First Mini Album Part 2

I will have one more post to finish this album after this one. Laughing at myself because I forgot that the pages are double sided so the album is much bigger then planned. Oh well live and learn. This next page I am going to show you I really don't like and may by the end of the album end up changing. Not sure how yet, it you guys have any ideas please share them.

Pg 7 - Its hard to make out in this picture but here is what I tried to do. I cut out butterflies using my Grand Calibur then embossed and inked them. In the corner is a chipboard sticker that reads "Butterflies Flowers & April Showers" The Butterflies really don't stand out and the page is boring. Need some help with ideas here.

Pg 8 - This is cut from the bottom right of the remaining CS that I used on Pg 7. Not only is it important to have tags, and other things to pull out of a mini but you need to have areas to journal. On the right hand side I added a bit of crochet lace and covered the edges of the CS in Stickles Crystal glitter. I then added a 3D sticker of a humming bird. Nice quick page.

Pg 9 - There are 2 pictures for this page. I really like how this turned out. On the page you see this scalloped square cut out with my Grand Calibur. The CS used is shimmering sheet from the matching stack. I then added the paper flower to the top left corner and stickled the petals. Using Liquid Pearls I put little pearls in each corner where the scallops meet. A little lace on the binding on the right hand side and the the beautiful butterfly to the center. This is the last butterfly I have in this colour scheme.

Here you can see that the scalloped square is really a little book. Perfect for little pictures, some journaling or mementos. Also included a tag that reads "Home is Where the Heart is". Can you tell I am really enjoying making this? I have so many ideas floating in my head, which is a good thing because I have already started on my project for Spellbinders DT call in December LOL.

Pg 10 - Again there will be 2 pictures for this page. Made a pocket page but this time used the same CS so that it blends in. The wonderful bird house embellishment was made by disneylisa for one of her DCWV Spring Swaps in 2011. She is hostessing one right now using DCWV Spring Fling stacks on http://www.scrapbook.com/ . Love the bird house and figure it would work great in the mini. disneylisa does great work. I have alot of handmade embellishments from her.

Here are the tags in the pocket. I made a 4x6 photo mat because the one thing I noticed was there was not any big areas for photos, opps LOL. Used a nice pearl brad to attach that great stripped ribbon.  Also included an other tag from the stack that is foiled.
Two more pages then on to part 3.

Pg 11 - Did another simple page because I could not bring myself to cover the picture. That flourish is right on the page in foil. I added the chipboard banner that reads "Spring" and that was all. Really there is quite the impact already.

Pg 12 - 2 pictures for this page also. Were to start there are so many elements to this page. I first started with a white envelop which belonged to the Tag card I cut in half. Then using the 3 different ink colours orangy yellow, light teal and coral I swirled the ink pads on the front and inked the edges. I really like this technique and will used it more once I have my new stamp spots in. Then applied the stripped ribbon to the edge of the envie and secured it on the ends with 2 pearl brads. Next I adhered it to the page and added the felt sticker that reads "all a flutter". I then added the Pearl swirl by Prima Say it in Pearls collection. In the top is a tag that reads "Beauty".

Here you can see that I used the envie as a giant pocket to put tags, pictures what ever you want in it.
Now to finish the last 6 pages LOL and then it is done. I can't wait to see what I come up with today to finish this off and maybe redo Pg 7.

Thanks for following, I read all comments. May our Heavenly Father hold you in the Palm of His hand. God Bless.

First Mini Album Part 1

So in my last post was the Altered Cigar Box, this one is all about the matching Mini Album I made for it. I have never made a mini before and I choose to make with chipboard. The nice thing about chipboard is its very sturdy and you can get different shapes. I picked 2 up at Michael's in their $1.50 bins. Also I belong to an "Envie of the Month" swap and this last month the theme was Spring which was perfect because I needed a ton of embellishments for this album. I asked my pal which stack she would want me to use, giving her a choose between DCWV Spring Fling or Coral Couture. She chose Coral Couture. Once the stacks arrived I started by pulling one sheet of every pattern from the stack. Then chose the one for the top of the box and inside lid, I then picked out a shimmer sheet from the matching solids stack to do the sides in. Next I put in order the cs on for the pages of the album. Through out the mini I tried to use the same materials from the box as well as stay consistent from the front to the back. I have tried to keep the packages of the different products that I used, I am sorry if I leave some out. I will also be breaking this up into several posts as it is a huge post. Now on to the creative side of things :)

