Joyful Season Album Part 1

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

Today I'm sharing another couple albums that have been created recently. Yep, one of them is the one which features in my Basic Concertina Album Pictorial! For insert dimensions, please refer to Monday's post.

Both of the albums featured today use the Gorgeous Grunge and Joyful Season stamp sets from Stampin' Up!

Both of these were again a lot of work, but the result is well worth it, as is knowing how much they will be forever treasured by the recipients.

Card: Cherry Cobbler, Rich Razzleberry and Whisper White
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Rich Razzleberry (grunge on matching album) and Early Espresso
Stamp set: Gorgeous Grunge and Joyful Season
Tools and embellishments: Deco Labels Framelits
Adhesives: Sticky Strip (retired)

Challenges...
#213 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
#175 AG at Brown Sugar
#291 AG at Craft your passion

I'll be back on Friday with part 2, so I hope you'll join me then.

Beth's Album and Pictorial

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

A month ago today my beloved sister celebrated a milestone birthday. She'll likely kill me for saying it was her 50th, but as it's mentioned in the album I created for her, I think I'm safe. Least I hope so! Grin.

I was unsure what colors to use, so asked her what she wanted. I'd mentioned a while back, when creating her son Daniel's album, that I'd create one for her, so wasn't spoiling the surprise. Her reply was "Camo, please!" She's a skilled crossbow hunter, so it didn't really surprise me!

In addition to the Basic Concertina Album I shared with you on Friday, you'll need LOTS of card OR DSP for the inserts and LOTS of Sticky Strip. While this one isn't the same base as in the linked pictorial, and it's the same size as Daniel's album, it differs from that one because all of the pages in this one are photo pockets.

This one is a whopping 18, yes, EIGHTEEN concertina pages, the thinking behind that originally coming from Daniel's birthday being his 18th.

Card or DSP
To cover every page you'll need 57 pieces cut to 4 3/4" square, plus a few extra for the cover. AND 17 pieces cut to 4 3/4" x 3 1/8"
Inks: Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive used for the background, and Early Espresso
Marker: Mossy Meadow Stampin' Write (from the 2014-2016 In Color pack)
Stamp sets: Gorgeous Grunge, Joyful Season, Butterfly Basics and Me = Grateful
Tools and embellishments: Deco Labels Framelits, Stamping Sponges and Crystal Effects
Adhesive: Sticky Strip (retired) and Tombow

Using the second largest die from the Deco Labels, cut apertures from all the squares of card/ DSP and using the smallest die, cut apertures carefully in the smaller pieces

Stamp the pages as desired. For these I sponged on the inks then added Gorgeous Grunge to complete the camo look, before stamping the branch from Joyful Season onto the squares.

Carefully add tape to 3 edges of the photo pockets, having decided on the orientation of the aperture. Here each double page has a horizontal and vertical aperture

For the smaller pieces, attach them so that the edge is flush with the tab used to join the pages. Stamp the tab if desired

For the cover, I stamped the sentiment from Butterfly Basics in Old Olive and randomly added Crystal Effects to mimic raindrops

For the top page I stamped a sentiment from Me = Grateful in Early Espresso and colored the letters with the Mossy Meadow Stampin' Write marker

For the inside of the cover I added a handwritten dedication

I also created a box for the album and decorated this the same as the album cover

While there is a heck of a lot of work involved, I know this and indeed Daniel's albums will be forever treasured. It is well worth the effort and I hope you'll agree

Challenges...
#153 AG at 613 Avenue Create
#175 AG at Brown Sugar
#291 AG at Craft Your Passion

I'll be back on Wednesday with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.

Basic Concertina Album Pictorial

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

Back in September I shared pix of the album I created for my nephew Daniel, and I've been meaning to share a pictorial since then. Well, all good things come to those who wait and today's the day! Grin.

By its nature this project uses a LOT of card, both for the base, which is what I'm sharing today and for the other elements, some of which I'll share with you on Monday. The amount depends on how many pages you want in your album. Today's example uses 9 sheets for the pages, plus another for the cover...

Card: 5" x card length for all except ONE of the pages, so 8 in this case. 5" x 10" piece for the last page and 5" x 11" for the cover
Tools: Simply Scored and stylus
Adhesives: Tombow OR other wet glue. You COULD use tape, but having wriggle room is better.

