• From Ten Two Studios, a matchbox book sheet. For my sample, I used the Leonardo’s Matchbox Book sheet.

• A matchbox, also available from Ten Two Studios, at the link above.
• A scrap of cardstock.
• A glue stick.
• Acrylic paints to match, if you wish.

Remove the tray from the matchbox, and paint it to match your sheet if you wish. Set it aside to dry.

At the left side of the sheet are the pieces required to decorate the matchbox and tray. Start by cutting out the wrapper, which has an image already positioned on a background.

Apply glue to the back of the wrapper piece, and centering the image on one large side of the matchbox sleeve, cover it completely, overlapping edges on a short side.

Trim away any excess wrapper from the top and bottom of the matchbox sleeve.

There’s an extra large image on the sheet, which you can use on the front of the matchbox sleeve if you wish. Just cut it out…

…and glue it over the wrapper image, covering it completely. (If you like the image that’s printed on the wrapper, just skip this step.)

There are a handful of long, narrow side labels included on the sheet. Cut out the two you’d like to use, and glue them to the sides of the sleeve. Trim away any excess at the top and bottom edges.

The printed rectangle is the tray liner. Just cut it out, and glue it to the interior of the tray.

Cut out the back label, and glue it to the back of the sleeve. Slide the tray into the sleeve, and set the box aside for the moment.

Now, let’s work on the book. Start with the cover, which is a piece with two register marks at each corner. Cut this piece out, and use the marks as guides to fold a narrow piece at either side.

Unfold, and use the other set of marks to fold a narrow piece at the top and bottom.

Trim away a tiny diagonal section at each corner of the cover.

Use the guide piece provided to trace two pieces on cardstock. Cut them out.

Using the folds as guides, glue the two cardstock pieces inside the cover. These will make the book a little more rigid.

Apply glue to the narrow folded sections, and press them down over the cardstock.

Fold the cover in half at the spine, between the two cardstock pieces.

Cut out the long strip of pages. It has guide pieces along each long side, which you can leave attached for now, or trim away if you feel confident in your folding abilities.

Starting at one sort edge, fold up on the first set of guidelines, matching the cut edge to the second set, creating matching facing pages.

Continue folding pages upward in an accordion, making sets of matching, facing pages.

If you left the guides in place for folding, now’s the time to trim them away.

Apply glue to the back side of the page strip/

Press pages together back to back, leaving the two end pages loose, to create the pages of the book.

Apply glue to the two end flaps of the pages.

Press the page block between the covers, pushing it agains the spine.

Use the remaining small images and words to decorate the cover of the book…

…and the interior pages as you wish. You might also use some of the words to decorate the front of the matchbox.

Place the finished book in the tray section of the matchbox…

…and slide the sleeve over it.

Don’t forget to sign and date your work, on the back label!

• From Ten Two Studios, an instant card sheet. For my samples, I used the Instant Winter Card sheet.

• A sheet of white cardstock for printing.
• A glue stick.
• A 2×3 inch plastic bag. These are usually sold in the jewelry section of craft stores.
• Double stick tape or red liner tape.
• Glitter, small beads, sequins, rhinestones, and other magical things to fill the bag.

Print out the card sheet on cardstock, and cut out the pieces. You’ll need the large card front, smaller card sentiment, teabag-shaped insert, and one long slogan for each card you make. Each card comes with two slogans.

Center the sentiment block on the card front, and glue it in place.

Center the slogan strip on the card, just below the word instant, and glue it in place. You can either trim away the excess on the sides of the slogan strip once it’s glued in place, or you can fold the little tabs back and glue them to the back of the card.

Fold the colored rectangle on the teabag-shaped insert upward, and glue it down.

Fold the flap portion of the insert down, but do not glue it yet.

Use the folded insert as a guide to trip away the top of the small plastic bag. The bag should be just a hair shorter than the insert when trimmed.

Slide the insert into the plastic bag.

Leave the insert in the bag, and drop your magical bits in, in front of the insert. Filling the bag with the insert in place will keep your goodies in front, rather than hiding behind the insert.

Apply double stick tape to the flap of the insert, and stick it down to the front of the plastic bag.

Apply two lines of double stick tape on the back of the teabag, at the top and bottom, and stick the teabag onto the card.

You can use the card as is, or use it as a card front, and adhere it to a cardstock card.

