Happiness is Like a Butterfly Paper Bag Album

 I had some of these beautiful Webster Pages, post cards from Paris II papers. I love the color combo of the pinks, tourqoise, creams and whites and limey green.  Recently Webster pages was offering a reduced price box of goodies for $25 plus shipping...and I went for it! I could not believe the amount of stuff I got for that price, 4 papers packs, ribbons, flowers, embellishments...chipboard...so much stuff! So I used some of the ribbons/trims with this album. 

 The album is a paper bag album like I have made in the past, but i thought I would be a little different and do it at a different angle.I did like a flip book the you tie shut with a string and around a button on the back.  The front has a quote that I got off pinterest, that says, happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it the more it will elude you. but if you turn your attention to other things it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.  The papers have butterflies all through here and there.  I added some petaloo flowers, and a butterfly I cut out of the butterfly papers from a large sheet I had of this paper. I also cut out other butterflies to put through out the album.  On top of the cut out butterfly I added some metal butterfly wings that I found at walmart for 99c. I used glossy accents to attach them and added a diamond shaped rhinestone.  

 This is the back of the album, it is machine sewn through out, and this is the button I sewed onto the back that the twine goes around to close the album.I also attached some little metal butterfly/dragonflies, also from walmart, to the twine and I love it! 

 inside the first 2 pages I added an wood grain small envelope, added a manila tag that I wrote Hope is the thing with feathers....added a word card of Hope on the front with a pretty butterfly, more flowers, below is a date card added to the papers with a pull out tag from behind, and ribbon where you can slip a picture behind.

 The next pages are a pocket pages , as you see on top, with 2 tags, one in its own little book pocket. On the bottom is a word card with Sweet on it...and a pretty 3d butterfly added to the pretty rose paper, i added hinges and a ribbon that goes all the way around the tab so that you can add photos. inside is a journaling area as seen below. 

 Here you see the next pages, with a pocket with a little manila tag, a felted butterfly, and the word card, saying unique. A larger pocket below with 3 tags, for more journaling. 

 A cute give something sentiment vintage  style card with a webster pages folder was added to this page with a heart stamp, you can add things to the folder by removing the little tim holtz paper clip.The word card that says LOVE was added what what you should be giving....  Below that is a page where 2 photos can be added to the die cut layouts. glittery ribbon to hold in one of the photos really pops! I added a stamp that says always...

 BINGO...that is what i used in the background of this layout, with a journaling circle about what you learned this year....i added the bingo buttons, and flowers to this page with a little lace trim.  2 pockets with jounaling tags were added below it where i stamped remember to one of them. 

 Another picture page, just slip behind the ribbons, onto the pretty rose paper...I added some butterfly wings to the side to tie it all in...2 more pockets with journaling tags, pretty butterfly I glued on and added some flowers and the word treasure with a stamp I have. 

 The last page is the pretty butterfly paper, just love it so much...I machine sewed a corner tab with an vintagy looking post card...and attached a little word that says wish..with another tiny tim holtz paper clip. Most all of the words and butterflies in the album have been gone over with my gelly roll pen clear star for some glitter and shine. I left the back page the way it is because the paper is so beautiful with the trees.. This is a beautiful fun album....start the new year right and give it as a gift to your sister, mom , best friend! Happy New Year Everyone!

New Project for me for 2014

 I am a big fan of Roben-Marie Smith and when I saw her journal I freaked out! It is so awesome! I being on a tight budget and not able to take this class she and friends are offering, called a documented life project. I thought I could do my version of this type of thing, using the ideas I saw on her blog.  Most of my crafting supplies, come from money I make off of things I sell that I make. If  our family doesnt need it for other things. SO spending money on online classes, is really out of the question, and buying a mole skin planner , which is $16 on sale on amazon...is still $16 dollars, and I see that as money I could use to buy some meat for my family, pay for my gas to get to town....that sort of thing. SO my solution is to adapt things to meet my "wants" but on a fraction of the price! I dont know all the fabulous things they are going to be teaching in this year long course, but I can use my imagination from what is written in the blog post and go with it on my own, in my own way. So to start out....I needed a journal...what I had on hand is a .50c comp notebook , that I got on sale, when school started. They are so handy for many projects and if you check my blog you will find I have used them many time for many things!  So why not use it to do my year long journal/etc.  Looking at Robens journal, I went with her style of art, as it is so colorful and fabulous...I painted up a paper, that you see below (watercolor paper) I drop paint on the paper and then i take and old credit card and smear it this way and that. Adding rings, her raspberries I think she calls them, doodles and such to the page, I took it and then cut out tabs for the top of my journal for the months! What was left over, I stuck to the front of this fun journal , i love the alphabet/numbers that are on the cover and didnt want to cover them all up.  Roben also had washi tape on the edges of her pages, I had a few kinds of them, but I wanted more colorful to match, SO being frugal, I took my masking tape and laid it out on my craft table top close together and painted it with gesso. Then after it had dried I started the same process as I did on the paper..smearing and doodling. Ta Da! Washi tape. I added it to the pages that the months started on...and I painted up some more pages to add to the first of the months page and attached with the washi tape,(below is a picture of it hanging up done, ready to use) they fold in and out, and I will add a calendar page to each first page and possibly more pull out pages as i go. 

