Halloween 2010 Mini Album.. sneak peek

I finished a paper bag mini that I have been working on for a few weeks, and I want to share it.. but pictures just do not do it justice! I plan to record a quick video of the album soon, but until then here is the cover (minus some gold glimmer mist that I added at the last minute).

I used the paper bag album setup from Kathryn at Life on the Scrap Beach . The only real change is that I closed up all of the "pockets" except for the last page. I did not have enough pictures to use the pockets as well.

First Christmas Gift Done!!

I have actually finished a Christmas gift! I made this with the intention of giving it to one person (and I am not sure if she reads my blog...) but might give it to someone else actually! I found out that another person on my Christmas gift list loves purple, and I am not sure that the originally intended recipient still does. I will make another version for the 1st person though!

All supplies are Papertrey Ink except for the patterned paper that is from my stash (and a couple of years old...)

The small pocket on the inside cover will hold stamps...

 

and I will include a card or two in each pocket as well..

Seashore

Another Disney Cruise layout using the TwoPeasinabucket 4X6 Photo Love course by Shimelle Laine. This time I used the August lesson.. and I LOVE it!

I used the same papers and techniques as I did in my other Disney Cruise album pages

This is what you see when you first look at the page in the album:

 

And a closer look:  

But when you turn the page you see...

I love this!!! I trimmed the page protector for the first page down (after I had the pages made) and sewed them together on the "stitch" line. I also added a little glossy accents to the ends of the stitching to make sure that it does not come out. I love how many pictures I got onto "1" page. The original sketch used 8 pictures, but I fit 11 on mine!  

Here are the close ups of the inside parts of this layout.

I cut the title on my Cricut using the  Life is a Beach cartridge. I covered it with Zig 2 way glue and sand. I love the texture of the mesh, shells and sand on this page!

Supplies used in my 2011 Disney Cruise Album:

First Plane Ride

Here is another layout that I made for our Disney Cruise 2009 album. This trip was not only our first cruise, but the first time that the girls were on an airplane! The papers are from the same DCWV stack and the sketch that I used is the March 4x6 Photo Love sketch, just rotated 90 degrees. I die cut and stamped the planes and clouds from the PTI Fly Away stamp set and the Cloud 1 & 2 dies. I embossed the shapes with the cuttlebug dot embossing folder and used SU Dimensionals to pop up some of the clouds and the planes. I used the same paint/ shimmer spray splatter technique as I did on the cover page.

Supplies used in my 2011 Disney Cruise album:

Amanda's Birthday Card - 2011

My sister is an amazing crafter, and not just papercrafts. She crochets, quilts, makes jewelry, fused glass.. you name it, she can probably craft it. So of course making her a birthday card is not a simple thing. I have to make a really good card!

I saw this card

                                                                  Source: forum.papertreyink.com via Kelly on Pinterest

on the PTI forum and knew that I wanted to make something similar. I had this adorable glittered paper (I think it is DCWV) already out on my table from another project and I loved the turquoise in it. Amanda's favorite color is blue so I knew that it would work.

As I was gathering my supplies I ran into my first problem. I could have sworn that I had the PTI Star die used in my inspiration card.. but apparently not. So I had to dig through my dies to find another shape that would work. The label from the Tea for Two (I think that is what it is called) set seemed to work the best.

Then I ran into my second problem.. I wanted to cut the die out of both pieces at the same time (obviously) but did not want them adhered yet since I still needed to emboss the background. (As I type this out I wonder why I did not emboss the white first and THEN cut out the shape) So it took 3 tries to get everything cut straight. I intentionally off centered the label, but of course did not realize until it was all put together that it was not off-centered enough to look intentional. Oh well.

So I get everything adhered, outline my image with a marker and go to grab my PTI buttons... and realize that I must have missed ordering the Hawaiian Shores buttons. I am not sure how since I typically order the entire color collection at one time... but nope. No buttons. I pull out my blue bin (I really need to post my revamped storage here soon) and luckily I had some bling in the perfect blue.

So here you go.. not as pretty as the card my sister gave me for my birthday this weekend, but it was made with a lot of love (and took entirely too long!)

Sira's Card Box

Sira made quite a few cards while she was here with us, and I decided to make her a box to keep them in. Of course this was a surprise so I had to wait until she received her boxes that we shipped before I could post it!

So... here it is. I had no clue where it was going to end up when I started. I just played around. I love the vintage/ distressed look that resulted, even though it is not typically my style.

Here are the supplies that I used:

And no.. the color is not off in these pictures. That blue PP is the same, the color changed with the Distress Ink, glimmer mist, and the Mod Podge.. but I like it better! Here are some more pictures:

2009 Disney Cruise - Cover Page

Ok.. I really have been crafting, I just have not been posting! In 2009 we went on the best vacation ever, a Disney Cruise. We are going again in May and I figured that it was probably time I sat down and finished (ok.. started) our album before I had to do another! The getting started was a struggle for me. I had well over 300 pictures to sort through and group. I finally purchased some 6 up photo sleeves that fit in a 12 x 12 album and arranged all of the pictures by topic in those. Eric and I weeded out a good 200 pictures while watching TV one night. This was a huge boost to my motivation!

