I love the gorgeous spring greens and salmon pinks of Graphic 45’s Time to Celebrate!
That is why today I’m sharing two cards I created with it, after walking you through the papers and embellishments of this collection.
It is the perfect card making stack!
Because several sheets display more than one festive occasion at once, coming up with projects that are not cards turns out to be a bit of a challenge for me though, for I usually have one specific occasion or purpose in mind. But, that’s a puzzle I’ll (very happily) solve at a later time!
For now I’m very happy to say: enjoy the video and the pictures below! š
A while ago I created a little gatefold cardĀ after which I receivedĀ some requests for a tutorial.Ā I’m happy to share that I’ve now finishedĀ such a tutorial and I’m sharing it with you all today! š
For some extra inspiration I’m also sharing some photos of another one of these cards at the end of this post, below the video.
So have fun creating, and stay crafty! š
A third example, for some extra inspiration š
A journaling tag hanging from a brad, instead of a tuck spot with several small tags.
No pocket on the back; instead, anĀ embossed scrap mat.
On the front a dimensional sticker from the paper collection, instead of a flower.
Using some leftover pieces from myĀ few Graphic 45’s Once Upon a SpringtimeĀ sheets, I created this layered card for my aunt’s birthday.
This gorgeous paper is great to work with! Its base layer is what I call aĀ scrap mat,Ā i.e. a mat created from scraps of paper. If you wish to try this technique for yourself, feel free to check out my (free) video tutorial!
Other techniques I used were fussy-cutting, layering, matting, and stamping. I also used some liquid pearl around the edges of the journaling part on the inside of the card. And last but not least, I’m showing off my new 1Ā½” butterfly punch and my new Yep, I made thisĀ stamp. š
Hope you feel inspired to create a gorgeous card with relatively few materials too! š
When I first created my Butterflies & StarsKeepsake Album Deluxe back in the fall of 2013, I had no idea it would become quite the scrapbooking hit on Youtube – as per today, it has gotten nearly 460,000 views and the number is still growing! Wow!
Unfortunately I have no explanation for this, since I have not been able to repeat these resultsā¦ Its sister albums Flora & Fauna, Fairytale Treasures and Country Garden all had their shares of views, and so did my other projects, but none of them ever came anywhere near that unique number. I guess Youtube moves in mysterious waysā¦ Oh well…
Anyway, I received (and am still receiving) a lot of requests for a tutorial on this type of album, this ‘double-spined’ gatefold-like type of album that I’ve dubbed Keepsake Album Deluxe.
And I have some great news for all of those lovely people: I’ve now been able to create this tutorial, and it is huge! It sports 132 pages with 418 pictures!
And it’s available to you now as a digital download in my Etsy shop.
To write a tutorial I of course had to create the project, for I had to take pictures of every step of the process. So here’s the latest edition of my Keepsake Album Deluxe, created using Webster’s Pages’ Nest collection, and I’m calling it Springtime Dreams. š
Enjoy the video and let me know what you think!
Want to know what other people created with the tutorial? Check out the fanpage and see for yourself! š
Sometimes you want to send someone an awesome card, but you don’t have the time to spend hours and hours of creating. That is why I love my quick scrapĀ projects!
I designed this card from only 1 sheet of doublesided 12×12″ (30,5×30,5 cm) design paper, with justĀ a couple of folds and cuts. I also added some cardstock for the tags, andĀ a few little embellishments. This design helpsĀ you to create a luxurious, interactive cardĀ within less thanĀ 60 minutes of creating!
It also enables you to use up those single sheetsĀ of double-sided design paper you might still have left over from other projects.
Or, in my case, the designĀ lets me indulge myself in just buying single sheets that really stand out from their collections, without having to buy the entire collections and all that goes with them š
To help you all along I wrote a tutorial for you, which you can acquire for a very sharp price in my Etsy shop š
Enjoy the video and pictures below, and stay crafty!
Today I’m sharing with you a new design, that I’ve dubbed aĀ four-fold photo board!Ā To celebrate the birth of her niece’s baby girl, my mother asked me to create something special and this is what I came up with.
