Matchbook Album for Scissor Charms

Do you all remember the old time paper matchbooks - full of matches? Almost any restaurant had them with their logo on them, however, you can't really find them too often anymore. Well, this project is just that - a matchbook cover, except the inside isn't filled with matches. In this project, we are filling it with a single sheet of cardstock and attaching our scissor charm to it. However, you could stick in a package of hot chocolate...a cello bag full of candy...the possibilities are endless.

If you are asking what is a scissor charm, well it's the same concept as wine charms. We offer several styles of scissor charms. Of course, you can wrap them around just about anything you can loop something through - not just scissors.

A while back, I created this fun matchbook holder for our scissor charms for a local scrapbook event at which we sponsored a make 'n take. The photos in this post are the sample make 'n take we made. However, I think this project can easily be coverted to full holiday flair by using any of the great holiday paper line currently out there on the market.

(Of course, our Believe Christmas and Winter Snow 12 x 12 scrapbook kits have some great paper, diecut quotes and stickers that could easily be used on this project.)

Here's What You’ll Need:

▪ 1 piece cardstock, cut to 12” long x 4.25” wide for matchbook album

▪ 1 piece cardstock, cut to 5.5” long x 4.25” wide for the inside page (this is the one in the top picture shown with the quote)

▪ Pattern paper, stamped images, or other to decorate the cover

▪ Staples/Adhesive

▪ Paper Cutter and scoring tools

Step 1 Place a 12” x 4.25” piece of cardstock in front of you. Score the cardstock from the left-hand side at: 1”. Then at 6.5” and 6.75”. Fold the cardstock at the score lines. (Note: your score lines will go across the 4.25" width not the 12' length)

Step 2 Insert a 5.5” x 4.25” piece of cardstock inside the 1” flap you created. Fold the top cover down over the 1” flap to see where you should place staples through the flap, to secure the 5.5” x 4.25 inch inside the matchbook album. (Note: Staples too high will mean you can’t tuck your cover under the 1” flap.) Fold down the top flap and tuck inside the 1” bottom flap, just like a matchbook.

I made up the quote on the inside (shown in top photo) and used a
scissor graphic I had on hand to create the inside cardstock
printout. I plan on making these for my son's teachers and admin
staff at his preschool. I'm going to use the following quote in
place of the friendship quote on the inside...

A special little charm to wrap around your scissors to make the
remainder of the school year extra special!

Step 3 Decorate as desired on both inside and outside!

Here's the outside of the matchbook. Note that the two bottom strips of paper shown - the flowers and the stripes - well, the flowers is actually the top flap, and the stripes is the bottom flap that you stapled. The staple is covered by the striped paper. The flower paper is tucked behind the striped paper.

Hope this makes sense. You can always email me (scrapbooksonthego@hotmail.com) if you need further clarification. It's really hard to show in a photo the dimension on this project.

If you are wondering how we made the cute flower on the front cover, it is punch art using our line of punches for our photo jewelry. We are showing you the one made with our circle punch, but you can make a cute flower out of our heart punch too!

For a flower from our circle punch – punch six circles. Place one of the six circles in the center of where you want your flower positioned. Then place the remaining five circles around the first circle, overlapping to create a flower.

For a flower from our heart punch – punch four hearts and place so that the bottom points of the hearts come together to form the flower.

Finish off each flower with a button for a center.

One of the questions we got a lot during the make 'n take was how to attach the charm. So here's how we did it...Punch two holes in the 5.5 “x 4.25” insert. See our example with scissor image. We punched one hole above the scissor image and one below it so that it looks like the scissor charm is looped through the scissor image.

To attach charm, from the front insert the charm loop into the bottom hole. Then bring the loop back through from the back of the insert. Loop both ends into a slip knot to secure to card.

One last thought...I mentioned that I'm going to make these for my son's teacher gifts. Well, I plan on putting them in some cute bags I found in my Lakeside catalog. I'll be adding in a few more things too, but I thought this would be a fun personal touch my each gift bag.

Thanks for looking and keep crafting!