• From Ten Two Studios, a fan book set. For my samples, I used the Rossetti Fire, Marie Portraits, and Stage Stars sets.

• Two sheets of white cardstock for printing. (One sheet for small fans.)
• Two sheets of colored cardstock for backings. (One sheet for small fans.)
• A glue stick.
• A button with a small shank.
• A hole punch.
• Ribbons.

Print the pieces you want to use for your fan on cardstock. Roughly cut away the excess around the fan blades, keeping them connected.

Glue the blades onto colored cardstock.

Cut out the blades. I find it easiest to roughly cut them into individual pieces, and then cut each blade with small scissors.

Punch the holes in each blade as indicated, using a standard hole punch. If you want to decorate the blades, do it now—but remember to keep your decorating relatively flat, so the blades will slide open when the fan is assembled.

Arrange the blades in the order you’d like them to appear, and stack them in that order, matching the holes.

Make sure the shank of the button you’ve chosen fits into the holes. Don’t worry if it doesn’t go all the way through, but do make sure the button will lay flat against the first blade.

Cut two pieces of ribbon, and thread them through the shank of the button. I found a bamboo skewer helped me poke the ribbon ends through the tiny hole. Slide the button to the center of the ribbons, gather up the ends, and thread them through the stack of blades.

Pull the ribbons all the way through, so the button is flat against the first blade.

Grab half the ribbons from the back of the fan, and wrap them forward, in front of the last blade.

Pull those same ribbons all the way down to the center bottom of the fan.

Grab the rest of the ribbons, and wrap them forward, sliding them between the first and second blades.

Pull those same ribbons down to the bottom center of the fan.

This is what the back side of the ribbon closure looks like if you’ve done it correctly.

Gather all the ribbons together at the bottom center, and tie them in a knot, snug agains the bottom of the fan.

Trim the tails to the desired length.

Spread the fan blades out, and admire your finished book!

I used some pink iridescent glitter glue to add swirls to this fan, and provide a scalloped edge.

OK, I got a little carried away on this one, with some silk fall leaves from the dollar store, and lots of gold glitter glue swirls.

• From Ten Two Studios, a pennant alphabet set. I used the Festive Pennant Alphabet digital set.

• White cardstock
• A glue stick, and Clear Tacky glue.
• Floss, perl cotton, or narrow ribbon.

Print out the sheets with the pennants you’d like to use. Each set contains full sheets in a single pattern, so if you want yours mixed like the sample, just print several different sheets.

Roughly cut out the pennants you need to spell out your message. Don’t worry about cutting the exact shape of the pennat just yet.

Apply glue stick to the bottom half of each pennant, and apply them to a sheet of carstock. I used a contrasting color for mine.

Cut the pennants out closely this time, following the solid borders around each one.

When your pennants are cut out, you should be able to slide your finger between the front and back at the top.

And here’s why you want to leave that top half open: apply a bit of glue to the top of each pennant between the layers…

…then slip the pennant onto the hanging cord you’ve chosen, sandwiching between the layers. Leave a little space between pennants so they’ll hang nicely when finished.

• From Ten Two Studios, matchbox wrappers and a matchboxes. I used the Holly Bells matchbox wrapper set, which was designed to make these ornaments.

• Acrylic paint.
• A glue stick, and E6000.
• A craft knife.
• A tiny hole punch, and a needle with a large eye.
• A small piece of lightweight wire.
• Ribbons or fibers, and beads for hangers and tassels.

Slide trays from matchboxes, and paint them with acrylic paints.

Cut out the wrappers, side labels, words, liners and backs you’d like to use.

Apply glue to a wrapper, and wrap it around a matchbox, centering the focal image on the front of the box.

Trim any excess wrapper from the top and bottom.

Apply side labels and words to the boxes as desired.

Apply a back to the other side of the matchbox. The sheet I used has duplicate images to apply to the backs, so the ornaments will look the same on either side. The sheet also comes with a signature block if you’d prefer to use that.

Apply glue to the back of the inner liner, and press it into the back of the matchbox tray.

Punch two holes in the top of the tray using a tiny hole punch or large needle. If you wish, punch a hole or two on the bottom as well, to attach beads or tassels.

Thread a needle with the ribbon or fiber you’d like to use as a hanger, and run it down through one hole, across the inside of the tray, and out the other hole.

Pull the tails even, and tie them in a knot, then a bow, to create a hanger of the desired length.

