Albums for friends

The color green. The color of spring, nature and life. The color loved by many. The color that does not inspire me much. Challenge accepted. Well, I did have some help. Add a friend who likes it, and her preference for music and a little vintage and this mini album came together in three days. Quite a record for me :).

Trying to use all my green flower stash.


There is something about craft supplies: when in the store one cannot have too many, when at home one cannot use it all faster.

I saw this cute flower, stem and leaf pattern on a card and thought it would  be fun to replicate on these pages.

Last page of the album where I mixed a little bit of all; flowers, cut outs and decorative tape.

That last bit of ribbon was not going back to the storage box for later use. I have learned my lesson. So I had to find it a place in my design.











One of my favorite pages where I used one of DCWV Timeless type prettiest pages and one cut out.

Hunting my never diminishing paper collection for green patterns I found some double sided 6 X  6 that I challenged myself to make into pages and also keep both sides showing. Even if only half way from behind some clever pockets that also double as binding.

More of that DCWV paper. One 12 x12, cut into 4 6X6, not an inch wasted. :)

Remember those bottles I stamped during the craft month? Some of them found a home. About seven more to go...

Another binding trick and the leafs on the back of my paper are showing. I also left a big enough pocket to hold the booklet I made for almost all pages.

Polka dots are cute in any color. I especially liked the shade of green and the size of the dots on this one. Might keep the second page for myself.









Sometimes mistakes are a good thing, or at least a one of a kind page into a mini album.

And when you have in your bottomless stash a green and cute paper clip, you can confidently say that this was a totally intentional design choice. No doubts about it.








And there were side pockets, and double side pockets and vertical pockets and some Polaroid pattern paper...

 I do not know what I will do after I will use up all my DCWV Timeless Type paper. I seem to be able to match it to almost any project I make.

Some of the paper I used was not double sided, so something had to be done. Since green pattern paper is scarce among my hoardings, a green pocket proved to be the perfect solution.

For someone who does not care much for green, I had two rolls of decorative tape in this color. Perfect.









That is pretty much it. Hope my friend likes it and will put it to good use.
I am currently working on a pink and purple 6x6 album similar to this one, and I also have a smaller size mini made with the last bits and pieces of the DCWV Everyday moments collection. And the rest of the albums I meant to finish, and some old photos I found at my mom's house that I want to scan and print for my own records, and some engagement party I attended this past Sunday, and I think I will start by taking a break ;).

Have a great week!

March Craft Month - day 31

And the last day is here. Hope you had a great month, and made a lot of crafts. I wanted to work on one of my many started projects and maybe even try out some new ideas. Every other day seemed a reasonable time schedule, but inspiration does not keep a schedule, not yet at least. And there are those days when life just gets in the way. Spring is here and there is much to do around the house and in the garden. I am taking photographs of anything with a bloom on it, and maybe one day I get them printed and glue them down in some garden album.
No project for today. Since I do not like posts without a picture here are some earrings inspired by the spring garden.

I won't stop working on my albums, and one day I know I will be up-to-date with all my projects. And who knows what other ideas I may act on. See you soon.

March Craft Month - day 27

I missed one day, again. But not all is lost. The first project I wanted to finish during this month is finally done. I found this video some time ago when I first started being interested in making my own albums. I got a 8in  by 10in Strathmore drawing pad, half of the 12x12 DCWV World Traveler paper pack, some Recollections cardstock and Distress Ink; not to mention all sorts of type of glue. And now is done. I did not aim for the exact replica of the album in the video. That would have been to ambitious and it would have never been ready or look as pretty.

A video would have been better, but I have not unlocked that level yet. Here are some photos of my two day's work; not to mention the other days from previous months.

 I wanted a simple cover, since I might take it with me when I travel. Maybe I will add a nice photo of us when all the pages are filled.

 The inside cover. When I started to realize there will be a shortage of paper I got creative. Left over paper from torn pages, stamps, ink and some washi tape and I call it done.

 I liked to make pockets and use the cutouts as tags, photo mats and booklets.

 Most layouts are basic like this one. Room for photo, some writing and cutouts from the collection,

 The paper had so many elements already printed, that all I had to figure out was how not to cover them up with photo mats.

