Happy 1st Birthday

 Good morning and a very happy Sunday! I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and a very happy new year.  My project today is a first birthday card, and for this I've chosen one of my favourite Relatively Thoughtful collections, The Magic of Childhood.

 

I started by choosing my patterned papers and cutting my layers. My base card is 20 x 20 cm (just shy of 8 inches) so my layers are each an 1/8th of an inch smaller.

The first thing I did was to 'gut' my layers. This is for a number of reasons. Firstly it stops the card from being too 'front' heavy. Secondly, it keeps the weight down which is very important these days if you are posting your cards. Also, it's much easier to put your card back in place when it comes from the same sheet.

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Once my base layers were done I made my focal points. The dragon is a set of Tim Holtz dies that hadn't been out of their packet so I was very keen to use them. The teddy is from a sheet of cut aparts and it's the perfect size to add your sentiment to. I've given them both a layer of glittery Mod Podge to make them stronger and because every one-year-old deserves pink and glittery!

This is the first layer.

The other layers have been popped up on foam tape to help give them some definition. I've also added some stamping.

Next it's time for the glittery dragon.

And the next layer isn't as easy to spot - it's a layer of acetate. I really like how acetate looks on a card, and it also lets you add another layer but keep it separate at the same time.

This is how it looks with the acetate layer open. You see how the teddy is part of the design, but still separate.

And with the acetate layer closed.

What's not to love about a pink glittery dragon!

What a cutie!

I've added a few gems too for a bit of extra sparkle.

The collection can be found here in the Relatively Thoughtful store in both digital and physical collections.

Digital

Paper Collection

As always there is new inspiration every day on our social pages

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Take care, and have a lovely day whatever you are doing x

My Birthday Mini Album Part 2

 Good morning and a very happy Sunday. Today I'm back with the second part of my mini album that I made with the Relatively Thoughtful Happy Birthday and Magic of Childhood collections. It's for my granddaughter's first birthday party next month, but I've added some recent photographs of her just to show how it will look.

This is the inside of the folio. Last time I showed the left side, so today it's the turn of the right. I've followed a tutorial by Paul Lang-Ford of Papercrafting With Paul, and I've added a link at the end of this post.

If you would like to see the first side please click here.

I also made lots of embellishments! There are tags, journalling strips, buttons, and lots of elements from the Magic of Childhood collection which goes perfectly with the Happy Birthday papers.

The top and bottom flaps open up.

Then when you close them the pages swing to the left. Then they open up. 

And up....

And up...

And up! It's 5 sides long when it's all open but unfortunately, I can't show them all open together. Try to imagine the two photos above joined together lol. I love how the rocking horses tie everything together

In the middle there is a pouch. I've made some tags and added white card to the back to write some details on.

This folio really does keep on giving! Just when you think you've finished you find another flap and more photos lol.

This lovely collection can be found here in Sally's store.

Digital Download

Paper Collection

Together with this one.

Digital

Papers

As always there is new inspiration every day on our social pages.

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Paul's Facebook group Papercrafting With Paul can be found here.

I hope you like my album. I can't wait to fill it with photos of Hallie's first birthday party.

Take care, have a wonderful day, and thanks so much for looking x

Happy First Birthday

 Good morning and a very happy Sunday. Next month my granddaughter turns one. Where has the last year gone! She's having a birthday party, so in anticipation of the hundreds of photos that I will be taking, I've made a mini album. I've used the fabulous Happy Birthday collection from Relatively Thoughtful, together with embellishments made from the Magic of Childhood collection.

Again I've used a Paul Lang-Ford tutorial (Papercrafting With Paul). It's the basic 8x8 album and I'll put a link at the end of this post.

Whenever you use one of Paul's tutorials you know that he will use every scrap of designer paper, and, the most important point to me - it will take lots of 6x4 photographs. I don't print my own photos so I need an album that will take the standard 6x4 format.

This is the bare album. The covers are made of chipboard, and as it's a folio the pages are built onto the base. It doesn't look much here does it, but the papers will make all the difference!

