Braunfels day trip - Mini album with the gorgeous new Paige Evans Bloom Street collection

Hey crafty friends,

I don't remember when I made a mini album last time! Oh wait, I think I do, it must have been the exploding box mini I made years ago. I also used Paige's collection for that one ha! Holy moly, that was end of 2017, I just checked. OMG, where does time go?! Here's a link to that post, if you're interested!

I love looking at minis, but making them is a whole different story! I'm not big on planning and I feel like minis require quite a lot of planning, if I want to add nice or clever details. Anyway, when I saw the tassels in Paige's new, Bloom Street collection, all I could think of: I NEED to make a mini haha! As luck would have it, we went on a day trip last Saturday, to a nearby castle we've never been to, so I had a million photos for a mini, yay!

I was planning to make all kinds of different shapes for the pages, but somewhere along the way I got lazy so I just kept a simple (mostly) tag format. But hey, at least I made a mini AND that also means I scrapped a lot of photos yay!

For the tag base I've used the Jumbo Tag die from The Stamp Market. It's the perfect size and it comes with the hole reinforcer die too, so you really get a nice, clean finish! You can see that in the detail shots down below. So, what I always do when I make this type of mini album: I use patterned papers on both side AND I also cut the same shape from a heavy weight card stock, which I then layer between the two patterned papers. This way my pages, in this case tags, are sturdy and I don't have to worry they get damaged from flipping through them. I also stitched them together so I can be sure everything stays in place :D.

For the butterflies on the front I've used the Schmetterling ohne Fühler dies from Alexandra Renke. I love that they cut an outline too, so many possibilities!

As you see, I kept most pages really simple, photo plus a couple of stickers or other embellies. Mostly I was worried I'd run out of embellishments on my very first Bloom Street project haha!

The tiny puffy alpha stickers are from Freckled Fawn, from several years ago. I have a love/hate relationship with them! I absolutely love the mixed handwritten font, the color, the texture, so basically everything about the way it looks. However...they don't stick...and there's no glue that would keep puffy stickers in place either (not that I've found and god knows I've tried many). Also, they are way too skinny to apply any glue and achieve a clean finish. So my only option is to stitch them down and hope they won't fall apart! You can see how they curl up, they just don't stick. It's a pity because they look absolutely amazing!

I used some tags and die cuts for my journaling throughout the album.

I've created several pockets for loose photos, because I printed something like 60 and I wasn't going to create 30+ pages...haha! One is a see through pocket I've made from the acetate sheet and patterned paper (I just stitched together two rectangles, leaving an opening on the side, big enough for the photos to go in but small enough so they don't fall out). Do you see the iridescent foil polka dots? So fun! 

Then there is this patterned paper tag with literally a pocket on it, that I stitched down on the sides and bottom for reinforcement.

Here's the back of the above pages:

The stitching is clearly not as nice as on the right side but I really don't mind.

A few more pages and pockets:

This wreath I had left from an upcoming project and didn't have the heart to throw it away! I actually had two, so I added some heavy weight card stock in between the two and stitched them together. The Sakura Blossoms die is from Spellbinders and will soon be available! I had the honor of creating cards for the packaging of the Destination Japan collection last summer, which is why I already have the dies :). This is my most favorite Spellbinders collection to date, be sure to check it out! I'll post my cards with these dies in a few weeks, watch this space!

The little heart die is part of the Büttenrand Herzen die set from Alexandra Renke.

Another pocket I've made, this one is made of 4 layers of paper: 2 heavy weight card stock tags on the inside, 1 patterned paper tag on the front and for the pack I engineered a longer tag from patterned paper, so I could fold it back on the front. So what I did was, using the tag die and a longer strip of paper, I partially die cut the sides and the top - you need to leave the bottom part of the die off your cutting plates. Then I used a circle die to partially die cut the other end of this strip. I hope that makes sense? 

I then just glued and stitched everything together, and added two brads and thread so I can close the pocket.

The back side of these pages:

Lots of iridescent foil details! Really hard to photograph :)

Once done with all my tags, I put them on a pink ring and added the tassel that is solely responsible for me making this whole album haha! Oh and a cute flower charm! Super love that new embellishment in this collection!

That's it guys! I hope you'll be inspired to get crafty now!

Thanks for stopping by! Should you have questions, just comment below and I'll get back to you!

Have a wonderful day!

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Oh silver! - DT project for WOW! Embossing Powder

Hey guys,

I'm sharing two cards with you today that I've created for WOW! Embossing Powder. Our theme this month is Silver/Gold and I've created two cards with gold powders for our Facebook challenge so I've decided I'd challenge myself and make silver ones for this blog post!

Also, I really don't like silver! Not sure why, I used to like it as a teenager, in fact I hated gold. But for the past 20 or so years I've sided with gold. I think silver is just too cold for me. Anyway, lie I said, I challenged myself and used it anyway! Here's how the cards turned out:

I buy stamps/dies every month, I can't help it. But I haven't had time to use all of them for the past couple of months, so I try to at least use them for my WOW assignments because other than the embossing powders, I can really use whatever supplies I want, and I love that freedom! So I've combined a few new favorites with some old ones on these cards!

First of all, I've used the Metallic Silver (WC05) embossing powder on both cards. I stamped a bunch of plaid backgrounds using the new Jumbo Plaid Background stamp from The Stamp Market. I created two A2 size top folding card bases and added a plaid panel to both, one in light pink, the other in black and white. For the light pink I die cut a bigger pink circle, a smaller white circle and a black and white plaid circle frame. I embossed my sentiment in silver on the white circle. This sentiment is in the Concord and 9th Very Merry Sentiments stamp set. I also embossed a piece of white card stock in silver. I die cut some small poinsettias using the 3D Poinsettia Dies from The Stamp Market and created 3 flowers. I then assembled my card: I adhered the pink circle to the card front, glued the white circle and the plaid frame on another white circle and using foam tape, I place d this over the pink circle (and some tangled silver thread).  I attached my flowers and last but not least I embellished them with beautiful pink crystals.

For my next card I embossed the big Merry & Bright sentiment from the Concord and 9th Ornamental stamp set (stamp and die bundle is also available) on white card stock. I then used the Scallop Border Dies from The Stamp Market to trim of the top and the bottom of this piece. I had some of these pink scallop borders left from a previous project so I was happy to not waste them and added them here under the white card stock. 

I glued these panels down onto my card front and embellished the card with pink poinsettias (same as the silver ones), some silver embossed leaves (part of the C&9 Ornamental stamp set) and silver enamel dots. 

I actually quite like this color combo ha! All in all I like to challenge myself to try different things at times that I would dismiss otherwise. Who knows, I might even discover new favorites!

I hope you enjoyed this post and I could inspire you in one way or another!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Have a lovely day!

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