Just Believe Christmas Memory Book

I loved the tags in the KaiserCraft Just Believe line and thought a little Christmas book would be a great way to use them.  As I got started, I found that there were lots of things about this line that worked well in this book, like the reverse side of the labels made great embellishments.  I found so many other embellishments that that I ended up only using a few tags.  I think this would be a great gift for a grandmother.  Just add a few pictures of the kids at Christmas.

The covers and all pages were made with  5” x 8” Tim Holtz Idea-ology Grungeboard, although any chipboard would work just as well.     

To make the covers, cut the Grungeboard to 5” x 7 ½”.  Affix the desired paper to both sides the Grungeboard using a glue stick and a brayer.  After affixing paper, cut the edges with the Tim Holtz Sizzix On the Edge

Scallops die.  (It has two edges and I made the front cover with one and the back with the other producing designs that were different but coordinated.)

 I also used the Grungeboard for the pages, but again chipboard would work.  For pages, heavy cardstock would work.  The pages are  5” x 6 ½” and the paper is applied with glue stick and brayer. 

 Decorating the pages can be done anyway you like.  I decorated each page with a variety of items – journaling items, tag, buttons, bows, die cuts, even the reverse side of the paper label .  I made a fun embellishment for the cover with Spellbinders Spectacular Spin die and a center of Peeled Paint Stickles.  These are really fun to make. See blog for December 7^th to learn more about this.  On each page, I created photo corners with the Martha Stewart Crafts Embossed Punch and affixed them so I could add pictures later. (This makes it really easy if you give the book to someone who is not a crafter.) Once all pages were decorated, I punched holes in each page and used a binder ring to hold together.  On the top outside ring, add  three charms from the BoBunny Rejoice button set on Tim Holtz Charm Clasps.  Tie ribbon between each charm on top ring and on the bottom ring.  Tie ribbon to the rings between each page so the pages lay better. 

For those that want to make one, just like the one on display at ScrapbooksPlus, I’ve included a list of what I used for each page. Except for the items listed below all of the items are from the KaiserCraft Just Believe .  I loved the reverse side of the label strips on this paper and used some of them as embellishments for the book.  The items used that are not part of the KaiserCraft line are: Turquoise Metallic paper, ribbon (red & cream) and buttons, all of which are available at ScrapbooksPlus. 

Part of the fun is using leftovers and having fun so this should be just a guide. 

 

	Paper	Photo Corners	Photo Mat	Embellishments
Front Cover	Winter	N/A		Snowflake square; inked with Silver IncaGold
Inside Front Cover	Starlight	Keepsakes	4” x 6” Keepsakes	Tag w/cream ribbon
Page 2	Starlight	Magic		Friends & Family formed with letter stickers; Snow tag  with cream ribbon inside Snowflake square.
Pages 3 & 4	Wish List	Magic		Strip from Hymm paper; Button
Pages 5 & 6	Remember	Hymm		Poinsettas made with Tim Holtz tattered poinsetta die and Magic paper; Tag; Buttons (leftovers); Tree made with letter stickers
Page 7	Remember	Turquoise Metallic		A small and large tag on left side with cream bow. Strip from Magic paper.
Inside back cover	Winter	Turquoise Metallic	4x 5 ½ Remember	Strip from Magic paper. Tag with cream ribbon horizontal in right corner.
Back Cover	Wish List	N/A	N/A	Snowflake square, Tag, Button

Mini Coffin Boxes (for Candy, Gift Cards or Other Small Items

Last blog, I described how I made a coffin candy dish.  I was so enthused that  also made a set of mini coffin gift boxes.  I started with a cute set of paper mache coffins.  Although my goal was to cover them with paper, I found you couldn’t close them once you did, so I covered all of the coffins except the part of the lid that goes over the edge of the bottom and the part of the bottom that is covered by the lid.  I painted the inside edges of the lid and the outside edges of the bottom.  It is good to paint the edge of the lip on both so if your paper doesn’t quite make it to the edge then it looks great.  Then you simply cover the remaining surfaces.  I affixed the paper with Ranger’s new Glue n’seal.  (If you need tips on this see blog from 10/7.)  The 6” x 6” pad of paper works great on these small coffins as the designs are smaller.  

Each of my coffins is made with different papers and I used a few of my favorite techniques to add a little extra.  Here’s a few of the extras, I used.

 

• I added a stripe of black glitter all around the outside of a coffin decorated with black and white paper.  This is really easy.  Put a 1/8” strip of InkEssentials Wondertape around the outside of the box.  Remove the tape on the other side and roll the coffin in Stickles Black Diamond Dry Fine Glitter.  Even if you don’t like using glitter with glue, try this technique.  You get perfectly straight lines.  And to make it even better if you don’t like getting glitter on things, ScapbooksPlus has a cloth that picks up all the pieces of this glitter.

• On a coffin lid that was covered with  the small version of reverse side of Grey Damask paper (from the 6 x 6 pad), I put little dots in each diamond with Orange Peel Stickles on the top and along the lip of the lid.I glued a strip of small ribbon  around the lip of the lid on one. 

