Live, Love, Laugh -- Mini Album

Another little chipboard mini album I've created.   While I love creating these, there's really two parts to them.   One is covering all the chipboard with paper which involves measuring and cutting and adhering. And then punching the holes in the paper and/or chipboard so they all line up.  Kind of hate this part.

The second part is laying out all the pages, photo spots, journaling spots, and embellishments.  I really, really like that part.

Cherish Chipboard Box

I painted and embellished this little chipboard box with acrylic paint and gesso.

I wiped some orange Staz-On to the sides which kind of gives it a rusty appearance.

The tree stamp is from Inkadinkado. The bird stickers are from Cavallini. The chipboard bird is from Scenic Route.

And better late than never for the This Thursday, It's All About challenge this week which is to use paint.

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Check the following post if you haven't seen the fun we are planning for this weekend over at Vintage Veranda. If you've got crafting on your schedule for this weekend, you'll want to join us for some fun and games!

Altered Photo Albums

I found these very inexpensive photo albums at JoAnn's the other day with the idea to alter the covers. The inside pages already have nice papers added to them, so for $2 it seems like a great gift.

The first one has a stamp from Queens Dresser Drawers. .

The second one is an image from Paperbag Studios.

Both sentiments are stamps from Cloud 9 Designs.

Altered Clipboard

Another assignment from my son -- create something to thank the man who was his trainer at his new job. Had to be red because he works for Target. Had to have the Target symbol somewhere. And it had to have some kind of quote on it.

I used a library pocket so he can insert a personal note of thanks with this.

I attached my red Target symbol with the red paper clip I found on my craft room floor as I was working on this project:)

The quote I used for this reads:

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

Finished Treasure Box

This is the "finished" treasure box I showed earlier in the week. I'll be teaching this at class in September at a local scrapbooking store, Craft Fancy.

The top of the box has stamps from Stampers Anonymous, Heidi Swapp and Maya Road.

The inside of the box contains this chipboard album.

I made a memory album of vintage family photos. I copied them onto parchment paper. That way I can stamp onto some of the photos as well.

The store has a fabulous selection of 7 Gypsies product. That's who makes the paper I've used for the album as well as this tag.

These tickets are by Tim Holtz, his Idea-ology line.

For my album I used pictures of my mom's family. These pages show my great grandparents and my grandfather with his two brothers.

The box itself has room to place little treasures in it along with the album. I have my grandfather's lighter which he used to light his cigars which I plan to keep in this little box.

Imagine That......

Well, it appears that I am teaching a class! Will wonders never cease. A fabulous new scrapbooking/stamp store has opened up in my area (Chicago suburbs). One of the owners is Simone from a Daily Dose of Spazz.

The store is called Craft Fancy. Tons of scrapbooking supplies, lots of clear stamps which I like and an unbelievable selection of Seven Gypsies, Maya Road and Tim Holtz goodies!

I chose this chipboard box to alter. I'm showing you just the initial stages here, do not think this is the finished product....LOL. But my plan is to make a treasure box which also includes the chipboard album shown below. Something one could use possibly as a travel photo album as well as to hold little treasures collected along the way.

All I know so far is we will be using distress inks and some grungeboard on the outside and probably some Tim Holtz stamps.

Framed Photo

Just something I felt like doing.....I found this vintage picture of this unknown young man which appears to be a graduation photo.

I put the finished page in a frame behind glass so I needed to turn it sideways when I photographed it, otherwise there was a glare.

Don't know him, but I like this so much it's in my living room:)

Hermine's Challenge

Hermine issued a challenge to use a beautiful background piece she created in a piece of art. I printed out her background and it came out in an 8-1/2 x 11 size. I decided to use this full sheet to create this altered clipboard. I applied some gesso over it and, I admit, the background piece did lose some of its beautiful color.

This is the first time I played with some grungeboard as well. It was kind of large grungeboard so it worked well on this size.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with it.

Baby Shower

Tomorrow is a neighbor's baby shower, so I made this quick little card with a Crafty Secrets image.

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I've been remiss here in mentioning two fantastic bloggers who have recently mentioned my name for the Wylde Woman award.

