Travel Mini - Part two

Hello again everyone.  Here is the second installment of my Travel Mini.
Just a warning that it is a huge post with lots and lots of photos.
In my last post I mentioned I would give you the link to Kathy Orta's tutorials in case anyone wanted to get it for themselves but first I'll give you the link to the video of the album this tutorial is based on.  That way you can see exactly what you'd be getting.  The album is Kathy's All Occasion Mini Album and you can view the video HERE.   I'll give you the link to her tutorials at the end of this post.  (Sneaky huh?  Now you have to look through my post don't you?  LOL)

Here is page 5.

Just a simple page same as No. 3.  The suitcase is a pocket which holds a photo mat and a journalling card and, again, there is room on the page underneath for another photo.

Page 6.

 In between pages 5 and 6 is a half page which is actually just a pocket.  This is a very clever little design that Kathy incorporated into this album.  You simply cut a couple of slots into the leaves of the binding and pull that section to the side when glueing in the page.

 Then onto the spare piece you glue this little pocket and it acts like just another page that you can flip over.   You can make your pocket any width you like but you will have to glue the bottom closed because this piece of binding will probably not be wide enough.  You will also need to glue that section closed at the bottom of the main page.

 

 I love this idea and will use it in future albums too.   As you can see the small pocket/page holds a photo mat and the large page also has a photo mat in the side pocket.

 

It's hard to tell from the above photo but the larger mat has a photo stack inside it as shown below.

Once I get the photos into it I'll do a bit of decorating.

Page 7.

Again a simple page just with a pocket, photo mat and journalling tag.
I mentioned in my last post that I'm using Kaisercraft's Check-in Collection for this album and most of the labels are from their collectables but the large label in this page is actually from Prima's Romance Novel Collection and the circular  journalling spot is from Melissa Francis.  I also should tell you that all the papers and tags are distressed  with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

Page 8.

 This is another page with the pocket/page in the centre.

Three photo mats to this set of pages, two are doubled over and the larger one is folded three times so, again, lots of places to put photos.  Needless to say this album is quite thick.

 When the pocket/page is turned over you can see there is another fold out section here and again, I have fastened the tags and the page together with a paper clip.

 As with the fold out page in my previous post, this one also opens out twice but is different in that it  also has a pocket with an extra photo mat inside.

Page 9.

 Another simple page with pocket, and labels.  The hot air balloon was in with the collectables.  Loved it so I had to pop it in somewhere.

Page 10.

On this page there is a half pocket with a double photo mat inside and there is also a double photo mat in the side pocket which itself has a pocket on the inside. 

Page 11.

Nearly there folks.  This is the second to last page.  Another simple one with just a pocket and some tags.

Inside back cover and final page.  Whew!! Told you there were a lot of photos. LOL

 This page has a double pocket with a double mat in the bottom one and a mat with a pocket and another double  mat in the top one.

Final photo is the back cover.

 

I just left this plain.

There you have it  folks.  My Travel Mini Album.  I do apologise for the length of this post but I didn't want to go to a third installment and I really did want to show you all of it.

As promised the link to Kathy Orta's tutorials is HERE.  There are a few of them on the page and they are all for sale but as I said at the beginning of this post this album is the All Occasions Mini Album.

Thank you so much for stopping by.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

Travel Mini Album

Hello everyone!

I'm back to show you a mini album I've put together.

My husband and I, along with a couple of our best friends are going on a cruise to New Zealand  this year so I decided to make a mini album for all the photos we're going to take.  (  I expect there will be lots and lots. )
I purchased a tutorial from Kathy Orta to make a mini for a friend's daughter who is having a baby and I used that tutorial to make this album as well, although I did customize it a bit. The papers I've used are from Kaisercraft's Check-in Collection.  I've also used some of the die cuts and labels from this collection as well.

Here is the front cover.

 As you can see the decorations are quite simple. I just placed a charm from Blue Moon in the top left  corner and then layered on some tags and labels.

I used cardboard from an old box for the front and back covers.  ( As long as it is not too thick it works just as well as chipboard.)  To join the two together I used some black cloth.
   I have had problems in the past  when I've used cardstock for this as sometimes it cracks when you keep opening the book, but with the cloth that obviously won't happen.
 This album has 10 pages and lots of photo mats.

Here is the inside front cover.

 

Inside the pocket is a photo mat with its own pocket to hold another photo mat.

This mat also has a small pocket.  So, just in this page alone there is the opportunity to place 6 photos with enough pockets to add some journalling tags as well.

  Here is the second page.

 This page holds lots and lots of opportunities for photos.

There is a double sided photo mat in the top pocket and a folded mat in the side.

 This mat is the same as the one in the front cover in that it has a small pocket inside to hold journalling tags.

 And the page opens out to reveal some journalling tags and more space for photos.

And it opens out again for more photos.

I've used a fancy paper clip to hold the page and the tags together.
LOTS of space for photos.

The third page is very simple.

