Get Well Card - Happy Bear

Just a quick post of my hand made get well card.  My father-in-law had surgery today.  Everything went well, except for the waiting, of course.  Waiting is always nerve wracking for the family.  He was nestled in to his room around 9pm and fairly alert, so I'm told.  I will not see him myself until tomorrow.

Here is the card I made for him.

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The bear stamp and sentiment is from Close to My Heart.  The bear set (which is retired) is utterly adorable.  I coloured it very simply with two shades of brown copic markers.

CTMH stamps  - click for larger view

I composed and wrote a verse inside for him.  I hope it will bring him a smile.

Card Variations

So, I hosted my first "One Sheet Wonder" workshop.  It was A LOT.  I've decided to pare it down for the next card-making adventure.  We will do a 6x6 one sheet wonder workshop instead when we get to our holiday themed workshop.

The great thing about a OSW design is that it also gives you ideas of how to use your scraps.  Have a scrap that fits one of the cuts in the OSW template?  Great!  Use it!  To show my creative crew how to get different looks on the same design of cards, I made a few of the OSW set with my scraps.

Here's the OSW card:

And here's a card I made for my eldest nephew's 9th birthday this month using the same design:

For the patterned paper, there's just one scrap on it.

I think it turned out pretty cute.  This design is so universal.  It's also pretty simple, since it calls for a single, large focal image.  I could have texture embossed the backgrounds.  If I had a stars embossing folder, I so would have used that for the rocket card!

Wedding Mini Album Scrapbook

A co-worker of mine is getting married this month.  I made her a wedding mini album from scratch with my Accucut Craft Dies.

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The bridesmaids are in coral and the groomsmen are in grey.  I used those two colours and kept the rest in neutral creams, browns, and black.  I actually didn't have anything that was coral, so I faked it!  I used Memento Morocco ink and applied it to white cardstock with a sponge to get all the coral accents you will see in this album, including the flowers on the cover.

The cover is cut out with acetate for a window.

My style is pretty clean and simple.  My co-worker is a graphic designer by trade and her sister does scrapbook a little.  Between the two of them, I knew they could dress up this album to make it her own, so I knew it was okay to leave the pages very blank.

This first page as a bottom catcher so she can stuff things behind that partial pocket.  Each page is large enough to hold a 5 x 7 photo.  Her invitation was 5 x 7, which is why I chose this size.  I reinforced all the spine hinges with Tyvek, which is tear resistant.  When pages are turned frequently, they could wear down and tear over time.  Tyvek is a kind of plastic-like paper, so it will keep the page hinges strong.  Every page has a pocket for a tag.  The tags are 5.5 inches by 6.25 inches.  All are blank on the back for journaling.  (Watch the video - linked at the end - to see all the tags.)

There is space for a photo to slide behind the string and the right page has a corner pocket.

This pair is my favourite set.  The left page has my custom made locket die.  The inner oval is held in place by magnets.  A picture can be mounted on the inner oval and also behind it for double duty.  The bride's dress was designed on  my BossKut Gazelle.  I embossed the lower half in an embossing folder.  The right page has a foldout frame that is held shut by the ribbon.  (I reinforced the hinge of the foldout with Tyvek too.)

On the left side of these grey pages, I cut the title from white cardstock on my BossKut Gazelle and then inked it to get the colour.  I mounted the title on clear acetate so that it would form a pocket.  The tags were made with a Stampin' Up! die.  I cut the paper narrower than the die and placed the cutting mat over one edge only to get the a shaped top for my tags.  On the right side, I used a Lifestyle Crafts doily die and cut it in half to make the border pocket.  I used ribbon to hide the joining of the doily and the border.

On this set, I used my Close To My Heart tree stamp.  It was coloured entirely with Sakura Start Dust pens.  It's really sparkly, to match the background paper.  (Better seen in the video.)  On the right side, I used a Close To My Hear pocket watch stamp, embossed in black on brown metallic paper.

On the final page, I used a Stampin' Up! Doily stamp set (plus one from the Michael's sales bins) and clear embossed them on white paper.  I then coloured the rest of the paper with ink to get a coral colour.  It's a fairly close match to the flowers in the paper.

This album has 5 hinges, for 10 pages plus 1 more space on the inside back cover.  There are also 5 tags which can hold standard 4 inch by 6 inch photos or, better, 3x5 inch photos.  This is only the fourth mini album I have ever completed and the first one I have given away.  The bride-to-be liked it.

To see all its sparkle in action, please click over to my Vimeo channel to see my Garden Arch Wedding Mini Album.