Christmas Mini Album - Baby's 1st Album

I had fun making this cute mini album that is specifically for a baby heading into it's first christmas.  I have used various pieces of paper that I have in my stock. I am trying to use up the papers I already have before getting new papers but now that I have some beautiful Close To My Heart papers to choose from, that I have fallen in love, I think I may be donating some of my old stash to the local childcare centre.

I have always loved making mini albums and will be selling off some of them.  I am adding these albums to my other blog - Lime Juice Studio. You can see the various albums on there.

I hope you enjoy the video share -

Till next time ...

My Little Monkey Mini Album

I did say that I would be posting some completed mini albums to share, and finally I am bringing one for you.
This album was created with an idea from Patricia Viramontes via You Tube, using a file folder.  I chose two green foolscap folders to use with papers I got from Aldi called Playtime Papers.  It all lent itself to an album for a little boy.
I made most of my own embellishments as well as some paper from Echo Park which I cut into photo mats or journalling mats.
Using the green papers was a bit of a challenge as I found it harder to match things up.  In the end, it is quite a simple way to make a 'simple' mini album.  The paper is quite busy and bright, but overall I am happy with the result.

And here are most of the mats/tags I have in the album.  I hope you have gained some inspiration and ideas from this share, if you have let me know.

I also have a You Tube video posted below which will take you through the pages.

Thank you for visiting, till next time ...

Snapshots Mini Album Finished!

Wow, this has been a task of patience and perseverance and I've finally completed an album of multi-faceted pages and inserts.  Thank you Mariana Brulja for the challenge, I've learnt many things and now have more ideas under my belt to incorporate into my future projects.

I can't believe that some of the ladies completed the pages during the all-day class - it's taken me at least 4 days to get this done!  But, I am extremely pleased with the finished product.  There are so many nooks and crannies that I had to keep going through the pages to make sure I had completed each surface.
So here is a share with some of the pages - this is a long post ...
I started with a Smash Book cover, added brown cardstock and products from the Simple Stories 'Vintage Bliss' collection (plus a few journalling cards I already had). 
I made five pocket pages with flips and added pockets using the card stock, then added the pattered paper, made up inserts, used embellishments here and there, added three plastic pocket pages and here it is ...

 It is very thick!

The cover is sweet with simple embellishments. The first page has a large insert.

Which flips up to reveal more pages.

Which then opens into even more pages.

 And even more pages, with even more inserts.

The second page is a bit simpler with three pockets (now I've realised I need to make another insert for the middle pocket) wher inserts are added for journalling and photos.

The back has a simple side pocket as well as a small page for journalling. It is followed by a plastic pocket page with four inserts.

Then the next pocket page has two small pockets on one of the front flip pages.

 The two flip pages - one to the top and the other to the bottom - opens up to two envelope type pockets.

 And each one contains an insert for photo or journalling.

 The bottom pocket ...

 The back starts with two flip pages.

 Which open up to reverse pages and a big page and insert.

After another plastic pocket page, the next page has two insert pockets - one that extends to the bottom of the page and the other that is half page.

 The back has a flip page ...

 

with two pocket inserts underneath.

Which opens up to another insert page.

 The next pocket page has three small pockets with inserts for journalling or photos.

 The back of that page has a small flip page, followed by a large flip pageand another insert page.

And, this isn't every page! But what fun I had!

Till next time ...

Travel Album Finished!

Not lost, just distracted! It feels like an eternity since I have been active here.  Life is full of challenges and there are so many things to distract me from being relaxed and creative ... but here I am, wanting to show off a recent album I completed.

I was blessed to be able to travel to the UK in June for a family visit and after three weeks of travelling, seeing, doing, tasting, experiencing I had soooo many photos to sort through!

I was determined to make sure that my trip and its details were not lost so I made a concerted effort to put together 3 mini albums to display my experience. And after 4 months, here they are.

I'll explain my procedure with photos.  So here goes ...
I decided to use A5 sized paper as it fits 2 photos, placed horizontally on the page, with some trimming.  I started with 180+ gsm paper then added patterned paper when I felt it was needed.
I purchased large hinge rings from eBay and just kept adding the pages as they were being made. I made a template for the holes so that each page was relatively even.
I found some great paper from Kaisercraft called Check In and they also had stickers, labels and mini, and tiny, alphas that fitted the theme perfectly.
I used any ephemera I kept - boarding passes, baggage tickets etc.

I kept a diary of each day (thanks to special friend, Roby, who gave me a journal before I left) and then re-typed the entries to fit on the pages. I used a textured 80gsm paper which I had purchased from Officeworks for the journalling.

 When I wanted to add some labels or short text, I used the min alphas from Kaisercraft.  Or I hand wrote the text on a strip of card.

I started to write some information about some of the places I visited, that i got from the internet, but that was taking too long so used other information instead.

I punched holes in the photos and am happy to say they don't detract from any of the views.

I cut out some the photos around the main focus such as the telephone box below. I also hand cropped when necessary.

I use map sections from maps I had purchased or found in flyers and brochures.

I added entry tickets and information brochures.

Old postcards added to the 'story' as I retold my experiences.  I added the wedding invites and place cards for a wedding I attended whilst in the UK. This was such a novel place card as we had to send a photo of ourselves as babies and these were then used to guide us to our seats!

I added store receipts. I thought it would be interesting to see the prices, especially in 10 years time!

Brochures and postcards from places I visited.

Menus and brochures from wonderful restaurants.

And I added a photo of my arrival back home and wrote about how I felt when I was landing.

 Each album is around 50cm in thickness and although they are quite heavy they are easy to handle.

I also punched large circles that I used as tabs for each day's entry. I wrote the date on it and stuck them to alphabetical index cards I had.  I found the tabs on them assisted me to know where to stick my tabs!

When the main parts were finished I went back and added other embellishments that complimented the 'stories' and also added a bit of creativity.

So, I have completed 24 days of my trip in 3 albums, with over 300 photos and lots of memorabilia.  I hope you have got some ideas from these photos, as I did from others before I started.

Until next time ...

Another mini album to share ... and a new family addition

Here is the second Christmas Mini Album I have done.  This is to be sold as soon as get myself organised with my Etsy store!

I used a clear acetate sheet for the front cover and embossed it with my Cuttlebug with the Christmas baubles embossing pad.

I used some flocked Christmas trees on the next page.

A clear tag added some interest into the next page.

A couple of removable, top note tags.

The present opens up to three sides for photos.

A tag or photo can slide into the ribbon.

The gold envelope opens up also.

Some more places for photos.  There were more pages - I have just added a selection here.

And introducing Miss Lulu - our cute little kitten (well not technically mine but in our household!)

This is Lulu on my bed - I woke up to find her snuggled up next to me! So cute!

She also likes to drink water in the shower - as does Gypsy Rose our other cat, hence we have a bowl in there for them.

More pics soon.

So, till next time ...