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!  😀

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In order to enter the Land of the Fae, you must come with the RIGHT KEY. ~ Tag Art part 4 ~ a Pictorial Tutorial!

The finished Tag.
This one is so easy that the steps to make it are all done in photographs.
(yes – it’s THAT easy!)

Another tag art tutorial,  – and this one is so easy that I’ve done all the ‘instructions’ by photographs, and just adding a note or two if I felt I needed to.

Remember … your own finished tag might look totally different to mine:  you might not have butterflies in mind, but baking or tool sheds.  You might want to do a tag about caravans or sewing, or fishing or cooking … or just about anything.  It’s not the things I’m using or the colours or even the tag shape or size.  This is more about how to pull a tag together.  The steps.  The ideas.  Sort of like a flow chart.

If, after seeing the picture tutorial you feel that you want to make a tag with the same ‘feel’ or similar colours etc etc – then you can get your own stuff together and come back and look at the pictures again as you make your own tag if it helps you to put things in order.  However – I’ll tell you the things I’ve used to make this tag, as we go along, so that if you want to make one like it, or like a particular colour or ‘thing’, then you’ll have the information to get that ‘thing’.

Shall we start?  OH... and remember … it’s Tag Art – it’s not brain surgery.  No one is going to test you on it, or even mark your results to see if you’ve passed the test.  It’s just a bit of fun,  . . .  and you might make something you love so much that you’ll want to frame it and put it on your wall.  Or make it the main attraction on the front of your next handmade card!   (Who knows … you might end up being the next big mixed media artist of the art world!)

A NOTE ABOUT PINFLAIR GENTLE BLENDS:     If you haven’t used  Gentle Blends before –  I can highly recommend them.  But .. don’t ‘dab’ up too much paint as it goes a long way with just a little medium.  The open pots (see the top right for an open one) have the medium in the base and a sponge on the top which soaks up the medium and that’s where you gently and sparingly dab your sponge to pick up the medium and put it on your project.

I coloured the whole of the tag in Teal.      The little off white patches that you see on the tag are where the tag picked up some glue off my glass mat.  Don’t worry about things like that – they kind of add to the charm of a tag.  But .. if you hate it, then you could gently rub the area where the glue is with an emery board to remove the glue.  Failing that .. stick something on top of the glue and hide it.  No one will ever know it was there!

Another colour  … blended in a sort of oval around but leaving the central part of the tag still teal.

More Gentle Blends:  this time in ‘Denim’.  It’s a lovely colour,  and a little darker, and slightly warmer than the two other colours.  The idea here (all the different colours)  is that you’re drawing the eye into the centre.  You’re giving the ‘view’ of looking into somewhere lovely … somewhere like … a woodland fairy glade.

Now remember … although I’ve embossed using a Sheena Douglass embossing folder (shown here with a bit of dark card inside it so that you can see the whole of the embossing ‘picture’ that’s available on this folder) – you might not have that particular folder, so use something which will ‘go’ with your own project.  A tree.  A fish.  A window.  Some flowers.  Whatever you have, use that.

BUT .. if you don’t have an embossing machine then that’s fine too!  You could use stickers.  Add some stickers in the right places – but don’t go crazy with them.  You don’t want to over-crowd your tag.  Three/four/five stickers would probably be fine.

OR…  if you don’t have stickers  –  then use  pencil/pens/markers – and draw something which ‘goes’ with the theme of your tag.

Not too much warm brown … just enough.  Don’t muddy the colours you’ve already got there.

Be very sparing with black on your tag (Unless your tag is a dark, deep looking tag which you’re going to put brighter colours on top of).

Black can turn a card into something way different from you started out making.  So keep stopping and checking.  Pick up your tag and hold it at arm’s length.  Squint at it (half close your eyes)  if it helps you to see it in a sort of ‘detached’ view.

A photo looking ‘across’ the tag so that you can see a little of the depth to the embossing.

 

But, I hear you ask…  “What if I don’t have any gilding wax?”  …

No problem.    Find some paints or ink pads or even water-colour pencils – anything which will allow you to pick up colour on your finger – and put a tiny bit of either paint, or chosen colour of ink pad, or water-colour pencil (which you’ve added the water from a barely damp brush to),  on a glass mat, or blending mat, or heat/glue resistant mat – …   – and then using your ring finger (ring finger because it gives the lightest ‘tap’), tap a little of your coloured medium onto your finger and gently either dab or stroke it onto the tag where you want the colour to be.

