The Story of the Super Happy Fun album

Although I still consider myself a country girl (despite living in Melbourne for say um…. 14 years now!) there are definitely perks to living where I do. Like when in March both Amy Tan and Heidi Swapp came to my local Spotlight store within a few days of each other! They both taught different classes, but unfortunately I didn't have a chance to actually 'do' Amy's for various reasons. But today I'm going to share the quick little mini-album we made during Heidi's visit.

We really only put together the foundation of the pages during the class. I did not go prepared with photos in hand! All these little extra bits were added when I got home. But because of the nature of her products, this was soooo quick to assemble - especially when you've got the expert guiding you through each step of it!

Loved the combination of transparencies, envelopes, tags and memorydex cards as the different pages within it. The eclectic look always reminds me of what scrapbooking is all about - accumulating a hodge-podge of photos and memorabilia and then trying to present it in some logical order. Maybe that says more about my scrapping style than it should ;-)

Yeah so I turned it into an "I love Spring" memoir!

With just a touch of Summer as well.

The promo tour was certainly effective. I can honestly say I've fallen in love with the Wanderlust collection now, and especially how well it mixes with her previous collection September Skies (which is what I've done here). Be prepared to see more Heidi around these parts!

2014 Not-Quite-a-December-Daily

Given my 2013 Not-Quite-a-December-Daily album took over a year to put together, I decided to seriously rethink my approach. Not that I didn't thoroughly enjoy the process, or that I'm disappointed in the final product - those two statements couldn't be further from the truth. It's just that, you know, for someone who likes to be organised, taking 13 months to complete a project is just not my style!

So here's the someone genius plan I devised for my 2014 album....
I simply combined all the other Christmas projects I had completed for other 'assignments' and attached some photo collages I whipped up in the Project Life app on my phone whilst on the go! That meant there was barely any new work that went into this after Christmas was finished. And that's why it's already finished!

Let me show you what I mean:
The base of the album is the cards I created for the 12 Studio Calico Kits of Christmas project I shared as part of the Papercut Labs Blog Hop.
I intermittently strung some of the tags I created for the girls Rainbow Christmas Bags to serve as sort of bookmarks.
And I tied the whole thing together with some leftover Christmas Stamped Ribbon!!

Will I do it this way again next year? Don't know. Each of my albums is completely different from year to year and I don't mind that. What I'm most happy about with this version is the amount of story I was able to include, and having written it as the month progressed means that it's full of accurate detail. I can't necessarily say that about an album I finish a year later ;-) So I think I might keep the digital aspect of it. But I guess only time will tell how it will actually look this year.

Until then,
Happy Scrapping!
xx

My very-late and not-quite a December Daily

Oh yeah, I'm well aware of what year it is! But the honest truth is I've only just finished my 2013 December Daily and rather than feeling ashamed that it's taken this long, I'm rather chuffed that it's actually done. Late and done is better than not finished at all in my opinion ;-)

So forgive me whilst I share what I've accomplished!

Filled with plenty of photos, heaps of kid-art (I let the kids draw a picture whenever they felt inclined), a truck-load of ephemera from the season (tags from presents and Christmas cards galore) and decorated with whatever I had at hand (lots of Kellie Stamps and Studio Calico). I made sure to document the story thoroughly as I went along too.

Do you want to know what the most ironic thing is?
It might have taken me a year to finish this album, but doing so inspired me to get my 2014 album done at the same time and I can confirm that one's pretty much done as well! I've taken a completely different approach and it was much easier. Lesson learned!

I'll share that one soon ;-)

The Story of the Kinder Mini

I shared with you in my last post how the inspirational Kim Archer had me excited about dabbling in a little Project Life for the first time. Well, in her jam-packed class she also had the time to take us through the creation of a little mini album as well!! So I'm here with you to share what I made for this too :-)

This is a super-cute little miniature mini! The outside covers only measure 3.5x4.5" and are constructed from chipboard covered in calico fabric which we sprayed with mist to decorate. I ended up covering most of mine up with an exclusive APOCD Wood Veneer Card which tells you exactly what the topic of my mini is about ;-)

The inside was sooo easy to construct that the creation of this 8 page book was finished in a flash. Because each page is simply a Project Life card with a photo and a touch of decoration! Can you believe it? What a great idea! Now I won't bore you with a thousand explanations of what I've used on each page. Suffice it to say there was lots of rummaging at the bottom of my past Studio Calico kits for all those little embellishments and bits and pieces that haven't been used yet, with a recurring theme of some new Dear Lizzy Stickers from here.

Happy memories of the first day of kindergarten all wrapped up in a nice little mini-album.... and only 2 months after the event! Pretty happy with myself right now ;-)

The Story of the Glitter Album

Back in February when I was a Guest Designer for American Crafts one of the things they asked me to make was a mini-album. Still reeling from my dismal failure at completing (AKA: barely even starting) my December Daily, I thought this was going to be one of the harder parts of the assignment. 

I have to admit with the DD attempt still fresh in my mind I said to myself "better make this fairly simple then, if I'm going to make it through" :-) One thing that really helped was working with fabulous product. Give me all the Guest Designer gigs in the world..... but only if I actually enjoy working with the supplies and love the designs. It's just not worth it otherwise.

So inspired by two main products, the Amy Tangerine Stitched Vellum Pockets, and American Crafts Glitter Tape (it was Glitter Week after all) I set to work creating my quick and easy mini-album in a flash!

