Bo Bunny Mini Album and Storage Box

This is a mini album and storage box I have made this weekend using the gorgeous Bo Bunny collection Love Letters.  

The box I made in the shape of a house.  I used tyvek and hot glue to make the structure and also added some strong card hinges both inside and outside.   It's size is 7" x 11" and the mini is 6" x 6", slightly wider once the binding was added.  I used my Cinch from We R Memory Keepers and one of their binders in a gorgeous purple.  Once constructed I used Distress Stain in Tea Dye around all the edges. 

Page 1.  As the collection is Love Letters instead of the traditional shaped pages I chose to make envelopes.  All the pages open up to offer further photo mats and memory keepsake opportunities.

Page 1 & 2.   I used stickers and cut outs throughout all the pages.  On this page I added one of my stash sunflowers because they are sunny and bright. I hot glued the sunflower onto a white peg I also had in my stash. 

Page 2 & 3. On these pages I have added twine, hearts onto tiny pop dots and a small metal frame, which was raised onto sticky foam and will allow a small photo to be placed underneath. 

Page 3 & 4. I distressed a lot of the paper using my Tonic distress tool and using my heart punch I added hearts. 

Page 4 & 5. I think these pages are my favourite. I distressed and layered the paper, used stickers and cut outs, sticky foam for dimension and a decorated cream peg for embellishment. 

Page 5 & 6. These pages were great fun to complete. I used the border from the sticker and adhered it to firm card, added the middle to a page and cut around then layered them onto the border card.  On the next page I used two wood butterflies and wound twine around to secure the flap down. 

Page 6. The final page I used Smoochable paper from my 6x6 stack and a sticker, which to me was most appropriate for the final page. 

Front of house box,  I used I Am Roses and other flowers from my local craft store.  I cut out the lock and key and used sticky foam to raise them to add dimension. A peg from my stack was added for effect. 

Side view.  Its difficult to make out but many of the cut-outs on both the house and throughout the mini album have been raised on sticky foam and foam dots and squares to add dimension and depth.

Side view.  I fussy cut out part of the paper collection to the top and to make a border and made a tag to insert inside and added an eyelet and ribbon. Flowers are from my local craft store.

Back of the house.  I layered three of the bunting cut outs and added a metal butterfly, raised the sentiment onto foam and tied this gorgeous pink twine around. 

This was such a delight to make.  There are so many opportunities to place pictures within the envelopes and also on the back-side.  This collection is so much fun and truly inspirational.

I hope you have enjoyed this project.  

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.  Take care of you.

Pauline

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7 Gypsies Printer's Tray

This week I have been working on a Father's Day gift for an old school friend.  

The tray comes from 7Gypsies, the core paper is Tim Holtz Ideology paper, grungeboard elements from Tim Holtz and parts from an old meccano set. The background papers with inked with Black Soot and the pictures with Vintage Photo.

The brads in the grungeboard hinges were from Tim Holtz as is the mini film strip roll.  

The wooden letters were from my local hobby store.  The arrows are grungeboard and inked with Barn Door and Black Soot Distress Inks.

Hot glue was used extensively to adhere all the plastic and metal elements down.

I love the two wee Hells Angels lol.

This was such good fun to make, Chris will be one very happy dad this Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day.  Take care of you.

Pauline 

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Graphic 45 A Ladies Diary.

Recently I had the greatest pleasure to be asked to make a photo album for a customer who having seen a previous album I made using the amazing Graphic 45 paper collection A Ladies Diary, wanted something similar for a wedding present.

This is the front cover.  As the album was travelling to South Africa it had to be fairly flat for transporting so there were some limitations in the amount that I could use to decorate the cover.  Here I did a lot of fussy cutting and used my sizzix Eclips machine both here on the front and throughout to accessories with die-cuts.  Here I used a die-cut of a hand mirror and adhered a fussy cut lady from the collection.  I also die-cut a frame and added one of the stamp cut-outs from the paper.  I have used a Tim Holtz embellishment, a Graphic 45 button to act as a closure and two button charms on a ribbon.  A clock charm was also added as a necklace around the hand mirror.

On the outside spine I use my Decorative Doodles Shapes and Alphabet cartridge to draw this manikin .  I love how the silver pen has drawn this out it looks really stunning.  I then cut around the shape and adhered it down.

In the inside cover I used the same cartridge and on my 5th attempt was happy with the drawing and also the writing inside.  

