Happy Holidays Christmas mini album

 For a different approach to saving memories for Christmas 2011, I went for a contemporary/romantic design using Tim Holtz's wonderful technique of using an embossing folder in my Sizzix on recycled plastic packaging to givce it an icy look on the cover.  In addition I used his flower die cut to make the flower petals.  They are so much fun to make, so cost effective and the designs are unlimited.  I dabbed them with Ranger Distress inks. 

. As usual, I added a variety of photo mats, journaling spots, pockets and tags.
Throughout this chipboard album I included special accents, die cuts, fragments, and embellishments, including an ornament which opens into a photo mat, a gift which opens to photo mats and an envelop folder holder which offers five additional photo mats.

For some of the embellishments I made a chimney and a small bird and used the Tim Holtz die cuts of deer and tree which I purchased from Vintage Prims on Etsy.  The pr- made embellishments are from this years line from K and Company.
Tools and techniques were inspired by Tim Holtz, K and Company, Recollections, Martha Stewart, Perfect Pearls, Ranger Distress Inks and more. Embellishments include handmade flowers, handmade mulberry papers and tags, ribbons, chipboard elements, aux Swarvski crystals, Prima bling and embossed rubber stampings. Word sentiments add another facet to the album. This chipboard album measures 5 inches by 6 inches and the pages are bound by two metal rings accented with ribbons and handspun yarns. 

Christmas Angel Mini Album

I couldn't think of a  way to save those magical Christmas memories than in this lovely vintage styled Christmas angel mini album. As I like to do, I love to include many photo mats, journaling spots, and tags to save photos and record memories, traditions and family enjoyment of the 2011 holiday season.

Throughout this 14 page album I tired some new special accents including acetate photo holders and pockets.

I used open stock Christmas and regular papers in addition to papers from my stash and I also used some handmade papers, embossed papers, gold accented papers  from the Once Upon a Time collection. The cover angel comes from the new K and Company Christmas embellishments/tags. I made the letters om a piece of copper carstock using Tim Holtz Vintage Market die cut alphabet and made the large flower using his Sizzix flower die.  The other two flowers were made with some of the flower paks I found in the dollar baskets at Michael's.  I just layered, added Sitckles and added a pearl or a faux gem for the centers. I added some Prima blign and went on to the inner pages. 

Tools and techniques were inspired by Tim Holtz, 7 Gypsies, Recollections, Martha Stewart, Perfect Pearls, Ranger Distress Inks and more. Embellishments include handmade flowers, handmade papers and tags, faux Swarvski crystals, Prima bling. Word sentiments add another facet to the album. 

This  album measures 5 inches by 8 inches and includes 16 pages,  bound by two metal rings accented with ribbons and handspun yarns. 

Four of the pages are half size pages. One of them is an envelope page into which the mini tree fold out photo flap is stores and the other is a photo mat I repurposed form some packaging. And then there is the green page above which features and acetate photo holder.

K and company papers form the small paper pak were used, in addition to their tags for this year.

They weren't quite as vintage as some of the other collections and a vintage look which wasn't quite so Victorian as some of the other popular collections this year.

Joy Christmas mini album

The more I make Christmas mini albums , the larger they get and the more techniques I try.  Of course I often refer to Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas series going as far back as 2008.  He outlines every step of the techniques he uses on his tags in his blogs and even has a 30 something page pamphlet you can print out for some of the more recent years.  My second treasure trove of ideas are the You Tube videos of other altered paper arts crafts folks who also give lots of info and come up with some amazing concepts about fold out and accordion pages, waterfall photo spots, journaling spots.  I'm still learning like crazy and may be at the moderate range of trying some of these.  They can get complicated but are so beautiful and offer more space for those treasured memories.