Kris, from Nostalgic Collage, gave me the award. I've known Kris for a while and just love her vintage collage work. She has two blogs actually. She also has a fantastic Halloween blog called Nostalgic Halloween.

Wheezie from Wheezies World is a new blog to me, but I am so glad to have come across it. She has a lovely style as well.

Thank you both! I really appreciate it.

A New Route

I decided to take a new route with the photo album I showed you yesterday. Rather than making it a generic friendship album, I thought I'd personalize it with some photos of me and my siblings growing up.

I just came into these photos recently after my father passed away. You could consider these the lost family photos as I haven't seen them in over thirty years. They are not the best quality pictures, but I'm glad to have them.

That's me on the cover.

I'm in the middle here with my older brother and sister.

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This is the most dismal looking picture of me and my brother and sister. Looks like we are refugees from a war torn country. I believe it was taken on the train platform where we lived in Chicago probably on one of our typical gloomy winter days.
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My youngest sister made it into this picture. Its one of the few baby pictures we have of her, so it's a treasure.

Inside my Memory Book

The memory book I showed in the previous post had ten pages to it.

Here's how I altered the pages.

Memory Book

This is the front cover of a small Memory Book I've been working on this week. I took some pictures along the way showing how I made the outside.




This is the blank chipboard album I started with.




The first thing I did was to cover both the front and then the back with purple distress crackle paint from Ranger. This is really fun stuff. I love that the brush is attached to the cap of the bottle so you never have to worry about where to place it or have to clean it!

It took about an hour to an hour and a half to dry and to really start to see the crackling effect.

When it was dry I swiped my Staz-On Opaque ink across the surfaces I had applied the paint to on both the top and bottom of my album.

I next used a darker shade of purple to ink up the edges of the chipboard and lightly applied a little across the top of the cover.

My first stamp was this stamp from Paperbag Studios. I stamped it with brown Staz-On. Because of the crackle paint it didn't come out very dark, but I liked the muted effect.

I then stamped this harlequin design from Paperbag Studios with orange Staz-on. I was not really happy with how that looked, seemed a bit too bright. So I stamped over it with Staz-on opaque white. I liked that look much better.

My third stamp was this border stamp from Paperbag Studios which I stamped along the edge of my album giving it a faux bound look.

I missed a few pictures at this point but basically I stamped the bleeding heart flower stamp (Studio G) up at the top with the orange Staz-On.

I added my Memories (Studio G) across the center of the cover with black Staz-On.

I then stamped the Postmark stamp (Paperbag Studios) twice near the bottom again using black Staz-On.

I also took my brown Copic marker and colored in her dress a bit.

The final step was adding this metal and leather tag (just a scrap I had lying around). I also added a metal heart on my tag.

And that was it!

Here's a little peek into the inside.

Altered Picture Frame & Card

Don't remember where I found this picture frame (Probably Big Lots), but it was in desperate need of alteration. So I altered it as a graduation gift for my neighbor's girl who is graduating grammar school. The papers and letters are from K&Co. Chipboard flowers from Heidi Swapp.

I used the same colors to make a matching graduation card. All stamps are from StampinUp.

Memory Box

I found this little shadow box from Martha Stewart in the clearance aisle of Michael's for $2. It was just calling my name! I created a memory box using some of the things I've been saving from my mom such as the handkerchief in the background and the silver pin. The picture of her is when she was pregnant with me.

Easy Gift Card Holder

Here's the easiest gift card holder I've ever made. I've included the simple directions at the bottom of this post. This would be great to alter for graduation gifts.


The inside has a little pocket to insert your gift card.

Start with a sheet of heavy duty cardstock which is 4-1/2 inches wide and 8-1/2 inches long.

Score the cardstock at 3-1/4 inches, 4-1/4 inches and 5-1/4 inches.

Fold as shown to make a pocket on the top inside of the card to insert the

gift card.

Secure from the outside to the inside flap with brads, eyelets, etc. If desired, cover the back side of the brads with a coordinating strip of paper.

This gift card template is another one of the great things we worked on at the stamping retreat I went to recently.