Scrapbooking – The Art of Cobwebs

Now we are 5. A Super-Hero Mini Album!

Now we are 5 no2

It was my much adored Grandsons 5th Birthday a few weeks ago. We weren’t able to go to his special Birthday party on the day of his Birthday so we (Grandad and I) decided we would surprise him with ‘Birthday Party 2 – The Return!‘ at our home the day after his Birthday. (Why have I never had two Birthday party’s? I obviously just wasn’t cute enough).

Now we are 5 no1 — The ‘spine’ of the mini album, and the Spiderman tag (made using two Tim Holtz charms (thick, plastic, shaped pieces, much like you find Keyrings made from. I chose 2 rounds from an assortment).

We took tons of party photographs and I decided that I would make a Mini Scrapbook album to put all the photographs in.

I made him an album just before he started big school, all about the things he did with Grammy and Grandad in the summer before his first day at school. He absolutely LOVES the album. He loves to look through the photographs, pull out the tags and gets me to read them to him, and basically enjoy all the moments or occasions, which are pictured in the album, all over again. So it was a no brainer that I would have to make him another mini to house all the photos of his ‘5th Birthday Party 2 – The Return!‘.

The ‘plan’ was that I wanted to make the mini album as if he’d actually been sat there with me as I made it, choosing everything that went inside himself. So this meant that I had to think like a 5-year-old boy. Those of you who are followers or have read my blog posts before, know that I’d have no trouble thinking like a 5 year old. (I admit it. I never really grew up).

The following photographs are of the pages and tags, photo books, magnetic bits, openings, fun stuff … etc… and, I have to warn you, this post is VERY photograph heavy. Because of this I’ll keep the talking to a minimum so that you’re not here all day reading my yammering on!

Now we are 5 no2

The name of the Birthday Boy is all jumbled up on the front there …. he really wasn’t christened with a gobbledygook name.

Now we are 5 pages 1 and 2 — *Tags from pages one and two*

Now we are 5 pages 3 and 4 — *pages 3 and 4*

Now we are 5 pages 3 and 4 open — *Magnetic ‘book’ on page 3, … a hidden tag from page 4, … and a photograph ‘frame’ with a sliding out photo mat and room for notes on the back of it.*

Now we are 5 page 4 — Close up of page 4 so that you can read everything. One of the ‘presents’ we bought for his Birthday was a Spiderman costume – hence the speech bubble which says: “Like the Suit? It comes with the job”. I’ll pop a photograph of Mr. Birthday Boy wearing his Spiderman Costume into that sliding out photo frame so it will make sense.

The long shiny black bit to the far right of the photographs is where the Birthday Boys name is. I die cut all the letter of his name – twice. Once in blue and once in red (Super Hero colours) and fixed them in place so that his name read ‘down’ that black bit. But for the purposes of sharing this mini album on the internet, I blacked out his name. (I’m a protective Grammy)

Now we are 5 pages 5 and 6 — *pages 5 and 6*

Now we are 5 pages 5 tags — *Tags from the pocket on page 5*

Now we are 5 pages 6a tags — *Tags & photo mats from the pocket on page 6.*

Now we are 5 pages 6b tags — *the other side of the tags from page 6. All the tags and photo-mats in the album are all doubled sided.*

Now we are 5 pages 7 and 8 — *pages 7 and 8 of the **‘Now We are 5’** mini album.*

Now we are 5 pages 7 tags — *tags and photo-mats from page 7*

Now we are 5 pages 7 tags close up of embossing — *I love to emboss the edges of some of the tags with this ‘deckled’ twinkly style of embossing. It kind of adds a dimension to them.*

Now we are 5 pages 8 — *close up of page 8. That ‘POW’ is a magnetic fold out book for photos*

Now we are 5 pages 8 open magnetic book — *page 8 with the magnetic book opened.*

Now we are 5 pages 8 front of tag — *A hidden tag.*

The poem written on this tag (above) holds such a special meaning to me. My Grandson has Cerebral Palsy. It affects different children in different ways, and for my Grandson it affects his speech to some degree, educationally to a degree, and his walking. He can walk, but he falls over a lot and has trouble walking very far. He suffers dreadful pain in his legs – and has to have injections into his calf muscles to try to help with this and also to relax the muscles in his legs so that walking is made a little easier. He has some other problems too, because of this condition. This is the reason why this poem means so much to me, and why it catches me in my throat whenever I read it.

Now we are 5 pages 8 back of tag — *the back of the poem tag*

Now we are 5 pages 9 and 10 — *pages 9 and 10*

That big spiders web you can see on page 10, is one I drew on, using an embossing pen. I then embossed it with Tonic Silver embossing powders (because their silver is the best I’ve ever found), and try as I might I couldn’t seem to get a photo to show up how much that spiders web shines!