The album really is actually "mini", measuring only 5x4" with the base of it simply being two long strips of patterned paper (5 x 12") folded up accordion style and stitched together. Then I alternatively adhered photos and the Vellum Pockets to each page.

Inside each pocket fits a journalling card so there's plenty of space to write down all my rambling thoughts. I say rambling thoughts specifically here because I've just chosen a bunch of fun random photos that haven't made it onto any of my layouts. Not really what you'd call a proper theme! But happy to be getting them out of my pile and into a project all the same.

I've decorated each Vellum Pocket with Glitter Tape that's been cut into different designs. Some more intricate than others. The Glitter Tape comes in different widths, so if you're thinking about cutting it up then I suggest the thicker ones. But what I love most is that when you're done snipping and chopping you simply peel off the backing and it's adhesive.... so no fussing around with fine-tipped glues!

Most of the other paper details come from the Amy Tangerine Cut & Paste collection, with just a touch of the Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection. Both are equally awesome and can mix and match a little.

Ultimately this mini album ended up only taking me an hour or so to make. Waaaayyyy shorter time that my average layout ;-) So I'm quite happy that I came to the realisation that they don't have to be overly complex or complicated to be effective. Occasionally I can do clean and simple too... in fact, might need to do more of it now!

xxx

The Story of the Grade 1 Report

So before we get too caught up in the hype that is the Studio Calico February Sugar Rush kits (and believe me... the hype is justified!) I wanted to share with you a little more in-depth look at one of my layouts from the January Copper Mountain reveal.

It's fairly straightforward on first impressions, I'll give you that. There's some real fun bits like the cluster of enamel dots and puffy hearts down in the corner.

And there's the exclusive die cut shapes and wood veneer that came in the High Point add-on that were super fun and suited this school themed layout perfectly.

But the real star of this layout is the photo, or more specifically, what lies behind the photo. The jumble of tags hanging out the side gives you a hint that there just might be more here than meets the eye ;-) I need that visual clue myself, because once this baby makes it into an album (putting that job on my to-do list) it might flatten out a little and not be so obvious that there's layers to be discover underneath. And hopefully the title will give it away too.

Because what I've done is to include a miniature version of Munchy's entire Grade 1 School Report right into my layout! Being 4 pages long, and needing to keep it still readable I decided the only way to do it was to create this little mini-album of sorts. I first scanned in her report, shrunk it down and then printed it out just on regular copy paper.

Each page of the Report has it's own spot in the 'album' by sticking it to a folded piece of paper sandwhiched between the front cover (with the photo on the front) and the back which is firmly attached to my layout. Love that microscope from one of the October Afternoon papers right?!

Meanwhile, if you want to check out some real experts putting together some real mini-albums then you might want to come and have a look at the new class offering from Studio Calico, called Mini Book Workshops. Four of the Creative Team (Maggie Holmes, Marcy Penner, Celine Navarro and Nicole Reaves) putting together 4 Mini Books over the course of the year.

You can sign up for the Workshops individually as they come out (first up is Nicole Reaves' gorgeous album) or get a major discount by signing on for the full 4. Find out all the details in the Classrooms here!

Supplies:

Copper Mountain Scrapbook Kit Add on 2: High Point More Vanilla Tiny Attacher Glossy Accents

InLinkz.com

Tutorial: When You've Got Way Too Much to Say

I know a lot of people have trouble adding journaling to their scrapbook pages. It's easy enough to add the 'who, what, where, when' details, but difficult to know what else to say. However, there are some topics that get your mind racing, your heart pounding and your emotions whirling right? And in those circumstances you find that you've got so much to say that you don't know where to start, and you certainly don't know where you'll fit it all on your layout.

 

Just this month I sat and passed my final exam in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. I've been studying for 12 years since leaving high-school and this was the last exam I'll ever have to sit. A pretty momentous occasion and I had a thousand things I wanted to record about it. 



My thoughts weren't necessarily coherent though. I wanted to journal about what the exam was like itself, all the support I was getting at the time and of course, what it felt like to hear I'd passed. I also wanted to include the letter of congratulations I received from my Professor as a keepsake, and tie it all together with a quote from a friend who said, "Wow, it seemed like you just breezed through that exam" when I felt anything but!



So I had a few choices. I could make a series of different pages on the topic (pretty boring... and made pretty difficult by the fact I don't have any relevant photos of the occasion either), fill the entire layout with everything I wanted to say (it can be done, but not what I wanted on this topic), or whittle down what I wanted to journal about so it was your standard paragraph in length.

My solution? Layer upon layer of hidden journaling! Think of it like a mini-book attached to a layout. Let me show you what I mean.

First layer: the photo flips down. I've typed my friends quote on a vellum speech bubble and stuck it to the back so people understand where I got my title from. My first topic of journaling is recorded on a card and briefly embellished.

Second layer: (no photo I'm afraid) the yellow polka dot paper is attached to the folded letter of congratulations from Prof.

Third layer: the black & white paper then folds to the left where I've included another journaling tag and even left space for some prettiness as well.

Each of the layers was sewn directly onto my layout in turn, making sure they could still be opened. The red clip holds it all together at the end so they don't flap around. With all these pages adding some decent bulk to my page, I kept my embellishments simple and flat, using mainly stickers and stamps.

I put this layout together using the "Roller Rink" kit from Studio Calico. The colours were perfect for this breezy and carefree theme. So what do you think? Good solution or not? What other ideas have you got for lots of journaling? I'd love to hear your thoughts.



PS. This post first appeared on the Scrapbook Creations Magazine blog. You can read it in situ here!