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 Tag Frenzy!

Now that I think I've finished making Christmas mini albums - (although one should never say never, right?) I've caught the Christmas tag frenzy from folks like Kard Crazy and Vintage Prims.  Here's an example of the ones I'm working on.  I'm trying to duplicate a few, but most of them will be one of a kind because of the added words, and other embellishments such as handmade paper, copper tape, die cuts and fragments.

I'm used the excuse today that I couldn't start the real baking until I the Chex Mix finishes baking.  And the excuse was so I could work on tags - shame on me!  But in addition to the ones I've made for mini albums, I  created a few more even as I was baking the the pumpkin roll, pumpkin pie and other goodies for Thanksgiving - tomorrow - hurray!!!

I used some Tim Holtz die cuts of the tree and deer, as well as his flags edge make die, Tim Holtz letters, musical paper,  and used Ranger Distress inks for most of the backgrounds, along with some other odds and ends from my stash and then tied them off with either pretty ribbon or my handpsun, hand dyed silk and wool yarns.

Deer in the Forest Chritsmas Mini Album inspired by Tim Holtz

I decided to really go all out with the Tim Holtz treatment on my fifth mini album. I used a number of Tim Holtz techniques, embossing folders,  edge die cuts, Ranger Distress inks, Perfect Pearls and thanks to VintagePrims on ETSY, some of the deer and tree die cuts.  I don't own the dies yet, but she does and makes items others can purchase!  I was so thrilled to try a variety if ways to make them my own with embossing powders and pgiment inks. This album turned out to be another blend of contemporary with traditional aspects using some of the K and Company embellishments. 

I think this mini album is a great way to capture those moments and magical in the 12 pages which offers plenty of photo mats, journaling spots, and tags.

Cover includes Tim Hotlz die cuts ofpine trees and a deer, as well as a Tim Holtz metal card holder stating 2011.  There are special accents, Tim Holtz mini fragments of Santa and a snowman, and cool options for photos which include an ornament which opens into a photo mat, a gift which opens to triple photo mats, and a pullout envelope folder which offers five photo mats. In addition to Tim's product line, I used Recollections, Martha Stewart, K and Company and open stock papers form A.C. Moore and Michael's. Embellishments include handmade flowers, handmade papers and tags, faux Swarvski crystals, Prima bling. Word sentiments add another facet to the album. It's always a final step for me and one that;'s lots of fun and sometimes a challenge! This chipboard album measures 5 inches by 8 inches and the pages are bound by two metal rings accented with ribbons and handspun yarns. I think this particular album harkens back to my New England heritage more than any of  the others I've made so far.

This album is up on ETSY for sale. I hope that whoever purchases it or gives it as a gift sees it as a way to start a new tradition or continue an old one with a mini album the family will pass down from generation to generation. 

I only have one more to post for sale and the rest will be gifts for my family but I'll do blog posts on those as well because is one turns out so differently. 

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.

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!

Christmas mini albums 2011

It seems I can't stop making mini albums1  so now that Halloween is over, I turned my attention to Christmas.  This will be the first time making Christmas albums but once again, I have a stash of items from making Christmas cards for many years.
The first one I tried was a Christmas Memories album perfect for capturing those magical holiday moments. I decidewd to make one that would be appriate for the entire family.  The five chipboard pages are combined to feature layouts for both young children, older children, adults and even extended family.  Each page has either a photo mate or journaling square or tag and the snowman book on the last to second page is the perfect place to write up memories and gift lists, whatever suits a family.
There are handmade papers and flowers, chipboard and metallic embellishments sprinkled within the album along with faux Swarvski crystal bling, pockets, tags, and photo mats.

I used my Tim Holtz edge die cuts and a number of different K & Co. paper paks and embellishments, as well as vintage stamps.
I hope that these albums will be keepsakes with writings and personal touches, be handed down from generation to generation!
I've made six of these approximately 6 x 5 inches to 6 x8 inch albums so far.  Four of them will end up on Etsy and I've made one each for my granddaughters including the one which will be born within the next two weeks!

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. 