My biggest challenge was to decorate the pages with out taking away from the beautiful prints. Some of the pages were patterns so had no trouble with those, but as you can see here with the cover the paper itself was perfect. I added the lace to the other side of the cover so it became part of pg 1. Punched 2 holes for rings and added silver grommets using my Crop-a-dile. Added the butterfly from my stash and the rhinestone brad is by Prima. This will become the "latch" for the album. The CS sticker reads "And Spring arose on the garden fair, Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere; And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast rose from the dreams of its wintry rest." - Percy Bysshe Shelley "The Sensitive Plant"

Pg 1 - The CS is a creamy colour with gold foil flowers. Here you can see the lace, I used Scor-tape to attach it to the CS. Lace is from Wal-mart. The journal square is from on of the pages in the Coral Couture stack. There was a page of journal boxes, tags and titles, I tried to use them or include them all in the mini. Covering the back of the brad is a flower centre by Prima, a orange bow from my stash and you can just make it out, in the corner of the journal box I made pearl beads using Liquid Pearls White Opal. I also added Stickles Crystal to the leaves and flower centre on the journal box.

Pg 2 - I should mention that almost all the CS from this stack has either glitter or foil on the page. The background CS is striped and has a gold foil strip as well. From the matching stack I chose this light teal green, using my Spellbinders Label 5 I cut a pocket then using my cuttlebug folder Roses I embossed the pocket. Once I added it to the front of the page I ran Stickles Crystal around the edges applied Liquid Pearls White Opal to the centre of each rose. Next I added a 3D butterfly sticker and a paper flower from iamroses.com. To the paper flower I added Stickles Crystal to the edge of the petals. I love doing that it adds a bit of sparkle I like on flowers. Also along the scalloped side I added some crochet lace and cool looking mixed glitter. Most glitter I use is fine this one has longer pieces in it so it has a really neat look to it.

Here you can see the 2 tags I included in the pocket. These came in a package of tags, unfortunately I threw out the packaging. I changed the rope to the eyelash fibre to tie in again with the cigar box.

Pg 3 - Now here is a page I had fun with. I am in a stamping club to learn more about how to stamps and different techniques with stamps or ink. Well I have not learned to much yet but then its only been 4 classes so far. Ok so the tag was the part of a tag card that I tore in 2. Using 3 different colours, a orangy yellow and light teal green from Studio G and Coral by Colorcubes I first did the edges then because the tag was sooo white I took the pads, they are small, and made circles on the tag. The picture does not do it justice but believe me it look neat. The brad I made with my i-Top and a piece of fabric from the bottom of the cigar box. Ribbon for the tag is a yellow iridescent one that I picked up at the local Dollar Giant. The Happiness tag is again from the stack.

Pg 4 - By this point I am starting to have some fun and the pages are just coming together quickly. I could not make this bird fit on a page because I had cut the CS wrong so figured it would make a great pocket for a small tag like album. Cut it out to fit then tore the edge of and inked it using the same ink as listed above. The bird is foil on the page and that is why there is that bright spot sorry. Boardered the edges in the varigated eyelash fibre then made the tag album.

Using shimmering CS from the matching solids stack I tri-folded then cut it using again Spellbinders Labels Five. Note to self and others reading this. DCWV CS is thick and very hard to run a tri-fold through the Grand Calibur. It does not cut all the way so need to run it a couple of times. On the front of the little album I added Stickles and 2 large rhinestone rectangles to the top and bottom. When you open the album you will see another brad I made and also the little card. Using the brad I attached this sweet stripped ribbon. The colours are so in line with this album and stack that I am sure I will use 1 complete roll, I have 2 LOL.
OK 2 more pages then I will start Part 2.

Pg 5 - Using Spellbinders Blossom Four I cut from shimmering CS a frame. I pop doted the frame up to give it some dimension and to make it easier to put something in it. I left the top open to slide a picture or other memento into it. Next added the different sizes of paper flowers and the stickles to the petals to add more sparkle. You can never have too much sparkle.