So my newest album, The Joy Christmas mini album offers 14 chipboard pages which feature many photo mats, tags and journaling cards in addition to pockets, fold out photo mats, library card holders, and a present which opens into a photo mat.  There is also mini scrapbook, which adds further record keeping. I used open stock Christmas papers that I found at Michaels and A.C. Moore this time since I was focusing on reds, greens and blues.  In addition I made some of the photo mats from the mini paper pak from K and Company's Christmas paper pak of this year.  They are the perfect size. My chipboard embellishments and some of the papers came from the Once Upon a Time line, items form the dollar baskets at Michaels' from years past, 7 Gypsies journaling tags. The entire book is accented lavishly and embellished with Prima pearls, faux Swavorski crystal, chipboard accents, handmade papers and handmade flowers. This photo album is a 6 1/2 X 5 1/2 inch mini album and is bound by two metal rings accented with ribbons and handspun yarns.And of course, I used my Sizzix Tim Holtz edge dies to make the edges more interesting and then repurposed the cut off pieces.  And to finish off some of the pages, I added color to the edges with Ranger Distress Inks in green, red and black. The gorgeous matte copper cardstock I found at a wholesale paper supply house in Raleigh a couple of years ago for use in my book printing business, Shadow Archer Press. But they may be available this time of year at local office supply stores like Staples and Office Max.

On the cover I used some K and company chipboard elements, copper cardstock numbers cut with my Tim Holtz Sizzix Vintage Market alphabet die (I love making my own letters and numbers), a handmade flower, Prima bling, vintage Christmas postage stamps and large chipboard letters for Joy.  These letters I layered and layered with paint and pigment to get a more vintage look.

Yule Christmas Mini Album

For this Yule Christmas Album I tried to combine a offers a unique flair mixing vintage elements and traditional Christmas themes with touches of contemporary styling.
Since my mom was from Britain, Yule was a term we used often around Christmas time so I used the traditional green, red and gold colors, added the tans and brown for that vintage effect and added a mixture of accents which  include chipboard, metallic embellishments, vintage Christmas stamps, faux gem bling,ribbons, and more. I also chose to use papers that were not Crhrstmas but were more historically flavored form both the Baroque and Medieval eras.  One of the paper paks I used was the Once Upon a Time pak which has a medieval theme. a regular vintage one I've had for three or four years, the recent small Christsmas small paperpak for the photo mats and even a beautifully gold embossed page from the Mariposa butterfly pak - all  from K and Company. Throughout the ten pages, there are lots of photo mats, tags, pockets and journaling spots so you can record your family's Christmas for future generations. The cover is accented with a handmade flower accented with sparkles and a metallic ornament I found a few years ago in addition to two foam glitter Christmas trees a couple of foam snowflakes and typewriter key numbers 25.
I'll try and include some photos of the tags too, because they can't be seen once they are stuffed into pockets or folds.  I used a variety of techniques on these too, including some mini artworks using Tim Holtz fragments. 

I had fun playing with my Tim Holtz edge die cuts and both Sizzix and Tim Holtz embossing folders.  And as I love to do, I accent my embossed pages with Ranger Distress inks and Perfect Pearls.  Album measures 8 1./2 by 6 inches and includes ten chipboard pages, bound with three metal rings adorned with ribbons and handpsun yarns.  Although I'm tempted to keep this one - I decided to put it up for sale on ETSY!  Four more books to come -so stay tuned!

