Love is in the Air!

Can you believe it?
I just got my Christmas tree and decorations put away for another year and decided to do some 'normal' shopping. As I entered the store I was met by a sea of pink and red and hearts and cupids.
Yes - the Valentines Day hoopla has started! Geez, at least let us catch our breath.
I am not a valentine person - I think it has lost any romantic appeal and has turned into a money grabber like many other holidays.
But, that being said, I thought I had better jump on the bandwagon for my Etsy Shop.
So I made and listed a couple Valentine albums. I didn't want them to be Valentine specific so I made ones that could also be used for wedding photos, as an anniversary gift or just for that special someone.

The first one is in soft pink and turquoise and made with the romantic lines of Melissa Francis.

The cover has a beautiful resin cherub by Prima sitting on top of some 'Love'. A big pretty Prima butterfly was added as well as a smaller handmade butterfly and accordion flower from Angelica Franssen's Etsy shop (see blog under Inspiring Blogs on the right). A paper doily was inked and Prima rhinestone swirls added. Hand dyed seam binding (it's easy - just wet, mist, scrunch and dry) was tied onto wire binding with a silver metal heart charm hanging from a chain to be used as a bookmark.

I intended to add a glass vintage button to the front to close the book so I attached pink elastic ribbon to the back cover. Once I made the front cover I realized that I hadn't left room for a button and also that it would be too cluttered looking. So I added the button to the first page enabling the pages to be 'locked' but the cover to open freely. It turned out just fine! (sometimes mistakes are good!)

The inside pages have of lots of flaps and pockets - 16 in all- but I will just share a few with you here.

This is such a soft, pretty, romantic album and as much as I'm not a fan of Valentines Day, I loved creating  it.

The next is a smaller 4 x 6 album using Prima's 'Madeleine' paper. It has shades of rose, blues, greens and browns. The cover has flowers and leaves by Prima and Petaloo.and a rhinestone bird with long feathers as even though the paper is colourful I still thought it needed some bling.
The wire binding is covered in bows made with ivory coloured seam binding.

I kept the pages with just the focus on the paper and added no flaps or pockets, 

I usually leave the back cover plain but decided to add a 'Love' Notecard

 - a nice little touch for that special someone.

T've been stalking the mailman and today he delivered a nice little parcel. It contained lots of idea-ology trinkets from Tim Holtz. I'm going to make the complete opposite and make a masculine industrial type of album. A little something for the man in your life.

BUT before that I need to make some baby announcements - no - not for my new grandson.

They're for my daughter-in-law and my new granddaughter due in only 3 weeks!

Woohoo - 2 new grandchildren in 2 months - how lucky am I ?!!

 

Soul Food

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and I wish you health and happiness in the New Year!

When I started scrapbooking 7 or so years ago I made layouts. One after the other. I've made cards off and on but they're not my favourite thing to do. I love making mini books and altered items - which is apparent by my Etsy Shop.

But lately with creating items for my shop and making gifts for Christmas I have gotten away from my first love - making layouts!
So, I decided to do just that! To put the shop aside for a day or two and make some layouts to fill my own albums. I have lots of beautiful holiday photos that need scrapping but I also have a new grandson who needs a book of his own.

So here's little Bryce's first layout.

Again I used G45's Little Darlings line but decided to use the greens with a bit of the blues.

I used Martha Stewarts lace punch to punch around the perimeter of the paper before inking and adhering to cardstock. Layers were added with more patterned paper, punching and inking.

Once all was placed and set some fussy cutting, flowers, pearl flourishes and an announcement were added.

All the flowers are handmade which seems to be the 'in' thing to do. But actually they're fun to make - some nights I feel like creating but don't feel like starting on a project - so making flowers are a great thing to do.

I fussycut the bugle playing boy then made a scroll and text using MSWord

announcing the birth of my grandson. 

It was good for the soul to do a layout for my own use - in fact it felt so good that I think I'll make another one before stocking my shop.

In the meantime thanks for looking and Have a Great Week!