Barbara Rankin’s Sizzix Needle Book

I am happy to welcome another special Guest Designer to the blog- and just wait until you see Barbara Rankin’s Sizzix Needle Book tutorial! It is over the top awesome and every little detail is just perfect! You will want to check out her blog, Black Hole Art Studio, and see lots of other cool projects she has created…

On my way back from California on Paper Trail CHA, I was lucky enough to pass through Memphis and meet up with Barbara Rankin and Inspiration Team Member Pam Bray. I can’t tell you how nice it is, after many long hours of driving and being by myself, to meet up with friends that I don’t normally get to spend time with. That visit did so much to brighten my day- thanks, friends!

We had lunch at Jim ‘N Nick’s for some real Memphis B-B-Q and then a quick trip to the local Michael’s.

Here we are with mascot Scotty…

So now let’s see what Barbara has made for us!

I have been crafting most of my life, and I have tried just about everything I could get my hands on.  I began rubber stamping and card making in 1995, expanding my craft into making books and altering them.  More recently, I followed the trend and became involved in the world of mixed media. I love dimension in everything I create, and Sizzix dies are one of the fabulous tools that allow me to do that. 

I met Eileen Hull at CHA a few years ago.  She was so friendly and personable, and I was so happy to meet her.  Later on, she asked me to make a few projects for her for CHA, and now, I am here sharing a project as her guest designer.  I am so blessed to have met her and to have these opportunities. 

My style is varied, but mostly encompass the vintage, antique, shabby chic, and Steampunk style.  I get inspiration from lots of places, like YouTube and Pinterest, but I love to read books that allow me to develop new and wonderful techniques which I can then share with you.  Without a store to teach classes any longer, I had to figure another way to accomplish this.  Therefore, I decided to learn how to make video tutorials and share them on YouTube.  I have my own channel and I hope you will visit me sometime.

Currently, I call Memphis, Tennessee, my home, where I live with my wonderful, supportive husband of 34 years, and my two Yorkshire Terriers. 

Now, for my project, I knew I was going to use one of Eileen’s newest dies, the Needle Book. 

I used white leather paper to cut out the two pieces, as well as paper from the Prima Tales of You and Me paper collection. 

Cover both sides of the needle book with the papers.

I used two of the die shapes from the labels die that would fit over images on the printed paper and cut them out.  The die cut on the left was used on the front of the book, and the one on the right was used to make a pocket inside the book.  I inked the edges of both with a matching chalk ink.

I used a third die to cut a piece of glossy gold card stock to place beneath the image on the front of the book, and the image was lifted with foam dots.

Gold metal embellishments were added to the front with tiny pearl stickers.  A tiny piece of Velcro adhesive was used to keep the book closed.

I cut several pieces of text weight ivory paper to 4” x 3-12” wide, folded in the center.  I wrapped ivory crochet thread around the pages and the book spine to hold the pages.  I can add or remove pages because I did not sew them in.

A small ivory tassel was added to the spine with a decorative metal embellishment to cover the works.

Here are a few pictures of this pretty little book from different angles.  I plan to use this particular one as a little note book to carry in my purse.

In this photo, you can see where I have cut out a tiny tag to insert into my pocket. 

Supplies Used:

Sizzix ScoreBoards Die – Needle Book

Sizzix/Tim Holtz Sizzlits Labels

Colorbox Chalk Inks: Wisteria, Creamy Brown

Prima Tales of You and Me paper collection

Ivory crochet thread

Ivory tassel

Tiny metal embellishments

Ivory text weight paper

If you would like to see more of my projects, I would lover for you to visit my blog, Black Hole Art Studio, and join me on these social media sites:

Facebook

Black Hole Art Studio Facebook Page

Pinterest

Twitter

My You Tube Channel

Snapguide

I would like to give a special thanks to Eileen Hull for giving me this wonderful opportunity to share my project with you today. As always, thanks for stopping, and I hope you have a wonderful, creative day!

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I love this project- makes me want to run downstairs and make one. I love that we can all be inspired by each other’s work! Thanks so much for sharing with us Barbara…

Have a great weekend everyone- Happy Easter!