Pg 6 - Unfortunately the picture I took with the cute foil bird tag is blurry so I will not use it. The pocket I covered with the same shimmer CS as the frame. The pocket is a Slash Pocket by Li'l Davis Designs. I added cream scalloped lace and then fussy cut the "cute" tag from the stack. Next I had to add some bling as bling is sadly missing in this album. It is from Prima Say It In Crystals line I believe.

So this is part 1 stay tuned for the next couple of parts to finish this album, including a page that I don't like because it did not turn out the way I wanted it to and see no way how to fix it. God Bless you all.

Altered Cigar Box

Sorry I have not posted, I got hit with a very bad flu and am now finally feeling much better.

As I posted a while back, this was my next project an altered Cigar Box. This is a swap hostessed on http://www.scrapbook.com/ , the hostess is Martica of Martica Designs. I do believe you can find her blog in the list of blogs I follow, she is very talented and tends to challenge me with her ideas of different altered swaps. In a later post I will have my first mini that goes with the box I altered.

I started with removing the inside paper and sanding down the box, not all the paper is removable as that is how the lid is hinged on. Once I scratched up all the surfaces I painted them with Acrylic paint by Americana in Sea Glass. Once that dried I started to add the paper to the top of the box. All card stock used is by DCWV Coral Couture stack and matching Solids stack. The white lace trim with beads is from Walmart, the wooden scroll, which is also painted in Sea Glass and the Metal sign are from Michael's. The metal sign is by Making Memories Girlfriends signs. I added the flowers to the metal sign and then used Icicle stickles to the petals and scroll work on the wood to add more sparkle. The picture does not show it but there is a lot of glitter in the CS already, the bird is all sparkly. The gold you can see is the latch that I added from Home Depot.

I covered the sides with a shimmery matching CS and then added this flower boarder. I do believe the boarder is from Reflections, I then Mod Pod it on to seal it to the CS and it added a little gloss to it. Now its a little shiny. I added wooden feet that first I painted Sea Glass then the lace boarder to the bottom. Needed something around the top of the CS to cover seems and had this great sparkly rik rak in my stash. It was the perfect colour and helps to tie all the colours together.

Top inside lid. Cut and added CS to the top, to cover the seams used variegated eyelash fiber from my stash. I think I purchased it at my favourite cross stitch/knitting store, Knitting Time. Added some bling and a matching butterfly both again from my stash. The butterflies I am using were sent to me by bluucaca at sb.com. I am glad I am finally finding a use for them.

Inside bottom. A couple of months ago I started to purchase fabric swatches with no idea what I would do with them LOL. Using Mod Pod I applied a thin coat and layered the fabric down and sort of mitred the fabric in the corners. Due to the colours of the DCWV stack I am using for both this box and the matching mini the orange was the closest colour of fabric I had. I really wanted to add a beaded boarder to the inside but I could no longer find them. Instead I again used the eyelash fiber to the inside to cover the seams.

I love how this turned out and I have 4 more boxes so after this swap I will probably make a couple of more. This was really fun and now I am working on the hard part, the MINI ALBUM. I will add pictures of every page as well as explanations of what I did. I am also trying to keep all the packages of the different embellishments I am using so I can credit the companies I use.
Thanks for stopping by and following my crafting experiences. God Bless you all.

More Suitcases

This past weekend I made a couple of suitcase for some pal swaps. If you remember back in May of 2011 I made my first one, you can find it here with the link to Leslie's blog were with her permission I did a swap with them. If I lift or copy an others work I always try to give credit. In the crafting world some of our works/designs might be similar to others but that does not mean we did not have the same idea just a different vision of it.

This time when making the suit cases I took step by step pictures to show you how I make mine. I do mine a little different then Leslie's but the design as far as I know is hers.
Use 2 pieces of coordinating 12x12 CS
Cut 2 - 6x7 pieces, these will be the top and bottom of your suitcase.
Cut 4 - 2x7 pieces, long sides of suitcase
Cut 4 2x6 pieces, short sides of suit case
Scor all pieces at 1/2", cut out the little squares at the corners, as you can see here I cut on an angle so that when gluing down the pieces the corn edges stay square.