More Halloween mini photo albums

Here's the second installment of my Halloween mini album frenzy.  What a great time I had inspired by all the artisans and scrappy crafters on Etsy and You Tube.  I learned some new techniques and enjoyed reviving some old ones from my cut and paste layout days on  The Howling, a Gothic magazine I published in the late 1990's and early 2000's!
Of course once again, I used techniques learned form Tim Holtz and altered artists and used materials from Holtz, 7 Gypsies, K and Company, Martha Stewart as well as vintage items from my Halloween stash (you can't take the goth out of this woman, even if she does enjoy steampunk now).  Since these mini photo albums are meant for young- to pre-teen Halloween Trick or Treaters I didn't pull out all the heavy gothic, but tried to make them more fun and whimsical.  We all have to break out of our regular zones from time to time and I guess having a new granddaughter on the way and a nine year old granddaughter, that helps.  (although she will be a gothic fairy for Halloween - I can't wait to make her album!) 
I start out cutting my pages from cereal boxes.  To cover the pages I sometimes emboss colored heavy card stock with Sizzix or Tim Holtz embossing folders and texture fades using my handy dandy Sizzix die cut machine. I love that thing.  I use it all the time. And glue them onto the cereal box pages. o
Next step involves gleing on adding scrapbook papers in Halloween colors to each page and I always use Golden matte gel as the glue because it sticks and stays - a little messy because I use my fingers but it is the best adhesive for paper and embellishments in my eyes.  Once both sides of the cereal pages are covered I cut the whole sandwich with Tim Holtz edge die to create beautiful interesting edges.
For my photo mats, I sometimes I use the background cards from the packing of scrapbook embellishments s because they are just the right size. Or I use heavy card stock for photo mats or more cereal box pieces.
I often make my own tags now using heavy cardstock in parchment or tan colors, just tracing one tag and cutting them out and then adding the hole with a hole punch or gromet punch.
  I love distressing the edges with Ranger inks in Distress colors to make the pages look more finished and vintage. And then the fun starts with embellishments!
I make an insert lots of photo mats and tags for journaling so parents can go back to previous Halloweens or add photos of more than one family member.  I love adding lots of photos and writing in my journals for posterity - wondering how my  grandchildren will view these when they're grown up and hopefully share their stories and memories with their own children.

For the last album I tried a different approach and made a vertical album which will stand up as it's own display with the pages and photos being changed from time to time.
This was fun but I had to remember to flip the back pages upside down - took me a few tries to pull that off, I'll tell you!  Good for the brain though and it's always fun to try a new technique.  I did make a steampunk vertical album for my friend Cindy last year around the topic of The Orient Express but had already forgotten how to pull off a vertical album.  Now I have it down, I need to make a few more.
I was also lucky to find older goodies at Big Lots and other odd places.  As much as I love to use the new lines of my favorite altered arts designers - I also like to include items that aren't currently popular. And after Halloween I will stock up on as many half price items as I can to combine with next year's new designs.
I have already sold the Boo album from the last post so perhaps I'll make a few more on Sat., not sure.  I'm eager to make some baby girl and baby boy albums after making the baby girl one for my soon to be granddaughter!

Halloween mini albums frenzy

When one of my friends asked if I was going to post Halloween mini albums for sale on Etsy, I hadn't thought about it since I'm caught up in the baby girl mode waiting for my second granddaughter to arrive.  But Halloween is my favorite time of year so thanks to Elizabeth I went into my usual obsessive mode of creating and made four books in less than a week.  I love to see a variety of styles and colors, was always that way with weaving scarves and shawls, making beeswax collage etc.
But this had to beat them all in productivity.  And I only spent $3.59 cents.  I already had enough supplies form collecting Halloween items for years in my stash. 
I was very fortunate and kind of went into the zone watching British TV shows, favorite movies (Firefly, "9", The Englishmen Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain) and cluttered up my living room with scrappy goodies until one could not sit or walk, except for my narrow place on the couch. 

Since I've been making these for a few years now, I have a system of  steps.  First I apply all the background pages to chipboard or cereal box cardboard, often cut with Tim Holtz edge dies. Then I add photo mats, next come the embellishments, then the words and scripts. Ribbons and bling with jewel spots are next followed by rubber stamping, flowers, metal pieces, Tim Holtz additions.  I love using  embossing cards (Bingo and Spirals), die cuts, Perfect Pearls  and other accent techniques. The last thing I do is make the tags.  It's like dessert after a large dinner of baked potato, veggies and yummy steak!

Of course I love using all my favorite designers, including 7 Gypsies, K and Company, Graphic 45, Reflections.  But even more fun was looking through my vintage pieces.  I've been collecting these for years and I love adding them to my distressed look.  I'm not a cutesy kind of gal.  As a goth from way back, a VOG (very old goth) I  like an edge to my work and even though these are meant as children's albums, I hope they have enough dark touches to appeal to all those moms out there who really get into Halloween.  I also like to add the New England flavor.  We're known for our dark sides what with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and authors like Nathanial Hawthorne and the nearby town of Salem, Mass., the witch capital of the U.S.  We were brought up on the macabre even in school and ghost stories and witches tales were common folklore.