My babies

Hello there

Today's post is about two things. Firstly it's about a mini album I've made thanks to Carole Bryson Wood of Stampin' Up fame. I attended a class of hers at my friend's house last week and she gave us some cardstock to complete two projects.

I've just realised that I haven't blogged about the Christmas decoration we made that night, so I will rectify that situation now, albeit briefly.

The link I provided above will take you straight to Carole's blog with the instructions on how to make it. This one is slightly different as we used the gorgeous 3.5 in scalloped tulle ribbon in cherry cobbler colour- item number 127841 if you want to order some! Hey, maybe I should become a demo! :-)

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Anyway, back on track Diane!

The mini album is really dinky and cute. The papers I used aren't really relevant to the subject of the photos; our two cocker spaniels but this album is a prototype for me, so I learnt some things along the way but still want to use the album.

The reason I chose photos of the dogs is that the poor little mites are at Cheshire Dogs' Home at the moment being neutered and micro chipped. It's so weird in the house without them and I keep thinking of them as they were led away from me to the kennels to wait for the operation. They'll be recovering by now. I do hope they're ok. Whenever the phone rings, I dash to the phone, as they said they might call us earlier than the collect time of 3 to 4.30p.m if they were stressed. The only stupid people on the phone are recorded messages from banks about claiming back PPI!! Sooo annoying, especially today.

For something different, I've made a video for you to watch,showing some of the stages of the project.

I'll try to remember to let you know how the boys got on. I've loved making the album and looking at the photos of the boys, so it's been a good day so far.

Take care out there

because I can

Hello there

I've been inspired quite strongly by Heidi Swapp this year and her feelings on giving her kids stuff to help them remember their growing up; take pride in their achievements and for her to remember too. Kids love looking at photos of themselves too, especially small, cute ones. Rosemary Merry has also started doing shows on Create and Craft tv and because she runs a fairly local craft shop and I've met her on a retreat I went to which she runs regularly, I like to watch her. I also like to watch her because she does fun projects. One in particular which appealed was a mini album made with just one sheet of 12x12inch paper. One night during the week after seeing that a crafty friend Sally Anne had made one of these albums, I just grabbed a sheet of 12 x 12 and started folding and cutting. Hey presto, I had the starting of an album within very few minutes. I had done it without the instructions in front of me, so it's not perfect by any means but it was definitely usable.

Photo courtesy of Sally Anne

I pretty soon realised what I was going to use it for; an album of good events my daughter has enjoyed this year. I found some great stickers too which ironically enough came from the retreat I went to with Rosemary's Crabapplecrafts shop and a heart from a very old stationary pack Maggie was given.

Since taking this shot I've inked round the edges
but you get the idea

Once you've put the album together, you glue on some ribbon to form the closure. The ribbon is some hanger ribbon from an item of clothing Maggie bought recently and it's perfect for this project. To form a tidy cover and to give the album a sturdier feel, use two pieces of card slightly larger than the initial album and glue them over the album.


I cut some pieces of card to the right size to fit in slots in the top and sides of some of the pages and stapled short pieces of ribbon to them, to make it easy to move them in and out of place to read the journalling on them.


As you can see, I don't have a circle punch to make
the half-circle cut outs tidy and I was doing it
in a hurry late at night. It was only meant to be
a practice run but I decided to keep it

I selected nine photos and printed them at 3.5 x 4.5cm on my printer's software, which makes the whole thing so easy. I glued them in and then decided to add some stamping on the pages and the journalling inserts. I used some Debbi Moore tag stamps which were perfect for what I wanted.

I'm really happy with how quickly this came together and how it looks. I must do these more often for different occasions and for different people.
I hope it gives my daughter a keepsake to help her remember her youth, when she's alot older.

Take care out there