Valentine Tin Tutorial

This is a great project because it’s an easy way to recycle a candy tin, fairly quick, uses scraps and other little bits, and is adaptable to just about any theme you’d like.

Supplies: Altoids tin (or similar)
10 photos, corner rounder, paper punches, card stock, patterned paper scraps, paper trimmer w/scoring blade
ribbon, stamps, Crystal Effects, liquid Tombow, stapler
Note: nearly any liquid glue will work for this such as Modge Podge which also works great to seal your project if you’d like!

Lots of options for altering the tin. Spray paint the entire album in desired color. Make sure to do this in a well ventilated area and follow the safety instructions on the can. (end disclaimer). For other projects I’ve covered the tin in gesso, let dry completely, paint with acrylic paints, then seal coat either with a spray clear coat or a gel medium.
On this project I covered parts of the tin in patterned paper (pp), adhered with liquid Tombow. To keep it easy I only covered the large rectangular areas with paper and left the original tin colors.

For the tin:
1) For the top, cut a 3 x 2.5 piece of pp, round the corners adhere with liquid Tomobow, repeat for the back of the tin.
2) Embellish with buttons, flowers, or punched shapes
3) For the inside of the tin, cut a 2.25 x 3.5 in piece of pp, round the corners adhere with liquid Tomobow, repeat for the back of the tin. Add a photo to the front inside of the tin if desired.

For the mini album
1) Use a sheet of 12×12 card stock for the base of your album.
Cut a 3 inch wide strip, then score every 2 inches along the strip. Accordion fold along the score lines using a bone folder or pen lid to press the folds.
2) use a corner rounder on all the square edges of the book, this helps it fit into the tin better and looks cute!
3) Stamp with the same color ink hearts on the front and back of the folded book and along the edges of both sides of the book unfolded.
4) Trim down photos into squares(1.5 in) or rectangles (1.5 x 2 in) focusing on faces. Round the corners. Arrange photos in the order you’d like then adhere to the center of each page.
5) Add a small title/journaling for each page as desired.

6) Cut a 5 in piece of ribbon, wrap around mini book for size, staple ribbon together. Add a button or punched shape on top of staple using liquid Tombow. On my project I covered a punched heart in Crystal Effects (a clear drying glue) to make my own “epoxy” type embellishment.

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messy book

In these uncertain times, with money stress and family stress and all the everyday stuff that we all deal with I have to remind myself that my life is really good. We are all healthy and have each other and we have each other. Last week I read off a young mother who’s husband died unexpectedly after a stroke. She has two little boys and now she’s on her own. I can’t even imagine losing Stephen. We’ve been married for 13 years and don’t even want to imagine living with out him or raising our twins without him. To raise money for this family, scrappy and mixed media artist Emily Falconbridge hosted a few silent auctions. I followed along, praying that there would be people out in the blog world who would help out. I was really pleased when Emily announced a way for everyone to participate in any amount and in return would get access to a “Messy Book” video tutorial.
I like her style, it’s fun, funky, messy, with paint and all sorts of other things added to a scrapbook page or mini book. And until now, I haven’t been able to attempt it. Watching her make this book with this and that and paint and paper was very inspiring and fun. So during nap time I decided to make a messy book of my own.

From messy book

I didn’t trust sewing the pages as my machine and I have a very difficult relationship and I didn’t want add any more stress to it.
My idea for this book was to use things I rarely or never use. I’m tired of holding onto a piece of paper or other little thing like I’m afraid there will never be another like it in the world! To start with, I got out the Prima paintable card stock. It has a watercolor paper texture, with a beautiful drawn background that just was waiting for paint. But again, I hesitated to cut into it and use it. No More, I painted and cut it up to add to my book.

From messy book

I also had bought a pack of the 6×6 die cut pages from Making Memories. You know the ones with the cool ledger lines and funky shapes. Yeah I bought them nearly a year ago, waiting for something special.

From messy book

What a dork! At first I was going to make a photo mini out of this and as I gathered things up I decided to make it a journal of sorts. I had a watercolor I had done a few years ago that I never liked but since it’s on my favorite w/c paper Arches (say with a french accent) I never got rid of it so I could paint on the other side.

From messy book

I ripped it into sections added it along with the cover from the w/c paper pad.
Then I added more bits and envelopes and tags until I had a big pile of pages.

From messy book

I then bound it all together with my Bind it All that I was sure I needed and need to use much more. For the cover I added bright pink felt that I will add more stuff to as I use it.

messy book

My book grew and evolved and now I think it will be a art journal, and a place to write my inspiring thoughts and favorite Bible scriptures. I may add paint and gunk it up bit, or I’ll use watercolor and illustrate a few things. Who knows? But right now I’m pretty happy with the final result.