‘Metal’  –    I missed the word ‘metal’  from the above – it should have read ‘with a larger, vintage looking, metal butterfly’.

Another reminder:  If you’re doing a tag about golf or fishing or baking or sewing or … well whatever your tag is themed around – then use the eyelet hole to attach a fishing rod; golf club (mini one not a big one silly! lol);  rolling-pin or something bakery themed; sewing machine embellishment etc etc etc.

A close up of the key and the brad holding the key in place.

The two extra tags … I’d printed out some words which I die cut with a free set of three dies which I’d got with a magazine about a year or so ago.  I die cut the words on the white paper,  using the medium sized die;  and then cut a tag in brown card using the largest die.

I blended some of the teal Pinflair Gentle Blends – this was from the teal remaining on the sponge (I didn’t add any extra), around the outside of the white tag and then glued the white tag to the larger brown.

I worked out where the hole for the brad and key had to go and once I’d ‘threaded’ the key onto the brad and pushed it through the star eyelet hole, I then popped the glued together tags onto the back and opened the ‘wings’ of the brad behind them so that everything was held together, but the tags were able to move freely and so could be opened and closed behind the big tag.

close up of the tags, so that you can read the words.

Almost finished!  . . . 

twit twoo!

Finished!

I’ve taken this last photograph without the flash so that you could see the details all together ‘as one’.

If you saw it with the naked eye, it glints and twinkles and actually does have something magical about it, which kind of makes your eye dance across the tag from one place to another.

I so hope that these ‘pointers’ are helping anyone who has some doubts about making tag art.  There really isn’t anything to it.  You just have to remind yourself that it’s only a tag and if you make a mistake … it’s not a mistake.  It’s a happy accident which happened because something is trying to tell you to use that ‘happy accident’ as a kind of road sign and telling you to go ‘this’ way.

Thank you so much for coming and for having a read.  Take a look around while you’re here!

Have a truly fabulous rest of your day.  Happy Crafting all!

 

 

 

Life is a Journey .. not a Destination. ~ A vintage style handmade card

 

Life is a Journey, not a Destination.

This post is dedicated to Stacey, a fellow blogger on WordPress, who came up with a brilliant idea of promoting other crafting blogs in posts.  Stacey very kindly mentioned my blog (with a link) and other crafters blogs that I hadn’t seen before  – which was enough to tell me that I too should take up her idea and promote crafters blogs on my own blog here. 

So, since Stacey came up with the idea, I am firstly promoting her blog (link below) and dedicating this post  – and this card  –  to Stacey. 

Stacey’s blog can be found here:  http://staceyscorner.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/share-sunday/  ~ go and take a look and maybe even click to follow her.

To Stacey,   a dedicated blog post and card,  for an amazing idea!  ~ from Cobs.

. . . join me on a journey through this card . . .

 

Every few days/weeks  … now and again … I’ll make what I call a ‘labour intensive’ card.  One of those cards which takes more time than the regular cards you’ve so far seen me post here.  This card – ‘Life is a Journey, not a Destination’, is one of those cards.

It’s not that these types of cards are difficult, they just take a little more thinking and working out so that you end up with the ‘feel’ that you started out knowing you wanted.  This particular card was inspired by a piece of wall art which I have hung in my bedroom, facing my bed.  It’s an iron framed rectangle with a piece of calico strung in the centre and printed on the calico are the words Life is a Journey, not a Destination, and that’s what gave me the theme for the card.

I wanted the card to have a vintage style, with a slightly ‘steampunkery’ feel to it – but at the same time I knew I wanted it to carry a message,  and wanted the message to be read as either literal or spiritual, depending on who the card ended up with, and the circumstances they were in within their life, at that time.  And ... I think I’ve managed it.

This card could be for someone who’s:-  moving house;  going on a cruise or going abroad;  it could be a simple regular birthday card (for either a man or a woman);  it could be for someone who’s starting a new job;  or perhaps for a person who needs some encouragement;  maybe some tests soon?;  or … it could be given to someone who is going through some sort of personal challenge or challenging time, and this card would be a gentle, loving way of saying that they’re going to get through this time and move on to a better place or time.