The other struggle that I had  was finding patterned paper. I had an overall scheme in mind for the album already. Most of the pictures are very saturated, with a lot of turquoise, red and yellow in them. Taking a queue from Shimelle Laine I decided that all of the pages would be on white CS, have PP accents and have glimmer mist (actual and homemade) splattered on them to keep the album consistent. After looking online, going to an LSS, Hobby Lobby and Michaels I finally found a PP stack with all of the colors I needed from DCWV (Citrus). The only problem was that there was not a 12x12 stack available at Michaels (of course I found it today online...) only an 8x8. So now I have to get creative...

For my cover page I decided to use the 6X8 of us with Mickey in the cruise terminal, and "modified" the sketch from the January 4x6 Photo Love Class by Shimelle and Two Peas in a Bucket.

Supplies used in my 2011 Disney Cruise Album:

Go Climb a Tree

Wow.. I know that is has been a while since I have posted. I really have been working on a project (mini album for Lauren's 5th Birthday) but with vacations, sinus/ ear infections (both me and Megan) and general summer activities I have not finished it yet. Last night I was motivated to craft.. but wanted to actually finish something, so I boxed up all of the mini album stuff to clear off my craft table (was pretty smart.. and wrote down the numbers to the stamp sets that I had pulled out so that I could put those away too). While I was at it I gathered a few supplies for other mini albums that I want to do, and put those in boxes too. One for Sira's going away party, and one for our trip to Wisconsin this summer.

Ok.. now to get to the page that I created last night. I recently signed up for the Technique Tuesday: Studio AE Membership because I loved July's stamp set, and had the perfect pictures to go with them!

 

After pulling out the pictures and the stamp set I knew that I wanted to play with my glimmer mist. So I pulled out a sheet of white cardstock that has a resist (not sure what company.. it was purchased at Archivers), cut a third of it off and started spraying.  I knew how I wanted my pictures laid out, and had a general idea of where the stamps were going to go. I sprayed some scrap white CS with glimmer mist for the title block and accent strips, stamped with Staz-On, and glued/ stapled everything on. 

After everything was done I thought that the page seemed a little unbalanced, and it needed more blue on the top left. I grabbed a scrap of CS (that I had test stamped on) and was moving the Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch around on the scrap trying to find a large enough white spot to punch out when I moved it over the words "the Simple" and thought that it was brilliant! Looking at it now, I know that I have seen this technique before somewhere, probably on Ali's blog, but at the time it was completely original. I sprayed the butterfly with more of the blue glimmer mist (I will come back with the actual glimmer mist colors that I used), positioned it over the title text and knew that my page was complete!

Ink Pad Storage

I have been doing some re-organizing in the craft room and figured out how to store my ink pads (for now...). I bought some small drawers from Wal-Mart, and cut some CS to fit in the front of each drawer telling me what color is in each drawer. I have a color book that I made (you can see it to the left of the drawers, it is similar to the Stamp Inventory one that I made) so it is easy to go to the "pink" page (for example), find the shade that I want and then pull it out of the pink drawer. Now, this setup may not work so well when Papertrey Ink releases their new ink-pads.... but it has been so much easier than my previous setup! I also have my blocks, stamp cleaner, positioning tool, re-inkers etc in here for now.

Billy's Bday Card

Another quick Papertrey Ink birthday card! This one is for my BIL Billy. When I saw the plane stamps and dies I knew I had to get it for his card (he just got his pilot's license this year)

Mom's Birthday card

I had to go with the "tea" theme of Mom's birthday gift that I posted about yesterday so I broke out Papertrey Ink's Tea for Two stamps and teapot die. I used a sheet of the new Damask Designs PP, and used the Damask stamp set, Versamark and clear embossing powder on the Summer Sunrise label, and also on the tea pot.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Friday was my Mom's birthday, and we gave her the best birthday present! My Mom has collected teacups for years... browsing Pinterest one day I found this pin, re-pinned it as an idea for Mom and Amanda (my little sis) agreed that it would be a great gift! I talked Mom out of some of her tea-cups, Amanda bought a few more and Billy and Amanda made it happen! I am the idea girl... Amanda executes... we make a perfect team!
This is Mom "unwrapping" her gift (it was covered with a table-cloth)

Billy and Amanda adding the hanging wire:

and a  pic of the clock on the wall in her sun-room (sorry for the flash.. the pic was taken in the evening)

PTI Blog Hop - June 2011

For the first time in months... I actually made a card for the PTI Blog Hop! 

I started with the rainbow color inspiration, combined with Betsy's sentiment focal point idea and came up with this birthday card for my neice. Ink is from SU, everything else is PTI!

Father's Day gift for Eric

After seeing this idea on Pinterest I knew that it would be the perfect gift for Eric for Father's Day.
I already had all of the supplies in my stash. The canvas was from Michaels, the tree trunk was cut from my Cricut (Wild Card Cartridge), and the paint is from WalMart (most likely... I have had it forever!) This now sits on the mantel with 2 canvas prints that I gave Eric for Christmas.

