Places We Go Mini Album

I found this mini album at Michaels on clearance for 70 cents. It was just so cute I couldn't resist. I had never worked with a shaped mini before, and once I got the cover the way I wanted it, I really enjoyed it. The cover was just flat chipboard and I really had a hard time figuring out what to do with it. I covered it in paper, and tried a few things, but I was lacking dimension, so I traced and cut out another car out of thick corrogated cardboard. I cut windows into that and sandwiched some Sassafrass Lass between the layers. I cut the things that go over the wheels out of the thicker cardboard as well, and covered the whole thing in thick Gesso. I pained it bright red over that. Once I got the cover done the rest was easy. Well, thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a great day.

A Day in the Life

I started this mini album ages ago, but I only got around to finishing it last week. The cover started with an inspiration from my friend Shemaine, I loved how she used crackle paint on exposed corrugated cardboard. I used a box I had and just stripped the top layer off of it. I used some paper from Prima, some trim that I got on clearance, rub ons and Thickers by American Crafts and the flower and butterfly pin were yard sale treasures.For the inside of the book I used coordinating papers from Daisy Ds. I also used my Basic Grey journal stamps. Believe it or not I never thought of using them on patterned paper before.

I have a huge stash of vintage buttons and a they really coordinated nicely with the paper. I used some Prina Say it in Crystals on the page above.

The felt die cut is Prima and for the bird I used the negative of my die cut. I inked it with Distress Ink and used it as a mask, stamping over top of it. The tickets are Mellisa Frances.The pages of the album itself are made from cereal boxes. I love projects that use things that would otherwise be thrown out. The mats for the pictures are made from the same box I made the cover of the album with. I just painted them with crackle paint.

I really enjoyed making this mini. It really is amazing what you can do with some pretty patterned paper and cereal boxes. Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Have a great weekend.ETA sorry the pictures are a little weird. Our other computer is in the shop for a few days, and that is where my jpegs are stored. I'll fix the pictures when it comes home.

Mini album with ~suprise. suprise~ Sassafras Lass!

Isn't it So great when you scrapbook paper matches your life? I saw the Sassafras Lass Anthem collection and I swear the little boy on there looks just like my brother! And since I made a mini for my sister, I thought I should make one for my brother too. How perfect is that?! Oh, and this is for his birthday, so shhhh! Don't tell! The cover is painted with Walnut Stain crackle paint. I used some Hog Heaven papers too. I love that collection :) The cars I cut out of K&Co paper. I believe it was Danny O. The album is a Basic Grey Bracket album. Stickled Grungeboard heart.... I used cut outs from the Sassafras paper and clear packing tape to do photo transfers. I love the effect I got with this! Now tell me this was not the perfect paper for my brother. I know this is a favorite childhood memory of my brother's. He loved this car cake so much. I'm thinking of adding some little spots for him to journal, if he wants to. Well, that's all she wrote! I may add a few more pages to this one, I don't know yet, but for now we are calling it done. Thanks for looking and have a fantastic day!

Christmas Toilet Paper Roll Album

Every year I like to make a mini album of our Christmas. When we take out the tree to decorate we go through our albums and look through them and remember the good times that we had previous years. This year I made a toilet paper roll album. Toilet paper albums are great. Recycling is always good and it is so fun to see the look on people's faces when you tell them that they are holding toilet paper rolls as they look through your album. I love the little pockets for holding journaling and extra photos . My inspiration for this album started with some yummy flocked paper from Me and My Big Ideas. I hate to put fuzzy things locked away behind a page protector and it gives such a tactile quality to this little mini. I also used some velvet trim and the trim with the fun little tassels to add textural interest. I had these little vintage looking stickers my mother brought back on a trip from Germany years and years ago. I'm so glad I finally used them. I cut the little shape-y thing from the Calligraphy Cricut cartridge (thanks Hubby) I don't know a lot of the sources on the things I used on this project. I am trying to use up my stash and a lot of these things I bought years ago. The metal clip is from Making Memories. I folded the black lace to give it even more texture. The photos are printed in black and white to add to the vintage feel of the album. I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Peeled Paint on my photos and papers. I layered a Heidi Swapp chipboard clock with a button and a jingle bell. It hangs off the edge and functions as a tab. I used some Prima flowers (LOVE THESE) and put a snap in the center. Thanks so much for taking the time to look at my blog. Have a fantastic day!

Toilet Paper Roll Mini

Well, I think it is high time I made a book about myself. I have huge books for both children and a lot of stuff about my huisband, but I really didn't have anything just about myself until now. I got the inspiration to do a toilet paper roll album from the Bad Girls Kits message board. I saw one my friend Danielle made and I knew I had to try it! Some of my journaling prompts and ideas came from the Crazy about Mini Albums blog. Thanks for the inspiration, ladies! My favorite part about the cover is the cameo, which came from my local junk shop. All of the papers are K&Co's Blue Awning collection. The Pink flowers are Primas and the others are all Bazzil. I wish I could tell you where the gems in the center are from, but I lost that package long ago. I love the key and the lock. They are made by EK Success. The stickers are K&Co, mostly Brenda Walton's designs. The corner here is from the junk shop as well. I suppose it came off a photo frame or something. Noticed how I used the bitty fragment of the Heidi Swapp chipboard clock (leftover from another project) here. Amazing how such a tiny scrap can speak huge volumes. Oh, and I love the dticker with the dog and the feather duster. You can't really see it in the photo, but the sticker says "Housework Stinks, Saving for a Maid" That is a true dream of mine. I hate cleaning! I used the insides of the toilet paper rolls to hold my embellished journalling tags. They are a little too private to share here though. Thanks for reading!

Basic Grey Gate Fold Mini Album

I found a fantastic deal on this Basic Grey Sublime collection mini gate fold album. This project came together pretty fast and easy. I used paper from the Aged and Confused Sublime collection, another sheet of BG and some paper that I have no idea where on earth it came from. A lot of the techniques that I experimented with are from the blog Scrapperlicious. I used Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Fired Brick. A huge challenge for me in making this album was that I couldn't use any dimensional embellishments. I love dimension on my pages and but I didn't have a lot of leeway for closing this one, so to give it a feel of depth without the bulk I used a lot of inking and distressing. I used die cut circles to mask off the paper while I inked around it. I did that with both Vintage Photo and Fired Brick. The flourish stamps I used are from Autumn Leaves. The chipboard clock is Heidi Swapp. I did a bunch of doodling on some of the pages. I used a fine tipped pen to do some faux stitching and to write little messages to my husband. I used only 4 12x12 papers in this album. I used EVERY last scrap of the Basic Grey. Although this collection is not one of my all time favorites, I just love how the using everything from the same collection makes everything just come together so easily. I made this book in just under 4 hours (that is a record for me, I'm super slow). I used some rub ons from Kaisercraft on these pages. So, there it is. I'll be sending it out soon. The last mini I made for him never made it, so I hope he gets this one. Thank you so much for reading.

Mini Christmas Album

A Mini Album

I made this for my Hubby. He is overseas right now, serving his country. I altered an altoid tin for him to keep in his uniform pocket. Inside is a mini album with pictures of the kids and I. The paper is from Scenic Route. I made this album, a card and I still have some left over to play with! The base of the album is a 3 1/2 strip of 'kraft' colored cardstock. It is scored every 2 inches and folded like an accordion. I used a corner rounder to give each page more definition (and so it will fit in the tin). The front of the album says "A World Apart" I used rub ons from K&Co. The inside of the album says "but forever close in my heart"