Vintage/Victorian mini album

 I'm still completing the finishing touches on the Vintage/Victorian mini album I'm making.  It will be one of the items I donate to the Upstate Steampunk Extravaganza.
I used a good many random pieces including handmade mulberry papers, Graphic 45, Tim Holtz, Bo Bunny and 7 Gypsies items, some of my own art and hand dyed handspun yarns, a photograph of my collection of alchemy type bottles, metal findings, envelopes, vintage stamps.  The first page includes a photo accordion foldout and there are a few photomats and journaling tags throughout.  Not as many as I should have included, perhaps.  I included a page made from papers embossed by Tim Holtz embossing folders on my Sizzix Big Kick and then accented with Distress Inks and Perfect Pearls. 
This book took me two days of constant work to do the bulk of the book and accents, but I'm still adding metal tokens, vintage stamps, ribbons and charms. 
The theme is "Secrets" and the album has to do with secrets, mystery, alchemy, longing, absinthe and temptation.
I've included four little reproductions of my own art, the drawings" "The Potter" and Nude form the Back" as well as the painting,m "Francois Burgogne" and a pull out ATC of the collage "Temptation."
I accented the cover with Tim Holtz grunge board elements - the placard holder and the scroll, as well as with a handmade flower made with Tim Holtz tattered flower die cut and then accented with distress ink and Stickles. Most of the papers I found at Big Lots and can't recall the maker although they always come in packs of six coordinated one sided papers and are always pretty.  Sometimes I find these packets at the dollar store. 
I made a few of the tag and ma making more, simply because I love to include lots of opportunities for journaling and I have so many vintage style rubber stamps I enjoy using on these shabby chic, grunge style albums.

The White Light of August

The white light of August showed up last week.  It's funny how I'm trained to notice it after coming to know the poem, August Light, (from the Arrowhead Scholar) written by SC poet laureate, Bennie Lee Sinclair, who was one of my writing teachers at Furman University.  She was an intelligent and kind teacher and I learned much from her by osmosis as opposed to a strongly opinion-oriented approach to teaching poetry.  I now view the August white light as a shift, bittersweet that carefree summer will end, and an indication of the transition from outer play to the deeper more internal days which lay ahead.

As an introvert, I welcome these days - the hermit times.  I prefer them to the light and airy (and this year's hot) days of summer, perhaps because I'm from the north and am more used to cloudy, rainy days and cool breezes. So it was with great relief when I happened to be doing some early morning garden maintenance that I looked down, and there it was, the golden summer light changed to white.  This shift totally changes everything in my garden, making it feel cooler. It look more mysterious for some reason.  At this time, my garden is a throng of powerful green growth, the trees and shrubs heavily laden with leaves, overhanging the entire perimeter, most of the statuary and garden beds buried in hidden bowers and secretive shadows.  The air is a bit crisper in the mornings when I wake up before dawn and I can take a deep breath and not feel s if I'm being smothered by a sweat soaked glove.
I took more hermit time as well as a break from the novel to start making some of the items that will be available at the silent auction at the Upstate Steampunk Extravaganza the end of next month. I started a Victorian/Art Noveau themed handmade book using 6 Gypsies, Tim Holtz, Graphic 45 and lots of odd bits and pieces.

Steampunk ,The Velo Fellow & Tim Holtz kraft glassine

 

Timing sometimes appears like a gift.  I have to admit, I haven't been thinking much about steampunk lately.  But with photos from the World Steam Expo online, including the Black Ibis Tarot from the creative people at Insects & Angels, and the upcoming meet up this Saturday at The Velo Fellow, a steampunk pub if I've ever seen one, I'm getting back in the mood.  I have some vintage photos I want to copy and use in collage, but had little inspiration lately.  Not until just this morning when I saw the coloration of the tarot and here I was wondering how on earth I could get that same incredibly saturated sepia effect.  And then today Tim Holtz posts new instructions  and wow - it's just the right material especially since you can inkjet print on it.  I can't wait to get some and try this out.  Amazing stuff especially when it comes to Steampunk items.

