Embrace Life; Live in the Moment ~ A Mini Album from scratch!

I’m a scrapbooker, card maker, Melt Pot Marveller; Polymer Clay player … oh! and all sorts of other things – but I’d never made a mini album before.  But …  I decided to make one for my lovely parcel delivery lady.  She’s the best delivery person I’ve ever had, and I really appreciate her for who she is; her kindness; her concern, and how brilliantly she does her job.  She goes that extra mile – and nowadays it’s difficult to find someone who does this in their job! I love her to pieces for being so wonderful.  (… and yes, I have told her this, whilst giving her a hug).

She said some weeks ago, that she’d love a card or something I’d made – “just for me.  Just for myself”.  So I put my thinking cap on and thought about what I could make for her which gave a nod to all the things I knew she liked.  I wanted something which would have a theme of travelling – she is my parcel delivery lady after all, and she does a LOT of travelling – both in her job and because her family is spread over many miles.  But I wanted an album which could be for all those things plus:  Day trips with her family.  Holidays.  Moments in the car.  Things she’s seen while she was out and about, and snapped a photo of with the camera on her phone.  The Journey of Life in general.  (it could even be about her job if she wanted it to be).

I chose the papers ‘Celebrate the Journey’, which are made by one of my favourite paper crafting & rubber stamp companies:  Heartfelt Creations and various other bits and pieces which you’ll see in the following photos.

To begin with – I had to make the pages of the album on which I could work. 

Being the recycler that I am, I turned to my re-cycling box to find some stiff card which I could use to form the base for the pages.  I knew I wanted them to be firm – almost like thin wood, – but I also wanted them to be able to have a slight ‘bendibility’ to them, which would accommodate embellishments on the pages.  And this is how I made those base pages:

A HUUGE box of chocolates which was bought for Christmas last year.   I saved the box as I knew that it would come in handy for something at some point.  (I was right!) 😀

Took the sides off the lid and base, then cut out the sizes I needed for my pages.

Glued some craft card to the re-cycled card, to make it rigid, then trimmed to size.

Once made, I scored down each page, to ensure that the pages all had a little ‘bendability’ to them, in order to accommodate any thick embellishments which I might add to the pages

Once the pages had been constructed it was time to decorate.

I’m not going to talk you through how to decorate a page because we all decorate differently,  –  so I’ll just walk with you through the pages and you can look at the finished book as if I’d handed it to you.

The front of the album

close up of the handmade maps, the ‘Embrace Life’ ticket, brass postcard etc.

another ticket; another map – rolled up and tied with bakers twine; a metal embellishment: a butterfly.

Pages 2 and 3. The little ‘blueish’  tag holder, on the left hand page, actually opens. It has a magnetic catch which keeps it closed. You can open it by gently pulling on the silver dragon fly hanging on the silver chain.

The little ‘book’ opens, and the tags are pulled out slightly from the hidden pocket.

page 3.   —  (the tags do slide out of the pocket).

pages 4 and 5

Page 4. All the tags are removable from the pockets, and you can either write / journal on the back of them, or stick photographs to the tags. You can of course attach photo’s to the book page, and glue notes, or journaling, or even glue a tag to the page!  The little framed map is actually a photo frame.  You and insert a photograph into the frame from the top.  The map is a section I cut from a larger map.  It’s a map of somewhere which means something to Mrs. Delivery Lady and her family.

Page 5

Pages 6 and 7. —  Spaces for journaling,  or:-  glueing  tickets;  receipts;  maps; mementos of a trip or journey – or even a sweet wrapper which brings back a memory!

Page 6.  I hand stamped the bicycle onto the backing paper and then added the hot air balloon, which I die cut from an X-cut die and added the swing tag, which reads:  ‘Life – The Great Adventure’.

Page 7. A pocket full of tags, and a photograph frame (the heart) – which has a journaling tag which you pull out and write details about the photo.

… page 7 … what’s behind the tags? …. now you can see for yourself!

It was at this point that I wanted to put a little fun  . . .  my delivery lady has a huge sense of fun and she and her daughter love anything to do with fairies – so naturally …  it had to be Fairy inspired!   . . . .

Pages 8 and 9 …. and . . . . AND . . . ‘The Pocket of Secrets!’

 

In order to enter the realm of the fae, … one must come with the right key!
Can you pick out the right key?

The Pocket of Secrets.
. . . can you guess what’s inside?

