friends mini book

6×6 accordion “Friend” Mini Book

This book I made to collect photos of my friends at our monthly get-togethers throughout the rest of the year.

friend album

Supplies Used:
I used all of the Cloud 9 “chocolate chalet” paper kit, stickers from “Brittney’s Castle”, Heidi Grace “thinking of you” clear stamps, pink cardstock Bazzill, ink, pink lipstick ink by Ranger, green, pink, blue and silver ink by Colorbox, and chocolate chip ink and ribbon from Stampin Up.

Book Basics:
cut 12×12 cardstock into 6″ strips, scored every 6″ and folded accordion style.

Front Cover, cover with patterned paper, on pink cardstock use clear corner stamps, spell “My”, add brads to corner stamps, and finish with other brads and carsdstock stickers.

Back Cover: cut a 12″ piece of brown ribbon, center on book, adhere, then cover with patterned paper.

Inside pages (front to back)
Usually when I make a mini book I make more than one book. To make the process
easier I will make a general formula for each page. For this book I wanted to alternate the patterned paper pink and brown. Each page was covered in pp,
and one side was for a photo, the other for journaling.
The journaling boxes that were included in the kit had phrases on them that did not fit my project. I used the word cardstock stickers to cover the words and this gives me
the starting point for my journaling as I add my pictures.

1) make large flower with stickers, adding small flowers along stem
2) Cover with pink stripe, and brown circles on the bottom. Add journal box. I double stamped a large corner with the vine stamp. I added the silver on top of the brown to soften it and give it some dimension.
3) cover with brown flowers papers, add text box, and circle stickers
4) cover with brown circle paper, the green is the back side of one of the papers, again I double stamped with brown and silver, adding a flower n the corner
5) cover with pink swirl paper, stamp on white cardstock with corner stamp and brown ink, add cardstock flower
6) cover with brown flower paper, add journal box and pink cardstock flower.
7) use brown paper, stamp with vine stamp and silver ink on left corner. Flower embellishment. Used the large flower stamp, and used the little colorbox inks (which are the same size as each petal!) and I alternated inking each petal then stamped on white paper and cut out. Add circle sticker.
8) cover with pink swirl paper, add journal box.
9) Use brown pattern paper, add journal box
10) use pink paper, same as cover, add brown cardstock, stamp with versa mark using the vine stamp. add cardstock flower.
To finish the book I added the tabs on alternating pages.
What was so great about this project was having a set color pallette and supplies to make the book. By limiting myself to the just the kit I was able to make this pretty quickly and it was fun. I also had lots leftover to add to a scrapbook page, a couple of little cards. The clear stamps gave a really clear image even with the versamark ink. The versamark ink did not show up on the dark patterned papers very well.

Read Full Post »

So much to be thankful for

Happy Thanksgiving to you and all you love. This time of year even before this date, I’m always put in a more thoughtful mood. Every night as I lay in my bed I say a prayer of thanks. Last year I made a mini book for the month of November, it was sort of an observation/journal/scrapbook. I didn’t add things everyday, just as I felt the urge. It’s fun to look back and see what little I did write-must have been busy with two 8-month olds! This time last year, I had a sinus infection, both babies had some kind of horrible stomach bug-I wrote about the foul poo-and I remember that it was one of the worst things I’d smelled. They were just started to get into solid food and starting to rebel from the baby food. Now, they eat whatever we do, actually insist on eating whatever we are eating!

This year we are staying home and having a sea food dinner for 4. I love the big, noisy family meals, but it’s nice to stay home too.

Read Full Post »

in praise of kits

Normally I don’t buy kits. Every now and then I’ll order a kit from Coca Daisy or a similar company. But I usually don’t buy the coordinated page kits. I just am not that together or something. However, when I get anything free, I love whatever it is! So I got this cool green paper kit by Heidi Grace from a very cool friend–May– my fellow Fiskateer. It included 6 sheets of double-sided patterned papers, alphas, new brads, adhesive die cuts and card stock embellies. This made making my mini book even easier than ever! I used some extra prints of my favorites of my babies. These pictures just make me happy and so I called my book “Happy memories”.

Happy Book

The book is 5×5 and bound with orange and white ribbon tied together. Pretty simple way to bind a book.
This is also one of the first books I’ve made just for me in quite a while!

Read Full Post »

in praise of mini books

I love mini books/albums. If you were to come to my house you would find containers all around the house filled with these little books. In fact I often prefer to make some kind of mini instead of traditional scrap page. Is that bad? I don’t think so, even though I feel a bit of guilt I’m not doing pages for my kids’ albums. Of course, that passes quickly once I get an idea of my mini.

mini books

What I like about mini’s vs. the page is that my minis get handled, thumbed through, packed around by the kids, and it’s a way for me to live with the things I create. Minis are quick. I can make a mini in an hour or less, and enjoy the feeling of being done with something. Photos, lots of photos. I take lots of photos, of everything in my life. The great thing about minis (of any size) is that I can make themed minis using all of these different pictures I take. A mini is also a great way to use up those bits and pieces from other projects that I can’t bear to toss away.

I have a few basic books I like to make.
1) accordion style
2) tag style
3) square with pages bound by ribbons, rings, ties, metal slide things, or coils

These are pretty much my basic shapes. One thing I end up doing when I make a mini book is that I end up making 2 or 3 of the same thing to share with my family. For my mom and grandma I can make a book that’s a little bigger and more involved, since they can carry in in their purse or have sitting out. But if I make a book for my mom and forget my dad, I usually get a call. My dad loves to have recent pics of the kids to share. The problem is he’s a farmer/rancher who also has an excavator business. He needs a small, neat little book that he can tuck into his shirt pocket. When I go to visit I see his pile of old books that have been well loved and used. And I love seeing that! I love seeing that someone has packed, used, loved, and handled their mini so much they’ve worn some of the pictures out.

Sizes:
For my pocket size accordion books are 2″x3″ using wallet prints, trimmed or punched for size. I also like square books. Depending on my mood and pictures I make my square books in sizes from 2X2-6X6.

Binding:
1) Quickest, easiest way to bind any sort of mini is with binder rings. And these are super cheap at nearly any office supply store. These rings add a quick bit of flash (bling) and can be dressed up with bits of ribbon tied in knots.

2) Ribbon. Another quick and easy method. Punch holes in the sides, tie ribbon in a knot. Here’s a couple of different ideas. Ranging from simple to more complicated.

Read Full Post »