Valentine's Day Cards with a Twist - DT Project for Paige Evans

Hi there friends,

I'm stopping by today to share my newest projects I've created for the Paige Evans Design Team! Since Valentine's Day is creeping up on us, I thought I'd make some cards for the occasion. Not that we actually celebrate this day, but with the pandemic going on, I do mail cards to my parents more often than I normally would and my mom anyway has what we call name-day in Hungary on February 12, so 2 birds one stone, you know :). Since I made one for my parents, obviously I also made one for Martin's mom (and need to make one for his dad as well, but at the time I'm writing this post, that card is not ready yet).

I called these "cards with a twist" because the hearts reveal some photos when you open them. Both cut files I used are for mini albums, but I thought they would be perfect for my purposes. 

• Folding Hearts Mini Album (Design ID: 300594)
• Heart Squash Mini Album (Design ID: 271643)

In retrospect, I should have used the Folding Hearts on both, because that one ended up being less thick (better for mailing) and fits bigger photos too. I like both though, and for mini albums, where you don't need to worry about thickness, they would be both just as adorable!

I used the Go the Scenic Route collection and went with a pink/orange/red color scheme. I love this combo so much, it's cheerful and fun! Once I selected my papers, I sat down to my PC and sized the cut files to the right size - for this I drew a 5x7" rectangle, which is my card size, and placed the hearts on it, to see what size I want. Then I scaled down the cut file (all pieces grouped together). I then die cut everything I needed for both cards and printed my photos in the right size and shape too (for my first card I used heart shaped photos). 

Putting together the heart is self-explanatory, you just need to fold the paper along the lines, and you'll see it all come together. I did film the process though, you'll find the link to the video at the end of this post, if you're more the visual type!

Once I glued all the hearts together, I added my photos as well. I only added two card stock stickers to embellish the photos, because I didn't want to add more dimension to the card. I was somewhat sad because I love layering things up!

I then started working on the card bases. They are very simple, I started with a layer of white card stock, then a slightly smaller patterned paper panel. And because I love adding patterned paper strips at the bottom of everything, I did that here too. 

To close the heart, I added some ribbon - which I glued in between the folded hearts and the front cover. I also adhered a piece of heavy weight card stock to my heart cover, so it is sturdier and added some machine stitching for interest. Then I glued the mini onto my card front.

Finally, I decorated the front of the mini - for this I used a few flower die cuts from the ephemera pack. For my sentiment I selected letters in matching colors from the Puffy Word Stickers pack. I like to mix and match letters from this pack instead of using the words that are in there. I stitched these down on a piece of white card stock, which I then tucked under one of the flowers.

The mini album is a bit different on the second card - I needed 3 sections to have enough space for 4 photos, on the other one 2 was enough.

I die cut the base of the album from white card stock and used patterned paper for other pieces that you need to glue on the base to make your mini fun and colorful. This album is pretty straightforward too, as you fold and glue the pieces together, you'll notice which way to fold each section so it all collapses the right way. 

Again, I only added 2 card stock stickers to avoid adding more bulk to the card. It's quite boring this way, but I figured, these are cards in the first place, so the hidden photos are already a bonus haha!

Originally, I was planning to punch holes and use eyelets on the right side of the heart, to close it with a ribbon, but I realized that the heart would then open up on the left side. So, I ended up adding the ribbon the same way as on the first card, but this has a downside too - the album doesn't open up the way it was intended. You can still open it and see the photos, but the album won't unfold completely. I guess that's OK though, in this case. If it was a mini album, I would probably just wrap something around it, that is removable.

Because I love the paper I used for the cover so much and even made sure I die cut the heart from the part of the paper that had all these colorful little hearts on it, I obviously was not going to cover it all up with embellishments. That paper is just too special! So, I decided to only add a sentiment. To finish off this card, I placed a few glitter enamel hearts on the paper strip at the bottom. They are the perfect colors too!

That's it! I hope you like this idea and will give it a try sometime.

Oh I almost forgot to link in the Process video! Here it is:

I managed to finish the third card, that I mentioned earlier, too, but I don't want to re-write the whole blog post, so I'll just add some photos here. This is the same as the first card, only with different patterned papers. I love blue, so this one may actually be my favorite!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day!

X

SUPPLIES:

Go the Scenic Route collection: Paper 1, Paper 4, Paper 6, Paper 7, Paper 10, Paper 12, Paper 13, Paper 16, Paper 18, Paper 20, 6x8" Paper Pad, Ephemera Die Cuts, Enamel Dots, Cardstock Stickers

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!

X

Exploding Box mini album with pockets and lid - DT project for Paige Evans + Silhouette

Hi there friends,

I'm back today with a fun new mini that I created with Paige's new exploding box mini album cut file (Silhouette Store ID: #238987). I've wanted to make an exploding box for ages so I'm happy Paige created a cut file for it!