I’ll give you a list of everything I used to make this card at the end of the post, because I don’t want anyone to look at the list and think that they couldn’t make a card like this.  I might have different stash to you, and I might have different cardstock; dies; ink pads; glues etc etc … but I’m pretty sure you will have things in your stash that you could use to pull a card like this or similar together.  Just because the list of stuff I’ve used might look long – please don’t be put off.  If you want to make something like this, go and look at your stash.  You’d be surprised what you can use in order to make your own style of card.

For now .. I’ll just give you different photos of the card so that you can see things closer up….

Up up and away!  . . .

A  (working)  compass  to help you keep you going in the right direction . . .

 

 

Time passes quickly, –  so some gentle encouragement to enjoy the beauty of every moment.

 

 

As followers and readers of my blog know  …  I LOVE to put surprises inside all the cards I make.  I feel that the inside of a card is just so wasted and such a let down when you open a birthday/Christmas or any other time card, and find a big white space with a little bit of writing. 

I like cards to be beautiful inside and out and surprise the receiver when they open their card! . . . 

 

Oooo…  I wonder what the magnifying glass is for?!   ;D 

OOhh .. another surprise!   ..  now we have a lucky wish star and a ticket which gives me ‘entitlement’ to one wish!    But .. what the devil is that magnifying glass for???

 

Ah haaaa!  . . .   It’s so you can read the page from the dictionary/thesaurus!  Ok .. one mystery solved,  . . .   but  … what’s that pink ticket by the end of the handle?

 

 

Ah haaaa!  . . .  mystery number two solved!  (Just call me Sherlock.  lol)

Oh, and by the way  … the postcard inside . . .  is for you to write your message on, for the person you’re sending the card to!  See?  It all makes sense!

And that  . . . (photo above)  . . .   is the just finished card, stood on a glass cutting mat, on my desk …  and that’s all my  mess  important, essential, fabulous, well organised   {cough}  equipment and tools behind the card.  (I’ll clean it up properly at some point, so that I can take a photograph of my craft room and share it.)

 

The Recipe for this card:  I used:

• Sheena Douglass – Little Bit Sketchy – Magnifying glass stamp.
• Papermania Acetate (for the ‘window’ of the magnifying glass)
• Papermania Black Embossing Powder
• Stazon ‘Saddle Brown’ ink pad
•      ”       ‘Jet Black’ ink pad
• Memento Dye Ink Pad in ‘Desert Sand’
•      ”               ”            ”     in ‘Rich Cocoa”
• Xcut Build-a-Scene Dies – Vintage Hot Air Balloon
• Heartfelt Creations 12×12 pad – which I used some of the images from.
• Spellbinders ‘Once upon a Time’ Die
• Tattered Lace ‘Postcards’ Die set
• Heartfelt Creations ‘Time Sentiments’ stamp
•         ”               ”          ‘Journey Sentiments’ stamp
• Pinflair Gentle Blends – in Denim colour
•       ”            ”            ”      –  in Dark Khaki colour
• Graph It Glitter Ink Pen
• Compass – was in a pack of 4 I bought a while ago, from the children’s section of either Asda or Tesco.
• Dictionary page was cut from an old Dictionary/Thesaurus which was no longer used.
• Cardstock used:
• Warm Chocolate Brown 300gsm
• Plain Black 270gsm
• Orange – was scrap from my scrap draw
• White – 270gsm
• Kraft Card – 300gsm
• Extras:
• 2 x short lengths of silver-grey Rayon Seam Binding.
• Grey and white Bakers Twine
• 3 x fuzzy, funky fibre, Eyelash Knitting Yarn/Wool –  1 x length of warm brown.  1 x  length of jet black.  1 x length of a blues and purples mix.
• One tiny metal vintage looking Postcard embellishment.

And that’s all there is to it!  😀

Aw, please don’t be daunted by the apparently long list of ingredients for this recipe.   I’ve named almost everything I used here just to be helpful to anyone who wants to know where I got a particular thing, or the make of the papers or dies etc,  (named everything apart from glue .. but if you need to know:  I used Collall All Purpose, Anita’s Tacky Glue, hot glue, and Double Sided Tape) – but I bet you use tons of stuff when you craft a card and you don’t even notice what you’re using anymore.  It’s just all  … ‘stuff’ … which is treasured and loved,  and there because you use it!

Thank you so much for coming to read.  I hope you like the card!  Oh … and don’t forget to visit Stacey’s blog!

Please have a look around my blog here and check out the different categories.  There’s a list of them all in the column over to the right, – you’ll find the list of categories towards the top of that column.

Have a truly beautiful rest of your day!  ~