Domino Hacks: Ribbon & Heat Embossing

A few of you have asked how I made my Domino A5 into something a little more 'me', so I thought I'd do a little blog post to show you how.

Here is my journal, heat embossed with a ribbon to replace the elastic.

 

Hack 1: Ribbon instead of elastic

Step 1: Choose your ribbon. Choose something that is preferably not prone to fraying, not too thick and not too weedy and thin. I chose quite a thick, grey ribbon for mine. Remember this technique makes it easy to chop and change if you get bored of the colour of your ribbon.

 

Step 2: Remove the elastic. Underneath the ring mechanism there are two holes. You need to chop the elastic band and remove it through the holes and discard.

Step 3: Thread your ribbon. Scrunch up one end of the ribbon so it's easier to thread through, and thread through one of the holes from the inside of the binder out. Do the same with the other end of the ribbon, again threading from the inside out.

 

 

 

Step 4: Admire your handiwork. Pull the ribbons all the way through so there is no loop under the ring mechanism on the inside. This will keep the ribbon in place. Then you can tie your ribbon around. If it's too long you can trim it. You can also add charms and beads if you want to. 

 

Hack 2: Heat Embossing that plain cover

You Will Need:

- Heat embossing tool (UK stockist - click here; USA stockist - click here)

- Rubber or clear stamp of your choice

- A good quality ink pad (I used Colorbox Cats Eye in Dragonfly Black) (US stockist - click here; UK stockist - click here) Tip: Whatever ink pad you choose to use, test it out first to make sure the ink gets into all the nooks of your rubber stamp, or the design won't come through properly. Make sure it's an ink that doesn't dry too fast.

- An unloved, boring Filofax.

- Heat embossing powder - there is a lot of this on the market. I have used Blonde Moments Suet Ruby Lustre (it glistens). Click here to see the variety of colours available from Blonde Moments.

- A4 paper folded in half to make a crease. You'll see why.

- Baby wipes or face wipes to clean up.

 

 

Step 1: Mount your rubber/clear stamp and ink it up. Stamp the image onto the front of your Filofax. Might be an idea to plan where you want to stamp it.

 

 

Step 2: Pile on the fairy dust. (Ah-hum, I mean embossing powder). Leave it for 30 seconds to a minute to really work its' magic.

 

 

Step 3: Grab your A4 paper and tip the excess onto the crease in the opened out paper. This collects all of the excess powder...

 

 

And it makes it much easier to put back in the powder pot.

 

 

 

Step 4: Wipe off remaining excess. Some embossing powders have a clingy lustre to them so when you shake off the excess there will still be a dusty residue around your stamp. To avoid the heat gun picking up on it, use a baby wipe or face wipe to carefully wipe around the embossed image. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR STAMPED IMAGE OR YOU WILL RUIN IT!

 

 

Step 5: Let the heat magic commence. Turn on the heat gun, hold it about 4/5cm away from your image and carefully heat up the embossing powder. You will see it change colour when you have heat it up.



 

 

Step 6: Leave the powder to cool. This will avoid smudging. You only need to leave it for a few minutes.

 

Step 7: Wipe your image with a baby wipe. You'll notice on the stamp I used there are lots of parts where the embossing powder has left a dust, inside the image which would have been really difficult and hazardous to remove before I heated the powder. Now the image is sealed you can go ahead and wipe the image with a baby wipe to get rid of the remaining excess.

 

Step 8: Admire your handiwork. (Best Identity I've ever seen... what'cha think?!)