Happy Memorial Day

I hope everyone is enjoying a safe and fun Memorial Day.  Please remember to pause at 3:00 pm your local time and have a moment of remembrance in honor of all those who have fallen while defending this country.  Let's not forget that Memorial Day is more than a day of barbeques, pool fun, retail sales, and the unofficial start to the summer.  We would not be able to enjoy all of those things had it not been for the sacrifice of our military forces.  Thank you to all the families who have lost a loved one in the name of freedom.

Thank you for visiting and please come again!

Mini Album for SST Swap

Back around Valentine's Day, the crafty Sistas who hang out on the Sistas Scrap Too! thread on the Cricut messageboard did a mini album swap.  We had to make the album, and also decorate a container to hold the album.  This was my first attempt at a mini album, and boy, did I pick a labor-intensive one!  This definitely was not a beginner-level project.

The album's design came from Kathy at Paper Phenomenon.  She did a 9-part mini-series on how to create this style mini.  (I guess the 9 parts should have been my first clue as to the difficulty level.  But in my defense, I joined Kathy as she was making the videos, so all 9 weren't there when I decided to make the album!  And I didn't include all of the features that she did, so I thought I had simplified it quite a bit.)  Kathy has some amazing tutorials of different types of minis.  This is the first one I've made followed her directions, but definitely not the last!



I am really proud of the finished product.  So much so, I really hated to send it to my swap partner!  I wanted to keep one for myself, but I knew I wasn't going to do another one any time soon.  As luck would have it, the person who made an album for me made the same type of album!  She also followed Kathy's videos.  So in the end I got my mini album that I wanted!  The altered box is a wooden box that I painted and decorated.  The mini album JUST fit inside of it.

I made a video showing all of the pages of the album. Please note, this was my first attempt at making a video so please excuse the moments when there is more camera movement than there should be.  I figured a video would be easier to share than a ton of pictures for this project, but I wasn't even sure I could make a video long enough with my small digital camera.  I also hurriedly did it so I could get the album in the mail to my swap partner.

Enjoy, and thanks for visiting!

Mini Albums as Scripture Books

I made these Scripture Books while I was at the Cricut Stampede back in March.  I had a blast while there, and am somewhat surprised that I actually finished a project!  These books are for the ladies in my Jr. Mission group at my church.  I wanted to give them something they could easily slip into their purse and carry their special, personal Scripture verses with them.  I used papers from the Faith paper stack by The Paper Studio that I found at Hobby Lobby.

The book itself is a Meander mini album, made with a 6x12 sheet of black paper.  The album has 5 pockets.  I ran across the idea for this album on The Paper Trail.  Laura gives great instructions on the assembly of this album.

Take your paper, and on the 6" side, score lengthwise at 3".  Turn the paper onto the 12" side.  Score every 2 inches.  You will end up with a grid of 12 squares.  In the photo below, I've drawn lines showing where to cut the paper. 

With your paper oriented horizontally, you will cut from the edge of the paper to the horizontal score line, alternating top and bottom halves.  Hopefully the photo makes sense of that previous sentence. 

I am a visual learner, so in the next picture I've labeled each rectangle on the paper to help with the folding instructions.

Take A and fold it down behind G.  Fold G over on top of H.  H then folds up behind B.  Fold B over on top of C.  C then folds down behind I.  Fold I over on top of J.  Fold J up behind D.  D folds over on top of E.  E folds down behind K.  K folds over on top of L.  Lastly, L folds up behind F.  You should now have a little stack with A on one end and F on the other.  The A and F flaps will be attached to the front and back covers.

To seal the pockets, I cut small strips of paper and wrapped them around the open sides.  I then used a circle punch to cut the notches for each pocket.

To make the cover, I used two 2 1/4" x 3 1/4" pieces of chipboard.  I cut the paper used for the cover to 2 1/2" x 7".  I placed the chipboard pieces as shown below, leaving a 1/8" border on the sides, and a 1/4" space in the center.  This gap will be the binding for the book. 

After attaching the 2 1/2" x 7" paper to the chipboard pieces, I attached the A and F panels of the album to the front and back covers.  I then used two 2 1/8" x 3 1/8" pieces of paper to cover those panels and give the book a finished look.


 
I printed each Scripture on white paper and cut each verse to measure 1 7/8" x 2 7/8".  The papers easily slid into each pocket. 

I am very pleased with the way these books turned out.  I wanted them to be small enough to be easily carried, yet sturdy enough to withstand being in a purse or bag.  I didn't want to over-embellish them, again to keep the size to a minimum, but also because the important part of this project is on the papers inside the pockets.  I felt that using the Faith papers with the printed words was all the embellishment that was needed.

Thank you for visiting, and please stop by again!

Happy Mother's Day!

I just wanted to take a moment to wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day!  To all the mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, cousins, friends, and neighbors who have played a role in raising a child, this day is to honor you!  Thank you for all you have done and continue to do!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!!!

So, after a long hiatus, I have returned.  And I thought nothing would be more appropriate than to revive this blog on National Scrapbooking Day.  There are so many blogs, websites, stores, etc., that are having special events, contests, giveaways and more.  I hope you are able to find some time, if not today, then tomorrow, to do a little something crafty.

My plans for today are still up in the air, but I am scheduled for a mani/pedi early this afternoon.  I want to go shopping to find a dress to wear to church for Mother's Day tomorrow.  (I probably should get up and take care of that before the mani/pedi.)  Then I want to take the family to the Pecan Street Festival in downtown Austin.  It's a fun street fair, craft show, carnival, music show, etc. all rolled into one.  I'm thinking of taking the train this time to avoid the hassle of parking downtown.  Plus, my two-year-old would enjoy riding the train!

But the one thing I WILL do at some point today, is play with this:

My new E2!!!!!  Yes, after saying over and over that I didn't need one, but I that really did want one, I caved and bought one online about 5 minutes before the TV launch on HSN.  She arrived last Friday.  I've only had time to turn her on and do a couple of simple test cuts, so I plan to really get to know her this weekend!

Enjoy National Scrapbooking Day and have a great weekend!