This summer my mom celebrated her 70th birthday with a surprise party and I realized I have not scrapped a single photo from the event! So I thought this would be the perfect present for her for Christmas. So dad if you are reading this, please do NOT tell mom about it, thank you :).

Here's the finished box!

If you remove the lid, this is what you see (please ignore the fact that in most photos the WONDERFUL chipboard piece is missing - I added this later and since then we haven't had proper daylight! Just grey skies...)

It's really very simple! You basically cut 3 of the same cut files in different sizes (all 3 included in Paige's cut file), glue them together and decorate! What I really like about this cut file is that it has these pockets where you can put photos, journaling, anything you want! I didn't adhere any photos, because I had 33, so I created some pockets for them and they are all stashed away. If you don't want the pocket option, you just need to cut off the flap!

I used 3 different patterned papers from the Pink Paislee/Paige Evans Turn the page collection for the base of my album. 

I used all kinds of embellies to decorate my pages: chipboard, clips, die cuts, twine, charms, ribbons...

Below is my most fave part of this mini! I added a shaker pocket and two adorable heart charms to this page. 

I adhered the pink ribbon to a few of my pockets, just to add something a little extra. I love how they look!

Check out all the detail shots below and if you have questions, just shoot!

I hope you give this album a try! It's really fun and comes together rather quickly! Perfect for your loved ones!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Till next time X

Halloween mini album - DT project for Paige Evans + Silhouette

Hey there scrappy friends,

 

I'm back today with a Halloween themed mini album for the Paige Evans + Silhouette DT.

 

Since we don't do Halloween, but we do buy pumpkins to carve, I thought I could document our first pumpkin patch experience in this mini! I didn't even know there were pumpkin patches here in Germany! We just happened upon one on Facebook no less, so we thought we'd check it out. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, what else to do anyway?

 

I wanted to create a pumpkin shaped mini, using pumpkins in all shapes and kinds. Paige has quite a few cut files to choose from, I've picked Pumpkin (ID #222477 -my favourite!), Cat O Lantern (ID #216708) and Pumpkin Trio (ID #222474) for my pages.

 

 

I used the awesome new Spellbound collection from Fancy Pants Designs for the whole album. I planned out the pages in the Studio program more or less, then cut them from various patterned papers. For my cover I used the above mentioned Pumpkin cut file (ID #222477), for the title I cropped the Hocus Pocus cut file (ID #220851). I wanted to hang that funny little corpse on the front too - this is the Skeleton cut file (ID #219447).   

 

 

I created a pocket on the first page, where I hid the journaling and a couple of tags. For the next page I used one of the pumpkins in the Pumpkin Trio cut file (ID #222474). I added a photo and a couple of ephemera pieces.

 

Here I combined the pumpkin with another cut file: the Bat Background (ID #221100) and backed it with different patterned papers. I glued together two of the Halloween banner pieces from the Spellbound collection so I have an image on both sides, then punched a hole in it and added it as a decorative element to my mini.

 

 

The next page is using the Cat O Lantern cut file (ID #216708), I just used the outline of it, without the cat.

 

On the back however, I left the cat in there and didn't add a photo so one can see the design. I added some hand stitching to define the cat better. There is an acetate sheet with a cobweb design in the Spellbound collection - I created a shaker element from this. I filled it with a mix of sequins and patterned paper confetti.

 

 

The next one is again just a filler page without photo. I adhered the Spider web cut file (ID #216765) to this page plus a couple of pieces from the ephemera pack.

 

On the back side I added a photo and a couple of tags, labels and die cuts. For the next page I used another pumpkin from the Pumpkin Trio cut file, and I combined this with the Candy Corn Background cut file (ID #222459) - If you don't know how to do this, I have a video on my YouTube channel (Floral Heart) where I do the exact same technique. I backed the candy corns with different patterned papers - I did not want to add yellow to this album, so these are non traditional candy corns now hehe! The owl is from the ephemera pack.

 

 

On the other side there's another photo and all three pumpkins from the Pumpkin Trio cut file. Next up another filler page, here I cut the Trick or Treat Yoself cut file (ID #222489) from black card stock and backed it with patterned papers. You can't really tell in the picture but it's teeny tiny and so cute, it fits in my hand! I'm so glad my Cameo could cut it this nice even in such a small size. It isn't always the case!

 

Picture again on the back, together with some tags, labels and die cuts. On my last page I used the negative pieces I had left over from the Bat Background cut file I used on a previous page, plus a couple of die cut bats and stars from the ephemera pack.

 

I took apart the mini to show you all the pages, maybe the details are easier to see this way:

 

That's it! I hope I could inspire you to create a simple mini album like this!

 

Till next time,

 

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