing, a stamped postmark and a brad:

As often for notebooks, I hung a tag decorated with some silk ribbon and a button on the wire. The other side of the tag is without any embellishments, so that if the notebook is a gift, one can write some words on it. After re-tying the string, the tag can serve as a bookmark too:

I also decorated the inside of the front cover, adding a stamp and a decorated pocket for some loose pages:

Supplies:

Papers: 1933, 1934, 1922, 1922-bs, Memories. Beermat panels: Scrpainiec, Stamps and tissue tape: Tim Holtz, BIA Wire and binding machine: Zutter, Ribbon: Rayher.

So, that’s all I have for you today – I hope you can find some inspiration! Thank you for visiting the Maja Design blog today, and see you next time!