Valid point!

Ok, last night when I posted the mini album tutorial it was dark and I was tired and was close to having to resort to having matchsticks holding up my eyelids, so I knew I would have missed something out! Possibly the most important feature of the whole thing. The photos! Thanks Rosey for the nudge, I'm kicking myself all over for being so daft! The envelopes you use act as pockets for mini pages or tags or whatever else you want them to hold. I folded the flap inside the envelope so it would give more strength and also so there wouldnt be any casulaties of rips or creases. On the front of the envelopes you can leave them plain with pretty patterened paper, stamp them, add quotes, photos or if you wanted to add more pages you can by sticking the front of the envelopes together to make a double pocket. You could even add a flap where you could hold more photos and have it like a concertina. It basically holds 10 mini pages/tags but once you start with it I know your creative juices will flow and you will see how it can be adapted and what you can add to it. Maybe I should have waited til I had added my own photos but I am far too impatient for that and I was just so excited at actually doing this without understanding a word of the instruction, that I couldnt wait to post! If I have missed anything else please do let me know. But i'm going to go over it with a fine toothed comb now just to be sure, to be sure! If you do have a go at doing this I would love to see what you made, so dont keep it to yourself. Kel x

Mini Book

I always somehow end up with lots of left over envelopes and some I have for ages in the hope they may find a home, but now I have found a great use for them. I thought I would show you how to make this gorgeous little mini book. It is so easy to make, so easily adapted and can make a great gift for someone too.

I have done this one christmas themed as I am still trying to find places for last christmases photos!! But all you need for your yummy book is:

2 rectangles of card 29cm x 12cm

10 x envelopes 10cm x 10cm

eyelets/buttons

Embroidery floss in a co-ordinating colour

patterned papers

Tags/ mini pages to fit inside your envelopes

So you start with your 2 pieces of card stock (29cm x 12cm). Measuring across the longest edge and marking as you go, measure 12cm, then 4.8cm and then 12cm. At the marks you made in middle of the card score down the length of the card to give you the spine of the book.

Next along the top right hand side from the crease of the spine measure 9cm. From that mark measure down 6cm. Make a semi circle with the 6cm base which is left at the bottom and cut it out as shown below. Do the same measurements for the bottom left corner and exactly the same again for the second piece of card so you have it like shown below. Once you have measured your card, along the spine you need to create holes to thread the envelopes into. From the top of the spine mark at 1.5cm. Across the spine make 5 holes (big enough for a darning needle to pass through) measured at 0.8cm apart. Do this top and bottom of both pieces of card. You then need to make holes in the envelopes to be able to thread them into the book. Mark 0.8cm in from the bottom corners and cut a half hole. For this I used an eyelet setter on the smallest setting I had but you could also use hole punch, just remembering to only cut a semi circle.

Once everything was cut and ready to go I started decorating the book. I used scraps of christmas papers from last year and just glued them to front and back of the book. I also took some scraps of coloured card, cut out 4 circles, distressed them and added some eyelets, making sure that on 2 eyelets (one top and one bottom) I tied some embroidery floss to use as a closure for the book when its not in use.

Next I decorated the front of the envelopes and then sewed them into the spine, leaving the ends loose so make sure you use a good length of thread (approx 30cm)! When you have sewn the pages in, gather the ends together and fasten them together. You can either use buttons or an eyelet or a Tag likeI used here. Once you have done the pages for both sides you can sit the 2 halves together and then fasten with the thread. If you dont want to use eyelets you can again use buttons or clasps or gromlets. So there you have it, a simple and quick mini book which would look great on the coffee table, or as a gift for a special someone. Actually the first one I made was for my Grandma who has 17 great grandchildren (not including the 5 on the way this year) and so I thought it would be nice for her to have an album with them all in one place.

And I am making another for a cousin of mine who celebrated a very special birthday. The day after his 25th birthday he had a very serious motorbike accident and the doctors believed he wouldnt make it and were ready to turn off the machines. A year on and he is in rehab, learning to walk again, but he can talk and write and still has his bizzare sense of humour. There was a huge party thrown for what we called his "First Birthday" and so it is an honour to be able to make a little album like this for him so he will have the memory of his first birthday party!

I'm sorry, I got a bit emotional there.... but there you go you can see how you can use this album to make someone smile for a wedding, new baby, seasonal photos, there are unlimited possibilities!