 I glued two pages together to make a tag pocket and a little booklet. Perfect for all those pieces of paper that are too big for tags and to small to cover a whole page,

 Another pocket I made because I did not want to cover all those nice stamps. And for the photos, I made the mini album that goes in the pocket.

One of may favorite pages. I like the boat and the dark green color of the paper. I had just enough paper to make it a double spread. And for the second page I made a pocket and a booklet for photos and notes from the sea trip (when ever that will be :)) .

Half page easy to make. See that pretty cluster of gears and stamps? Already printed on the paper. All I had to add was the photo mats. And I glued the bottom one sideways. Can't wait to add the photos in to cover it up.

 I have nothing to say about this one, just that I like how it turned out.

Fold out page inspired by the YouTube video. 

Now all I need are some photos from my favorite place for a coup of coffee. 

Made out of the very last bits and pieces of paper.

March Craft Month - day 23

One thing that never crossed my mind when I started this craft marathon was the possibility of getting sick. Well, it happened. Day 21, when I was supposed to be finishing my Recollections paper album, I was busy fighting a cold virus. I recovered quite fast, but not fast enough for my ambitions. Since I did not have energy enough for making layouts, I worked on some small stuff.

My one and only set of stamps than I have not played with finally got a chance to sample my ink collection. Any suggestions of what can I make with all these bottles? 

Most of my energy was donated in the efforts of finishing May 2013 album before May 2014 will get here. As you can see from this page, a background paper and a photo was all I could think of, for this one at least.

Remember that odd journal spot? I did and had to do something about it. Not perfect but much better. Now if I can only start writing...

Just because I had some leftover soccer themed paper, and because I have several photos from my husband's games. 

I do not know who came with the idea of those perfect cards, with text and decorations on them, but all credit to them. This one from BoBunny's Serenade collection made my page come together so much faster. 

One thing I like to do is add some color from the photo somewhere in the layout. My friend's pink shirt was the winner in this case. 

Whenever I scrapbook school events, I like to use the school's colors. Navy and orange are nowhere else to be found in my album, but since this is a double spread a little diversion should be fine.







And that is all for today. There are only four more days of this race I made up for myself. Any projects finished? No. But I am further than I was when I started.

Happy craft month, everyone!

March Craft Month - day 19

Finally some progress. Thanks to the windy weather, PM showers and an overall overcast day. And nothing to watch on TV.

And the winning project is... The Recollections Every Day Moments album.

 Here it is, comfortably resting in its new covers. I made them out of one gift box I have been saving since Christmas. It closely resembles a cereal box. It worked well even if is not as strong as chipboard. And of course two mistakes I may want to remember. Some magnets are strong, but when I add papers on top and I expect them to hold thicker cardstock together they may not be my best option. And no. two, use a classic spine wrap, or glue the cover paper a little bit away for the hinge.

And now some pages I started to decorate and are ready for photos:

 Ink drops are not my specialty. They were meant to be gray and almost invisible.

 Love the pinwheel idea, unfortunately that was the only idea I had. It feel like the page needs some other element of design to give it that nice finished look.

Do not know what to do with all those bits and pieces of paper? Make flags, glue them on a page, wait for some other bright idea to finish the design. Or don't wait, go on Pintrest, Youtube what ever place may feed your inspiration and find something that works.

March Craft Month - day 17

I cannot believe I am still doing this March Craft Madness. There are a few more days left out of this month so I should not be bringing out my certificate of achievement just yet. Before I get to run a victory lap, a little presentation on today's craft projects.
I picked up where I left on Saturday and came up with a journal and a six page, accordion binding album.

First the album. Nice pocket pages, plenty of space for flowers, and pop dots embellishments, buttons and other nicknacks that will end up in this album. Covers still needed.

And the notebook. One side has pages made out of the paper left from the paper collection. The other side and the hinge is made out of white cardstock.

For this first white page I used my Martha Steward border punch. I also glue it on three sides to have a pocket for tags, just in case I will have any paper left buy the time the album is all decorated.

Some improvisations were necessary. The above is quite successful. The bottom left corner was added to cover up a gap. I like the stripes combination so much that I may use it even when I do not need to fix anything.

The third and last part should be coming up next. Can't wait for the the finish products and hopefully no more scraps. At least not from this paper pack.