Guest Designer - Erica Thompson

Erica's last Guest Designer Post... Saved the best for last, take a look at her mini album tutorial! This is the cutest!!

Erica here with my last Guest Designer post and I am excited to share with you how to put together a quick and easy mini album base out of a cardboard box!  I ordered a new paper trimmer last week and it arrived in this great box and I knew I could not just toss it in the trash! 

So I cut it apart in various sizes to create my mini album!  I knew I wanted it to be 6x6 so I started with my cover and back page first and then just cut smaller sizes from there.   I cut some 5x5, 4x4 , 3.5x6 and one 2.5x5.25.  I did have some extra pieces but I will save those for something else.

Next it was time to paint the edges with some pink acrylic paint  to cover the cardboard and to give the book a little pop when it is all finished. 

I knew I was making this for my 7 year old daughter to put her 2013 memories in so I wanted it to be fun and interactive with all different size pages, lots of color, and sparke!  So I knew Amy Tangerine's Sketchbook line would work great!  I pulled all my wonderful scraps out that I have of Amy Tangerine and a few others that I thought went well with the line, a 6x6 Amy Tan Sketchbook paper pad, and a few embellishments.

Next all you have to do is cover you pages with paper.  I usually cover them all with different pieces of patterned paper or a solid color and then after that I build layers and embellish.

Once you have all your pages covered with some fun paper you will need to punch holes in your pages.  I used a crop-a-dile to punch my holes and find that it is my favorite tool for this because it can punch through a lot! 

Now that you have all your holes punched in your book you are ready for the fun part!!  Embellishments!!  Everyone loves embellishments and adding fun elements to their projects!  There is no wrong way to embellish so just have fun with it!  

Next you will need to bind your mini album.  You can use binder rings, ribbon, or twine to bind your album.  I am going to use binder rings on my album because it is so thick and chunky and it is going to get even bigger once photos are added.

And that is it!  Easy Peesy!  I hope you have enjoyed my quick and easy mini album and I would love for you to give this a try!  You can use cardboard boxes, old packaging, cereal boxes even just some thick cardstock!  They are so simple to make and make great gifts!  Mini albums are my number one favorite project to make and I have so much with them! 

 Thanks so much for stopping!

A great big THANKS to Erica for sharing all of her beautiful project and talent with us for the month of August!! 

Open Blog Friday

Hi all!  I don't know about you but I sure do want to know where this summer went!  I'm glad I don't have to get kids ready for school these days because I would have failed miserably.  But on to a happier note, I'd like to share with you a little journal I made for the Memory Works  website inspiration.

 

I used Simple Stores I Heart Summer to create this journal.  You can see all the cute Simple Stories products here.  I got a simple composition book and cut a piece of cardstock the size of the cover and adhered to the front.  I also cut a piece for the back.  I cut a piece of patterned paper about one inch smaller than the cover and adhered it and then started adding stickers and letters to decorate.  I finished it off with some black and white twine, just because.

 

I hope you had a great summer and are ready for the fall.  Be sure to keep checking the Memory Works website for all of the new and exciting products that are coming your way this fall.

 



Open Blog

Hey all, because we have an extra Thursday this month, we have an "Open Blog" day.  So, no Cards and Tags today, but I do have a few fun things to show you using Basic Grey's Hipster line.

I really like this line, the colors and patterns are really cute & trendy, but still masculine.  Here is a photo of the theme set,  see very cute!

Today I'm going to show you a back to school planner and a first day of school layout I made using the Hipster line.

I chose this planner because it had this plastic cover over the top page.  I thought it would protect the scrapbook elements a little like a page protector

 To make the front page I first removed the top plastic cover and the inside cover from the spiral binding.

I measured and cut my paper to the size of the paper cover and glued my paper to the cover paper. 

Then I used the holes in the cover as a guide to punch the holes in the scrapbook paper, creating a new cover.

I added all of my embellishments and scrappy elements to the new cover.

The last thing to do is reattach the new cover and the plastic cover to the spiral binding, easy as pie!