And one more confession, I found this tutorial in a French Scrapbooking magazine and I have done this just by guess work as I dont speak French!! So I hope that my interpretation of it is easy enough for you to follow. If you have any questions give me a shout.

Thanks for joining me! Kel xx

Red white and Blue

These colours are all over the internet this month with the celebration of Independence day, and the challenge for Scrap whispers is no different. This weeks challenge is to create a layout or a card using the colours Red, White and Blue I decided to do a card this week. I used June bug papers by basic grey, then I googled Star Spangled Banner music sheet, distressed it and used it as another backing paper. Stamp is from Penny Black's Bubbly collection and has been watercoloured, the sentiment is from Basic Grey. This challenge is up til midnight on saturday and there is a fab prize up for grabs, Basic Grey "Lemonade collection"!!

One of a kind

The last scrapwhispers challenge was to create a layout with "One of a Kind" in the title. I've been thinking about this one all week, then yesterday afternoon I had a lightbulb moment and created this layout. I used a mix of K&Co "Amy Butler - Belle", Basic Grey "June Bug", DCWV "Pocket full of posies stack" papers, pearl brads and flower from papermania, the leaf flourishes are basic grey stamps that were stamped onto June Bug paper and the white lace was just from my stash. The journalling is of my wishes for my little girl, and for her to be one of a kind! The lettering for the main title are from early learning centre and papermania foam letters. I cant enter this into the challenge though as I didnt get it finished til 1am today! Oh well, there's always next week. The new challenge will be posted later today so why not have a look!

A quick birthday card

I thought I would show you the card I made for my dd's birthday last month. I used a mix of basic grey and dovecraft papers to create a garden party feel, with floral and butterfly prints. I stamped "Birthday Milly" from Pink Gem Designs and coloured her in with watercolours, and also added a little touch of pink flock to her hair ribbon and the flower on the cake. For the lettering I used alpha stickers from Basic Grey's Porcelain collection. the blue flower is from Laura Ashley and the pink flower and blue pearl brad are by papermania. On the inside of the card I stuck some basic grey paper from the Sultry collection and made some garden party bunting from an old piece of string I had laying around and some scraps of BG paper. My dd loved her card and couldnt wait to show her nursery teacher! She had a fab birthday garden party too! Enjoy your weekend kel x

And Relax..... La Dolce Vita

Last night after I got the kids to bed I actually sat down and scrapped!! Once I got into it and completed my layout I felt relief. For the past two weeks I have been snapping away with my camera and for pretty much each shot I was thinking how it could be scrapped. So mentally I can relax a bit now i've made a start. And so onto my layout which I did for Butterfly Crafts. The latest theme is Travel. I have a huge amount of travel photos from when I lived in various places across Europe, but I cant find them anywhere, (need to dig deeper in loft I think.) So I chose this photo of my dd on her 2nd birthday, looking all poolside chic on holiday in France. I chose DCWV buttercream backing cardstock, and some green DCWV c/s, then i decided to use up some scraps I had of basic grey papers, so there is a mix of Porcelain, Eva and Off Beat papers. Then I used Porcelain collection rose, frame and alpha Stickers. As usual it didnt come out as it was in my head but I really like how the papers just fit together. So now I am on a roll and much more scrapping to be done! kel x

A fab shop and blog candy

I've not posted for a bit because of being away and now I'm back I just seem to be forever trying to sort things out in the house, but I wanted to pop in and tell you about this fab shop I found on ebay. I was looking for some basic grey papers and I saw some ebay from Crafting Charlie. Very good prices and so I ordered some and the next day they were on my doorstep, I had bought 2 packs and they were individually wrapped in pink tissue paper so neatly, it was like opening a present. Its the little things that make such a difference. Any way I have bought from them a few times and everytime it has been an absolute pleasure and easy transaction (apart from one time when Paypal was messing about but they were very understanding!!!) Actually I bought from them just yesterday and I cant wait for it to arrive. So enough of my babbling, From Butterfly crafts I saw Claires blog which pointed in the direction of Crafting Charlies blog where they are giving away some My Minds Eye blog candy and it is just gorgeous! So go check it out and I can very highly recommend them so check out their shop too! I'm off now, I'm actually going to scrap today!! Yay!! I have really missed it and I cant wait to get stuck in. Take care... see you soon kel x