Scrapbook Challenge from Leah

Hello friends! Ready for a little off-the-scrapbook-page challenge? I like to make fun coffee sleeves for myself and others, and I thought maybe you'd want to give it a try. If you don't drink coffee or tea, you probably have a friend who does. I made personalized coffee sleeves like these as teacher gifts last Christmas - I just added Starbucks cards and was all set.

If you have a leftover coffee sleeve already, you can open it up and use it as a template for tracing. If not, here's a template you can print out and use. Adjust the size however you like. For my coffee sleeves, I like to use stiff felt (it's cozy and keeps the coffee warm longer) but if you don't have stiff felt, any felt or even just cardstock should work too. 

I traced the template onto the felt and on the back of patterned paper. The patterned paper I used is Making Memories' Varnished Floral from the Panorama collection. I used scalloped pinking sheers to cut along the bottom of the felt to give it a deco edge. After cutting out the paper, I trimmed 1/2" off the top and hot glued it to the felt. You can use regular glue for this, but the hot glue works so fast on felt. After that, I did a quick machine stitch but that is optional - not needed at all.

Using a hot glue gun again, I adhered one end on top of the other to create the sleeve. It helps to have a coffee paper cup handy to make sure you get the width that you want. For example, the coffee sleeve I made here was made for a smaller cup (the Starbucks "Tall") but as you can see, when I put it on a 7-Eleven large cup, it sits low on the cup. So make it however you like.

I then put a small amount of glue at the center front of the sleeve to adhere the end of a piece of ribbon to it. I wrapped the ribbon around the sleeve using just a dab of glue on the center back of the sleeve and again on the front where the ribbon ended. To embellish the back, I cut off the prongs on an Making Memories glitter deco brad and hot glued the brad to the ribbon as seen in the picture.

For accent, I made a pretty paper flower buy Slicing two 2.5" flowers using the Slice Seasons card. After curling up the edges using a pencil to wrap around, I mounted one on top of the other using foam tape. To this was added an Making Memories' metal eclectic sign, and the whole thing was glued to the front of the sleeve. That same floral accent will of course also make a pretty page embellishment. As seen in this photo, I added an Making Memories' metal frame to dress the flower up even more.

So here's the challenge: Try making one of these coffee sleeves using your favorite papers and embellishments. Or, like me, grab those scraps and use them first. I'd love to see what you create!  After you make your first one, you can whip out several in no time at all.

Leah Fung