. . . .   a key,  . . . .  and  . . . .   captured and sealed behind resin and attached to a metal charm, a KEY!   … and there beside it is ….  a the tiniest vial of Fairy Dust!

page 9.
What’s behind the Fairy Doors? . . . .

A tiny peep behind the Fairy Doors!

There’s a BIG tag behind the doors …. ‘Believe’  –  well do you?  ….  Do you see the tiny wish Bone? (it’s not a paper cut out, nor is it made from card or such like!)  …  ah,  but you can only make a wish if you truly believe, otherwise … how is your wish supposed to come true?

Pages 10 and 11 ~ Somewhere to add notes, mementos,  and somewhere to add photographs and memories.

page 10  –  “A photograph is like a recipe.  It’s a memory of the finished dish.”  —   This is a removable photo book within the mini album! The whole of this smaller photo book can actually be removed from the album, and even, if need be, every page can be individually removed, to be written on or something glued to it etc. It’s a clever little detail which I loved!

Pages of the smaller photo book. Each page has a section where the story of the photograph which will be attached below it, can be written.

The little photo book is completely removable.

Hidden tags.

And that brings us to the back of the mini album…. 

I thoroughly enjoyed making this mini album – although it took me a handful of weeks to complete due to poor health.  I’ve been suffering with a chronic sinus infection which has, most days, totally wiped me off my feet.  My delivery lady knew that I was making something for her, and was so patient.  She never asked once about it.  I finally got to give the album to her last weekend, and I know that she’s been waiting for me to post photographs of the album on my blog here, so that she could tell her friends to come and take a peep at it.

So a big   ‘HELLOoooo’   to all new readers and fabulous friends of my delivery lady!

I know that my delivery lady will see that some of the photographs here might be missing tiny little details which are actually on the album in real life.  This was because I added little touches to the album after I’d taken these photo’s.

For those who might like to make something similar, or may be wondering about something I’ve used in the making of the mini, I add a list of the items and products used:

• Heartfelt Creations 12×12 Celebrate the Journey papers.
•       ”                   ”         Timeless Clock stamp
•       ”                   ”          Celebrate the Journey Sentiments stamps
•       ”                   ”          Time Sentiments stamps
•       ”                   ”          World Map stamp
•       ”                    ”         Bike Stamp
  
• Spellbinders (for Heartfelt Creations) Once Upon a Time Die
• Brass Postcard embellishment
• Assorted Brads
• Dragonfly Metal Embellishment
• Resin Blue Butterfly
• Papermania ‘All Aboard’ Kraft Luggage Tags
• Crafters Companion Stick and Spray
• Crafters Companion Spray and Shine
• Anita’s Clear Gloss
• Graph ‘it Glitter Gold Shake it Pen
•    ”           ”      Silver    ”     ”  Pen
• Pigma Micron 01 Archival Ink Pen
• Assorted ink pads – Memento;  Tim Holtz;  Staz-on
• Map cut from an old(ish) British map book
• Tonic Header Dies
• Tonic Corner Dies
• Tonic Fairy die.
• Creative Expressions Gilding Waxes – Greens, Blues, Lavender.
  
• Pinflair Gentle Blends in various colours (Denim, Teal,
• Ranger Melting Pot
• Dovecraft Ric Rac in Black
• seam binding / glitter ribbon / string / silk ribbon / Bakers Twine – used for ties, tags, bows and decorations etc.
• Kraft/craft card
• Black ‘Linen effect’ card
• Tim Holtz Idealology metal  keyhole
• Ranger Stickles in various colours
• Spellbinders Die  D-lites ~ Birds Scroll.
• Sheena Douglass embossing folder
• Assorted tags – both bought and hand cut, but all decorated and adorned by me.
• Resin birds in flight.

…… and various other bits and pieces which I’ve probably forgotten to add to this list. 

If there’s anything you can see in the photo’s which I haven’t mentioned in the above list, but you want to know about it, please just ask in a comment.  I’m more than happy to help.  If there’s a certain something in the photographs which you’ve spotted and need to know how I did something etc etc  … again, please feel free to ask.  I’m not one of those people who won’t share things.  I’m more than happy to help fellow crafters – just leave a question in the comment section and I promise to reply.

Thank you SO much for stopping by and taking the time to read and have a look at the photographs.

Finally … a message to my lovely delivery lady …  I’m sorry it’s taken me a week to get these photo’s onto my blog.  I’m being invaded by germs!  eeeeeeeek!  But I got there in the end.  😉

Have a truly lovely weekend everyone.  Me?  I’m too blessed to be stressed about being so poorly, so I’ll carry on carrying on!  😀