• I stamped a skull using Stampers Anonymous Tm Holtz Stamps Mini Blueprints CMS 136 inside the lid of one.  (Check out this stamp set.  It include four stamps for each Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

• I stamped the spider web from the Mini Blueprints on a piece of solid paper.  I tore the edges, glue it to another piece of paper, tore the edges and glued to the top of a coffin. 

• One that I thought turned out well, I distressed the lid.  After painting it black, I sanded it and inked it with Forest Moss Distress ink, which made it look old. (The top of the lid and inside bottom were covered with paper, so it was just the edge of the lid that was distressed.  On the bottom of this coffin, I used stickers from the Alpha Sticker sheets.  (This sticker sheet is fabulous – it has all kinds of things, letters, words, and insects.)

The final  step was sealing the surfaces by painting the entire coffin inside and out with Glue n’seal. 

I really had fun with these and didn’t want to stop making them.  Everyone I know may be getting a coffin for Halloween.  Your options are almost endless.  You could make all your coffins with the same paper, but add different accents.  You can make them with different papers, but the same colors.  Or you could make them all with the same accents.  One option I didn’t use was adding rhinestones or buttons.  I encourage you to  make some coffins! Now that’s something I never expected to say.

Birthday Pictures Make & Take

This week’s Make & Take will help you scrap those many birthday pictures you have. The fun design and bright colors make it perfect for boys or girls of any age. Stop by the store on Wednesday to get all the products you need and the instructions to make this fun layout using Basic Grey’s Life of the Party Line. Your free element is a birthday cake with icing.

Paradise by Esther

Aloha. The Bo Bunny papers are so colorful and exciting with the stars and red patterns that they were meant for the page map. Some of the motifs reminded me of the hibiscus and Hawaii. For this layout, I chose a solid blue Bazzill as the base with three & 3/4" x 12" of Avocado green from the BoBunny green dots page adhered 1/2" above the bottom. The gray textured paper was added to the right using 3" x 10" under the title. I overlapped a portion of the other side of Picnic at the bottom with a concave circle line. That way the colorful flowers and stars were shown.

The pictures were mounted to show the red stripe and the flowers on the Picnic pattern and corners rounded with the Chomper Corner Rounder. Block Party Picnic was used to obtain the flower that was adhered to chipboard with a white center and copper Stickles. Also two orchids by Prima were attached with the acrylic worded base allowing the colors to show.

Stickers: Mrs. Grossman's (Hawaiian shirt, thongs & lei) and the Block Party letters & Honolulu by Stamping Station. A red and white circle of a star design was added from the sticker sheet. A transparency was printed and cut for the journaling. It is anchored under the other elements at top and the thongs at bottom. This was a fun page that highlighted a fun memory of Honolulu. Aloha until my next entry.

Christmas Flora by Esther

This layout was highlighting flowers that were sent to two aunts last year for Christmas. Each aunt took pictures as the amaryllis bulbs grew to produce large red blooms for the holidays. The pictures were different sizes & orientations and were not fitting the layout.

I attempted to get balance and unity by cropping the picutres and mounting them on solid cardstock. All of the corners were rounded. They were then placed on a patterned paper.

The letters for Flora are fabric letters by American Crafts that were made green with a copic marker. A red & green Copic markers were used to color in the rubber stamped poinseittia at bottom left. At the top of the layout, I used Sticles to give gold lettering on a transparent sheet. It was attaced to solid cardstock with brads. This was like writing with cake frosting. The Stickles had to flow onto the transparency. The hardest part was waiting for it ot dry.

When you have pictures that are different in size to combine on a layout, look for ways to unify them to fit the theme.Recording the memory was more important than having all the pictures the same size.

"The Color Purple" Mini-Album by Esther

When you want to send something special to a friend, try the collage method on a shaped mini-album. I used a round tin to make a momento of a trip to New York. The trip was to go see the Broadway Play, "The Color Purple", so it was a given to use that color throughout the mini-album. The ticket stubs and other things from the trip collected were saved with this in mind. I found a tiny plate with New York at Scrapbooks Plus to add. There are plates for all states at the front of the store.

The personalized journaling was done on the computer and a faux ticket was made in just the size needed to show the sentiment. Vellum shapes were punched to overlap the papers.

The circles were formed using chipboard pieces that were covered with solid color cardstock in shades of lavender and purple. While gluing the chipboard together, a 3" piece of ribbon was used to glue between the pieces to fold for an accordion effect.

The pictures & playbill were printed in a smaller size to fit the circles. The memorabilia is glued on both sides of the circles. Remember to cut the shapes smaller than the tin, so they willo have room to fold with the ribbons.

I had to add bling to at least one page. The glitter paper & papers were adhered with red line tape to make sure there would be a good adhesion after being handled several times.Small dabs of glitter were added to pages using Stickles.

A 7" ribbon is used on each of the end circles for tying the mini-album together. It was placed into a decorated tin to make ready for gifting. What a personal gift to remember a special occasion.