 You can see the tabs, and the page edges below. If you are going to divide this comp book up for your months, It allows 8 pages per month, which I think I can make it work. Its not fancy, but its mine...and Im happy with it. Just because I am limited to the things I can afford, doesn't mean I have to miss out, nor do you! Just make it work as Tim Gunn would say...and adapt to meet your needs! If you can afford, then I am sure you will enjoy this class that is offered as the people teaching it are awesome artists. Just click on Robens name at the top of this post and It will take you to her blog post about it...check it out. Thanks for stopping by again! Working on some more things, hoping I can get them done...and posted on here and up for sale on Etsy. Remember to check out my Etsy Shop, just click on my etsy on the side of my blog and it should take you there, if not let me know! 

Some more Bags.....

 I made up 3 more gift bags to a special order. I HAD to use the new mo manning digi's got go with this pretty Farm House Paper Company Paper Company papers...called Norland. So so pretty. I love the color combo of the deep green, red and creams and tans. so pretty. I again used the design I learned from Roben-Marie Roberts Smith from her Blog give it a go and  give it a try, it is so much fun and so easy to do. You can make them as simply or as fancy as you like! I colored the images on these bags with my promarkers...its been a while since i have picked them up and colored anything, So with these mo manning digi's I just could not wait to color them up. They are so dang cute! I machine sewed the images to the pretty papers and then I hot glued them to the bag fronts. If I would of been thinking ahead, before i sewed the bags together i would of sewed them directly to the bag fronts instead of gluing them.  BUT I was in a hurry, I had ordered this paper and it took 17 days to get here people! 17 days! I usually and always order from A Cherry On Top and am always satisfied and find what I need and get it fast (with out paying an arm and a leg!) Well this paper must of been popular and they were out, SO I opted for a seller off EBAY....They had good feedback etc..so I ordered...long story short, of course when you need something fast, it doesnt get here. In the mean time I ordered other paper for another project from ACOT and notieced that they had the Norland in...BUT I didnt get it because I thought this other paper would be here before it would if I ordered it from them.....was I wrong! I ordered my ACOT papers and got them a days later, all the while I was waiting for this other! ARG Finally got it today and I got in and got moving on this order so that I could get it sent out tomorrow to my customer/friend. 

I made her a little suprise in a couple little bags, as she is so good to me and is always suprising me with goodies from time to time. 

Next project already started...a journal that I am making up for the year, Again Roben-Marie has given me this idea, although i will not be able to take the class she is offering with it...I being a frugel /poor person, adapted it to work for me so that I can some what participate in my own way.  Ill post it in the next post what i have so far! Thanks for stopping by!

Gift Bags

I follow Roben-Marie.com on her Blog and on Facebook. She had this cute tutorial up this past week and I shared it with a friend and she said , you have to try that! So I did that today! Here is the link to the tutorial.
And here are my versions of the gift bags! I colored both images with promarkers. The snow man image is from High Hopes Rubber Stamps called Birdies Friend Snowman. The bear image is from Lili of the valley Ltd. its one of my favorite all time stamps.  I use scrap paper for the snow man image for the tag, old book pages for the background, glued and sewed them to a paper bag. Do this 2 times... then sew the 2 bags together. (you can see how its done proper like on the video in the link)  I added acrylic paint polka dots for fun and some punched snowflakes to the snowman bag.  The tag is attached with twine and added a couple aged bells that i used vinegar and salt to rust.

This second gift bag, i used some of my scraps from my nordic pines paper! you just have to love plaid.  I used old hymn pages on this bag , and put polka dots again in the back ground with acrylic paints.  I stamped on 2 papers from the nordic pines line and cut them out and added to the stamped imgine, for its cap and scarf.  On the aged bells this time i used some glossy accents and dipped it in some Martha Stewart garnet glitter. These are a quick project, I used 5x10 bags. So it should be album to hold something 4x7 in size about and inch thick i think. She put candy bars in her bags. A big size candy bar would probably fit in these...a pair of gloves...Thanks for stopping by! Adding another bag.. another lily of the valley image with a little girl ice skating with her dog.  

