Finished at last!

Last year, when CropChocolate carried the My Mind’s Eye Fine and Dandy collection, I went a big crazy!  I loved it and thought it would be perfect for two mini albums for my daughters – one about my oldest’s first year as a big sister, and the other one for my youngest to commemorate her first year as a little sister.

Well, the collections have been sitting for awhile now, so when I picked up the awesome Lulu and Libby stamp set from Kraftin’ Kimmie this week while thinking about the top ten challenge, I knew the time had come to tackle at least one of the albums.  Lulu and Libby are two characters from the talented artist Cheryl Alger, and I love using them for projects for my girls!

So each day this week, I tacked another set of pages and I am happy to say that the BIG SISTER album is complete:

And of course, a little interactive element that I created by modifying the last page:

I wanted to make sure that my colouring of the stamped images really coordinated with the album, so I tried something a bit new for me.  After stamping all three with Momento Tuxedo Black ink, I actually fussy cut each image before I coloured them.  I then placed a small piece of paper underneath, and then placed both of those on top of one of the patterned pieces of paper from the collection (one that had all the colours I had planned to use in the album).  It was almost like surrounding the stamped image with a pallet of colour, so it was super easy to match what I wanted to do on the pages with the way I was colouring the image.  I’m pretty happy with the way it all came together! Now I just need to get the second album done!

So, wish me luck!  I still hoping to earn one of those guest spots for Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamps in March!

As always, thanks for stopping by!!!

A Few of My Favourite Things!

If there is anything you need to know about me, it is that I love chocolate.  Dark, milk, and even white (if I am in a pinch), chocolate is definitely one of my favourite things!

But truth be told – it is not the top of my list!  So, when I set out to use a wooden chocolate kiss shape as the foundation for a mini-album, I knew exactly which favourite things I did want to feature – my little family!  So out came the camera, a bit of lipstick, and with a bit of convincing, my models let me take their pictures with bright kisses on each of their cheeks!

Let me back up for a minute – this piece was actually part of a CropChocolate challenge, and I wasn’t too excited about the project right off the bat!  I really wasn;t sure what I was going to do with the wooden kiss, but as part of the DT, I wanted to be supportive of the challenge.  So, with some creative consulting with my hubby (the man is really creative – he really puts my craftiness to shame…but don’t tell him I said that), we decided to break out of the mold (literally), cut the wooden kiss in half, carve out portions to add a brass heart and turn it into a mini album…so how did we do?

Here’s a bit of a step-by-step of how the project took shape

This is my oldest daughter – she even did a kissy face for me!

 

…and this is the little one!

And of course…the brains behind the operation! Each picture has a hidden journaling pocket too!

Crate Paper’s Cottage collection was a fun choice for this chocolate inspired project!

Now, I have to tell you that we didn’t win the challenge, which was a bit heart breaking because there was a Cameo up for grabs!   But this is a project that I am really proud of for two reasons – the first is because I think we really did create something unexpected and beautiful.  More importantly though, this is a project that was really team effort for my family - we created it together!  So in the end, it is a project that not only celebrates my favourite things, but it also helped me to build more memories with them!  Cameo or not, I don`t think there can be any loosing here!

Thanks for stopping by!

An Envelope Mini-album tutorial!

Well hi everyone!  I know I just had a project up on CropChocolate on Friday and here I am again!  That Amber is such a slave driver!  It’s been a fun month on the Design team and I can’t wait for you all to see what the team has in store.  I know that I will have a lot of new projects to try out.  So, let’s get the October fun started!

Photos on one side and journaling/another photo on the back

This month, we have all been working on mini-albums.  You might remember that a couple of weeks ago, I posted a link on how to make envelopes - well, now you can see why!  I decided to play around with envelopes for a little “Auntie brag book” for my sister-in-law.  I recently picked up some beautiful My Mind’s Eye Quite Contrary (Little Boy Blue) paper from CropChocolate, and I loved the idea of playing around with the theme “Guess hooooo loves you?”

It’s a super simple project (you could even recycle envelopes you already have if you don’t want to make your own) and the results are really pretty cute!  A little paper, adhesive and ribbon and you are all set!  Give it a whirl and let me know what you think!

Written Instructions:

Materials:

MME QuiteContrary Little Boy Blue paper pack

Adhesive

Ribbon for pull (optional)

Instructions:

To create the envelope:

1. Cut a 12X12 sheet of double sided paper down to a 10X10 sheet of paper. Fold into an envelope (click here for a tutorial on how to create an envelope)

2.  Repeat step 1 for 2-3 more envelopes.

The could make a cute wall hanging as well!

3.  Lay the envelopes down and place fold flap (the part of the envelope that usually folds over a card) on the next envelope. You can either place the flap behind the envelope above it or on top of the envelope above it.  This will create different effects.  Play a bit with the folds and see how your album will close.  You may find that placing the flap on top of the envelope creates a mini-album that is easier to fold, especially with thicker paper.

4.  Using an adhesive, run a strip along the bottom edge of the flap and secure to the envelope on top of it.  Repeat with each of the envelopes.

To create your album pages:

1.  Cut 4 pieces of double sided cardstock at 5″X7″.

2. Punch a hole at the top of each sheet and secure a piece of ribbon that will act as a pull.

3. Attach a photo and/or embellishment to each side of your 5″X7″ sheets of paper. On some of my pages, I used one side for jounraling and the other side for a photo.

4.  Slip the pages inside the envelopes.

Embellish your mini-album cover and closures.  I use the theme “Guess hoooooo loves you?” but you could create any number of themes with this idea.  What paper packs do you have for CC that you could use for a project like this one?

Back to School – not quite!

Being on maternity leave has its advantages.  First of all, instead of being back at work teaching, and feeling like I am in full chaos mode (as September always is), I am still finding some time to get crafty!  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE teaching, but being at home with the girls and playing in my crafty space when I can really does beat Meet the Teacher night.  Sorry parents!

I was recently over on the Two Peas in a Bucket website and came across a vendor challenge.  BasicGrey was teaming up with Two Peas to see how crafty people could get with the Oxford collection.  I thought I would see what I could come up with, so I took a trip off to my LSS to see if I could find some inspiration.  The paper line just reminded me of old vintage books, so I decided to play with the idea of a book that I could use as a mini-album of my girls when I return to work.  So where did the idea go from there?  Check it out!

This recovered book is quite cute if I do say so myself...but it's purposeful too!

Here's the inside with a few pages for photos...

Voila - it's a pencil case or treasure box too!

If you haven’t had a chance to check out this paper, it is really cute!  And if you are inspired to create something, why not throw you hat into the challenge over at Two Peas?

So what do you think – does this project warrant a video tutorial?  Maybe one for CC with some of their great products???  Let me know!