Wrap a piece of wire around a few loops of ribbon, and twist it tightly. Thread the wire thorugh a bead, applying a tiny dot of glue to hold the bead over the ribbons.

Glue or wire the bead to the bottom of the matchbox.

• From Ten Two Studios, the Winged Widows Matchbox Shrine sheet and a matchbox Also tiny bottles and skull beads if you want them for the inside of your shrine.

• A sheet of chipboard.
• Acrylic paint.
• A glue stick, and E6000.
• Chalk inkpads, if you wish.
• Sharpie markers.
• A craft knife.
• Brads and a tiny hole punch.
• Sequins, rhinestones, feathers, or any little decorative bits.
• Sharpie markers.

Remove the trays from the matchboxes, and paint them with acrylic paints. Only the interiors will show in the finished shrines. Set them aside to dry.

Roughly cut out the figure, wings and hat you’d like to use for your shrine, and glue them to chipboard.

Use sharp detail scissors to cut the pieces from the chipboard.

Cut the guide from the shrine sheet, and compare the length to your matchbox tray. Trim it down to the correct height for your matchbox BEFORE you use it to mark the opening.

Position the guide on the figure, and decide where you’d like your opening to be. Trace the outline on the figure. If you’ll be cutting doors rather than cutting a hole, be sure to mark the center line indicated on the guide..

If you’re cutting a hole, go ahead and cut around all four sides of the traced shape, using a craft knife. If you’re cutting doors, just cut the top and bottom, plus the center line.

If you’ve cut doors, you’ll want to score the hinges on the wrong side. Use a ruler to make a shallow cut on the chipboard. You can use the guide if you wish, lining up the top and bottom edges.

Flip the figure over, place it on a flat surface, and gently pull the doors forward while pressing the figure flat.

If you see white bits around your cut edges, tone them with a chalk inkpad.

Cut about half an inch from the center front of the matchbox sleeve.

Refold the matchbox as shown, with chipboard on the outside, and the tabs made from the front of the box folded outward.

Apply glue to the tabs, and apply them to the back of the figure. Position the sleeve so it fills the frame you’ve cut. If you have doors, you’ll need to bend them open to do this step.

While the glue is still wet, slide the tray into the sleeve. Make sure it fits into the frame, and there are no gaps or open spaces. Remove the tray and let the sleeve dry. I usually apply a bit of tape to the tabs before I slide the tray out, to make sure they stay put.

When the glue is dry, trim away any parts of the sleeve tabs that stick out around the figure.

Apply glue to the back of the tray, and slide it back into the sleeve.

If your shrine has doors, punch holes in them with a tiny hole punch, and insert small brads as doorknobs.

If you wish, line the doors with decorative paper included with the sheet. Split the larger block of red print in half, and glue one half on each door.

Use a red Sharpie to fill in any areas on the door left exposed.

Cut the smaller block of red print from the sheet, and use it to line the back of the shrine opening.

If your figures have hats, glue them in place now. One hat looks best with a small slash in the brim so the head can be inserted through it, and the other can be applied flat.

If your shrine will have wings, bend them slightly to create a flat spot in the center.

Apply glue to the flat spot, and press them in place on the back of the figure.

I made stands for my shrines, so the figures could stand up on their own. Cut a two inch square of chipboard. Score the square about 1/4″ from either side. Cut diagonally from the top of one score line to the bottom of the other to create two triangular pieces. Fold the scored section of each piece to create the stand.

Apply glue to the tab of the stand, and press it in place on the back of the shrine. It will stick to the back of the matchbox sleeve, and extend below it.

Decorate! I used bits of feathers and rhinestones on the figures that didn’t have hats. I filled the shrines with tiny bottles filled with glitter, plastic spiders and skull beads. I added words edges with chalk inks.

• From Ten Two Studios, a set of doll bodies. I used the Wicked Doll Bodies, but this would also work nicely with the Duchess Doll Bodies and Duchess Wings.

• An empty wine bottle, or any tall, narrow bottle.
• Fabric, ribbon and fibers, for the “skirt”.
• Chipboard, to support the body parts.
• Chalk inkpads, if you wish.
• Bamboo skewers.
• A glue stick, and E6000 or your favorite fabric to glass glue.

Clean the labels off the wine bottle. Since most wine bottle labels are waterproof, it will take a little work. I scraped with a razor blade, then used a little Goo Gone to get the sticky stuff off.

