Sara’s Surfaces ™ are a great new product from our friends at Hot Off The Press. They are a complete line of paper surfaces ready for you to alter and or embellish in a million ways. The line includes Peek-A-Boo Pockets, Just a Pocket, Tall Coin Envelopes. 4-Fold Folders, Tags and Bags, Coin Envelopes, Matchbook Pockets, Pinwheel Pockets, Mini Folders, 2 sizes of portfolios and 3 sizes of albums. Many of the surfaces are heavyweight white cardstock with one side glossy and the other matte, to give you more possibilities when you’re ready to decorate. The albums are sturdy book board in a kraft paper color, and include page protectors. Refills for the albums are also available. Priced from $2.99 for 2 mini folders to $14.99 for the 5”x 11 album, Sara’s Surfaces™ are affordable and a great item to keep on hand for many gift giving occasions, or simply because they’re perfect for so many projects.

Stumped for ideas about how to decorate them? Sara’s Surfaces ™ Idea book will solve your problems. The talented designers at Hot Off The Press have given us no less than 63 complete projects using these wonderful surfaces. Complete directions and great photos will allow you to recreate the projects exactly as shown. Or use these ideas as a stepping off point to jump-start your own creativity. You can spend as little as 5 minutes decorating a mini folder, or days creating a cherished memory book. One of my favorites is the Birthday Lollipop Gift Holder by LeNae Gerig, made from the Pinwheel Pockets.




But I also love Shanuna Berglumnd-Immel’s Dance Invitation made from the Tall Coin Envelope.




And what gardener could resist the Garden Journal by Susan Cobb?




After looking thru the book, I had to decorate something! I challenged myself to decorate 2 of the Mini Folders using only supplies I already had on hand. My granddaughters want gift cards for Easter (what fun is that to shop for?) So I decided to use the Mini Folders to hold them. (At least I got to do something with a bunny!) I covered the folders with papers from the Cardmaker’s Creative Pack Citrus – purple and pink for one girl and green and aqua for the other. I folded the pockets up and adhered them in place along the outside edge. Then I rubber stamped the bunny on white cardstock and used watercolor markers to color the bunny in with coordinating colors. I cut this to size and adhered it to the front of the folder. I made a tag for the inside of each folder, also from the Cardmaker’s Creative Pack Citrus, and added a flower to each tag with dimensional adhesive. After writing my message on the tag, I punched a hole and added a ribbon, and inserted the completed tag into the pocket. I’ll put the gift card in the other pocket, and tie the folder together with a pretty ribbon.



If you want to repeat this, you’ll need:

Sara’s Surfaces™ Mini Folders (Hot Off The Press)
Cardmaker’s Creative Pack Citrus (Hot Off The Press)
Bunny Stamp – source unknown
Brown inkpad
Watercolor markers
1 yard ribbon for each folder
White cardstock
Scissors
Ruler
Pen
Adhesive of choice