I Won a Prize!

Hello everyone.  Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog.

Yes, the title of this post is right.
  I Won a Prize!

Just before Christmas Sandie Edwards at Delightfully Crazy ran a giveaway competition for the followers of her blog.  There was just one prize and it was awesome.  Lots and lots of fantastic goodies so I thought, 'Why not',  and put my name in.

  So, in January Sandie had her gorgeous little boy Jesse pull out of the box the name of the person to win the prize, but he didn't want to stop at just one, he was having too much fun ( Told you he was gorgeous didn't I? ).  He pulled out a couple more and so Sandie, beautiful, generous person that she is decided to allocate two more prizes, and I won Third!!!  I was gobsmacked ( for those of you who don't speak Aussie that means 'stunned' ) I really hadn't expected anything and I was totally thrilled.

So, of course, I just have to  show you my 'loot'.
( Sorry folks, I don't have a video camera so there's going to be lots and lots of photos. )
 ( I'm not really sorry 'cos I really, really want to show you everything.  LOL )

Lots of beautiful hand dyed laces,  some gorgeous little charms, resin pieces some plastic flowers and brads and a little bit of bling.
Now for the close-ups.

Sandie wrote me a lovely message in this little card. Isn't it sweet?
Apparently it is one of the first ones she ever made and I will treasure it.

There are lots of gorgeous little butterflies which I can use in my charm strands and there's  some bees as well.    I love the large butterfly and the little heart, they will have to go on a special project.

 

 I haven't seen these before but they should look fabulous tucked into some flower clusters.  Can't wait to try it.

 Aren't these little urns beautiful?  But I must say those little birds have won me over.  I have to get some more of these.

Aren't they sweet?  Again, I can't wait to use them on something special.

Then there's these lovely resin pieces, and don't you just love that little teddy bear?
He is adorable.  That piece of bling will be great as a closure for a mini album.  Mmmmmm,  I know just the one I'm going to use it on.
And now, the lace.

Isn't this gorgeous?  

 And this...

And this...

 And this ...

Oooooohh!  I'm in heaven.  The colour of that seam binding is glorious.

And aren't these beautifully coloured as well?
Sandie hand dyed all these laces and they are just perfect.  I love every single one, and I'll probably cry if I have to cut them apart to fit on my projects but I can't wait to use them.
I would like to thank Sandie from the bottom of my heart.  She is such a talented and generous lady, if you haven't visited her blog, it is a must.  She is on quite a few design teams and does the most amazing work.  You can visit HERE. Please take the time to check it out.
Once again Sandie, thank you so much for my prize.  Love it, love it love it.
That's all for today.  Thank you so much for visiting.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

 

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