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

Altered Book Box

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.   

It's been a little while since I did a post so I'd like to show you a book box I've altered.

A very close friend's daughter is having a baby and I'm making a mini album for her which I am placing into this box.  The mini is still a work in progress but the box is done.

The paper collection I'm using is Baby Steps from Simple Stories.

Here is the original box.

 

 I purchased it from one of our cheapie outlets ( I think it was Ned's ) and all I had to do was re-cover it with my selected papers. 

 

In this paper collection there are a lot of different tags and on one of them was this little banner so I cut out the letters, glittered the edges and then attached them to a piece of twine. But it didn't stand out enough from the cover so I decided they needed to be matted.  I cut some white cardstock to size and glued them onto that.  I then attached them to the front with pop dots to give them a bit more dimension.

 

The bird cage and bird are from Scrapmatts.  I painted both with Paint Daubers in white and glittered the birdcage completely.  For the little bird, I inked the edges with Versa Color Cinnamon and then glittered the wings and the tail  and also a little around the edge.  I colored his/her eye with a blue Texta.

The flowers are a mix of Prima and Kaisercraft and the little white berries and the white flower with the pearl stamens are from Magnolia Ink.  I trimmed the hooks off some heart charms I had in my stash and glued them on with 

Helmar glue.

  The leaves  are pieces I cut from a larger velvet leaf that I also had in my stash.

The lace came from my stash.  I cannot remember where it's from which is a shame because I love it and would like to get some more.

 

I also trimmed the hook from this little bear charm before attaching it to the bow.

I really like this paper collection.  It has some pink and blue but it's really not gender specific, and it's pretty without being too over the top.  There are some really cute tags and sayings with it as well which will make it easier to decorate the album.

So, there you have it, the box is ready to go, now I just have to finish the album.  The baby is not due until February so I still have plenty of time.

Thank you so much for visiting.  Take care and God Bless and
 wishing everyone all the best for 2013.
oxox Marg

Easy Peasy Christmas Tags

Hello everybody!  I made some really, really easy Christmas tags yesterday.  

I had some kraft tags and all I did was ink the edges with Walnut stain distress ink. Then got some tags and labels from a number of Kaisercraft's  Christmas paper pads, mixed them up, inked the edges and glued them on.

For the back I used some papers from the same collections, inked the edges as well. I then cut to size some of the borders and placed them on the side so I would have some room to write a message.
And that's it. Sooooo easy and really quick to make. If you wanted to you could add glitter, maybe use sticky dots to add dimension, but I am quite happy with these the way they are.
That's all for now.
Thank you for visiting, take care and God Bless.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
oxox Marg

More Christmas Cards

Hello everyone.  Just a short post to show the last of the Christmas cards I made this year.

These are the straight easel cards.

 

As I said in my previous post, all of my cards were made using similar elements, I just changed the papers and the aspect a little so I won't bore you by explaining it all again or by showing all of the cards  I made.

Perhaps next year I will have plenty of time to make something really specky.
Yeah, right, dream on girl. LOL

That's all for now.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

Christmas Cards

Hello everybody and welcome to my blog.

I'd  like to show you some of the Christmas Cards I made for this year.

As I said in my previous post, they were made in a hurry, so there's not a lot of detail and they are all pretty much the same, I just used some different papers and slightly altered the design.  They are all easel cards and the  ones I've shown here are the twisted easel.

 

 The papers I've used are from different Kaisercraft Christmas collections.

 This card simply twists in the opposite direction to the previous one.

 The base of all the cards is brown cardstock and I've matted the fronts with cream.

  The poinsettias I made myself also out of cardstock and the little branches underneath them were 

punched out with a Martha Stewart punch.

   The gold bauble sprays were from some larger sprays which I purchased and then cut into smaller pieces.

All of the shapes on the cards, the circles the swirls the fancy mats, were cut out using my new Silhouette Portrait.  I love this little machine, if I'd had to cut out everything one at a time I would not have been able to finish as quickly as I did. 

These  are just a sample of the cards I made.  In my next post I'll show you the straight easels and the inside. Hopefully you'll be interested enough to come back and take a look.

Thank you so much for visiting and I wish each and everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and  happy New Year.

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg