Creating something new...

Out of something old. My newest passion. I've not given up scrapbooking or envelope albums or creating with photos. But a bicycle accident followed by a running fall last year has seriously impacted my ability to spend much time playing with paper. Yes, exercise is clearly dangerous. No, I'm not giving up bicycling (though it wouldn't take much effort to convince me to stop running!), but I'm enjoying other creative endeavors as well. Hence, my latest obsession.

Inspired by these two lovely, talented and wonderful ladies, http://chicenvelopements.wordpress.com/ (Beth)
http://marysthriftychic.com/ (Mary) I am now using my sewing machine for something other than paper.

I've been a Goodwill/Thrift Store shopper for over five years, but have just been careful about selecting things in the right sizes and in good shape. Now, not so much. I can re-pair, re-make and re-purpose!

Best of all (well, Brian might disagree, but we aren't asking him!) there is a Goodwill outlet within riding distance and at $.89 a pound I am willing to take a whole lot of risk!

So, I have stocked up on projects (seriously, and if the insert-photo button wasn't giving me fits right now I'd prove it!) and am ready to re-purpose. My first project was a rescue. A seriously filthy, torn and dejected stuffed Snoopy was found in the bins at the Outlet and I had to try and save him. He called to me! One hot-with-bleach bath, a new collar and some minor surgery later, Snoopy is looking great!

Next up is some alteration work for Meeko. She and Flit are back from their cross-country bicycling adventure (read about it here  http://www.missionusa2013.blogspot.com/ ) and are heading to the Gorge with sixty gobzillion friends for Watershed. Of course, that requires some new/old clothing. Stay tuned!

I'll be danged... it worked! Sissy and I with SOME of our amazing outlet finds. (I'm non-discriminatory, I'm happy to re-purpose more than just clothing!)

And here is my rescued Snoopy

OK. For real this time. A little re-fashioning, a little bike ride and a lot of work. Stay tuned!

Sisters, an envelope mini

And yet another style of mini envelope album. Told you I was hooked.
This one uses some extra Christmas card envelopes I had (thick and lined, kinda cool) and each page has a second envelope/pocket made from the bill envelopes we get in the mail.

I made this one based on a facebook challenge. "First 3 people to sign below get a homemade gift" kind of deal. I was thrilled with the first 3 people who signed up and this album is one of those gifts.

I've known Vicki for about 40 years. Long story short, she and her sisters lived down the street when I was little, in Petaluma, CA. I've always loved her sisters names (Valerie, Vicki, Vivian, Vonnie and her mom is Violet. Dad is Larry, just an FYI) even though she got grief about it growing up.

Anyway, her folks just celebrated their 50th and I saw a slew of pictures of Vicki and her sisters and thought it would be cool to do a sisters album. So here it is.

Because of the envelope size this is a larger mini, about 6 1/2 x 8". I used the Basic Grey lines sold at Joann's, Shine On and Serendipity. Best of all, on the cover? I used those super tint mini brads (which I LOVE!) as flower centers on the transparency overlay.

Each page has three pull outs, the slit outer edge of the envelope for a full sized, 2 sided pull out, the top of the smaller envelope for another two sided pull out and the inner side pull-out in the pocket created by the second envelope. Lots of places for photos. Each set of pages has a quote or two about sisters, some funny, some serious. Ink, a little bit of sewing and pieced elements from the embellishments I bought with the BG paper. I used about one and a half of the 6 x 6 paper pads and a good chunk of a DCWV mat stack as the inserts. The colors, which I don't do justice here, are all over the place and surprisingly, I really like the eclectic mix! I also made some outlined journaling boxes in Word and added them to a few of the pages.

One of my favorite minis to date and I wish I'd purchased more of the paper as I'd love to make one of these for myself.

Side pull envelope mini

It really feels good to be back!

Today's share is another envelope mini (told you I was addicted!), this one has a phalange hinge binding and side pull out pages. (Yesterdays was a die cut shape hinge binding and top pull out pages).

Another baby book, for another friend/co-worked, but this baby has been born and some of the pages are slightly decorated.

Papers are from K & Co at Joann's, and the base is actually pale pink (though you  wouldn't know it from this picture!) It is slightly larger than yesterday's at 5" x 6 1/2" and the spine/cover are covered chipboard.

Each page set has decoration on one side and a place for a 3 1/2 x 5 photo on the other, plus a two sided pull out for more photos or journaling. I used the Tim Holtz die on each pull out the edge the page, as seen on the upper left.

It's another month-by-month book, and I used the tags from the same K & Co line, as well as the paper scraps from trimming the paper pack, to make most of the accents. I did add occasional bits of ribbon, a brad or two, ink and some rub on month titles. I also added some mini journaling tag type pull-outs and pearl dots for the butterfly's body.

That's it! Thanks for looking :)

Back at it!

I know, REALLY long absence. Health concerns, surgery, pondering life, wondering why I share these pages, healing, etc. I needed a break and now I'm better. Onward!

During some of my downtime I made gift albums. A slew of gift albums. All of them variations of an envelope album. Lots and lots of fun to create.

Here is one I did for a friend expecting her first baby boy. She wanted REALLY simple, a year-at-a-glance type book so this is what I made:

It measures 4 1/2 x 6" and uses the Echo Park mini theme boy kit. That $4 kit, 5 sheets of cardstock and a pack of envelopes and cards are what I used to make this.

I used die cut (Cricut) shapes as hinges for the pages and the envelopes covered with cardstock are the album base. The inserts in each page are the cards that come in the card/envelope package.

Each page has a space for a 3 1/2 x 5 photo and next to it a monthly fact sheet. I used the stickers that came in the kit to accent the cards. They can be tucked under the die cut and removed from the album at will, or adhered down once the information has been entered.

And this is how the album closes. One of those do-dads that came on Making Memories rub-on packs and a small pony holder. Cheap, easy, sturdy and it works great!

It was tough for me not to add a bit more on this one. Inked edges and sewing, specifically. I really like the mostly-photo look, but I also like a little dimension. Oh well, it's not for me and this is what she wanted... I hope :)

Duplicating pages

Someone recently asked, because I make albums for our four kids as well as one for us, if I make a lot of duplicate pages. The answer? not really. Once a year we do a Christmas card photo shoot, and for those pages I usually do an assembly line deal. Pick a style I like and make four in 8 1/2 x 11. It is almost as fast as making one page. For example, each child has this page in their albums:

But for most of the other pictures I make them all different pages. I may use the same paper line (sometimes, but not always) like I did with one of yesterdays topics. I'd purchased the MME Miss Caroline line knowing I had pages to make for each child from our state fair trip in 1996. Though I used the same line for all the pages, each one was done differently because I used different pictures for each child's book. Here is one of those:

And really, I'm OK with that. Because I only rarely scrap the same exact photos or use the same exact product it doesn't get boring to create. Each child has a different experience at the same event and THAT is what I focus on.

Ignore this, not complete

OK, so I don't remember how to stitch l/o's together, but for the purpose of this post only the accent box is needed, so please, ignore this incompletely shared l/o. Thankyouverymuch :)

Sleepy Sunday

I wayyyyyy overdid it yesterday. Who would have thought getting three units of blood (kinda creepy, I know) would have worn me out so much? Heck, I thought the blood would go a long way in making me feel BETTER!!! Maybe in a few days... I guess.

I did no scrapping yesterday. Went to Target for meds, Costco for milk, and much later in the day, to dinner with my sister and friend Janie (both are NP's, so I knew if anything happened I'd be in fabulous hands). I then rested or slept in bed for 12 stinking hours! I usually sleep 5-6 hours a night, so the 12 hour thing is unheard of for me.

Here is one of the first "modern" l/o's I ever made... back in 1995.

Yep. Traditional. Border, Mrs. G stickers, pen work, random stickers. But really, as not-so-great as it is, the REAL reason I'm re-doing those old layouts is the lack of purpose. Sure, there photos are there, but no story. And honestly, I am all about the stories and memories behind the photos.