The suitcase is a pocket which holds a photo mat and a journalling tag.  A photo can also be placed on the page underneath.

Fourth page.

In the half pocket is a double sided photo mat and the side pocket holds another folded mat with the small pocket for tags.

 

I haven't done a lot of decorating on this album because I feel the papers are pretty enough on their own and I want to wait until I put the photos in to see if it needs anything more.

I think I will finish this post here.  There is still a lot to show you but I will leave that for another post.
I've really enjoyed making this album, partly because I can't wait to go on the cruise to take the photos for it and also because the tutorial was really interesting and easy to follow.  In my next post I will give you the link in case anyone wishes to get it for themselves.
Thank you so much for dropping by for a visit.
Please take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

Fixes for my Mini Album

Hello everyone.  So pleased you took the time to drop by.

I don't know if any of you ever have problems when making your projects but there are times when things don't go the way they should for me.

In a previous post I said that I was making a mini album for a close friend's daughter who is having a baby.  I obtained a tutorial  because I wanted it to be special and I didn't want to be worrying about how to set up the pages and photo mats etc.  And that side of it is working really well.
Now please don't think that there is anything wrong with the tutorial, because there isn't. It is well set out and has lots of pictures and clear instructions and is really easy to follow.
My problem is that the double sided tape and the wet glue I am using doesn't seem to work as well with the cardstock I selected.  I have used both products with other cardstock and they both performed really well.  This cardstock appears to be more fibrous than what I usually use and maybe that's why things went wrong.
On the pockets I was having problems with the double sided tape coming away from the base.

No matter how many times I stuck it down, it just kept peeling away.  Very frustrating.
Also, I was using wet glue to stick my papers down and that ended up buckling the pages.

Unfortunately, once I had made the base pages, I attached them to the binding and the cover before I started to decorate them.  Bad mistake.  These problems didn't really show until I was about half way through, but once I noticed it there was no way I was giving this to my friend's daughter.  So, guess what?  I chopped it apart and had to start again.  Did I say frustrating????

On the second version I slightly altered the way I stuck the double pockets down.  I still used double sided tape and the same cardstock, but instead of glueing the second pocket on top of the first  I glued the hinge to the inside.

 It looks so much neater and it hasn't come apart.  Yayy!!
And, instead of using wet glue to stick the papers down, I again used double sided tape.

So now the pages are lovely and smooth.

And there is no buckling.  (Sigh of relief)
Also, I glued the papers onto the pages before attaching them to the spine which made it a lot easier to decorate.
I think from now on, if I use a different type of cardstock, I'll do some testing first to see which glue works best.  Might save a bit of angst and a bit of money.  I was lucky I had enough papers and cardstock for my second attempt at this album.
I am actually making two albums at the moment.  This baby album and another album using my usual cardstock and following the same tutorial. I am happy to say that the second album has given me no problems at all. Yayy!

Thank you for stopping by.
Take care and God Bless.
ox Marg

Cards from Scraps

Hello everyone and a very Happy New Year to you all. 

 Can't believe this is my first post for 2013.  Time flies when you're  busy I guess.

I have a couple of easy cards to show you.  These are made from some scraps I had in my scraps box.

They don't take a lot of work which comes in handy when you're pressed for time or making a card for someone whose Birthday you 'almost' forgot.  (I won't tell if you don't.  LOL)

I used cream cardstock for the base, then cut a slightly smaller mat in brown and attached a piece of chiffon ribbon before adhering it to the base. From my scraps, I selected the papers which matched, cut them into wide strips, used a Martha Stewart border punch for the edges inked them with a Bark Kaisercraft ink pad and then layered them to the front as shown.

 The flower was one I partly made myself.  I used some small scraps for the larger petals, inked the edges with Versa Color Bronze and then just added a small bloom from my stash in the centre.

  For the greeting, I cut out a label in the brown cardstock for the base and glued that to the card.
Then cut another slightly smaller out of ivory cardstock, stamped the greeting onto it and attached that with pop dots.

 Here is just a close-up of the layers.

The second card was made in a similar manner.  I used black cardstock for the base this time and matted it in white.  This time I didn't glue the mat to the base until after it had been decorated, mainly because I wasn't sure if I wanted ribbon on it or not.

 I chose scraps in the blue range ( the lady I made it for loves blue ) cut them into strips and then cut a V shape into the bottom of each to make them look like flags or banners.  The edges are inked in Kaisercraft Bark.
 I had some petal shapes in my stash so selected some complimenting colours, scrunched them up a little and glued them together to make the flower.  I then glued a small pearl in the centre.  And, as you've seen, I did decide to use a piece of ribbon so I was glad I hadn't glued anything to the base as yet.

 The greeting was made the same as the first card I showed you but using a different shaped label.

There you have it folks.  Two cute little cards made in a very short space of time and, apart from the card bases, just using scraps.

Thank you so much for stopping by.
Take care and God Bless.
ox Marg