CD Mini Album

This is the CD mini album I tried for a swap in a Cafemom scrapbooking group, I'd been tempted, but not quite sure what I thought of the idea. Then I saw Retta's, and hers were super cute, and I could see beyond my limited notion of what it would look like using CD's for an album. So here's what I did for my swap partner- she wanted lots of pink and butterflies, I did my best to fulfill her request. My best buddy Katherine used one of her Cricut cartridges to cut out the butterflies for me, and all I did was glue them on and Stickle them. The embellishments are pretty minimal because there's not a lot of room to work with and I wanted there to still be room for the pictures. The mat for the pictures is 3 1/4 inches square, so, not a great amount of room for a picture. ... and being honest, I tend to be minimalistic anyway with my embellishments, more out of " I can't figure out what to put there" than a less is more mentality. So here's the finished product, with a few pictures from the inside. I made little tags to slide in the top of the mats ( I only glued 3 edges to allow for this), so she could journal, or even add a smaller picture if she wanted.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose! Bud Vase Holders

This is the MOPS craft we did today- a bud vase holder made from a "repurposed" glass bottle that originally held vitamin E capsules, and copper wire. I had to purchase the copper wire at the hardware store, and cut it to about 25 inches long and wrapped it around the bottle and made loops with my hands/fingers and used needlenose pliers to curl the ends in.. I got the idea from a friend at church who had given us a bunch of the glass bottles and an example of a bud vase, I figured it was a great time of year to try something like this, and it also made something pretty out of something that might have just been tossed. She actually salvaged some copper wire scraps from her husband's construction site. "Saving the earth.. one craft at a time!..." Anyhow, I used the glass pebbles that you can find at the craft store, and threaded small beads onto a length of wire and looped and twisted it to make a leaf, then wrapped that around the copper wire. I'm actually pleased with how this one in particular turned out, especially since I was just playing around to see what I could come up with for different example ideas... The ladies seemed to really enjoy it- especially since we had a lot of different beads that they could use, and it was great seeing all the different variations of people's ideas. It's always fun seeing what other people come up with.

My weeklong layout...

A week ago, yes, a whole week.... I started this layout. No sketches or creative ideas other than playing around, it evolved quite a bit from where I first started with it. I even asked for help from the gals in Scrapping with Friends on Cafemom for suggestions... This was the first time I tried using the edge distresser that my best buddy Katherine gave me- it looks like a little pink Pac-man (that makes me old, because that was a very eighties reference there.. ). It was so much fun using the edge distresser, I probably went a bit overboard... but it does help a layout with a boy in it not look too girly. So here it is, finally, my son being a goofball (this is not a rare occurrence). When he asks me to spike his hair, he says "like a shark"- meaning: a dorsal fin.. My husband gets really annoyed when I allow him to go to school like this, but I think there's no harm in it, and he's a great kid, so it's not like he's "punking out" with attitude. The title of the layout was actually part of a piece of scrapbooking paper that said that, originally part of the layout that got scrapped (not literally :) ) but I loved the saying, so I used chipboard instead. I kind of wonder if it looks a bit too busy, but I'm as done as I'm going to be with this layout. I haven't scrapped a layout in months, so there was a lot of rust being shaken off. I just couldn't resist using these pictures, they really motivated me to scrap them :) I also made a tag to journal on that kind of blends in but allows me to talk more about what was behind the pictures.

How I made the Bible verse Tag books

I'm just going to quickly answer a question as to how I made these. Once upon a time I did a how-to on them in Scrapping With Friends on Cafemom, but since they changed everything around I can't find anything anymore it seems.... But the basic idea is simple enough: Find a tag template big enough for the size you want to use- you can make your own tags by cutting a rectangle and snipping off the corners at an angle of one of the ends, or use a die cut machine. I actually have a plastic template with various sizes and shapes of tags that I just traced out onto the thick cardstock weight printed paper. I then inked around the edges with my Colorbox chalk ink- one of the brown shades- Chestnut Roan and Dark Brown are my favorites... I typed out the verses on the computer in the font, size, and color that I wanted, cut them out, used a corner rounder punch on 2 of the 4 corners, and then inked those in the same color as the tag. All that was left was to glue those on the tags and decorate. I used my Cropadile to punch 3 holes in the left hand side and use coordinating ribbon. I used my flourish stamps that I like a lot and Stickles on the stamped flourishes- I really liked the way that looked- I also used Stickles on some of the buttons and flowers too... I got the original idea from www.scrapbook-crazy.com . This style of mini album really lends itself well to the Bible verses- even just using favorite quotes or things that your kids say or sweet things to someone would be great for this size. Thanks for all the kind words ladies! :)

Tag Books (Bible Verses)

Here are the tag books I've been working on for my mom in law. She saw pictures of one I'd made for a friend to encourage her through a rough patch with Bible verses, and she asked me if I'd make some for her Bible study with verses pertaining to the "Fruit of the Spirit" study she was in. She paid me to make 20 of them - how do you figure out how much they're worth when you're asked. She asked me (and isn't it awkward- especially with your mom in law....) what I would charge, so I told her what I thought the basic supplies would cost, I didn't want to take advantage of her. I said because of the time involved, I couldn't really charge less than 3 dollars.. She said she would pay me more than that, and that she felt like she was taking advantage of me by only paying 5 each. So in hindsight, 20 is a lot to make!!!! I am done with them, finally, as in "Stick me with a fork I am DONE!", but I'm relatively pleased with the result.... have I mentioned I'm done?! Yay :)

Explosion Box Mini Album for MOPS auction

Okay, so teeechhhnically I've had this done for a while, with a bit of decoration, but I thought I'd finish it up and see if we can make a little from it for the MOPS auction. It's a lot of blue... but maybe somebody's favorite color will be blue... gotta try at least...

Distressed Cigar Box with Mini Album for MOPS auction

This isn't the original cigar box I painted and crackled for the MOPS auction... I got a bit stumped with not having any embellishments in those colors at the moment and hitting a creative block with it too... So fast forwarding a bit, I painted the other one I had in the pink and brown crackling scheme and did a mini album to go inside of it instead. It isn't even decorated that much and I have to admit I struggled with it... have I mentioned it's painful being me sometimes? :)