Summer (Non-Traditional) Mini Album

Hi everyone! We got back from our trip to the Black Hills. For years, I've wanted to see Devils Tower (I blame Close Encounters of the Third Kind), and I finally got to see it. My family and some of our friends met up to hike around it, and I *loved* it. If you have a chance to visit, it's worth the trip!

Anyhoo, I'm up on the Maya Road blog sharing a non-traditional mini album:

I started with the Wood ATC Box and altered it to make a tag/card/bag drawer as the album.

Here are most of the tags and cards:

For the tags and cards, I mixed lots of Maya Road products with October Afternoon Summertime patterned papers and stickers. The cute popsicle is from My Favorite Things' You're the Sweetest stamps and dies, and the star is a MFT Lucky Stars die.

I have to say, it was one of the most fun projects I've ever made--all of the scrappy layering and altering was a blast. I love these products!! :)

Here is a picture of the whole box:

I have several other pictures on the Maya Road blog. I hope you'll swing by and check it out! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Joy Mini Album

Hi everyone! We're starting Spring Break today. I always find it amusing that Spring Break is before Valentine's Day (especially in South Dakota). But I'm looking forward to sleeping in for a few days! :)

I'm up on the Maya Road blog today with a mini album. 

I used a lot of altered Maya Road supplies, the October Afternoon Girl Talk collection, and a few stamps from Altenew's Figure Effects set. I hope you'll swing by and check it out! :)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Fall Gratitude Journal

Hi everyone!

I'm up on the Glitz blog today sharing the beginning of a Gratitude Journal. I've seen some really cool journals, and I thought I would try it for a month. Hopefully I can keep up. ;)

Here's the journal:

The mini is hybrid, and many of the papers are digital, including some older collections. I mostly used the Glitz Black and White and Hello December collections. The sentiment on the cover is from the Carpe Diem Element Pack 3.

Here's a close-up of the cover:

The yarn and pom pom trim are from my deep, dark stash (at least 5 years old). I'm so glad I was finally able to use them!

For each prompt, I started with the phrase, "I'm grateful for..." and finished the sentence as my journaling. I cringed a little at some of the fragments, but I wanted to keep the journaling short.

Here are some close-ups of the tags:

The awesome giant rhinestone from the Glitz Black and White collection. I used the same Paper Smooches Leaves 1 Die and tag Toppers Die throughout the Gratitude Journal.

Here's the third day:

The fourth page has a lot of subtle layering--stickers, papers, tulle, tissue, vellum (pretty much anything white I could find). When the 77 foil sticker along the side hits the light, it is so pretty! I used a leftover leaf die-cut from the Rose cut-files. 

Here's the fifth tag:

Isn't that Studio Calico acrylic camera cute? I stapled the yarn in an Emily Branch style. 

I'd love it if you would stop by the Glitz blog and see the rest of the pictures. Thanks!! :) 

Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies
Cardstock: (white Linen Essentials) Ellen Hutson; (vellum) Hobby Lobby; (gold glitter cardstock) Best Creations
Patterned paper: (Stripe paper from Black and White; Polka paper from Carpe Diem) Glitz Design
Dies: (Leaves 1, Toppers dies) Paper Smooches; (Inline Alphabet) Mama Elephant
Stickers: (Black and White Alphas and Accents; 77 Alphas and Accents) Glitz Design
Fibers: (yarn, pom pom trim, tulle) craft supply
Ink: (Letterman's Jacket, Opaque White Mister Huey's) Studio Calico; (Marigold) Lindy's Stamp Gang
Embellishments: ("4" from Number Badge Set) Studio Calico; (heart Giant Rhinestone Black and White collection) Glitz Design; (roller stamp) American Crafts; (sequins) Scraptastic Club; (leaf wood veneer) Crate Paper; (acrylic camera from the Jubilee kit) Studio Calico
Digital: ("Raven" Element Pack 2; "Carpe Diem" Element Pack 3; "Black and White" Paper Pack 2; "Hello December" Collection) Glitz Design

Let's Go Mini Album

Hi everyone!

I'm sharing a hybrid mini album on the Glitz blog today. I'm also sharing how I added the sentiments onto the photos (they're journaling cards and colored sentiments altered in Photoshop).

Here's the cover:

Even though summer isn't over, I wanted to make the first mini album sharing a few of our everyday activities during the summer.

Here are pictures of the inside:

For the "You are here," I colored white embossing paste with three colors of stamp reinkers. When I made THIS card, I made two panels (I can never estimate how much embossing paste I'm going to use). I had the second one in my scrap pile and decided it worked with the album. Yeah for scraps! :)

I used Brightside papers and a sticker. The papers on the page with my son were supposed to look like sunrays. Yeah...not so much. LOL! I love yellow, though, so I decided to leave it. For the flowers, I used a digital element from the Brightside collection, enlarged the flowers, and fussy-cut them.