Now we are 5 pages 9 tags — *tags and photo mats from the pockets on page 9*

Now we are 5 pages 10 a — *page 10 has a magnetic fold out booklet, for photos and journaling.*

Now we are 5 pages 10 b — *page 10 – the booklet folded out fully.*

Now we are 5 pages 11 and 12 — *pages 11 and 12.*

Now we are 5 pages 11 and tags — *the tags and photo-mats from the pocket on page 11, – and … the finger you see pointing to the Happy Birthday – is to point out that it’s magnetic and will hold a tag or note under it.*

Now we are 5 pages 12 — *page 12. The ‘Heroes’ is embossed all around it in Tonic Silver embossing powders. This is a book which folds out to hold photos and bits of journaling.*

Now we are 5 pages 12 open — *it folds out like this … and it’s double sided, so there are photo mats on the back too!*

Now we are 5 pages 12 under the photo book — *.. and when you look under it, there’s a little message for the young man himself.*

If you’ve got this far and are still with me …. keep going .. the end is in sight!

Now we are 5 pages 13 and 14 — *pages 13 and 14*

Page 13 holds a poem which says it all ….

Now we are 5 pages 13. The Poem — I love this poem. *There’s a space right next to it waiting for a photo of my little rascal.*

Now we are 5 pages 14. The large Pocket — *page 14 which has a deep, deep pocket for special things ...*

Now we are 5 pages 14. The large Pocket tags — … his official SUPERHERO certificate; a postcard waiting for something special to be put on it. A very colourful tag/photo mat; some spare balloons from his Birthday Party; and there’s other stuff to go into this pocket.

And finally .... the back….

Now we are 5 Back Cover — I found a fabulous picture on the net, *used by someone else for their child’s birthday party*, and I thought it might make a fun picture for my Grandson … *only* I removed Superman’s features and replaced it with my Grandsons face. *(blurred out here because I’m a protective Grammy)*. It works so well and tickles the heck out of me when I look at it.

Now we are 5 Back Cover 2 — … the bit down the side reads: *you will always be my favourite Super Hero*

There actually is a little bit more which I wanted to share with you, not of this album but of something else I made for his ‘Birthday Party’, but I think you’ve suffered enough for one day so I’ll post a little blog post about it another day.

Thank you SO much for coming and taking a look at my Mini Scrapbook Album. I had so much fun making it – although it did take me rather too many days to actually get it finished. I’m such a slow worker! tsk tsk. I know that my little rascal is going to love it. I just have to get all the photos into it now.

If there’s anything you want to know – glues, papers, bits, pieces etc, please just ask away in a comment. I’m more than happy to share information.

Before I sign off, may I just take this opportunity to say a very warm hello to a couple of new followers. Welcome, it’s lovely to have you on-board, please make yourself at home here, and feel free to ask questions, make comments or just grab a coffee and settle down for a bit of a read.

Thank you everyone, for visiting me. I love you coming. I really do. It’s like having a stream of friends popping round for coffee and a chat. Fabulous. Absolutely, totally Fabulous with a capital F.

Have a wonderful day out there, and what ever you’re planning to do today, remember to stop, smile, and make a memory.

Have a blessed day all,

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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 of the lid and base, then cut out the sizes I needed for my pages. — 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 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.

1a front — close up of the handmade maps, the ‘Embrace Life’ ticket, brass postcard etc.

1b front — another ticket; another map – rolled up and tied with bakers twine; a metal embellishment: a butterfly.

Pages 2 and 3. The little blue'ish' 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. — 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' opened, and the tags pulled out slightly from the hidden pocket. — The little ‘book’ opens, and the tags are pulled out slightly from the hidden pocket.

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

All the tags are removable, and you can either write and journal on the back of them, or stick photographs to them. You can also attach photo's to the book page, and glue notes, or journalling, or even glue the tag to the page! — 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.

Pages 6 and 7. Spaces for journalling or glueing. Tickets; receipts; maps; mementos of a trip or journey - or even a sweet wrapper, which brings back a memory? — 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 journalling tag which you pull out and write details about the photo. — 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! — … 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? — 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? — The Pocket of Secrets.
. . . can you guess what’s inside?

Inside 'The Pocket of Secrets' is a key, captured and sealed inside resin and attached to a metal charm, and ... a tiny vial of Fairy Dust! — . . . . 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? . . . . — page 9.
What’s behind the Fairy Doors? . . . .

A peep behind the Fairy Doors! — A tiny peep behind the Fairy Doors!

5c3 — 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?

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

page 10. This is a removable photo album - where each page can be removed, added to, written on, glued etc. . . . and it's also hiding something ... — 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!

6c pages of the little album — 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 photo album is completely removable. — The little photo book is completely removable.

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! 😀

What a Dream Scrapbook Page!

I have a ‘bought for the purpose’ scrapbook which, although it has a (sort of) ‘padded’ binder (cover) – in the centre of the cover it has a little cut out section where you’re supposed to slide a photograph into the ‘hole’ (from a little slit on the inside cover) so that it shows you what the scrapbook is about. Problem was that even though I loved the cover of the scrapbook, I felt that the ‘photograph’ section on the front was, well, a little too twee. A bit (kind of) predictable. I didn’t want a photograph on the front, I wanted something better than just a photo.