Cut strips of ribbon, or tear strips of fabric slightly longer than the height of the bottle, and glue around the top, just under the rim. I started with a layer of torn fabric strips, then layered plain ribbons on top, saving the fancier ribbons for the very last layer.

After each layer of ribbons, wrap a piece of fiber or narrow ribbon around the top of the bottle. This will hold the ribbons in place, so you can keep building up layers while the glue is still wet.

After each layer of ribbons, stand the bottle up, and trim the length. Don’t do this before gluing, because as you build up layers, the ribbons have to be longer to reach the bottom. When you’re happy with the look of your wine bottle skirt, tie one ribbon around the top rim of the bottle in a bow, to hide all the uglies. Set the bottle aside to let the glue dry.

Print out the doll bodies and wings on cardstock, and roughly cut the pieces you want to use from the sheets. Don’t do any close, detail cutting yet.

Glue the pieces to a sheet of chipboard, using a glue stick.

Cut the pieces out using sharp detail scissors.

Even my careful cutting often leaves little white bits behind. I tone these away with a chalk inkpad.

Glue any accessory pieces to the body. I used a mask and a hat for the sample. The mask has eyes in it, so you only have to cut around the outer edge, then apply it to the face in the appropriate position. The hat I chose needed a slash across the front of the brim to allow the head to slide into it.

Glue the finished body to the front rim of the bottle, and let it dry.

Rather than glue the wings to the body, I glued them to a bamboo skewer, which I dropped into the bottle. This allowed the wings to flutter a little when caught by a breeze. It will take a little creative cutting to make this work, but it’s a pretty neat effect.

I also made a broom for my doll, using a bamboo skewer, some sisal scraps, and a piece of ribbon, and glued it underneath her hand.

• From Ten Two Studios, a letter book digital kit in the design of your choice. I used the BOO Letter Book kit for this sample.

• A good printer, and cardstock.
• A glue stick.
• A craft knife.
• Chalk inkpads, if you wish.
• A hole punch.
• Ribbons, or the binding items of your choice.

Print the pages from the digital file on cardstock, using a good printer. I printed mine using a laser printer, which is what most copy centers use.

Cut out the letters on the black lines along the three long sides, and just rough cut the short, contoured side of each letter.

Fold each letter in half, lining up the bottom edges.

Unfold each page, apply glue stuck, and press closed. Let the pages dry flat for a few minutes.

Now, cut the contoured edges of each page, through both layers.

If you wish, you can assemble the book now, and skip the next step. However, if you want the pag openings to show the layers beneath them…

…use a craft knife to cut the openings in the letters away.

If you wish to tone the pages (or hide any little white bits that may be showing from uneven folding or cutting), use chalk inkpads along the cut edges.

Stack the pages in order to prepare them for binding. I usually clamp mine together with chip clips, to hold everything in place while I fiddle with the binding.

I chose to bind my sample using punched holes and ribbons, which is pretty simple. First, just punch three evenly spaced holes about half an inch from the edge of the book.

Thread ribbons through the holes, and tie them in knots. To allow the pages to open and lay flat, lay a pencil over the holes, and tie the ribbons around the pencil. Slide the pencil out, and there will be enough ease to flip the pages easily.

Decorate the pages. Included in each kit are some collage bits go get you started, Add your own themed goodies, or purchase an additional collage sheet to create a really full, crunchy book.

To make your own matchbox shrine necklace, you’ll need:

• From Ten Two Studios, matchboxes and matchbox wrappers in the design of your choice. I used the Pretty Poisons Matchbox Wrappers for this sample,

• Cord of your choice. I used three strands of fine hemp for the sample, but one strand of fine satin coring would work, too.
• Beads, if you wish. I used a handful of skull beads. If you want to color your beads, you’ll also need some alcohol inks.
• A small hole punch.

Here’s a tip you can use for lots of projects: most plastic beads can be colored using alcohol inks. I just put a few drops of alcohol in a bottle cap, threw in some skull beads, and dripped some inks on them. After stirring them around in the color for a few seconds, I removed them, and set them on a piece of waxed paper to dry. The stark white beads were a nice mellow caramel color when they dried. Yay!

While the beads were drying, I covered my matchbox. I have instructions on doing this using the matchbox wrapper sheets posted here if you need them.

