New Card

Hello everyone!  I have a card to show you.
A friend had a birthday this week and I had to leave my Mini Album and concentrate on her card. I've actually had to work on a few cards because my son's birthday and anniversary are coming up soon as well but I won't be able to show you those yet.  Didn't like leaving the mini but it's all in a good cause. 

Anyway, I decided to make a spring card for my friend, haven't made one of those for a while.

I double matted it and used some paper from Graphic 45's Olde Curiosity Shoppe on the base. The paper I've used on the main section is from my stash and I really can't remember where it came from.

 

The large pinkish flower I made myself following one of Natasha's tutorials (you can find it HERE). The gold flower is from Prima and the tiny ones are from Kaisercraft.  The mesh like material  was actually part of a flower from a fascinator kit.  I pulled it apart, scrunched it up and used it for a bit more dimension. The gem spray I put together myself and the swirl was cut with Magnolia Ink's Hearts Swirl Die.

I inked the little Imaginarium frame with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then covered it with Crackle  Accents.  When it was dry I went over it again with the Walnut Stain hoping to bring out the cracks a bit more but being such a small frame they are a bit hard to see.

On the back I simply glued down a Kaisercraft die-cut to make a pocket

and then cut out a scalloped oval from Prima's Rondelle papers to make a tag for the sentiment.

I won't actually know if my friend likes it or not because she's away in Bali (lucky thing).  Knew she was going but didn't realize she'd be away for her Birthday.  So I guess I'll have to be patient until she comes back.

That's all for now. Thank you for visiting.
Please take care and God Bless.
xx Margy

Olde Curiosity Shoppe Mini Album

Hi Everyone!  Thought I'd give you an update on the Mini I'm working on.  It's made with Graphic 45's Olde Curiosity Shoppe papers and I'm using the binding system as explained in my last post.  So far it is working well but I did have to change it slightly because I didn't like how it looked. My original idea was to use a couple of small hinges to create the cavity for attaching the pages to the spine  of the book, but I didn't like the fact that in some instances the hinge was actually visible.  So I decided to attach a strip of cardboard over the hinges before adding the paper. 

    Like this.

And here is the result. As you can see on the right hand page, the hinge is visible but on the left hand side I've used the new version and it does, to me, look better.

  The book is not finished yet but here are a few pages that are complete.

As is my usual practice, this mini will have lots of tags. 

And I've done a bit of fussy cutting.

As I said, the book is not quite finished but I'll show the rest when it's done.

These photos were taken with a new camera I'm trying for the fist time.  It actually belongs to my youngest son who is allowing me to have the use of it.  I love it. It is so much easier to get close-ups and I didn't have to delete half the photos I took.  Thanks Rod, you're the best.

That's it for now. Thank you for visiting.  Take care and God Bless.

Binding for Mini Album

Hello everyone!  I am in the process of making another Mini Album.  Surprise! Surprise!  I think I may be addicted.  Anyway, I am using a combination of Kathy Orta's Hidden Hinge Binding (you can find it HERE) and Annespapercreations page construction from her Ladies Diary Yearbook Journal (you can find that HERE).  I love Kathy Orta's Mini Albums, she is a very talented lady, but because I like to use cardstock instead of envelopes or paper bags, I find I go through a lot of cardstock and the pages come out really thick.  Then I stumbled upon Annespapercreations (also a very talented lady)  and loved the way she constructs her pockets with hinges instead of folding over the cardstock, so I came up with my own interpretation.  Someone may have come up with this method before but I myself haven't seen it anywhere.

This is the hidden hinge system from Kathy Orta which I am using as the base for my Album.

 

 This is just a closer view.

 Here is the base card for one of the pages. You can see I've created two little hinges on the edge that goes on the inside of the Album.

When you glue the paper down on the side with the hinge you have to make sure you leave it open for the depth of that hinge but you do need to glue the paper to the actual hinge.  On the other side you can glue the paper down completely. So you will have a page with a cavity of about half an inch down one side.

