Make your own custom CD/DVD cases

We like to make custom hand made DVD cases for our photography clients.  Yes, I know that CD/DVDs are on their way out for data storage, but we still provide them.  I imagine that we will soon start giving out photos on flash drives as they are pretty darn cheap now - and then our clients will have a nice reusable gift as well.  But for now, it's DVDs.  And we make the case by hand.  Here's the proof:

So the video is pretty self explanatory and provides the needed measurements.  But I thought I'd link to the materials that we used and also add a little more information.  First off, here are the materials we used:

Daler-Rowney Canford Cardstock 140lb

Ogura Lace Paper

Elmer's Spray Adhesive

100 Pack - Clear CD Hub Center with Adhesive Backing

Craft Cutting Board similar to this link

X-Acto Knife

We first used an additional piece of the cardstock to make a template of our design.  After that, making the cuts for the actual final piece was easy.  The most difficult part in the making of the template was creating the curves in the top flap with the tab.  Katie worked hard and used curved objects in the house (like coins) to make the curves, and also did a bit by hand.  It may be easier to use a compass or stencil to make the curves, but just know that you can do it with objects around the house like cans and coins!  

We experimented with how thick we wanted the case to be.  We ended up going with a 1/2" thick case because we had planned all along for a double CD case which needed that extra space.  If you are doing a single CD case, you can probably go with 1/4" thickness (the measurement between the fold lines) unless you like the added size.

After you make your cuts, you can decide how much lace paper you want to add to the outside.  We chose to cover the entire outside except the top flap, and so cut the lace paper accordingly.  From there it was easy to apply the spray adhesive to the lace paper and attach it to the cardstock.  Be sure to use spray adhesive in a well-ventilated area and use a mask to prevent inhalation.  Seriously - getting glue in your lungs is not the secret to a long happy life!

We also added in a thank you card held in by slits cut to the card corners.  As you can see in the video, the slits were mostly measured out be placing the card in the middle of the flap and then marking diagonally across the card corners.  Pretty easy.  Then we placed the self adhesive CD hubs in the center of the flaps needed to hold the CDs.  I thought that we would need additional adhesive when I ordered these, but we didn't.  These things hold surprising well!  The 100 pack off of Amazon only cost about $9 and they are excellent.

We chose no additional decoration for the outside of our case, but we had considered using some twine or ribbon to tie it up.  We'd love to hear anyone's addition to our design, so please comment if you changed something or added additional decoration.  Have fun!

-Bluescape Jay-

Do It Yourself Wood Photo Transfer!

Hooray!  Bluescape Media's inaugural blog post.  We've been doing business for a few years, but we've recently decided to really ramp up our social media presence.  So without further ado... here's how to make your own photo transfers onto wood!

Bluescape Media posted a video a few weeks ago on how to transfer photos to wood.  Further explanation to follow.

Things you'll need:

• wood surface
• foam brushes
• photos from laser printer or a photocopier
• gel medium (matte finish)
• modge podge (matte finish)

The most important step is getting a nice piece of wood.  We prefer to use recycled wood - why purchase from the store when you can get it for free and help the environment?  Since we found out about this technique, we've been constantly on the lookout for clean pieces of wood.  If you use recycled wood, you may need to sand it smooth and clean it with a damp cloth to remove all the dust.

Select the photos you'd like to use and reverse them horizontally using photoshop or another image editing program. (GIMP is a free one) Then print them out on a quality laser printer.  If you don't have a laser printer, you can use an inkjet printer and then make a photocopy of the image.  This works with both color and b&w photos.

Darker images work best, as white areas will show the wood grain.  High contrast images with solid dark areas will yield great results.  Although as you can see in the video above, we had a lot of white space (wedding dress) and the transfer still looks very good.

After preparing your images, spread a layer of gel medium on the wood.  We also like to spread some on the surface of the photo as well.  Place the photo face down on the wood surface and smooth out the bubbles and creases.  Be careful not to move the photo around too much while your smoothing it out.
Let it dry overnight.

After it's dry, wet the paper liberally and you will soon be able to rub off the paper with your fingers.  We also use a wet rag to work off the smaller pieces.  You may have to re-wet the surface and rub more after it starts to dry as you will notice a paper film start to develop.  It's not necessary to do this repeatedly, as much of this film will disappear when you do the next step.  But do try to get the image as clear as possible without rubbing off all the ink!

Let the wood dry again and then apply a layer of modge podge to seal the surface.  Let this dry and your all done!  We also applied some twine to the edges which we secured with modge podge and drilled some holes in the back for wall mounting.

Good luck with your project!  Please comment if you need any help figuring this one out.  Happy Holidays!

-Bluescape Jay-