Father's Day

A little late, but here is the card that I made for my Dad for Father's Day.
I was going for a skywriting look., and though I am not thrilled with the handwritten "Father's Day" I did not like any of the stamp options that I had. Apparently I need more Father's day stamps!

All supplies are Papertry Ink

Up Up and Away

I finally broke down and purchased Papertrey Ink's Up Up and Away stamp set (and dies) and could not wait to play with them!  I love the red, white, and light blue color scheme that I have been seeing everywhere, so I pulled out some CS (PTI of course). The clouds are die cut out of a strip of white streamer. I really wanted felt.. but did not have any white so I was looking for something else with texture and opened the drawer with my tulle and streamers in it. Perfect! I added more layers to some to make them thicker (appear closer).
The medium hot air balloon was stamped with PTI Smokey Shadow ink and colored in with my watercolor markers. (I want Copics... but they are just too expensive for me right now), the smallest one was stamped with Momento ink, and the largest was stamped with PTI Pure Poppy ink and then I added a layer of Diamond Glaze for dimension. My intention was to make it look like it was much closer than the other 2 balloons.
Oh. and my sentiment really is straight in person.. the angle that I took the photo at is making it look a little crooked!

Stamp Inventory and Storage

I have a lot of stamps from many different companies and many different formats (wood, cling, clear etc) and have some that have never touched ink because I forgot that I had them!
Previously all of my wood mount and cling stamps (mostly SU) were in a Sterlite cart, while my clear stamps were in binders. But then my binder pages started coming out and the wood and cling stamps were neglected. I started to set up a Rolodex style inventory.. but that was too much work to be honest. So this is what I ended up with after going through a lot of blogs and message board posts about stamp organization... and it works for me!

The cover is made out of chipboard that my curtains were folded around and some binder rings:

 

Inside each stamp set is stamped onto a simple sheet of computer paper (cut in half) and labeled with the Manufacturer, Stamp Name, and a number. (click on image to make it bigger)

The clear stamp sets are in CD or DVD cases depending on size (SU Cling come in DVD cases already, so I purchased some extras for my other large sets). The stamp sheets with just a number tell me that they are in CD cases, a "D" before the number stands for DVD case, and a "W" tells me that it is wood mount. The wood mount stamps are in the SU clam cases and also are numbered, with exception of my wood Christmas stamps which are all together in a small bin.

The CD and DVD cases are in these boxes from Amazon and are stored in a closet behind my workspace. I need to get a couple more boxes!

It is hard to see in the next picture, but here is an example of the numbered CD cases

And the wood stamps are in bins on the same shelf of the closet. 

Eventually I will organize the stamp inventory sheets by category.. but for now it is already so much easier to find my stamps, and I have been using the wood mounts more now that I see them with all of the rest of my stamps!

ETA*** I found the link for the stamp organization that mine is based off of! http://sillyleanndesigns.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-process-and-how-my-organization.html

Megan's 6th Birthday Mini Album - Finally!

I started on this mini-album MONTHS ago and just finished it this weekend! I bought a bunch of the American Crafts Dear Lizzy - Spring Collection and started covering a Maya Road mini-album (+ a few extra pages cut from chipboard) with the patterned paper and the fabric "paper". After a few hours spent cutting and adhering I was burnt out and set the project aside. I was finally motivated to work on the album and got pictures and embellishments added! The only supplies NOT American Crafts is the buttons (SU), the "Celebrate" title (KI Memories, scribbles), and misc ribbon from my stash.

 

  

I only took a couple of pictures of the inside pages... this is not all of them.

Mother's Day Gift

Does this count for a Make it Monday challenge if I made it on Sunday? Probably not, but I actually used the Selective Inking technique demonstrated in this week's video! I also stamped inside of my card, though it is not anywhere near as pretty as Erin Lincoln's card.

I purchased these Vera Bradley item's for my Mom for Mother's Day and wanted to make a coordinating card. I used multiple stamp sets (all PTI though) and inks (PTI and Memento) on PTI CS for the floral background. When I was done with the background I was not sure where to put the sentiment...  so I dug through my dies and found the Tea for Two label die (I have never used it...) and it was the perfect size! Then I went through my new stamp catalog (pictures and post on it to come) and found the perfect sentiment, but it was a long one. So, I carefully inked up "Happy" first, when I was done stamping it I cleaned off my stamp real good, and used scotch tape to cover up the "Happy" and "Day" so that I could ink up "Mother's", once the ink was on I peeled off the tape and stamped "Mother's" in the middle. "Day" was easy since it was on the end and I could ink it up on it's own.
Before adding the ribbon and tag I decided that the background needed a little something else, so I broke out my score-tape and some Martha Stewart glitter and made a glitter border around the background. Once the ribbon and tag were adhered, I popped the panel up on SU dimensionals on the card base which was made out of the same PTI CS.
I stamped a little more on the inside of the card and then put everything in a gift bag. I am not really thrilled with how the gift bag turned out, but Mom loved it.

Personality Layout

I can not believe that I forgot to post this last week! I completed another layout using the same layout template as my Sweet Sisters layout. This layout uses the American Crafts: Dear Lizzy Spring Collection from last year