So I cut out that bit on the inside cover, and so got a ‘hole’ right through the front cover. (Think of a serving hatch into the dining room from the kitchen). I then cut up a scrapbook page saver, (one of those plastic page holders which you put your ‘made’ pages into to protect them) and carefully glued a square of that soft, pliable plastic to the front of the cover and then hid the glue with some pretty pleated ribbon.

Then … I made something which I was far happier with which would show through that window. I made … Page One of my scrapbook.

Such a simple idea. I kept the page white, but draped bakers twine across the page and attached it to little gold brads, which were to be the ‘drawing pins’ (thumb tacks) which held the bakers twine in place. Once I was happy with where the bakers twine was place on the page, I then glued it in place with some Anita’s crafting glue. (It’s white when you put it on, but dries clear).

I then cut out some little white ‘flags’ – from some thin cotton sheeting – basically the same weight as light weight shirt cotton, – which I then glued to the bakers twine and made Bunting!

I glued a little white doily to the centre of the page and while that was drying I made a little dream ‘diorama’ out of an old tin which I’d got when I purchased some ink powder. I’d saved the tin, not knowing what for, but knowing that it would come in useful one day. (I am SUCH a ‘crafter’). 😀

A couple of years ago I’d seen a picture of a little tin which was a tree ornament. It looked so pretty that it had stuck in my memory. When I decided what I wanted to use to fill that central space on page one – but something which would also ‘begin’ my scrapbook and give a taste of what was to come – the word ‘dream’ came to mind and so did the ornament. And that’s where the basic idea began.

The cover of the album is basically a mix of greens with a contrast of pink and white polka dot all put together in a (kind of) patchwork, – and with butterflies flying in various places on top of it all.

So the tin had to be complimentary to the cover, and since butterflies were going to be putting in an appearance further into the scrapbook then it was natural that they should be on the first page too! So I began with a scrap of pink polka dot paper, which I hand cut into a round to fit into the base of the tin. I then used some white glue, and glued some flower soft, in a mix of pink, green and white, into the bottom quarter of the tin. I wrote ‘dream’ on some paper and distressed it a little, then cut it into a banner and back it with some green card.

Thankfully I have a selection of butterfly stamps, some of them are really teeny tiny – so they worked perfectly with the tin and it’s lid. Just the right size in fact. The one inside the tin I stamped in an emerald green colour, but then coloured it in with a lovely fresh spring green.

But the butterflies which are outside of the tin, flying free (so to speak) I stamped using a grey memento ink (I think I used ‘silver’ actually) – and didn’t colour those, because I wanted them to look delicate, and pale to match the white of the whole page. I added some glue ‘squiggles’ and sprinkled some ultra fine glitter onto it – to sort of represent the flight path of the butterflies as they flew.

I glued down the lid using a little hot glue, and covering two of the pale butterflies, so that they looked liked they’d flown under the lid.

But I did have one slight worry. If the album, at some point in the future, had something heavy put on top of it, then I worried that the metal rim of the open tin might just puncture the plastic cover I’d put on the front of the album. If it didn’t puncture it – it might mark it permanently and it would then spoil the look. So I had to come up with an idea to solve that problem – just in case it ever did happen! (That’s me. I have to have a plan for everything in case something bad happens. If it does, then I have a plan. If it doesn’t then that’s great – but at least I had a plan! lol).

I got out the trusty hot glue gun again, and sorted through my white buttons to find some which had a vintage feel about them. I knew I needed to be careful about choosing the right ones – because the wrong buttons could spoil the whole thing.

Buttons found – I squidged a generous (but not a huge glob!) amount of glue onto the back of a button and carefully placed it on the rim on the tin, holding it there for a few seconds while the glue began to set. Then I did the next one. Then the next. Then … and so on until I’d glue four buttons, in descending sizes, on one side, and one further button on the opposite side of the rim of the tin. I left them over-night to see if they would do what I wanted them to do.

The following day I put my hand flat palm down, on top of the rim to see if, when I pressed, they stayed in place. They did. I then knew that these buttons would spread the weight of anything pressing down on the top of the album and so wouldn’t damage the plastic on the cover. Yay! I love it when a plan comes together!

I wrapped some rayon seam binding around the outside of the tin, in a fabulous warm olive-green colour, and then finally added a little rich, royal purple polka-dot bow to one side. The finishing touch. I loved the scrapbook already – and I’d only just began!

Page One was ‘finished’. I stood back and looked at it. It was perfect. It looked vintage. It had a friendly feel about it. It spoke of a promise which I knew was to follow in the pages, so far unmade, but I knew the plans I had for those pages.

Yes, this was going to be a scrapbook I loved. I could feel it.

I know that Scrapbooking is a fairly new type of photograph/memory saving way of doing things to the UK. Here in the UK we’re more used to photograph albums which we buy and pop our photographs into. But in the last few years Scrapbooking has taken off and it’s becoming more popular.

So .. do you scrapbook? And if you do … do you blog about your pages? If so, please leave me a comment and put a link to your scrapbooking page or to your blog in general, because I’d love to come and see your scrapbooks, and I’ve no doubt that others who visit this page would love to visit your blog too!

Have a truly lovely rest of your day!