Scrap bits

Tales from the Shelf-Part 3. Mini album from Jessica Sprague

This is an album taken from Jessica Sprague. It is a completely digital book and was so fast and easy to do. I had it done in less than an hour! Really! I did it a few years ago and I searched Jessica's blog, but I could not find it... sorry!  But I believe it was a freebie- Nice!

It is called "snapshots" and is meant to be a quick look at your life, right now. As is.

I used an acrylic square album, added my photos and journaling to the templates, and printed it up at home. Then it was just a matter of adding a very small amount of embellishments (I wanted to keep it as simple as possible) and binding it together with rings. super easy!

The front cover

I did one photo page and one "at the moment" page for each of us.

The back cover;

I really like these kinds of albums that document the every day. Things that will be cool to look back on in years to see where we were and what we did. I know I've said this before, but imagine if you had a book like this from when you were a kid. How cool would that be?

 

 

 

Mini Albums. Tales from the Shelf-Part 2. Advice For my Kids.

 
Part 2 of "Tales from the Shelf". My favorite mini album. This originally was going to be an album about what advice I would give myself as a child. It turned into a little book of wisdom from me to my kids.

Making this book sparked a lot of meaningful conversations with both kids. I bring it out every once in a while and we sit and read it over together.

Vacation Mini Albums. Tales from the shelf.

 
I promised I would get my mini books photographed and I will work on posting those over the next little while. As you can see from this shot, I have a few. I also have a large bowl that I keep my really small books but I still have to photograph that.

I love having the books out and displayed- inviting people to look through them. My kids often plop down on the chars and flip through an album. I also have my large albums on the shelves, but they mostly prefer to look at the smaller ones.

This is an album I did for our crusie we went on a few years ago. I used a kit from Lisa Bearnson back when she did a "kit of the month".

Here is the front cover;

 

The title page;

There are pockets and envelopes to put extra stuff in. I kept our itenerary, info about the ship, and our ship credit cards in there.

Hard to see in this picture below, but the page on the right has a cut out square in the top right corner. A photo from the next page peeks through when the page lies flat.

This page has an overlay

Pages are all different sizes as well, which adds interest.

Another envelope. I added a small adheasive magnet to keep it closed.

This whole page is an envelope. I used it for the last page in the album.

That's one book from the shelf... a whole bunch more to come!

 

One of my favorite mini books- "Why I Scrapbook- circa 2008

Sometimes I find scrapbooking is such a constant, on-going endeavor. There are always pages to do and you are never "done". Don't get me wrong, this is also the cool thing about scrapping your memories; Your constantly making new ones that need to be documented. Now- making a mini book (or mini album) once in awhile really helps to feel like I accomplished something. You know- I start it, then I finish it.  Usually in a short amount of time.  It's very satisfying.

I have spots throughout the house where I gather various mini albums- They are on bookshelves, bowls and vases. I have them out so they can be picked up and browsed thru. The kids often go thru them- which I LOVE to see. This weekend my daughter grabbed this one and we looked at it together. I realized that I really love this one. I made if just for me- and I really feel this one reflects a real turning point in my scrapbook style and my art in general.

Here is a peek thru the pages, let me know what you think!

The front cover (made from covered chipboard)

The back cover.

I have lots more mini albums that I have completed, and I will share some of them here over the next little while. I hope you enjoy them!

The Sketchbook Project 2011

Wow! I just found the coolest thing!!! Art House Co-op, (a website I just found thru SheriJD's blog- thanks Sheri!) has been doing The Sketchbook Project for the last 5 years. You buy a moleskin sketch book, pick a theme and fill it with your art, sketches, words, whatever. Then it goes in their Art Library, and people can check out your book and read it (or even buy it if you have it for sale)- They even have a tour where the books go around to different galleries.

Sounds really cool- Check it out if you are interested. Apparently there are only 100 or so days left to sign up. Can't wait to get it in the mail!

Vegas, Baby!

A peek at the mini album I did for our trip to Vegas last year. I used lots of Teresa Collins elements, and incorporated coasters from the hotel we stayed at.

Yep- It's ANOTHER Remains of the Day shabby journal

I realize I may be addicted to making these journals. I admit it. Here is another remains of the day shabby journal, from Mary Ann's class. This time for my son- he saw that my daughter had one, and he wanted one too. He liked the messy shabby pages, and i wanted to incorporate some stuff that would appeal to a 10-yr old boy, and him specifically. 

here is the cover

 

 

and some cover detail...

 

the tie and closure....

he loves skulls so I added one to the cover...

and I stitched his initial on the back...

 

a shot of the cover page, with a photo of him- I was going to turn it into a stencil, but used it as is- without cutting it out. The initial "r" is covered in his hockey tape-hard to see in the photo, but it's kinda like bookbinding tape-it has a nice linen texture to it...

here are some of the inside pages with stuff that he is into now... sports, cool cars, skateboarding, snowboarding...

 

here I used a page from his "Sports Illustrated Kids" magazine...

 

some of his own art/coloring-he did this while waiting at a restaurant. You can see a bit of his journaling as well...

 

This is a tag from his hoodie...

He likes to save tickets to sporting events he goes to, so there are a bunch of pockets- this one is from where his dad works

this pocket is from the packaging from his ski goggles, with more tickets stuffed in....

My favorite view of these journals is from the side where you can see all the stuff packed in, and hanging out...

 

and a small, discreet dedication from me...

Check out the flickr page for more samples of these books through Mary Ann's class.

working on my journal OR journaling on the road

we went skiing for March break here in Canada. I packed a small case of stuff and worked on my journal while I was there.  I just took some papers, lots of tape and a stapler and some pens.  The shabby journal already has so much on the pages to start with, there is really not much need to  add too much more.

messy shabby scrap flowers, and glue gun burns

Another cool way to use up your scraps. There are a bunch of these tutorials around but thanks to Roben Marie'stutorial I was inspired to give it a try. Don't you think these would look great on a shabby journal? Or on a headband? Or pinned on a jacket? Endless possibilities....well, maybe not endless but you know what I mean.

They were pretty easy to make once you got the hang of it.  Also, I couldn't find good fast drying fabric glue, so after a couple of trial and errors, I ended up using a hot glue gun. It worked well- except for a few burns- yeeowch!  It really sucks getting hot glue on your fingers, doesn't it? That glue is so hot AND it sticks, so you get extra burn time while you try to pick it off your blistering fingers..... or maybe that's just me?

Let me know what you think of these- The pink one was made with my 7yr old daughter, and I think one of the brown was has already been claimed by my mom, so gotta make some more. Maybe put some in my etsy shop?

Cool! Vintage printables. perfect for your shabby journal

Thanks to Kira who posted the link on her site.  Check out the hundreds and hundreds of FREE printables at Vintage Printables. There are so many to choose from. These are perfect if you have a shabby, messy journal. And perfect for my Remains of the Day journal.  Check out some samples;