Vintage Mini-Album

Brandy has totally outdone herself again.  This card was made to go with this mini-album as a set.  The card is so simply, elegant and pretty!  The delicate nature of that silver die cut butterfly and and sparkly shaker in the inside create the perfect focal point on the card front.

Part of the card charm is how well it goes with this beautiful mini-album.  The flowers on the front cover were die cut using the Heartfelt Creations Classic Rose dies and shaped by Brandy to perfection.  The silver die cut butterflies on the front of the album float over the page, creating movement and interest.

Each page is lovingly decorated with a combination of patterned papers, tags, embellishments covered in bling.

The tulle toppers to the tags are a perfect accent, adding texture and a light touch of color. 

Brandy enjoys the butterfly and this album had so many technical details crammed inside.  The grey butterflies here as solid, but still give a strong sense of delicate and fluttering.  It is the perfect match for this patterned paper set. 

These tags were removed just to show how they look together.  They can be used to journal or to add additional pictures.  It's a perfect accent piece.

The back page for the album is always accented with this waterfall page. So beautiful, it is a visual splendor.  Whew - that's a lot of picture, but so worth the trip. Thanks for sticking with me for the whole bit.

Andie for 

Hello Baby First Year Mini-album

I promised to get these photos edited and posted.  I got most of the way there this weekend and then, poof, activities took over and I didn't finish.  So, I quickly wrapped this up this morning to post before heading to work.  I purchased a kit (gasp!) for this album from Embellish It.  I actually made two of these bad boys because I had two baby showers right in a row and because I thought the book was adorable.  The kit is made using Simple Stories Hello Baby products.  The kit is still available here.  The thing I just love about Embellish It's kits is that the instructions are simple, the pages go together in a snap and you have lots of bits leftover.   I hope you have a cup of coffee (or iced tea - summer has arrived in full!) as this is a picture heavy post.

Plastic sleeves are present throughout the book and offer the opportunity to capture pictures during each month of baby's first year.  There are two clear picture sleeves on the right side, one month on top of the second month page.  Each come with tickers to place on the outside of the sleeve to indicate the month.

I simply adore this little mini-page within the album- a flag motif for holding pictures created layer upon layer of interest in the album.  I can't wait to see photos in these books!

This and the following page look the same but note how the clear plastic photo sleeve is oriented.

With this back of the album look - clean and simple - the book is done. I added the ribbon on the rings for effect.  Likely the mom will get sick of the nuisance of them and remove them before long.  However, they do make the book pretty for packaging and I have so many ribbons some needed to leave the house...

As far as the book assembly, I spent a good 2-3 hours removing each embellishment from the packaging and inking the edges in Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Some required fussy cutting.  I then spent another 3-4 hours putting the book together.  I took a fair bit of care because I've screwed these kinds of kits up before cutting the wrong way, etc.  It could probably been done in less time.  The inking wasn't strictly required as the edges looked good with a nice clean white as well.  You could easily get this together in 4-5 hours if needed.  A great gift and both mom's have already let me know they have pictures to include in the books.

Thanks for taking this long look with me.  Check out Embellish It!  They have lots of goods and never fail to deliver on quality.

I mustache you a question...

I'm sharing a project made by Brandy today.  She warned me this one would be significantly different than what she usually makes.  I think she was absolutely right!

This folio was made with the same techniques as previously shared in this post.  The inside structure is a heavy chipboard which is put together using a wet glue to make sure it stays together.

This album is filled with clever and adorable little trinkets most of which came from Hobby Lobby.  The checkerboard is a washi tape along with the mustaches and glasses.

Each little waterfall page in the ablum is covered with a different patterned paper and mustaches line the entire project.

So, I mustache you a question- don't you love it?

A Girl Scout Mini-book

I recently decided to finish some scrapbooking projects that have been hanging around for years.  Years I tell you!  As I was searching the printed picture reserves and the electronic storage, I stumbled upon these pictures of a project completed back in 2008.  At the time I was the troop leader for my daughter's Girl Scout troop.  I had two wonderful co-leaders, sisters in fact.  One co-leader was none other than Keri McCleary- she who so prominently leads the blog hits for her crafty Bubble Guppies kid party.  Keri and I pooled our craft supplies and our crafty skills together to make a minibook for each of the girls in the troop.

The books are 6 x 6 format that we created from a 12 x 12 paper pad because we ultimately made nine of these mini-books, one for each troop member.  Most pictures were group shots, but there were certain individual photos for each scout too.  These pictures are of my daughter Katie's book.

It's fun to see how things have changed and how I've forgotten good tricks I'd learned then.  This flower felt border is fabulous even all these years later.

We tried to capture each of the fun events that had become a troop tradition.  The Holiday Bazaar was an opportunity for the kids to make and sell items for troop money.  It also gave the girls an opportunity to go shopping for gifts that family didn't see and thus would be a surprise.

I don't know if you noticed, but we inserted a smaller page over this double page layout with unique photos for each girl.

Buttons were apparently all the rage!

Another fun tradition was the Friendship Day celebration.  Each year the girls would spend weeks researching and learning about a country where Girl Scouts were established.  The troop would create a booth display to teach other girls about their country and then "work" the booth at a festival in February.  They also had a chance to go visit other booths and learn about different cultures and customs and about international Girl Scouts programs.

We had many troop meetings and always tried to include an overnight where we focused on earning badges.  These girls were fast friends who loved learning and trying new things.

The key to making nine or so of these types of mini-books is to keep it simple.  Lots of matting and titles and little embellishments.  Even all these years later, this is one of the projects I've done that I love the most.  Maybe that was Keri's influence...

I'm pretty sure anything silly or out of the box happened in spite of my seriousness.  These girls enjoyed each other immensely.  This page shows the four that were my daughter's age as the horse around at various events.

We even borrowed a replica uniform from our local council office.  The girls dressed up and we snapped photos... probably planning the book long before we thought it up.  You'll notice the handwriting is neat and legible- thank you Keri!

This is where I admit to my own problematic follow through.  We created these albums and gifted them to the girls on their bridging night at the end of their Brownie years.  We created this two page layout with the intention that they would place pictures from that night in this book.  Fully 5 years later my own daughter's pages remain blank.  What is seriously wrong with me?  Never fear, since taking these photos I've updated the album with photos and *finally* the book is complete.

The binding of the book had to be simple.  We also wanted to create a pocket to hold various memories.  Thus the back cover is actually a 6 x 12 piece of textured cardstock that we folded over and sealed on the bottom with some eyelets.  The girls put some of their papers collected over the years and extra photos that we had in this pocket.  All pages were hole punched and bound with 1 1/2 inch book binder rings.  Various ribbons and fibers were tied to the rings to decorate and obscure them.

Thank you for indulging my nostalgia.   Hopefully it inspires you.