This photo board combines the concepts of a gameboard-like, easy to stow away photo keepsake and an elaborate quadruple layout piece to showcase your photos and memorabilia in one great overview. This couldĀ be a great conversation piece at your table š
It’sĀ perfect for housing one year of pictures, for it is aimed at showcasing twelve picture highlights, one for each month. Hence the theme I chose: Baby’s First Year. There is room for some extra photos though.
The four-fold photo board would also be perfect for many other themes! I can picture a family’s history, adding a family tree to one quarter of the board, and using the other three for pictures of your father, your mother and your children (or yourself). Other themes that I could see fitting this design very well: the four seasons, baby-to-bride, puppy to senior dog (or other pet), modelling portfolio, career highlights, holidays, travel, etc. Gosh, so many ideas now I think of it! š
There’sĀ a tutorialĀ waiting for you in my Etsy shop š .Ā There are also someĀ kits available: Bundle of Joy Boy by Echo Park, which is the boy version of my own project, and Heirloom by Kaisercraft, which has an ancestry theme. You can find them in my Kits section.
Anyway, it was great fun to create this project – I even created two cards from the leftover papers – and I hope you’ll enjoy it too! š
I’ve been working with Graphic 45’s Time to FlourishĀ collection since the end of last year, when I was creating the first six months of an 8×8″ calendar. (I’ll show you the second half of that calendar this summer, since I haven’t finished it yet.)
Meanwhile, I added some 12×12″ inch Time to FlourishĀ sheets to my otherwise 8×8″ collection, to mix & match a bit and create fourĀ nice cards. Today I’m happy to share the first two, centered around the month of May. TheyĀ were greatĀ fun to make, especially with all the cutaparts, tags and chipboard pieces that come with this collection! I also enjoyed playing around with two different sizes of the same May sheet, the results of which you can see in the video.
So here’s two layered cards, one for Mother’s Day, the other for a birthday, both centered around the month of May.
For some more month-based greeting cards, check out my August versions!
Please like & subscribe, and let me know what you think!
(If you click on the title of this blog post you’ll find the comment section underneath the post).
I generally love the wide variety ofĀ vintage design paper collections out there, but some really stand out. LikeĀ Ancestry, an older collectionĀ byĀ K&Company.Ā I enjoyed working with itsĀ warm, nostalgic colors and patterns before, when I created my large family treeĀ mini album back in 2013. I also used it to create the cute micro album in a box I showed you earlierĀ this year.
And most recently I decided to give it one last go and use up all of the remaining paper I had left to create one more mini album. So with pleasure I present to you myĀ Ancestry Mini Album – with pictures!
For as a bonus, I added photos to the albumĀ to give you an idea of how a scrapbook mini album looks withĀ actual pictures in it! I decided to work with pictures fromĀ my own family tree, you know, the really old black & white ones, hidden treasures dugg up from my parents’Ā old family albums.
So enjoy the video and don’t forget to like & subscribe! š
If you’d like to create this album yourself, I recommend the tutorial for my Life’s a PicnicĀ mini album. There are some minor differences in page design and album closure but its basicĀ design is quite similar. If you’d like to do an ancestry themed album, there’s one more HeirloomĀ kit available in my shop!
You can check out the video for theĀ Life’s a PicnicĀ albumĀ here, in case you’re considering to buy the tutorial. And for another variation on this design – to give you some inspiration – you can check out my Christmas mini albumĀ too.
Continuing from last week’sĀ one-sheet-challenge,Ā I came up with another challenge for myself – again, in the spirit of Spring and everything New š
This time it was:Ā How to Create Two Ring-bound Mini Albums out of Four Sheets of Design PaperĀ (and some cardstock)
I don’t know about you but there are some paper collections I only ever boughtĀ a couple of sheets of. Like in my case, the Once Upon a SpringtimeĀ collection byĀ Graphic 45. (At the time I was so happy when I had managed to scavengeĀ a few sheets of this wondrously lovely collection from the hidden corners of our local scrap shop. If only I had knownĀ they would reboot this entire collection all over again in 2015! š )
Another example of owningĀ only a few sheets of a particular paper collection:Ā sometimesĀ I’ve got some sheets leftover from some large project.
Well, what to do with these if you’re not in the mood for cards? Here’s what: create two adorable little minis, and create them in two versions: a photo version and a notebook version.