And this is how it looks with the Happy Birthday papers. The left-hand side is a waterfall, and both sides are held in place with magnets.

I've added some photos just to show how it looks, but I will be filling it with the ones from her birthday party.

The waterfall lifts up to reveal this double-page spread. The embellishments have just been laid in place. They'll be stuck down when the other photographs go in.

These are the photo matts. They are 4.25 x 6.25, so just ready for the photos. The album holds 23 photos in both landscape and portrait.

I cut a double matt for my shaker for the front cover.

Here's my gorgeous girl!

This lovely collection can be found here in Sally's store.

Digital Download

Paper Collection

As always there is new inspiration every day on our social pages.

Relatively Thoughtful

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And Paul's Facebook group Papercrafting With Paul can be found here.

I'll be back later this month with the second side of my album, so I hope you'll join me then.

Take care and have a very happy week x

Baby Love!

 Good morning and a very happy Sunday! As you may know ('cos I've been telling absolutely everyone 😁) I recently became a grandma. This is the first time I've shared any photos so please be prepared for a total cuteness overload!

I wanted to make a couple of pages for my Jane Austen discbound journal. However I don't have a punch for the pages, and as I'm on a craft spending ban until at least 2030 I won't be getting one anytime soon lol. What I do have however is some insert pages for a Happy Planner, (exactly the same size) so I simply chopped them down and attached my papers to them.

Of course, I had to add some stitching - I think it makes all the difference, and it also ties the black edges to the paler pages. I used papers from one of my favourite Relatively Thoughtful collections, The Magic of Childhood.

I printed out some photos, and also die-cut some baby images. The sentiments are from a cut-apart sheet from the same collection.

I always photograph my layouts before I stick them down, just so I can remember where I put everything - yes I have the memory of a goldfish!

A little bit of matting and layering makes all the difference.

These papers are so beautiful they hardly need any embellishment.

I told you there would be a cuteness overload! 

This is how the pages look in the journal. They are so easy to put in and take out - I love them!

The fabulous journal can be found here in the store.

And the papers can be found here.

As always there is daily inspiration to be found on our social pages.

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Have a lovely day whatever you are doing, and thanks so much for looking xx 

Happy 1st Christmas!

Good morning and a very happy Sunday!

As you may know, my beautiful granddaughter was born seven weeks early in October (she actually isn't due until this Thursday!) Thankfully she is now safely home, and I got my very first cuddle last week! Of course, this will be her very first Christmas, and I shall be taking lots of photos, so I have altered a frame to keep my favourite one in.

I've used papers from the Relatively Thoughtful Magic of Childhood and Reindeer Christmas collections, and I think they work beautifully together.

I started by taking my plain white photo box and applying black construction tape around all the edges. This now means that I don't need to paint them, and it's a nice surface to stick my papers to.

The front pieces have been carefully measured, the corners mitered, and all the edges inked.

Even with the careful preparation, it's always nice to see that they fit lol.

I've tried to use non-directional patterns as at this stage I don't know if I'll be putting a portrait or a landscape photograph inside.

This is the backing board that the photo will sit on. It's just under 7x5 so I can trim a little bit off a 7x5 photo. You know what I just said about non-directional.... Doh!! Never mind, as these collections are both available as digital downloads I can just print another sheet and use the other side if I go with portrait - it will be the poshest back to a frame ever!

The gorgeous rocking horse is part of a cut-apart sheet in the Magic of Childhood collection. I've heat-embossed it with sparkly powder - well it is Christmas!

It's really hard to show the sparkle in a photograph, but it is there. The embossing powder also adds strength to the card.

This is how it looks in landscape.

And we are going to pretend that the reindeer aren't standing on their heads for the portrait shot! I promise that no reindeer were harmed in the making of this frame 😂😂.

These fabulous collections can be found here in the store.

The Magic of Childhood

Reindeer Christmas

And there is always new inspiration daily on our Facebook page and group.

Relatively Thoughtful

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Have a lovely day whatever you are doing, and thanks so much for looking xx