Valentine Wolfe mini album

I made this mini album back in the fall of 2010 but couldn't show it until I handed it over to Sarah and Braxton, the singer and double bass player for the goth/steampunk macabre musical group, Valentine Wolfe.  This duo has appeared in a variety of venues including clubs, steampunk and other conventions and even are booked for an upcoming tea house.  By day, Braxton is a double bass player with the Greenville (SC) Symphony Orchestra and Sarah is a costumer at Costume Curio. Sarah also has her own specialized costume and accessory business on Etsy, called Valentine Wolfe,  focusing on corsets, shrugs, top hats, tri corns, wrist cuffs,  and many many more amazing items which are especially desired in the goth and steampunk arena.
Sarah and Braxton are an incredibly talented couple.  And because they were so kind as to give out free Valentine Wolfe Cd's at one of our local gatherings of the Upstate Steampunk Dining Out Society, I felt inspired to make them a mini album. I haven't shown the photos before this due to time, other things going on and the fact that I couldn't reveal it until I delivered it to them late last year.

Because they do goth and steampunk, I went for an elegant but grungy look using a lot of black, browns and reds, for some reason the butterfly hits me with them because of how light and airy Sarah's voice is.
I used a lot of different products some from Tim Holtz, 7 Gypsies, Graphic 45 papers and tags, the Once Upon a Time papers photo mats and journaling cards.  Of course, I added a lot of musical symbols and elements and lots of journal pages and journaling tags because they travel to a number of performances each year and perhaps this will help to capture some of those memories.
I added fold-out photo books too. As a  special tribute, in one of the envelopes, I stashed the lyrics to one of their songs for remembrance.  And used keys words such as dream because they are doing just that - following their dreams. They are so photogenic and wear such amazing stage costumes, it was hard to choose what photos to include. Some of the photos were accentuated by the artist, James Nimmons. Hopefully they'll find places in this journal to add more as they continue on their lyrical journey. I bound it with three book rings and added handspun yarns, ribbons, charms and bling to the binding rings.

Giddy days ahead

I feel like a crazy fan girl - but the new Tim Holtz products have been previewed andI'm so excited.  Not that I don't have enough material to work with right now, as my stash boxes are full, but it's as if Tim has read the collective mind of altered artists who like offbeat, grungy, dark side, steampunky gear. From the mini vintage artifacts such as real glass bottle and watch cases to the Sizzix dies and the Stampers Anonymous stamps. His booth at Cha was like a Disneyland for paper and 3-D artisans!  I can't wait til these become available.  I haven't drooled over previews like this since waiting for the last Apocalyptica album.  And while I'm working on some mini albums with a light spring flavor, I have constant visions of the darker 3-D boxes and assemblages I want to create.  Now I don't have to hunt antique shops or flea markets for some of the oddball items I need. 

Book Making Again - Bird mini album

I've mostly been writing lately, but did have some time to make a mini photo album with a bird, butterfly, magnolia theme for my friend Mark for Christmas. Her house is called Magnolia Cottage so that's why this particular southern flower is predominant.  I'm still working on taking photos - the first set came out blurry because I had to shoot inside during the snow storm, but I'll add more later.  I used a lot of new techniques on this one, including the Perfect Pearls from Ranger inks and beeswax collage.  It was a lot of fun!  She and I both love birds, both in the wild and in art so it was a fun theme to try. 

Like my other books, I made my pages from cereal boxes etc and the front and back cover from the hard cardboard found on the backs of paper packs.  I used a lot of Botanicabella papers from Graphic 45, one of my absolute favorite paper companies. K & Company, Tim Holtz, 7 Gypsies are also featured throughout as their styles fit right in with the kind of vintage look I want in my books.  This book is a bit more whimsical than most of my books but birds are like that, aren't they.  I've filtered in some of my own sketches as well as photos of my garden to give it a more natural feel and I've already started putting photos in of Mark and her husband Mike, who is a Harley rider, so there's even a page with a Harley theme in here!  Quirky I know but Mark and Mike are a very unique couple. There are also some ocean themed pages because Mark and I spent time together on Folly Island, off the coast of Charleston, SC.