Here you can see the main pieces of the suitcase. Next you need to adhere the edges down onto the white part of the cs. I use Scor-Tape for this as it has an incredible strong bond. You can get Scor-Tape in all widths, I used 1/2" width tape.

As you can see it is the perfect width to fit the folds and hold them in place. I used my bone scorer to make sure the edges were in place and they were nice crisp lines. Do not press to hard or you will ruin the cs.
I forgot to take a picture of the next step. Take 2 short sides and 2 long sides and adhere them together end to end. Then adhere one edge down so that you only have one flap to use to adhere to the top/bottom of the suitcase.

Here you can see one side of the suitcase put all together. It looks nice and neat. You have several options of what you wish to do to the inside. On my first suitcase I lined it with fabric after I decorated the right side. This helped to hid any of the holes I made for brads. You can use fabric or cs stock but I recommend you do that after decorating the other side.

Here is what it looks like before I start to decorate it. Now make the other side of the suitcase the same way. It gets easier with time and I learned different techniques with different tools to get really good at them. Don't be surprise if the first one you make does not line up right or that both sides of the suit case are slightly different. It is a handmade item and it does not need to be perfect. :D

I always lay out my embellishments first before attaching them to see if I like the placement or if it needs more or less of something. The Crystal flourish from Prima, the Flowers are from IamRoses.com and the name plate is Memory Makers, all other embellishments I got at my local Dollar store. They have some amazing finds, but I tend to shop at least 3 different ones. Now I tend to decorate one side only and I decorate it before putting both sides together.
For some reason I did not take a picture of the hinges I use. I tend to pick up my hinges from Home Depot as well as the little clasp that I put on top to hold it together. I know Tim Holtz makes some nice ones but for now the ones I use are from the hardware store. That is due to the fact it is hard to find Tim Holtz products here

This is the case all together and done with the embellishments. I added stickles around the top to hide where the cs joins, I used Fruitpunch. On the flowers I also added stickles in Orange to add a bit more shimmer. You can just make out the handle decoration.

On the handle using a binder ring I attached a bow in yellow and glued a butterfly to the front. Also tied some orange lace to the ring. Around the handle I put a Charm drop to add a bit more interest.
Now on the charms or jewelry I use. I went through my jewelry box and took apart all my necklaces and earrings I no longer wear, so I have a large asst. of sparkly, charms and dangle rhinestone pendants to use on my creations.
This was made for a pal swap to coordinate with the journal I made for her in January. It was a secret pal swap so until now I did not post a picture of that Journal. You will be able to find it at the end of this post.

Thanks for following along and thank you for your wonderful comments I do read them all. God Bless and check out the next post of a suitcase with matching tags, not sure if you would call it an album.

Beading on Cards

 As promised I made a new card using my SewEasy and added beading.

I tend to use cream based cards when making my designs. In this picture you can see that I distressed the edge of the card, I used 3 different colours of ink. I also coloured the stamped image with pencil crayons which gave it a nice soft look. All card stock used was from DCWV Mango Frost stacks. After putting the card together I ran the zigzag head to make it look like I sewed the different pieces of cs together.

On this close up you can see the glass beads I use. These beads are from my stash of left over beads from cross stitching different little kits. The are Mill Hill beads, a very high quality of bead. I needed to use a smaller gauge needle for the beads also know as a beading needle. It doesn't have to be the long beading needle you can also get regular sized ones. The orange floss I used is from DMC, which again I find is a higher quality of floss. My next card I am going to try using specialty threads on to add more shimmer as well as the beads. I really like how it turned out.

Next Project

I just want to do a quick post on the next project I will be doing for a swap. I love to alter things and the swap calls for an altered cigar box and mini album.
To find the cigar boxes I went down to our one and only cigar store and purchase these boxes for $2 each. From what the other ladies are saying in the swap this was a good deal. I will need to sand them lightly before I paint them and then cover in CS. I am waiting for 6 stacks of DCWV CS to arrive from the US, my friend Disneylisa picked them up for me.
Now I am not worried about doing the altered box what has me worried is the mini album. I found a chipboard one at Michael's that fits fine in the boxes before altering it, who knows if it will fit after LOL. I have never done a mini album before, let alone a album from scratch. Making LOs is totally different then what is required with this. I plan on documenting it all and posting it here on my blog, probably in several different post so that it is not too long.  Follow along as I start to create hopefully later this week, so the first post I hope will be early next week.