With page I cut around one of the borders on a page and adhered it to two sides of the page.  I then fussy cut flowers and two of the ladies.  The lady in middle was adhered only on the  stop and bottom and I used Claudine Helmuth multi-medium in matte to add some strength  to parts of the cut out that were particularly fragile.  I also used Ranger's Glossy Accents to add to her hat and fur trim around her dress.  Throughout this album there has been extensive fussy cutting, which I love to do.

In these pages once again there has been a lot of fussy cutting of flowers and my Eclips cartridge making the hand mirror and perfume bottles.  Both ladies have been cut from the paper and with +Basic Grey magnets attached them to the back to ensure they close. 

These pages were a lot of fun.  The art deco type borders were die cut from the Decorative Doodles cartridge as was the manikin.  The left hand page also has a place for adding either a photo mat or some memorabilia.  The right hand side page has a booklet tied with a ribbon and places for photos or journaling inside. 

Here is a picture of the left-hand page which opens up and has a place for pictures on the flap and also a tag placed under a band, which has been cut out and mounted on black card stock for additional strength and design.  Again lots and lots of fussy cutting.

These pages again have places for photos and for journaling both within the tag and the lift up page underneath the tag.  7 Gypsies metal embellishments have been used on the blue cut out on the right-hand page.  On the left page the Eclips cartridge was used again using a doily template where 4 were cut out and then a brad attached to allow the pages to fan out.

A view of the page with the flap lifted up.  There is also a small wallet type booklet with small photo mats inside, which have had the corners punched with a photo corner punch to enable the easy insert of photos.

 This page was lots of fun.  I used the Holiday cartridge to make the picket fence then fussy cut the lady out and made a booklet and used embroidery thread to bind the pages together. Tags and cut outs were used on the left side page and again 7 Gypsies metal embellishments adorn the band, which has again been adhered to black card stock.

I loved making these pages.  On the left  I again die-cut the manikin out and then made a cross over page, which is meant to emulate a corset.  This has been secured down and allows a photo mat wallet, above in picture, to be placed behind.  The manikin I used an darning needle and embroidery thread to zig-zag and make corset ribbons.  On the right I had seen other crafters make similar pages where the page is reinforced behind and then slit with a craft knife.  A tag is then added.  I think this has a fantastic effect for the page and it looks great.  The tags also have a place for photos on a mat or for journaling.  A ribbon was also added.

This is another view of the pages with the booklet removed and the flap page exposed.

These are the final pages and for me the Grand Finally.  I love them so much.  I had seen Anne Rostad first use this in one of her albums.  You can follow Anne on Youtube, xannero1 or follow her blog annespapercreations.

I hope you have enjoyed this run through and if you wish to see the album in more detail below is the video I made, which is also available to see on my Youtube site Scottishcrafter or click the link:

http://youtu.be/D1uej5V_R1w

Framed In Glory: A Steampunk Story

Graphic 45 collection Steampunk Debutante is out of this world. 

Today I have another page in my Steampunk mini album to share with you.  Starting this project I didn't have the full paper collection but had more of some other sheets instead.  This has proved challenging but also taught me to think outside the box more, find my style and be increasingly creative with what you have available.  

                                                              So here is today's page.

                                                                       Using the flip side of the corset paper I used this as my background.  I then used a variety of the frames within the papers, fussy cut flowers and tags.  The frames punch out from the paper and this can leave small tags so I use an Emory board to smooth them down.  If you have a sanding tool that is terrific but I don't so I make use with what I have.

                                                              This time I chose to use Vintage Photo Distress Ink as I was aiming to achieve a softer effect and all the edges were inked with this.  This was time consuming as I did both inside and outside of the frames but it is worth it to achieve these outcomes.  Having played around win the flowers deciding how to layer them I started to adhere everything down. The stripped frame I raised on pop dots leaving the top open to allow a photo to be slipped underneath.  Pop dots were also used on one of the flowers.

                                                                I layered the tags and added a 7Gypsies metal button for embellishment and adhered them at an angle to the page.

                                                                I adhered one of the cut outs of a lady onto the inside of the last frame and used pop dots on the left side and bottom also, smaller thickness ones than those used on the stripped frame.  I also layer and adhered some flowers in this corner.

                                                         Again on the right side I adhered and layered the flowers and leaves blending these around each other and also the frame to add dimension and design. 

                                                               A large rose with leaves and small yellow rose underneath were used around the bottom right corner.

                                                              So it's now finished.  This page like the last has been more traditional than others but I am comfortable with this style too as I feel it's important to be flexible and creative using different styles.  I still have artistic mediums I hope to try as I continue to grow and develop my skills.  

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial, please leave a comment as I would love to hear your feedback.  Happy crafting.

Pauline

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