To convert my wrapped matchbox to a necklace, I started by punching two holes in the top of the inner tray, positioned as close to the corners as possible. I also punched two holes in the bottom of the tray, closer together, so I could make a tassel later.

I cut three strands of hemp cord, and threaded them down through one top hole, across, and up through the second. I pushed the matchbox tray down so it was centered on the cords.

I tied a knot in the cords just above the holes. This hides them, and keeps the matchbox from sliding around.

I slid beads against the knot, and knotted above them.

Then, I braided the three cords together, knotted them again, and added more beads. I kept knotting, braiding, and beading until I reached the ends of both sets of cords, then knotted them together.

I slid the matchbox cover over the tray, and up the cords, just to be sure I didn’t do a bunch of work on the bottom, and end up not being able to slide it on later.

I cut another three strands of cord, and slid them through the bottom holes, then knotted them beneath the holes, and added beads.

I clipped the bottom cords short to create a tassel.

Now, it’s time to fill the matchbox with goodies. One of the advantages of putting the hanging cords in the tray portion is no matter how heavy the goodies are, the tray won’t fall out when worn.

You might want to seal the cover portion of the matchbox if you’re making something that will get a lot of wear. A few coats of matte medium or Diamond Glaze will do the trick.

This first method is designed to produce a flat finished book. If you’re thinking of making something with minimal dimensional embellishments, this might be the book for you. To make one, you’ll need:

• From Ten Two Studios, tabbed manila book pages in whichever size you prefer. My sample is made with the 5×8 pages.

• A sheet of ivory or manila colored paper.
• A glue stick, or the paper glue of your choice.
• A ruler or straight edge for tearing.

Start by tearing four strips of paper, roughly 1-1/2″ wide, and longer than the height of your book pages. Tear one extra strip that’s 2″ wide, and set it aside for the last step.

Arrange your tabbed pages in the order you’d like them to appear, and place the stack on your work table. Flip open the first page and lay it to the left of the stack, as if the book is open to the first page. Line up the spine and bottom edges.

Apply glue to one of the paper strips, and lay it over the spine edges of the pages, centering it.

Fold the second page over the first, lining up the top and bottom edges, and making a fold in that piece of paper you just applied.

Line up the newly attached first and second pages on the left with the stack containing the third page on the right. Apply a glue strip over the spine edges, centering. Turn the page and fold the spine strip. Keep repeating this until all the pages are joined at the spine edges.

Trim away any excess papers from the top and bottom edges of your book.

Apply glue to the 2″ strip of paper, and lay the spine edge of your book on it, with the edge in the center of the strip.

Wrap the strip around the spine of the book to the front, and press it in place on the front page.

Trim away any excess paper at the top and bottom of the spine. Your book is ready to decorate!

The second method is designed to produce a book that will expand a little at the spine, to accept some chunky embellishments. If you choose this method, you’ll want to put all the pages together, decorate the interior, and leave the finished spine and covers for last.

To make one, you’ll need:

• From Ten Two Studios, tabbed manila book pages in whichever size you prefer. My sample is made with the 4×6 pages.

• A sheet of ivory or manila colored paper.
• A glue stick, or the paper glue of your choice.
• A ruler or straight edge to use as a folding guide.

Start by accordion folding the sheet of paper. The wider the folds, the more the book will be able to expand. If you just need a little expansion room, try 1/2″ folds. My sample book used 1″ folds, which allows for a lot of chunkiness. To keep my folds straight, I used a ruler to press folds in every 2″, and folded those in half, lining up the top and bottom edges of each fold.

Arrange the tabbed pages in the order you’d like them to appear in the finished book, and stack them in front of you, long edge up. Place the folded paper above the stack, oriented so you can flip up the cut end of the paper to expose the first fold. Grab the first tabbed page, and put the long edge of it against that first fold. Apply glue to the paper flap above the fold, and press it down onto the first page.

Flip the first page up, and flip one accordion fold up over it. Grab the second page, and press it against the accordion.

Apply glue to the accordion fold above the page.

Press the fold down onto the second page. Continue ading pages by flipping up the newly glued tabbed page, then the next accordion fold, gluing and folding down.

When the last page has been added, flip it up, and trim away all but one remaing piece of the accordion fold. Apply glue to that last piece, and press it to the back page.

Trim away any excess paper at the top and bottom of the spine.

Here’s what the finished book looks like when it’s expanded.