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

JAI Scrapbooking Challenge #5: Just Add Heritage

Hi!

It's the first Sunday of the month, which means it's time for a new scrapbooking challenge at Just Add Ink. This month we are challenging you to use a heritage photo in your layout.  I selected a photo that my grandfather took in 1926.

This photo has always stuck in my memory, so this challenge provided to perfect opportunity to scrap it.  Can you see in the photo - everyone is sitting on the beach in their Sunday best?  I also love that the people in the photo are so relaxed, not the usual stiffly posed photo of the era.

I used some more of the gorgeous Joanne Leddy flowers on my layout, they are such a statement but in an understated way!

I kept my layout fairly monochromatic in keeping with the Heritage theme of the challenge.  How are you going to interpret this challenge this month?  I can't wait to see your layout over at Just Add Ink.

Ink: Wisteria Wonder
DSP/Cardstock: In Colour Patterns DSP, First Edition Specialty DSP, Concord Crush Textured 12x12 Cardstock, Basic Black, Wisteria Wonder, Very Vanilla
Other: Big Shot, Simple Numbers Bigz Dies, Swirls Scribbles Sizzlits Die, Top Note Bigz Die, Fancy Flower Punch, 5-Petal Flower Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Vintage Brads, Paper Snips

Bye for now,

Tina

Just Add Ink #116: Just Add Mother's Day

Hi!

Our challenge at Just Add Ink this week is to celebrate all the wonderful mothers out there by making a Mother's Day Card.  I'm lucky enough to have both a fantastic mother and mother-in-law.  Hmmm, I wonder which one will get this card?

I used some of the Attic Boutique DSP from the Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue.  I fussy cut some of the flowers from the DSP and layered them over the same part of a second sheet of the DSP.  I also tried my hand at making a crinkly bow out of seam binding.  I loved it, but Rob thought I'd tied a dead flower to the card!  Men!  What would they know about crinkly seam binding bows? lol

Here's a side on shot showing the layering of the flowers.

I also fussy cut some extra flowers to adhere to the inside.  Such a pretty effect.

I can't wait to see your beautiful Mother's Day cards entered into our Just Add Mother's Day Challenge.

Stamps: Field Flowers, Well Scripted (retired)
Ink: Early Espresso
DSP/Cardstock: Attic Boutique DSP, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Other: Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon, Pool Party Baker's Twine, Baja Breeze Twitterpated Designer Button, Dimensionals, Paper Snips

Bye for now,

Tina

Baby Tee's Watercoloured

Hi!

I am so loving watercolouring right now!  I made this card recently for a friend needing a card to go with a gift for a new baby girl.

I used the Nursery Nest DSP on the card and coloured using the coordinating colours.  I love the look you get with watercolouring.  The effects you can achieve are just beautiful.

The inside of the card used a scrap of DSP left over from the front of the card.  During May's Paper Party you could get the Nursery Nest DSP FREE!  Click here to see the details of the promotion.  I'd love to take your order if you don't already have a demonstrator.

Stamps: Baby Tee's Jumbo Wheel, A Word For You
Ink: Black Stazon, Pear Pizzazz, Perfect Plum, Marina Mist, Basic Gray, Blushing Bride
DSP/Cardstock: Watercolour Paper, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, Whisper White
Other: Blushing Bride Stitched Poly Ribbon, Whisper White Baker's Twine, Scallop Border Punch, Blender Pen

Bye for now,

Tina

Art With Heart Paper Party Blog Hop

Hi!

Happy World Scrapbooking Day!  It's also the first day of a month-long Paper Party at Stampin' Up!  To celebrate this wonderful promotion some of Claire Daly's Art With Heart team decided to do a blog hop featuring our lovely DSP.  There's a lot of fantastic scrapbookers in Claire's team so you're bound to be inspired along the way.  If you're so inspired that you'd like to join Stampin' Up! you'll find you're joining a wonderful team.  If you sign in May you'll have the added bonus of receiving a FREE pack of DSP every month until the end of the year.  Awesome bargain!

Claire's blog was the stop before mine, but you can start and stop anywhere, just keep hopping 'til you get back to where you started.

I chose the rustic Well Worn DSP to use on my double page layout.

Harvey Norman had a promotion a couple of weeks ago where you could get 12"x8" enlargements for only $1.  Hmm, I think I got 40 prints made!  Most were of my recent Paris trip, but I also threw this one in to get done thinking that it would make a fabulous feature photo on my double layout.  I loved that it has plenty of sky section that I knew I could use to place my title in.

Here's a closer look at the left side.

I love how the torn section of DSP at the bottom of the page mirrors the rough tree line and grass line in the photo.  The rustic feel of this paper makes it ideal for tearing.  I carried the same element through to the right side page.

I used regular sized photos on this side and instead of matting them I decided to sand the edges.  I love sanding my photos, and on a layout using the Well Word DSP it fits in well.  I used more of the Baker's Twine around the photo of the flowers to tie it in with the left side of the layout.  And because odd numbers always look best, I also used it on the journalling tag hidden behind one of the photos.

I also used some torn DSP on the tag to tie it in with the rest of the layout.  In case you're curious the rest of the journalling on the back reads: have been.  Rob thinks he found what would have been the garage, and an old washing machine abandoned in the now wild gardens.  it was such a quiet, pretty place and it made me wonder why it was abandoned.  We will probably never know as my internet searches have turned up nothing.

I hope you have found a little inspiration here on my blog.  You're now off to the beautiful Nikki Sadler's blog for even more visual treats.

Ink: Early Espresso Stampin' Write Marker
DSP/Cardstock: Well Worn DSP, River Rock, Not Quite Navy
Other: Big Shot, Simple Letters Alpha Dies, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Circle Punch, Sanding Block, Crop-A-Dile

Bye for now,

Tina

Another Blog Award

Hi!

Just a quick post today to say thanks to two lovely papercrafters who have nominated me and my blog for an award.  Firstly is Ally of Stampin and Crafting With Ally, and secondly is Kathy of Stamping Still.  Thanks ladies!

It's so nice to know that other people get enjoyment out of looking at my blog!  And please go and check out Ally's blog  and Kathy's blog too, they both have some wonderful projects for your inspiration.

I am participating in another blog hop tomorrow, I'd love for you to come back and take a look, especially the scrapbookers out there!

Bye for now,

Tina