The sentiment on the left is a journaling card from the Carpe Diem Element Pack 2. I converted it to an overlay. I used a traditional Brightside journaling card on the right.

I used a mix of Brightside and Felicity for these two pages. Since I used digital flowers (instead of a sticker), I was able to flip one and resize them.

The pocket was die-cut from Brightside paper using the Paper Smooches Deco Bag, and I was able to add some journaling inside. The flower on the outside is the Paper Smooches Poinsettia die--it's a very versatile flower die!

I think this photo was my favorite of the summer (so far) since it really shows my kids' personalities. The sentiment from the Glitz Felicity Element Pack was perfect.

My daughter is a big reader, and I wanted to capture that. For the page on the right, I wanted to create something like my son's tie-die shirt, so I stitched through some Glitz Brightside rays.

Thanks for taking a peek at my album. If you get a chance, please check out the Glitz blog. Thanks!

Have a great day!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Linen White) Ellen Hutson
Patterned papers: (Butterflies, Circles, 12x12 Bits and Pieces from the Brightside collection; Brightside 6x6 paper pad; Black & White 6x6 paper pad; Felicity 6x6 paper pad) Glitz Design
Stickers: (Brightside Alphas & Accents Sticker Sheet) Glitz Design
Embellishments: (Silver Glitter Washi Tape) Glitz Design; (You Are Here stencil) The Crafter's Workshop; Hemptique twine; (yellow clip) Studio Calico; (doilies) Freckled Fawn, (mists) Studio Calico; sequins
Dies: (Deco Bag, Poinsettia) Paper Smooches
Digital elements: (Brightside Element Pack, Carpe Diem Element Pack 2, Felicity Element Pack, Black and White Element Pack 1) Glitz Design

Oh Happy Day Mini Album (& Some News!)

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great day. :)

My project is on the Glitz Design blog today. It's my first post as a member of the Glitz Creative Team. Yeah! I've been on the Glitz Digital DT for almost a year, but Lea asked me to start sharing hybrid projects as a member of the Traditional Team. [Insert big smile here.]

Here's the project I'm sharing on the blog (sorry for the number of photos!). I think it might be my favorite project I've ever made. :)

I made a hybrid mini album--about 75% digital and 25% physical products. I used two Glitz collections: Brightside and 77. They mixed very well together!

For the "Oh Happy Day" on the cover, I turned a digital element into a die-cut using my Silhouette. The sentiment is a digital version of a giant rhinestone (enlarged) from the 77 collection, which I traced in my Silhouette program and die-cut on an enlarged digital 77 journaling card.

The blue and white stripe and the little flowers under the doily are both from the Brightside digital collection--I did lighten them before I printed them.

You'll notice that I don't have binding on the book. Here's why:

I didn't mean for the album to get so large, but it's well over 2" thick. I need to track down some 3" O-rings.

I wanted to share the pages in order. We went to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead in DeSmet, SD last year:

I made a confetti pocket. The fact that it's half-sized means you can see the "HAPPY" page with my son, too (three photos down).

I love these pictures of my son and husband. We were riding on a covered wagon to the old schoolhouse:

Both of my kids got to ride on a pony. It was my son's first time on a horse. The "HAPPY" letters are the positive die-cuts from the cover:

We made jump ropes. My son really liked the pulling part. :) For the borders, I used the Glitz Chevron Roller Doodle--so much fun!

You can really see the prairie in this shot. I enlarged a digital journaling card for the background:

Like the cover, I made another digital element-turned-die-cut using the Glitz digital Wild and Free Element Pack 2. I filled it with Neat & Tangled sequins:

I think this page with my daughter is my favorite. I love the mix of the Glitz 77 heart stickers and giant rhinestone with the digital flower and wood veneers:

 

I adore that my kids are holding hands in this picture. It makes me so happy. :) I did a lot of layering on this page, including the Floral washi and another awesome gold sticker:

This page was originally going to be the cover, but I'm glad I moved it to the last page. I die-cut the digital sentiment from the collection. The lyric is from my all-time favorite song. :)

Thanks for making it to the end. :) I would love it if you would pop over to the Glitz Design blog and leave a comment. 

Have a great day!!

You Are Here Mini Album

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! We are still on Spring Break until tomorrow, and today, we're finally having a thaw. Woo hoo! I cannot WAIT for spring!

This week on the Glitz blog, we're sharing daily life projects. I have been wanting to make a mini album with some photos I took one day last September, and I decided this week's theme worked well for a mini. As a warning, this is a photo-heavy post!

Here's the cover:

I'm not sure what I was thinking...a hybrid mini was a ridiculous amount of work. ha ha I love how it turned out, though! I mostly used the Finnley digital collection, although I also used elements from the Color Me Happy, the new Black and White, and the Wild and Free collections. Most of the papers and elements were altered, such as the geotag on the cover (I removed the background on the Color Me Happy journaling card and layered it over a Finnley patterned paper before printing). 

