fun with xyron

Since my studio is now clean and functional, I finished up a few easy projects with some of my supplies last week. My goal for the new year is to use what I have and not buy any more supplies. It shouldn't be hard, I have a LOT of supplies. I bought the Xyron sticker maker years ago when I worked for Paper Source. I believe it was during an employee 50% off sale. I decided to use it to help give a few of my things a more custom look, namely a little drop-spine box from a local chocolate shop, and a non-descript journal.

My Xyron looks a little different from this image because it's years older and must be a different model but they are essentially the same, from what I can tell. Here's a little video that shows you the "how to" for the visual learners.

My first project was to cover this little journal I've had for a while. I don't really journal but I do like to keep tabs on random thoughts, to-do lists, that kind of thing. I have tons of beautiful japanese paper and picked my wedding paper for this project. I still think it is so beautiful, 6 years later. Here are the steps:

1) My first step was to cut 2 pieces of the paper (for the front and back cover) about an inch longer than the book on three sides.

2) Next, I ran the paper through the Xyron to make it into a sticker.

3) With a steady hand, I adhered the paper to the covers and cut the corners at a 45 degree angle (with just a tad left at the end of each corner.) I completed one cover before starting with the other.

4) Fold in the overages and wa-la: a new custom book. The insides don't look perfect but I'm not a perfectionist.

I did basically the same thing to the little chocolate box, mainly to cover the store logo. I cut a piece of japanese paper long enough to go all the way around the top, ran it through the Xyron, applied and was done in about 5 minutes.

I don't really use the Xyron for making announcements and invitations like I used to, the cost of the refills is a little prohibitive for large jobs like that but for small jobs like these, it's tops.