Just Add Christmas!

Hi!

It's time for the final Just Add Ink Challenge for 2012.  The Design Team are taking a well deserved break and will be back in mid January. But for now we have a Just Add Christmas challenge. I decided to take on the challenge of doing a December Daily album this year, so it seemed natural to use it for my JAI challenge project.

I used the Cherry Cobbler Scalloped Tulle Ribbon and the Cotton Ribbon from the Holiday Catalogue to create the front decoration. Some Cherry Cobbler Glimmer Paper and a sticker from the Merry Moments Simply Scrappin' Kit finish it off.

The album was an old folder I had put aside a while ago, waiting for a suitable project.  The folder was quite flimsy so I strengthened it with chipboard before covering it with a quilted cover I made from the retired Deck The Halls Designer Fabric.

The actual album pages are for now only digital. Each day I have created a title page and a collage page of photos from the day. Later on, when I have a bit more time, I will used the photos to create hybrid pages for the album. For now, here's my pages from days one and two.

Poor Rob, cleaning the airconditioner and putting up the Christmas tree was all too much for him!

We all had a wonderful time at the Special Children's Christmas Party.

So, how will you Just Add Christmas?  Can't wait to find out!

Bye for now,

Tina

Paris Week Day 2

Hi!

Today I have the 'after' photos of my Smash Album for you.  My previous post showed you the Album Cover I made to protect the Album.  Just as a reminder, here's how it looked before we left for Paris:

And here's how it looked when we got back!  Absolutely bulging!

It only just fit everything in it.  It's crammed absolutely full of wonderful memories. Here's the Album Cover opened so you can see just how jam packed the Smash Album is!

Here's the Album opened.  I used the journalling spaces on each of the pages to write what we'd done and where we'd been each day.

Each of the Mini Lunch Sacks was used to hold the brochures we collected at the places we visited.  The bottoms of the sacks were also used to create pockets that I put tickets and other smaller bits and pieces in.  The red you can see at the right is the earphones we received on the open air bus tour we took.  I also have some serviettes and other bits that were slightly too big to slip into the sacks tucked in between the back of the Album and the Cover.

Each of the pockets also had a tag.  I used these tags to write a bit more about the places we went to.  In contrast to the journalling I mentioned above, this journalling was more about the feelings and experiences we had.

I think I filled every single space I possibly could with journalling!  I didn't want to forget a single moment.

I hope you can come back over the next couple of days, I have some photos of our trip to share with you.

Bye for now,

Tina

Paris Week Day 1

Hi!

You may have guessed from the title of my post that I'm doing a week's worth of posts about my recent trip to Paris.  You'd be almost right - I'm doing 4 days worth of posts, as I have a new Festive Friday card for you on Friday.

Before I left for Paris I made a Smash Album to take along as a travel journal and a place to keep the memorabilia we collected on our way.  You can see my original post of the finished Album here.  Before we left on the trip I was able to make a Cover for the Album to protect it and also to help keep the bits and pieces from falling out.  Today's post is about the Album Cover.

I used the gorgeous Deck the Halls Designer Series Fabric to make the Album Cover.  I had received the fabric as a Secret Santa gift and wanted to use it on something special. This certainly fit the bill! I had a scrap of Pink Pirouette 1 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon left in my stash that I used to keep it all closed.  I tied the ribbon a bit loosely so that I could just slip it on and off rather than having to untie and retie the ribbon all the time.

This is the Album Cover half open.  It has flaps on each side to make sure that nothing can fall out of the Album.  The pages were made with Mini Lunch Sacks and things were just tucked inside, so I thought the Cover was a necessity.

Here is the Album Cover fully open.  You can see that it's a big 't' shape.  To make the Cover I just cut some chipboard to size, lay it out on my fabric and cut around it so that the fabric was all one piece.  I then used that piece as a template to cut the second piece of fabric.  I used a different pattern in the fabric pack for the inside.  I then laid out the chipboard on the fabric, placed the other piece of fabric over the top and pinned where I wanted the seams to go.  I sewed between each section of chipboard to stop them from moving around.  It probably wasn't a very technical way to make the Cover, but I'm a fairly proficient sewer so I was confident I could make it work.  If you want any more details about how I sewed the Cover just email me or leave a comment.

Here's the Album closed again, but from the side.  I used two of my precious (retired) jumbo brads so that I could thread some ribbon through the Cover to attach to the Album and keep it from slipping out of the Cover when it was open.

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will be back with some photos of how the Smash Album and Cover looked when we got back from Paris.  Later in the week I'll have some of my favourite photos out of the 3500+ we took!

Supplies: Deck The Halls Designer Series Fabric, Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Pink Pirouette 1 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon (retired), Pewter Jumbo Brads (retired), Crop-A-Dile, Chipboard (I used some backing from the Glitter Paper packs), Sewing Machine and Thread.

Bye for now,

Tina