You’ll need only four 12×12″ sheets of double-sidedĀ design paper and eight sheets of A4 cardstock. Plus some embellishments, and of course some tools and crafting supplies.
These little albums are relatively easy and fairly quickly to make, and they make great gifts! For instance, I filled one with photos and gifted it to my mother for Easter. The other I turned into a birthday gift for a colleague, who would now have a great little notebook to keep inĀ her purse, withĀ still room for a few treasured pictures if she wishes.
Like this idea? Great, check out my video below! And if you’d like to create some yourself – admit it, you have several four-sheet-sets left in your stash!! – hop onĀ over to my Etsy shop to get the tutorial! It will be available from April 8th, it has 37 pages and 99 pictures and guides you through the process of creating the mini albums step-by-step.
If you want to try your hand at this interactive wallet cardĀ yourself, please check out the tutorial I wrote for you, which you can find in my Etsy shop.
NEWS flash: this tutorial is now also available in DutchĀ – email me if you’re interested!Ā Plus, severalĀ cardĀ kitsĀ to make this particular card are nowĀ available as well! š
Recently Jessica, a young lady from the USA whom I had never met before, contacted me via Youtube, proposing a projectĀ swap. I loved this idea, as well as the great spontaneity she showed with this initiative, and we agreed to a friendly card challenge. I set the theme, she added some parameters. So here’s the homeworkĀ we gave ourselves:
Create an interactive, not too bulky wallet-type card around theĀ theme Encouragement. The projects would have to beĀ true to our individual styles andĀ personalities. Extra criterium wasĀ to try and make the message to the other personĀ as personal as we couldĀ – without us actually knowing eachotherā¦ So we’d have toĀ find our inner Encourager, as it were. š
So, in the video below you can check outĀ what I came up with! This wallet card measures 5.75 x 5.75″ (14.5 x 14.5 cm) and is of my own design. It has pockets, tags, layered layouts and several interactive closures. It’s perfect for more than oneĀ sentiment and personalized message, it can function as a gift card holder and it will come in very handy as a vehicle for a group gift – when there are several personal messages by different people and/or gift cards needing to be tucked away into one awesomeĀ card š
I used Kaisercraft’sĀ Lady RoseĀ collection, which is stunningly beautiful, feminine and timelessly on trend. Plus, it has some great and encouraging sentiment labels which fit this challenge perfectly!
And here’s the video ofĀ the card JessicaĀ created for me! So thank you again Jessica, for your lovely card and your great initiative – an encouragement in and of itself! And for those of you who’d like to see what Jessica’sĀ up to, check out her website, which you can find atĀ AT2 Design.
I created this paper bag album with Prima’s soft-colored, romanticĀ PrincessĀ design paper. I added several Prima flowers from the Princess collection and others, did some die-cutting and used a cutapart sheet from theĀ DelightĀ collection, also by Prima. The one you see on the front of the album (see picture) I printed myself, choosing the sentiment, the font and font color and size. So you don’t need a stamp to add some sentiments, printing is a fine and very versatile alternative!Ā (Tip!)
Of course there’s some of my scrap mats in there as well š
Enjoy the video!
For the basic construction of this album I used a tutorial by Kathy Orta, which you can check out on Youtube. The construction of the spine is of my own design however.
You can check out my ChristmasĀ paper bag album here.
Sometimes people send meĀ some photographs, maybe a picture of meĀ and them during a party or a family event, or just a photo update of their little baby. And sometimes they use these pictures as cards – writing a personal message to me on the back. This doesn’t happen super often, but enough to make me want to storeĀ these pictures neatly together. Also, I’d like to preserve any notes orĀ personal messages on the backs of these photos.
So I came up with a quick and easy design for a folio: thin, light-weight and without any photo mats since I wasn’t going to glue anything down. I just needed pockets that would fit 10 x 15 cm (4×6″) pictures, and I chose to create twelve – a number that would fairly easily fit onto two pages, keeping the folio super thin. Also, twelve is perfect if you wanted to do something like a year in review or baby’s first year, or some such.
I’m calling this designĀ Loose Change,Ā for it’s intended specifically for pictures you do notĀ want to glue down, and want to change regularly.
This design of courseĀ enables you to preserve any hand-written notes on the backs!
A while ago I created a 