More Cards

 I am involved in a HUGE card swap. I need to make 45 cards for 9 people all different types. I believe that I have 10 left to do which I will finish up this week and then I can mail everything on the weekend.

I used several different techniques on this card. I used my Grand Calibur to cut out the butterfly from a sheet of double sided adhesive, also used a boarder die to cut the edge of the striped cs. On the green cs I used a cuttlebug boarder folder to add the dots and then used my d-stress tool to sand off the tops. This tool makes it so quick and easy. I also used a matching green ink to distress the edges of the white cs squares. The flower is a Prima one not sure which collection. The stamp reads Happy Bird-day to you.

 This is one I made with my "ugly" cs. I was amazed that when I didn't let the colour and patterns affect me how great the card came together. Unfortunately I don't have a "Get Well Soon" stamp so I used a silver sharpie and printed it on. I need to get more sediment stamps LOL.

This one I distressed all the edges with my d-stress tool and because I choose to do it after the card was assembled I could use the tip of the tool with out marking up the other layered papers. You can see one of the roses I just received in the mail. the sediment is "Deep Sympathy". Again the colours came together perfectly and I was able to add a little sparkle with the small green squares, they are glitter cs.

All above cards show are made using DCWV cs.

These next cards are from a kit by Martha Stewart. I picked up the kit because it was butterflies and fine glitter. This is were I got the idea to run double sided adhesive through my die cutter for different shapes. Each colour was applied separately. It is easier then it looks. The adhesive was cut in different places so you just peeled off what you wanted to expose and apply the colour of glitter you wanted. Looks so good, now to figure out a way to do that myself LOL. That stamp says "Thanks a Bunch"

I have more card to show you but my camera died so I need to charge the battery before uploading more great cards. Plus I have other projects to show you. I need to finish the exploding box but I really don't like it. Scrapguys was nicer. Maybe it was the cs I choose to use or my expectations were out the window. Maybe it will look better once I embellish it. But I will share it with you even if I don't like it.
Until next time, God Bless.

Trim & Flowers

My favourite swaps are alter swaps and ones that challenge me to get out of my comfort zone. With swaps like that there seems to be some amazing talent and they use some great products. So of course I ask were is it everyone is shopping. Well the ladies were more then willing to share the websites with me and I am going to pass them on to you.

In this picture you can see an assortment of lace in different widths and colours. I have a hard time finding reasonable priced trim/lace here but love to use it when I have it on hand.

 Next is some beautiful fabric flowers made with lace and ribbon and rhinestones. Both of these orders came from a company out of the States called Lace Heaven. Including shipping  and exchange it cost me under $30. It arrive quickly too, I can't wait to place my next order as this first order was so pretty!

Next is flowers. Now I love flowers and have moved past using the bulk Prima flowers. I want to use flowers that have dimension to them and I don't want to do anything to them except maybe add some sparkle. Again when I ordered with shipping and exchange it was under $30. This company is in Thailand but ships world wide and their prices are all in US dollars. That little pack on the side was a free gift for ordering. They had all different colours, styles and sizes. Again looking forward to ordering more. The company is called I am Roses.

There is one more online company for me to check out. When I place an order and receive the product I will be sure to share it with you. Now to go and create some magic. Have wonderful day and God Bless.

Febuary Stamp'in Up

Hello all and thanks for sticking around while I got pictures taken and cleared my calendar a little so I could get some post done LOL.

My second month at my club we made a LO and a card. I have been concentrating on Cards a lot and this is the first LO I have made in a long time. In fact I ended up ordering the the folder that cuts and embosses the butterflies because of this LO. Once I saw the picture I noticed that the blue squares blend in with the background paper, I might have to figure something out to make them stand out more. Was not a fan of some of the colours at first but liked how it all came together once it was done.

Of course we also made a card. The colours inspired me to create other cards with colours I normally would not use. In fact with some cs I thought was ugly but boy did those cards turn out great! Don't worry you will get to see them later in another post.

Thanks for stopping by and learning along with me.
Tell next time, God Bless.