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Daddy Mini Album Tutorial

For Father’s Day I decided to make a mini album of my favorite pics of my hubby with the kiddies. I had this great red album from Stampin Up! that seemed just right.
This is my 3rd 6×6 album I’ve made. First I really love the size, so easy so quick. And then I love how nice they look when they are on a shelf together. You have to know I love mini books, love coming up with new ways to make and bind. But the one thing I sometimes wish is the ability to expand a book with out lots of hassel. Which is why I love using these ring albums. I’ve done books for each of our little family before, but I could see making one of these for each of us as a favorite shots album that could be expanded.

daddy album

When ever I make a mini book or album I come up with the theme and gather the photos around the theme. Next I decide what paper I want to use or if I want to just do card stock. Then I put the pics in order I want them to appear. This can be chronological or in the order of the story I want to tell. Finally I come up with a basic plan. Lately I’ve really been into using my 4×6 photos without cropping. My basic formula is a simple blocking idea. Here’s my rough sketch.

Nothing real fancy but a very clean design that I seem to use different variations on. It’s also real easy to flip the sketch for a 6×4 photo. I’ve seen more intricate, neater sketches but when I’m making an album or mini book it makes the whole process go much faster when I use this basic sketch. The other thing I like about this sketch is that you can switch out the flower for other embellies or a cluster of flowers, die cuts, or punches.

 

Something else I’ve started to do is make the photos pockets for journalling tags. I like to write a lot, but I don’t always like to see all of the writing on the page. When making a photo pocket I don’t put adhesive on the top of the photo, then I just slide my tag behind the pic. Again, super easy and quick.

A sidebar, I love to create all kinds of stuff. I love to play with paper and find new ways to do things. However, with two year old twins I have to be smart about my time which is why I come up with quick sketches that I can use over and over again. The other time saving tip I’ve really fell in love with is making kits out of my stuff. You can read that post here.

And now, I’m off to the gym with the kiddies to sweat off some pounds.
‘yay’

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Pile of stuff

I don’t know how many of you out there are like this, but I always have more than one book I’m reading, project I’m working on, or some household chore that is ongoing (like laundry). So here is a pile of the stuff I’ve been working on.

There are the two square canvases my Rv log book, a happy mini book, a giggle mini book (a gift), my daily something inspired by Ali, a fabric covered house book, 100 things notebook, wreck this journal, a friend mini book, and a covered notebook.
Well, when I got to looking at these projects I decided I really needed to get them done and move on. No more of this or that project waiting for inspiration to happen. Just do it. So here’s what I’ve finished so far:

The canvases that I’ve held on to forever waiting for the “perfect” project. I used staz-on ink, new Heidi Grace stamps that I got from a very cool person-May. I added a little Heidi Swapp bling, paper and cool brads from a Cloud 9 paper kit. I’ve added ribbon to hang them on the wall in my babies’ room. I’m thinking a cute peg board hanging in their room would be fun for hanging stuff like this. Might have to find a cheap unfinished wood one.

My Rv Log Book.

RV Log

The ribbon binding is an idea from Donna Downey off of the Simple Magazine’s web site. The foundation of the book is plain old cardboard covered with some of my favorite Chatterbox papers. This was made to document our little family’s adventures in the old motor home we bought off of craig’slist. And they have been adventures. Just think of any of the family vacation movies mixed in with 16 month old twins. Inside I have used a variety of things like maps, receipts, brochures, pictures, and scrap stuff. One of my awesome friends gave me the remains of a Stampin Up travel kit which had a bunch of self-adhesive die cuts, papers, and other fun things. Some of the other papers are American Crafts.
So I made the book before we left for our first trip, I packed some quickie stuff I wanted to use on the road and kept a journal of our trip. When I got home I made wallets in Photoshop, printed them at Walgreens and added the pics and finished it up. We only managed two trips for the summer but we put about 1500 miles on the motor home.

Giggle book.

giggle mini book

Was made as a gift for someone who gave my kids some cute shirts and other things. Just a thank you for being sweet. It was also requested because she loved my little books and wanted one of the babies. Used a new set of paper from Stampin Up, I think the boho line.

My daily something.

daily something

I started this in August and well, it’s October and I kind of quit doing it. I had great intentions and about every week I made at least one entry. The book is from recycled envelopes from bills and junk, and bound it with my new Zutter Bind it all. I think I’ll start back into it now, do something once a week. I like to do crafty/creative stuff every day. But it’s hard with two toddlers and when I’m lacking inspiration or motivation to do anything crafty.

100 things notebook.
Taken from the list of 100 creative things by Keri Smith. Started this last fall and did a few off of the list. Looking back at it I think this may be fun to keep handy to do when I’m stumped for ideas or need a little down time.

Wreck This Journal.
Book by Keri Smith. It is a book of things to do to the book, some are cool and some are off the wall. I had it a friends house where after a few glasses of red wine we took turns playing with the book. I highly recommend this as a gift for any crafty/arty person you know, or as a fun family gift. I think my niece is getting one of these for her birthday, just need to warn her not to do the parts where it tell you to burn a page.

Happy book.

Happy Book

Just some fun pictures I wanted to play with using a free Cloud 9 paper kit and Heidi Grace acrylic stamps. Simple, easy, and so fun to look at.

Friend Book.
Again using a free Cloud 9 paper kit and embellies and Heidi Grace acrylic stamps. I just need to get photos of my friends and journaling to finish it off.
There’s more to this story but can’t share until later!

And that’s just a little sample of my piles. I’m not even going into the piles of laundry I need to fold and put away. ICK!

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