The Teenage Booklover's Dream

I have a fourteen year old daughter who LOVES books.  She reads probably 4 or 5 novels a week.  Yes, novels, not comics or picture books. We are talking 400 - 700 page novels.  Weird for a 14 year old girl, let me tell ya.  She recently got some money for her birthday, and we were talking in the store about how she wanted to spend her windfall.  As we come to our turn at the cash, I said to her:  "please don't tell me you plan on spending all $150 on books."  The cashier starts giggling.  Its a very small town and everyone knows everyone, so it was no surprise to me that she found this funny.  The cashier says:  "well, there are worse things she could be spending it on...".  Yes, I realize this and of course I had a big grin on my face, as I was trying to pull my daughters leg.  Too funny, my daughter and her best friend are both big readers and we often joke about how the two of them like to hang out, one at each end of the couch with a book.  LOL!  Ok, ok, I am not complaining, trust me!  So, when a friend (Shelley!) showed me this tutorial on Youtube about making your own book desk organizers, I just had to try it.  It is very small, 2 x 3 inches I think, but turns out very cute!  My daughter fell instantly in love with it and claimed it as her own.  And, of course, begged me to make more!  Which I did, but that's all for another post!  See you soon!

My first envelope mini and my first SALE!

I wanted to try an envelope mini after watching Kathy Orta's video on Youtube.  However, I didn't think I had any envelopes I could make this with.  So I dug into my stash and found this little girl's card-making set that I found at a second-hand store, still all packaged up and new.  I love thrift stores for this, you never know what you will find!

I left the fronts of the cards as they were (so pretty!) and matted everything else with pink, green and white paper from Michael's in their dollar-fifty bins (yup, its Canada, go figure...).  I used a duct tape binding, another new technique for me! and added lots of sparkly embellishments.  I took a wide piece of lace and hand-dyed it with a Stampin' Up ink pad and added metal charms to use for the closure.  The lace is also elasticized, to be able to accommodate the embellishments and lots of photos.  I took some of the books with me to work, and sold this one immediately.  All I had to do was personalize it, which I did with alphabet stickers.  The very same day, I was asked to make 3 albums for a co-worker's daughters for their Christmas-in-July event.  Well, of course I said yes :)  Pictures of those will be posted soon!

So, for now, I am off to schedule another blog post, in my quest to get all caught up.  Tata for now!

Did somebody say Marion Smith Designs?

I think I may have watched every video on Youtube (possible?).

I cam across Marion Smith Designs and fell totally in love with her shabby chic styles and printables.  I have printed a few of her collections and they never seize to amaze me.  My first Marion Smith project was this mini pocket mini album/journal.  It is the size of an ATC, with tons of little lined, and decorated pages and file folder pages.  I think I now have a file folder obsession ;)

And yes, I have learned how to do the COPTIC stitch! I love it and it looks so authentic (as it should...lol) It is a very easy technique to learn and she teaches you how to do it on her website here.

Dawn's Inspirations Tutorials

In my wanderings through the vast World Wide Web and the ever growing YouTube, I came across Dawn's Inspirations.  What a treat this lady is, and no, I'm not being sarcastic.  I love listening to her.  Her accent is divine, and she is very creative.

I came across her one hour 6 x 6 mini album, and true to her word, constructed this mini in an hour!  It is a little basic, but of course I have since learned how to add interactive pages to my mini albums and have also found her videos on the interactive page additions.

This paper line is a 6 x 6 pad that I picked up at Dollarama here in Canada, quite a few years ago.  I painted the cover edges in gold acrylic paint and added my very first magnetic closure.  If I have any paper left, I may go back and add in some interactive fun to this one.

Thank you for visiting again, come back again soon for more fun!

Another fun mini!

I had to have a go at another file folder mini like the my first from Luane Kash.  And of course I have since discovered paper collections and HAD to go and buy more paper.  This one is made using the 12 x 12 pad from Authentique and it is filled with butterfly, woodgrain, ledger and music paper, among other things.  I am a sucker for butterflies and music, so this was a no brainer for me, I just had to have it!

I added a lot o extra flip tags and pages to this one as well, and embellished with metal elements and continued my learning experience with stamps and embossing  powder.  The tabs at the top of the pages are not pockets and tags, but actual page turner tabs, that I cut off the top of the tags I cut with my silhouette.

I'm still learning the ins and outs, and the short cuts and the "don't go there"'s, but my knowledge base is coming along.  I am a learner, I love to learn new things, and this...this is a wonderful thing to learn!

Another awesome learning experience !

So for this mini album, I followed a tutorial on YT by MySerenityCrafts.  This makes a very nice (and sturdy!) mini album.

One of the things I love about these minis is that you can add all sorts of extras to them without taking away from the structure of the actual book.  I have added tags and flip pages to mine.  This album is great because it has built-in pockets, and you don't need to figure out measurements and stuff, its all in where you put your adhesive.  This makes a great fast make for a newbie like myself.  I also got very brave and added a faux suede (polyester) binding to make it look more authentic and finished.  The paper is from a 6 x 6 pad by My Mind's Eye called Indie Chic - Safron collection.  Unfortunately the Indie Chic Collections are no longer being made :(.  Good thing I found a bunch of 6x6 pads and stocked up on them...heehee.

Tons of room for photos and journaling in this one what with all the pockets and the additional flip pages and tags!

Tune in next time for more mini albums!

A Whole New World!

I know I have mentioned before that I am terrible at journaling and putting photos in actual albums....I have several photo boxes full of pictures to prove it :)

However, I have now discovered the wonderful world of handmade journals and albums.  WOWZA!  There are some seriously talented and crafty people out there and I would like to give a shout-out to a few I can come up with off the top of my head:  Kathy Orta, Kathryn Kreiger, Luane Kash, Laura Denison, Dawn's Inspirations and Marion Smith.  These ladies have unofficially inducted me into the Love of Making Mini Albums club.  I totally blame them :P  The creativity and ingenuity it takes to come up with such beautiful pieces out of paper bags, and plain old envelopes and file folders.  Just amazing.  Of course, there are many, many, MANY more fabulously creative people on YouTube; these are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

That being said, here we go:

My very first mini album/journal was modelled after the first YT video I watched from Luanne Kash.  And from there I was totally hooked, line and sinkered.

Front

Back

First two pages

Second and third pages

Fourth and Fifth pages

Sixth and seventh pages

This was so much fun to make.  And so easy for a brand new beginner!  I have made a few of these albums since (pics in future posts) and I never seem to be able to make the exact same one twice!  The paper is from Michael's Songs of Spring Line, and I added a few papers that I had to match.  I also used some Stamper's Anonymous and Recollections Embossing powders.  This was also my first foray into heat embossing, and of course, I NEED to have ALL the colors of powders I can find...hehe.

Please return tomorrow for another mini album!  Thanks for visiting!