To make this back to school planner I used the Basic Grey Hipster theme set papers, chipboard stickers and tape strips.

Next is my first day of school layout. To make the layout I used the Hipster theme set papers, chipboard stickers, tape strips and vintage stamps.

I hope you have a good day! I will see you again soon!

Guest Designer Tuesday - Erica Thompson

Welcome back to another week with our Guest Designer Erica Thompson. This week Erica is sharing a tour of her Scrapbook Room! I won't make you wait any longer....

Hello!  I am back this week to share with you a my little crafty space.  Not much has changed in my crafty space since last year but I have had a few additions that I would like to share with you today.  Here is a link to my post from last year showing off my craft desk and a few of my storage spaces 

http://memoryworksblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/may-guest-designer-sunday-edition.html  

 Well I picked up a used table for $10.00 because I just did not have enough space on my computer desk to get crafty.  So now I have a separate desk for my computer and a table to create on!

 

As you can see it is nice and clean for the photo!  To the right of my desk I have a fabulous cart from Ikea that I am so in love with!  It holds so much and I can wheel it around my craft area!  They are available in aqua or black and I of coarse had to get the aqua one!

Is this the cutest little cart ever?  You can pick these up at Ikea for about 50.00 and they are nice and sturdy so I think it is worth the money!  I also have a white book shelf in my craft space that holds my cardstock, thickers, completed cards, current albums, Close to My Heart stamps, and some boxes waiting to be altered!  I am thinking I am going to need a taller book shelf very soon!  

The next few photos are off a few different storage spaces for my crafty supplies.  You can see some of the storage boxes are from 31 gifts and I so love these containers!  They fit my paper packs and dies perfectly!  The clear container is from Target and I believe it is a drawer organizer and the last photo is an old Pepsi crate that I hold my paints and twine in!  

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you enjoyed a look into my crafty space!

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to stop back again this Saturday, we have a little catching up to do with Guest Designer posts and Erica will be featured again! 

Express Kit Monday - August Adventure

Are you excited for more inspiration from this month's ExpressKit? 

Enjoy some ideas for the album included in this month's kit.

 

Here is a cover idea from me.  I love the clean look.

 

 

Here is a whole album idea from Jenn.  I love the twine.

 

 

Jody's mini Creative Friday II

Look familiar from last Friday?!  Yup, I'm back today with the last few pages of my Maggie Holmes mini album featuring our tiny dancers!  I'll add in the product links into this post later (blogger and my computer are not getting along today).

I added this extra page using the pink dot paper from Amy Tangerine's Yes, Please theme set.   I adhered my 4x4 Instagram picture right to the page and punched my holes using another existing page as my template.  I used my EK Success edge punch on one side and turned a Maggie Holmes Fabric Frame on its side.  I added some bling, Maggie Holmes Gold Glitter Thickers and Amy Tangerine puffy stickers.

Here's our Hannah, aka the Beach Baby!  Did you know that the Maggie Holmes Glitter Thicker have lots of extra little dots and punctuation symbols??  I used the dots as bullet points on this page and added some My Minds Eye enamel dots for bright splash of color.

 I used another piece of the pink dot Amy Tangerine paper on the Beach Baby page.  The opposite side has lots of fun cut apart journaling cards.  I adhered this one just below my photo and hanging off the existing page.  This added another layer to the mini album & more fun!!  The smaller stickers on this page are from Teresa Collins She Said, Studio Calico Sundrifter and Amy Tangerine's puffy stickers. I also used the fun washi tape paper from Maggie Holmes.

More of the same products were used on this page.  I couldn't help but add this picture of all the little girls backstage waiting their turn... patiently!

 I love that the last page of the mini album is a fun envelope!!  I have a few more Instagram pictures that didn't 'make it' into the mini album, but they'll be safe and sound here!

Thank you for spending your time here today!!  I've loved sharing this mini album over the last couple Fridays and can't wait to be back on the blog again soon.

Until then my friends...

Happy Scrappin'!