 

 This page has the hinge side of the cardstock so for about half an inch on the left hand side the paper was left unglued.  The pocket was constructed out of cardstock following Anne's hinge method and then of course covered  with paper as well.

 This is the other side of the page and I was able to glue the paper down completely.  This pocket  was also constructed using Anne's method and just the hinges attaching it to the page are of cardstock. 

  And here is the page attached to the binding.  You simply remove the score tape from both sides of the long hinge and slip the cavity over the top and make sure you push it all the way to the base to stick it down.  Exactly the same as Kathy explains it in her tutorial. (If you trim a small triangular piece from the each end of each mountain fold you will find it easier to slide the cavity onto it.)

 

This is the other side of the page attached to the binding.

I hope these instructions make sense and that someone finds them useful. I 'm finding it better for myself because it uses a lot less cardstock and I think it will be strong enough because it really isn't all that different.  You couldn't use just normal paper but designer papers are generally quite heavy anyway so I believe this will work quite well.  I'll show the album when I'm finished and by then I should have some idea if it is going to be durable or not.

Thank you for visiting. Take care and God Bless.  xx Margy

Mini Pocket Page

I wanted to show you the mini pocket page booklet I made using a tutorial by Kathy Orta. If you would like to take a look you can find it  HERE. It is really simple to make and it is really cute.  You could make it any size that you want and it could be a little brag book for your purse as well.

 This is the first half of the booklet. It has a pocket with a tag as shown below.

 

  This tag could actually be a folded one so you would have more photo space.

You open it up and there are 2 photo mats inside.

 

Flip it over to the back it looks like a small envelope.  Open it and you'll find more photo mats.
 

 

 This is how it looks on the edge.

And here is the other half of the pocket page.  I actually cut it into two because it was too thick to fit into the pockets of my mini album.  

 This is the front,

 the back

 and the inside.

This really is an ingenious design.  It only uses one sheet of cardstock and is not large (about 31/2" x 4") but it has quite a lot of places for photos and you could make it really pretty with embellishments, etc.
I'll have to make my next Mini a little larger because I want to make more of these and I'd like to keep them in one piece.
 A great big Thank You to Kathy Orta for designing and sharing her wonderful creations with the rest of us.
That's all for now. Thank you for visiting my blog. Take care and God Bless.
xx Margy

Completed Mini Album

Yayy!! My mini album is finished!  I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out and, more importantly, so was my dear friend.  She was delighted with it.  Made my day.

 I fussy cut a few flowers from the paper to make a pocket for a tag on the inside cover.

This mini pocket page is one I made from a tutorial, again by Kathy Orta.  The original one turned out too thick for my mini so I split it up and ended up with two nice little booklets.

 

This is the other half of the booklet I mentioned before. 

 

Punched out a Magnolia dragonfly and fussy cut some more flowers for the inside back cover.

I put in quite a lot of different tags but not much in the way of embellishments because I felt the paper was pretty enough to stand on its own.  I only added the odd flower or ribbon to some of the journalling tags.

That's all for now.  Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and, if you feel inclined, please leave a comment and let me know what you think. I would love to get some feed back. Take care and God bless.

xx Margy

Mini Album Cover

Just a short post - I finally finished my Mini Album cover.  It didn't quite turn out how I first imagined it but I think I'm happy with it.

 

 The lace flower is one I constructed myself as are the charms.

I used my tattered clock again although you can't see too much of it because I layered a postcard tag over the top of it.  I sprayed the clock with Sugar Plum Fairy Glimmer Mist which is a really pretty colour.

The large flower is one I made myself , the beige rose  is from Prima and the rest are all Kaisercraft.

I added some small gem sprays and some gold spirals.

I love this butterfly, it is so delicate. I couldn't remember where the die came from but the lovely Sandie Edwards from Delightfully Crazy left me a beautiful comment and told me it is a Memory Box die.  Thank you Sandie - you're the greatest.

Here is a closeup of the charm strands. I think I made it  a little too long so the next one will be shorter.  It should look better that way I think.

The album itself still isn't quite finished, I still have a couple of photo mats to make.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by.  Take care and God Bless.

xx Margy