Score the full length pieces at 5" and 10"

Fold and burnish each to create a V shape

Make sure all your pieces are facing the same way. Using your Simply Scored to help keep everything square, apply glue to the flap and attach the next page

Finish with the folded and burnished 10" long piece and you'll have something like this

Score the 11" long piece at 5" and 6". Yep, I know the score lines look closer and you'd be right. This one measured 10½" and needed surgery because I'd underestimated the thickness! Add glue to the right square

Again using your Simply Scored to help keep things lined up, attach the pages so that the tabs are next to the spine and the last page folds out to the right

Here you can see the tabs

So far everything fits nicely into the spine. Yep, it wouldn't stay that way, but it's an easy enough fix

Whatever you're doing this weekend, have a great one. I'll be back on Monday with examples of some of the pages and a pictorial, so I hope you'll join me then.

End of Term Blog Hop at House of Cards

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

Can you believe we've come to the end of term at House of Cards?!? It's been an amazing six months so we're celebrating with a blog hop! You should have arrived here from Dotty Jo's blog. This hop will run FROM December 1ST AT 6:00 AM CST THROUGH December 15TH AT NOON CST, ANY CARD STYLE is welcome and we've got a gorgeous photo inspiration for your crafting enjoyment!

I'm honored to be using images from one of our amazing sponsors, DeeDee's Designs. I've used the pre-colored images and a sentiment from the Gingerbread Holidays set. My inspiration was the color of the box in the cue pic.

For my gatefold card I teamed the images with some Gorgeous Grunge spatters in Cherry Cobbler and Pear Pizzazz inks...

I added more images from the set to the inside of the card...

Card: Crumb Cake
Ink: Cherry Cobbler and Pear Pizzazz
Images and sentiment: Pre-colored from DeeDee's Designs
Stamp set: Gorgeous Grunge
Tools and embellishments: Jewel Accents (on the hearts)
Adhesives: Stampin' Dimensionals and Tombow

Now get to hoppin'! Your next stop is Emily's blog! Don't forget to link up a project with us after completing the hop for an extra chance to win a mystery prize from one of our fabulous sponsors, too! HUGS and happy stamping to you all! :)
I'll be back on Thursday with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.

Thanksgiving Suite Part 3

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

The final part of my Thanksgiving Suite for this year is the card. I've created it using the same elements as the others, seen here and here, but flipped the colors around...

Card: Cajun Craze and Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Early Espresso
Stamp sets: Vintage Leaves and For All Things
Tools and embellishments: Leaf Framelits
Adhesives: Stampin' Dimensionals

Whatever you're doing this weekend, have a great one. I'll be back on Tuesday with my latest DT creation for the end of term blog hop at House of Cards, so I hope you'll join me then.

Thanksgiving Suite Part 2

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

The first of today's projects is a quick and easy banner created with my current favorite stamp set, Vintage Leaves from Stampin' Up!, the matching Framelits and Little Letters Framelits. I know it doesn't look much like a banner in the pic, but I assure you it's now hanging over my mantel, having had holes punched and silver cording trim threaded...

Today's second project, the favor boxes for my Thanksgiving table, have been created using a tutorial from the amazingly talented Pootles, aka my Stampin' Sister Sam Donald...

Card: Cajun Craze and Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Cajun Craze and Early Espresso
Stamp set: Vintage Leaves and For All Things
Tools and embellishments: Leaf and Little Letters Framelits, Petite Petals Punch (lid of box), 1/8" hole punch and silver cording trim
Adhesives: Tear & Tape, Stampin' Dimensionals and Tombow

Challenges...
#204 AAG at Pixie's Snippets Playground
#226 Be Thankful at HIMCR
#47 AG at Crafty Gals Corner

Whether or not you're celebrating the holiday, I want to take this opportunity to tell you how much I love and appreciate all of you, my readers and friends!

I'll be back on Friday with the rest of my Thanksgiving creations, so I hope you'll join me then.

Thanksgiving Suite Part 1

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

The first of today's projects is another created using the Envelope Punch Board from Stampin' Up! This time I've used it to make silverware holders for my Thanksgiving table...

Today's second project is another for my table, this time the place cards. They aren't anywhere near as big as they appear, it's just how I've cropped the image...

Card: Cajun Craze and Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Early Espresso
Stamp set: Vintage Leaves and For All Things (sentiment)
Tools and embellishments: Leaf Framelits, Envelope Punch Board,
Adhesives: Tear & Tape and Stampin' Dimensionals

Challenges...
#204 AAG at Pixie's Snippets Playground
#145 AG + Sentiment at Aud Sentiments (silverware holder)
#173 AG at Brown Sugar

I'll be back on Wednesday with more Thanksgiving creations, so I hope you'll join me then.