Live Out Loud

Hello again!

I think as crafters we go through creativity spurts where we find our passions ignited by various ideas.  For me, at the moment, it is mini albums.

I followed a pattern by Kathy Orta at Paper Phenomenom.  The pattern was very easy to follow, step by step photos and very clear instructions, I'll definitely be trying a few more from her store.  This is one of the more grandiose projects I have tried and it was quite difficult to photograph well due to the scale, but I hope you get the idea.

The album itself is constructed from chipboard which I covered with manila folders.

The front has a simple but elegant gold clasp to hold it closed, and a small spray of flowers and a pearl bling, both by Kaisercraft.

The edges have all been inked with Tea Stain Distress Ink and all the designer papers come from the Sweet Nothings collection by Kaisercraft.  This side on view shows you the depth of the album.  It's quite slimline, but as you will see shortly there is still a lot of space for displaying photos.

When you open up the sides the first thing you see is a flip style arrangement of three panels.  Each one is 6" x 4" and can easily hold a photo.  Each is also a pocket so small keepsakes can be stored within.

This is the view when the album is open.  Isn't that paper line just gorgeous, I love the colours, which is unusual, orange is not usually my thing!

On the inside sleeve are more pockets for photo mats, the photo above I have removed them so you can see the sleeves, the photo below you can see the mats inserted into the sleeves.

 

When you open up the flip sleeves you see behind the centrepiece of the album, the main photo mat.

 

On the feature mat you can see one of Mo Manning's beautiful images, called Mummu.   I have used a Sizzix die to create the strip of music, which acts as a catch for the photo mat and the coloured image.  The rubber stamp says "'If you ask me what I came to do in this world I will answer you: I am here to live out loud."  I have stamped this onto a clear acetate overlay, so a photo can be placed underneath.

But wait, there's more!  The main photo mat lifts back to reveal...

Tucked away behind the main mat are more 6 x 4 photo mats tucked into sleeves.   The album has a 2 photo mats on each sleeve, and 4 behind the centre piece, for a total of 8 removable photo mats.

 
 

This was the very first stamped image I coloured, digital or otherwise. I did this over a year ago and put it away in a safe place waiting for just the right project.  It's not perfect, but I love it, and it reminds me of my mother, who also is not perfect but I love her too.  I created this is album for her 60th birthday.

 

I am entering this into the following challenges:

 

Mo's Challenge Blog - Singing and Dancing

Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Before I let you go, if you haven't heard yet, Christmas Crafting is celebrating it's first birthday, which is being extended, there's a blog hop and prizes so head on over!

Gingerbread Recipe Card

This project is one 'page' layout from a cook book I am making for my girls.  The project was inspired by a Youtube video created by My Scrap World.  You can watch her easy to follow tutorial here.  It's constructed entirely out of manila folders and presents loads of creative options, and if you have time to watch the video you will get an idea of how this one layout will be made into a recipe folio.

The recipe card itself is created with a Mo Manning digital stamp called Witches Trick.  Isn't she fabulous! I have coloured her with Lyra pencils on Kraft card.

This is a view of the file folder when open, eventually several of these will be be adhered together to create one big recipe file.  The front flap that has the recipe card adhered to it drops down to reveal a recipe for royal icing, as well as a photo of little gingerbread boys that I made using this recipe.

The right pocket holds a tag which will be used for writing notes.  As this is being handed down to my children I felt it was important that it had my handwriting somewhere, so I will jot down a few notes about the recipe for them.

The paper is from a stack called Country Basics by Crafter's Choice, together with regular old manila card files inked with Weathered Wood Distress Ink.  The stamps "Cooking Together" and "A Tasty Tradition" is from a set called Let's Eat by TPC Studio.  The "Baked Fresh" embellishment is from the Nan's Kitchen collection by Kaisercraft.

Gingerbread clones!  I sent my son to school with a bag of these and some cheese sticks to use at light sabers so he could have gingerbread clone wars :o)

I am entering this project into the following challenges:

Mo's Digital Challenge - Anything Goes w/Mo Image
City Crafter Challenge Blog -  Recipe Card
Make It Monday - Anything Goes