Snowflake Scrapbook Mini Album

I got to play with some of my new Christmas goodies while on holidays. I made a new scrapbook mini album.

This time I dug deep for the colour set I wanted to use and I had to use up some of my favourites in my preserves (not hoard... preserves!). I'm glad I did. It looked lovely as a sheet of paper and looks just as lovely in the album! First, I'll show you pictures of the album, then I'll show you pictures of how it came together. For you more visual types, you can see the video walk through of my snowflake scrapbook mini album on my FairyCardmaker Vimeo Channel so you can see all the glitter and shine!

I made 5 pocket pages. Click any photo to see it larger!

I used a brand new binding system I made myself!! I'm calling it the ribbon slide binding system. Here's the first page:

As you can see, this mini holds a maximum size of 3.5 x 5 inch photos (half of a 5 x 7). Here are the second and third pages:

Love that little penguin from my Close to My Heart stamp set. I've used that set a lot (that penguin in particular the most). I've definitely gotten my pennies worth out of it! Here are pages 4 and 5:

That's my C.C. Designs bear. I always do him up as a polar bear. I have yet to do a brown or black bear. (There seems to be little occasion for it for me, but I've gotten good use of it as a polar bear!) Hear are pages 6 and 7:

I used a lot of techniques in this album! I used punches, die cuts, ribbon, stamping and fussy cutting! The snowman here was fussy cut from a lovely collection by Recollections at Michaels which I got for 70% off! Here are pages 8 and 9:

I ran out of purple paper patterns to choose from so I made my own with a Close to My Heart swirls stamp set and some white embossing powder. Here's the last page:

The back cover is just plain. All the tags in the pockets are the same and all blank on both sides.

The Bits and Pieces:
Okay, this is how the album came together:

1. Cut all your pages. Mine are 6 inches wide and 5.5 inches tall. So, I cut Bazzill Kraft cardstock to 6 x 12 inches.

2. Score the pages: Score the 12 inch side in half at 6 inches. Score the 6 inch side at 1/4 inch from either end. (Super hard to see in photo. Sorry!)

3. Punch the holes. I used a centering ruler to figure out where I wanted to place my holes and then made a guide paper. Nest the guide paper into each fold and punch the holes. If you don't have the tools, you can use a yarn needle to pierce and an old, squishy style mouse pad for a piercing mat (or possibly the freezer backing from frozen meats - wash it out and turn it upside down).

4. Trim the edges and reinforce the holes on the inside with Tyvek. (Certain shipping envelopes are made from this plastic composite that behaves like paper except it's water resistant and doesn't tear.) You only need to trim the 1/4 inch off of one half of the page to make the hinges for the pocket.

5. Repunch the holes from the outside.

6. Thread the crochet thread through the holes and tie a knot. I used a dental floss threader to pull my crochet thread though the holes. (My biggest needle's eye was too small for the crochet thread. The floss threader works wonderfully, stands up to abuse and doesn't prick your fingers!)

7. Decorate your pages. Close up the pages to form the pockets and decorate as desired.

8. Build your cover. Use the pages to figure out where you need to punch the holes in the spine. I punched the naked chipboard once, put on the outer paper, repunched the holes, put on the inner paper and then repunched the holes again. I used Tyvek for my spine paper. If I had used anything else, I'd have reinforced the holes with Tyvek first before putting the decorative papers on.

9. Thread your pages. Again, I used the floss threader.

10. Add your pages to your cover. I used the floss threader here too.

Your book is finished!

Merry Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I hope your Christmas/Holidays are filled with family, friends, hugs and smiles!

I know I've got big smiles! My Christmas wrapping WON the Accucut Craft November 2015 Project Challenge! Woohoo! Depending on what Santa brings, I've got some thinking to do on what to do with my store credit prize!

Here's the winning package:

It's a tall gable box die. I also used their ornament die. I coated the ornaments with Wink of Stella glitter and then put a paper punched snowflake in the middle. I cut the toppers from some scraps of gorgeous gold foil paper I have.

The branches are a Martha Stewart punch. I saw one at Scrapfest and resisted buying it. My friend bought it and I was glad. But... when I saw it two weeks later at Michaels and it was the last one and I had a 50% coupon, I caved and bought it. This punch was all the rage 1 or 2 years ago. I'm glad I've finally found it!

I made 2 other gable boxes for the contest too, both of which I am using to package some gifts this year. Here's the frosty Christmas Tree:

This was my favourite of the boxes. I die cut the box and then splattered watered down white acrylic paint on it. The splats came out way blobbier than I intended but it still looks fine. The tree is a Memory Box die I cut from purple metallic cardstock.

I have some tiny confetti starts so I glued those on (not easy). The snowflake has the "to" "from" on the back and I cut it from an Accucut Craft die. All the tags on these boxes has a little jingle bell from either the Dollar Store or Dollar Tree. They aren't the prettiest of jingle bells because they have just a single line on the bottom, not a "T" shape like other jingle bells. But, they still make a cute little tinkle and for something that is likely to get tossed, it does the job just fine!

Lastly, I have the gingerbread man box. This one was the easiest to do! I think it's super cute.

I got the ribbon on sale at Michael's during post-Thanks-giving clearance. It's quite thick but I think it was the perfect trim for this project. The Gingerbread man is another favourite holiday die I have from Accucut Craft. The Star over his hear is too.

Enjoy the holiday! Stay warm and safe!

Winter Woods

This year, I'm mass producing a version of my snowman card for Christmas. But, I just got my latest Accucut Craft order in and I just had to play with the new tree die I got! During the Black Friday sale, I purchased this Cedar Tree die. Here's what I did with it!

I also picked up the Wafer Thin Tray Adapter for my Grande Mark and I got a new Paper Artist Snowflake embossing folder from Hot Off the Press. So, I used my new Wafer Thin Tray Adapter to cut out the deer (Cottage Cutz) and also to emboss the blue metallic paper.

I cut the tree trunks at different heights and it makes my tree cluster look great. Added a touch of Stickles Star Dust glitter glue for some snowy shine and the card came together very nicely! The sentiment is just something I got from the Michael's sales bins a long time ago. It's one of my favourite sentiment stamps. I like how whimsical it is and it works for birthdays as well as Christmas.

This is going to go into the Accucut Craft Winter Challenge for December 2015! Love my new goodies. Can't wait to see what other goodies Santa might bring!