Mini Album Baptism Gift

I recently needed a baptism gift a sweet little girl.  For several weeks I tried to decide what kind of gift to buy.  Something a little different; not wanting to give a duplicate of what someone else might have chosen.
Finally I had an idea.  A mini album.  It would be a personal and unique gift AND I love creating these little albums.  This is only the third one I've created and I learn something each time I've created one.  Little tweaks to help the process and, hopefully, improve the final product.
These are so much fun to create.  But if you decide to give it a try, be prepared to devote quite a few hours to the process.  It really can't be hurried and, personally, I wouldn't want to hurry it.  It's a labor of love and the entire process brings me so much joy.

A couple of years ago I came across a video tutorial by Wilna Furstenberg.  HERE is a link to her blog post, which includes the video.  I had never even thought about attempting to do scrapbooking, much less create a mini album....from scratch.  Her project originally caught my attention because it was coffee cup themed.  That's what hooked me.  Then I realized what a unique gift a mini album could be.  And, since this was a small album.....maybe I could attempt this.  One thing led to another and now I've made a total of three albums.  I've strayed far from the coffee theme, though!

Well, I got quite wordy.  Enough talk.  How about a few photos?  Actually, quite a few.
You've been warned.  :)

For the recipient's privacy, I've blurred the name on the album cover.  This album measures approximately 5" x 7" closed.  The first album I created was smaller.  Since I was new to mini albums, a smaller project wasn't quite so intimidating!
The lace I used on this cover, I also used on the baptism card I made.

The following photos are the pages.  I've included a couple of closeups of some of the smaller details or textures.  You can click on each photo to see a larger pic.

That adorable little girl is the recipient of this album.

That's K and her baby sister J. So sweet!

On most of the pages I used a combination of quotes (found on Pinterest and printed on photo paper), stamped images and die cuts.  A few pages have "gems" for a bit of bling, and one page a piece of lace and some pink tulle (tucked behind the top of a quote).  That page is one of K standing in front of a window in a pink tulle dress.  She's absolutely adorable.  I can't even describe what a blessing she is to her family and all of us around her.

If you stayed with me throughout this long blog post...thank you.  I hope you enjoyed taking a look at what I created.  Maybe you'll try your hand at creating a mini album?   I hope so.

If you have questions about any of the supplies I used, you can contact me through the Contact Me section in the sidebar of this blog.

Sending You Sunshine!

Hi!  I created a "just because" card to give to a friend of mine.  Just because...it's been a while since I gave her a card!
I hope it will brighten her Monday.  The weekends go SO fast, so it can be challenging to jump back into the work week.

I created the rays of sunshine in two steps.  First I blended Barely Banana ink onto the white cardstock to get a layer of soft yellow.  Then, using the edge of a piece of printer paper I layered on "rays" of Crushed Curry ink.  Just moving the paper over a bit each time and adding each ray until I covered the top half of the panel.

My sentiment is stamped onto a die cut cloud panel, to which I added a few yellow and clear sequins.

It's just a simple card and was easy to create.  But it's one of those cards that just makes me smile.  I hope it brings a smile to my friend's face, also!

A Gift of Handcrafted Paper

A few weeks ago, several of my crafty friends joined me for a day of stamping, talking and hanging out.  I love spending the day with them!  Sometimes we create a lot of cards/projects.  Other times, just a few.  It kind of depends on how much time we spend just talking.  Imagine that.

My friend Ellen brought along several pieces of some gorgeous paper that she created in a paper making class that she attended.  This paper is so very pretty.
I love the textures and the blend of colors.  I had been trying to decide just how to use this gift of hand crafted paper.  Last weekend I decided to add to my supply of sympathy cards and I knew (right away) that I wanted to use these papers.

I created 4 cards; 2 of each style.

Click on each photo to enlarge it.

I knew I wanted to keep these cards clean and simple, so that the hand crafted paper is the focal point.  I simply tore the edges of 2 sides of the piece, in keeping with the natural edges that already existed.  There is a piece of gold thread looped and placed behind each sentiment panel.
The only other addition is a bit of glossy accents over the flower on each of the first 2 cards.

These cards came together just as I planned, which doesn't often happen.  And I love the results!

Thank you to my friend Ellen for sharing some of this treasured paper.  Aren't crafting friends wonderful?

And....how about this?  Oh, yes.

Watercolor Smooshing

Recently...well, actually before Easter...I make several cards that I thought I'd share with you.  It was a fun technique using watercolors or (in this case) distress inks, water and watercolor paper.

This is what I created.

I learned the technique from a video by Betsy Veldman for Papertrey Ink.
This technique isn't difficult, but it did take a bit of trial and error to get the effect I wanted.  Since I love playing with color, it was lots of fun!  HERE is a link to the video.

For my cards I used Ranger Distress Inks.  But there are many options available.  Any color medium that will blend with water, I would think.

That's it for today.  Thank for taking a look!

Celebrating you!

I'm playing along in a card challenge today.  Yes, finally!

It's the City Crafter Challenge Blog Birthday CASE #4 (week 359) and we're casing a beautiful card created by Marina.

It's so feminine and pretty, isn't it?  I immediately thought of lace when I looked at the cake image on Marina's card.  So that's the direction I took, as you'll see below.

Marina's colors are soft and subtle, but I decided to go a bit bolder with my color choices.  This card has lots of dimension!  I cut white card stock for each of the cake layers; covered each with teal felt, then over that I wrapped lace and ribbon trim.  The cake "plate" is a piece of gold foil paper.  After stamping the candle flame I added some Stickles to give it a little sparkle and shine.

It was fun to finally get back to my blog and play along with a challenge.
Thanks for stopping by!

Colorful Birthday Wishes

Well, hello!  It's been months since I've shared a card on this blog of mine.
I still love creating and I do so whenever I can.  This time I'm finally taking the time to play along in a challenge.  I'm so excited!  So, let's get to it.

The challenge is Color Throwdown #437.  Here's out inspiration photo.

Oh, how I love tulips.  One of the first signs of Spring, here in Illinois.
But.  I didn't go with florals on my card.  You see...my husband has a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks, so I needed to make a card for him.  I really didn't think he would fully appreciate a "floral-y" card.  Anyway, here's what I created with the inspiration colors.

I used a light aqua, yellow and a medium green to create the ink blended sky background.  The trees were diecut and layered over that, along with the two little birds (I'm thinking they're Cardinals!).  I finished my card with a simple sentiment stamped onto yellow cardstock.  All done!
This was fun.  I should do this more often.  :)

Ink: peacock feather, squeezed lemonade, bundled sage (Ranger distress inks) onyx black (Versafine)
Cardstock: whisper white, garden green, real red, so saffron (SU)
Stamps: phrase play #6 (Papertrey Ink)
Dies: tree line (Tim Holtz Alterations), in the meadow (PTI)