Here's a close-up:

I die-cut the tags on my Cameo, embossed them, and arranged them so the album would read vertically. I'm showing you the side-by-sides, although they are really top and bottom.

Here are the first pages:

I went a little more masculine on the pages with my little guy. The calendar and alphabet journaling cards are from the Finnley collection.

Here's a close-up:

Here are the next pages:

For these pages, I obviously went more girly. The "you will always be my sunshine" is a journaling card from Color Me Happy. I traced it in the Silhouette program and die-cut it on Finnley paper. The gorgeous flowers are from Finnley, and the cool scribble paper is from the new Black and White papers.

Here's a close-up:

Here are the next pages:

I struggled with these pages and ended up redoing them completely. I removed the background of the Wild and Free "gotcha" journaling card and layering it over Finnley papers. I also die-cut the circles and used the negative to make a banner.

Here's a close-up:

Here are my last pages:

I took a pocket protector and made a shaker card out of it with punched stars. For the "you are loved" strip, I again removed the background and layered it over Finnley paper. 

Here's the pocket:

I used a journaling card and fussy cut some flowers to pop up over the photo. The flowers don't line up exactly (they are two different elements), but I kind of liked that look. I layered the photo over tissue paper to lessen the journaling lines...I'm addicted to tissue paper lately. ;) 

Here's a close-up:

Phew! Still with me?

I wanted to pass along that Glitz is having a month-long challenge where you play along with our weekly themes. The prizes are awesome! It's a great way to win the new collections. You can find the details HERE. You can also enter to win a full Black and White digital collection HERE. 

Thanks for looking! Have a great week!

Supplies

Cardstock: (white) PTI

Digital elements: (Finnley collection, Black and White paper pack 2, Black and White element pack 2, Color Me Happy element pack 1, Color Me Happy element pack 2, Wild and Free element pack 1, Wild and Free element pack 2) Glitz Design

Fibers: (twine) May Arts

Embellishments: (wood veneer) Studio Calico; (resin flower, arrow wood veneer) Freckled Fawn; (flower sequin) Lawn Fawn; (red sequin) Neat & Tangled; (stick pin) BasicGrey; (doily) Wilton; (flair) Two Peas in a Bucket; (pocket protector) Simple Stories

Stamp: (date stamp) American Crafts

Dies: (tags) Silhouette America; (heart) Simon Says Stamp); (Circles Die Cover Plate) Papertrey Ink

Punch: (star Punch Around the Page) Martha Stewart

Hello Christmas Mini Album

Hi everyone! How's your December going? We decorated our tree last weekend, and I found my favorite Putz-style ornament from when I was young. It's pretty battered, but I still love it. :) I think I may have to make one this year.

I'm on the Glitz blog today with my mini album cover. I have some photos of my daughter from Christmas time a few years ago, and I started on a mini album for them.

Here's the cover:

I love that picture of her. :) For the base, I used some Craft-a-Board, painted it white, and added some mist. I did not punch holes in it yet for the O-rings...I haven't decided if I'm going to use two rings or three. ;)

For the papers and embellishments, I wanted to use non-traditional colors. I started with the chalkboard paper from Glitz Design's Uncharted Waters Paper Pack 2 and cropped it to remove the decorations on the paper.

On the chalkboard paper, I stamped the pine branch twice and the sentiment from the Glitz Hello December digital brushes. I also used the same set to stamp the little deer in the corner. These brushes are awesome!  Here's a close-up:




The pink zigzag paper is from the Uncharted Waters Paper Pack 1. It's such a pretty pink!

In the upper-left corner of the cover, I recolored the "holiday" sentiment from the Hello December Element Pack 1 from red to pink. I made another pom pom (I'm addicted!) and added a Giant Rhinestone from the Finnley collection. Here's a close-up:

If you have a chance, swing over to the Glitz blog to see the other fab projects.

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Premium Matte Photo Paper) OfficeMax; (Premium Glossy Photo Paper) Kirkland; (silver glitterstock) Best Creations
Digital stamps: (deer, pine branch, sentiment from Hello December Element Pack 1) Glitz Design
Digital elements: (chalkboard from Uncharted Waters Paper Pack 2; pink zigzag from Uncharted Waters Paper Pack 1; holiday tag from Hello December Element Pack 1) Glitz Design at Jessica Sprague
Embellishments: (Giant Rhinestone from the Finnley collection) Glitz Design; (star sequins) Cartwright's
Die: (star die from Holiday Shapes) Simon Says Stamp
Mists: (Opaque White; Silver) Studio Calico; (Pink Grapefruit) Maya Mists
Other: (Craft-a-Board) Ellen Hutson