Special Order Planner

Here is a planner I just finished for a friend. I had made her a planner in the past, and she contacted me that she was in need of a new one! She wanted it bigger then the last one that I had made her. I had this binder in my stash, and thought I could make it work. We decided on this paper from Bazzill called 75cents. I just love this paper ( made an album a few weeks back with it..check a few posts back.) so was glad when she picked it. I stuck the paper to the chipboard binder. I was excited that I was going to get to try the tim holtz metal corners! I wanted this planner to be sturdy and wear well so that is why I chose to put them on the corners.( ok I wanted and excuse to try them! ) I ordered flowers for this album and I so LOVE them especially the creamy ones on the front here...they are gorgeous! All the flowers are from petaloo! ( I ordered all my supplies from ACherryOnTop.com...i love that place! one stop shopping!)

 Laces and an old butterfly barrette ...i love it! I aged the lace to match the creamy flowers and the pretty papers. 

 Each page has a place for a replaceable calendar (which I printed extra and tucked in a pocket toward the back of the album!) There are tags between each month in large pockets either side or at the top.

 All pages have the pretty pretty petaloo flowers and/or butterly accents, except for January and Febuary, I wanted to do snow flakes for January and hearts for Febuary. In coordinating papers of course!

 I took my exacto knife and cut out half of the pretty butterflies on Aprils page and stuck the calendar matte behind them. I accented alot of the pages too with my gellyroll pen, clear star for some sparkle!

 I also got to try another new product, called candy buttons by basic grey. (new to me) fun and easy to use. 

 I hope that She LOVES it and gets many years out of it! If anyone has any special orders on anything let me know,i would be so glad to work with you!

Winter File Folder Project

 Had a special order of 2 file folder albums in a winter theme...using these fabulous papers by Bazzill, called Nordic Pines. So love the plaid paper espcially! Adding a snowman, die cut tree, rub ons and stickers, gelly roll pen for some sparkle. 

 Inside are 4 large tags, and 4 recipe cards...stickers of winter sporty things and sayings...some die cut snowflakes and buttons, sequins and more gelly roll pen to high light some things!

 Second  is more a woodlands theme. I LOVE THIS ONE! Im sure my friend will love this one too!!! I had a chip board bird that i decided to paint up like some of the stickers i used in this book so it would be coheasive. Since i didnt have a tree branch, I found this flourish and I took some modeling paste, let it dry and then painted with some browns to make it look like a branch...i had these cute stamps that had a pinecoe and pine needles, and added those to the page too. I took the modeling paste again and then added it to places on the branch where snow would lie..and then added some fun glitter, its more elongated so looks snow like. 

Inside has the 4 tags and 4 recipe cards, plenty of room for pictures  etc. Added rubons and stickers with winter words adding some gelly roll around the edges to add some sparkle. 

These are a quick and fun project and cute little gift for any occasion!

An new twist on things......

I have made Ava's birthday albums now for 4 years! Its such an honor to be asked to make them year after year and THIS year...there was a twist! Actually putting the pictures in as I went! I really enjoyed it! It made things a bit easier and also a bit stressful, hoping that you are doing it in a way that they will like, using the right pics, and not messing them up! I learned that it is best to have the client send you 2 sets of pictures in case you do mess up! lol   This years theme was My Little Pony. I had my little miss Bailee be my supervisor and let me know if the stickers I ordered or pictures I printed were the actual My Little Pony stuff! ( I apparently messed up on a couple prints!?) I used colorful papers, fun daisy flower, buttons, glitter papers and My little Pony stickers and prints.

Rolled Edge Album.

 Rolled Edge Paper Bag Album. Trying something different...saw an album on Pinterest with this same concept...so thought I would give it ago. I didnt understand the directions for it so I just flew by the seat of my pants and this is what I came up with and it seems to work pretty good. lol  I had to use my new paper pack 75 cents by Kaisercraft. love it. It has a good variety of shiny and matte papers, beautiful papers...cant get enough of them! yum.

 I didnt want to cover up some of the papers with more papers for photo placements so I just added tabs...there is a tag in the corner too . A large pocket page on the other side with a popped out frame where another picture can go, with cut rolled flowers adorning it.  Large tag for journaling, would be fun to get a white journaling pen for this one!

 Another page i just couldnt cover up...gold shiny butterflies...wow..what a pop they bring.  A small pocket page with a tag I have been hording from an eco africa set...love the roughness of it.

 Small photo placement with a little flap to put the picture behind...large tag pocket with tag.

 Yummy embossed floral page...so pretty again with photo tabs. Another photo placement page with large tabs and scalloped edge to fit picture behind. All pages have machine stitching.

The last pages with more yummy papers, with tabs and tags. just love the papers. This album has been sold! Im so blessed to have a friend who appreciates my work! Please stop back again and see what I come up with next..I have 2 projects I will be needing to get done for special orders here soon, will post when I am done! Thanks for stopping by.