Happy New Year!

Wishing you all the best in 2012!

Happy New Year!!!!

Guest Designer Tuesday - Jody Speigelhoff's Paper Bag Mini Album Tutorial

Big sigh.........ah, Christmas is over and we can take a deep breath finally.  I don't know about you, but I was still wrapping presents at midnight on Christmas Eve.  That's par for the course in our house!  Now that things are settling down, I'd like to share a little project with you.  I'm more of a layout girl usually, but I made a few of these mini albums using small paper bags.  I'd like to take you through how I make mine.  Along with some simple instructions, there are some step by step photos to show you what I'm talking about. 

 

Here's the front of the paper bag mini I made for my Mom after a trip to the pumpkin farm before Abby was born.  Hard to believe there's paper bags under there, huh!  Here's what I started with: 8 small paper bags {mine are 4x8"}, strong tape adhesive such as Provo Craft Terrifically Tacky Tape or your ATG, chipboard, patterned papers, ribbons, ink, canvas {optional} and Glossy Accents.  My chipboard covers are cut to 5 1/2" x 4 1/4".  I used Bella's Finally Fall line, some Simple Stories, Bazzill and Simple Stories Ribbons along with some accents from a past Express Kit, and canvas that was masked and spray heavily with glimmer mists and allowed to dry. 

 

Step 1: Put 1 paper bag on your work surface in front of you with the open end on the right. Lift up the flap (which is the bottom of the bag) and place adhesive as shown in the picture. I marked the bags with a green maker where adhesive should be placed. Then fold that flap over and crease the fold very well. Repeat this step for all  8 of you paper bags.  Take two paper bags and set them aside.  These two bags will be your front and back.  NOTE: you can make a thinner or thicker album, 8 is my preference for overall thickness.  Just gather an even number of bags for you album.  My numbers and directions are based on an album using 8 paper bags.

 

Step 2:  Next, take 3 bags and while the flap is folded over, put adhesive as shown, then put additional tape adhesive to cover the rest of the flap.  Take the other 3 bags without adhesive on the flap and one at time line up an adhesive covered flap with a non-adhesive covered flap. Adhere two bags together to create whats shown in the third photo.  This will create 3 sets of two bags that are attached by the small flaps in the middle.



Step 3:  Next you'll need to adhere the sides of your bags so they don't open up completely.  These pockets created by adhering the sides of bags will be homes for you journaling and photo tags.

 



 

**This is the point where I begin to cover my bag sets with my patterned papers. You can leave the flaps in the middle loose or adhere them down to their respective sides to create additional pocket for your tags or photos.  You can also make your pockets more defined by using a circle punch to notch out the pocket further.

 

Step 4:  Next, you'll want to start assembling your paper bag sets to create your album.  Take your paper bag sets and cover the backsides of them (opposite the flaps) with adhesive as shown by the green marker lines.  Adhere the paper bag sets together on the backsides, and press firmly together.  Then take your 2 bags that were previously set aside and adhere them as shown to the two outer bags, leaving the flap on the outside of the album.  The two flaps on the outside of the album will be where you attach your chipboard covers.  **NOTE: You may want to cover your chipboard before adhering them to the album.  This will make decorating easier also.



Step 5:  Cover the outside of the flap, similar to in step 2 and adhere the chipboard cover as shown.  You can continue to decorate your album as desired, or you can add a canvas cover over your chipboard.  Don't forget to ink all the edges!

Extra step: To cover your album in canvas, just cut your canvas about a 1/4" wider than the width of your chipboard covers.  This is too allow for the canvas shrinking if you paint it and for the fraying of the edges, which looks pretty cool too!  I don't always cover the chipboard completely, as in the Fall Mini Album.  I like the combination of canvas and the patterned papers, so I usually wrap the canvas around the spine of the album and cover about half of the chipboard.  The canvas shown in my example was painted with acrylic paint, using some stickers as masks for flowers.  To adhere the canvas to the cover, I used a strong liquid tacky glue.



I hope my quick tutorial was helpful and you create a mini paper bag album of your own!  Thanks for stopping by today.  Please stop by my blog  for additional pictures of my Fall Mini Album.  If anyone would like additional photos of the tutorial, please leave a comment on my blog and I'll post them there for you!..

 

Happy Scrappin'

 

Jody





 

Express Kit Monday: Vintage Findings Consultant Projects

Hope all of you had a joyous weekend and ready to start a new year this weekend! I know I am, but also a bit sad as I say goodbye to TeamWorks. This is my final post of the year, yet I can't wait to cheer on the new team!

Speaking of the new team, I'd like to share a few 'Vintage Findings' cards by Jody Spiegelhoff, a member of the 2012 TeamWorks Team and also this month's Guest Designer.

You may have seen the group photo of Jody's cards last week, but since she did an awesome job creating with this month's MemoryWorks Express Kit, I figured we could have another look at them...

Great job, Jody! Good luck to you and the rest of the 2012 TeamWorks Members!

Guest Designer Tuesday: Jody's Express Kit projects

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I'm back with my Express Kit projects for December 2011.  I had a great time creating with this cute kit.  I spent a lot of time on the mini book, which I created using the 6 coin envelopes in the kit.  Needless to say, after creating the mini book with tag inserts, a layout and 4 cards I have just scraps left of my kit!  I think I'll make a few more cards....enjoy!

 

 

For this layout I used water to distress and curl the edges of my paper.  I also cut and 'X' in the lower right corner and made a window by rolling back the triangles created by the cuts.  Again, I used water to curl the edges back.  After all the edges were dry, I inked them up using my trusty Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Walnut Stain) and Blending Tool Applicator!  I then mounted the patterned paper base onto brown cardstock to frame the layout.  The layout came together pretty quickly after that.  I love to use banners on my projects.  I hand cut these from the patterned paper, inked them up.  I also added some natural jute rope, American Crafts Thickers and a few pearls.  I also cut apart the crochet trim to make it go further and adhered with Ranger Glossy Accents... love that stuff!

 

Here are a few of my favorites from the mini album

(Stop by my blog, SpiegelMom Scraps, at http://spiegelmom.blogspot.com to see the rest of the mini album)

 

I had lots of fun creating this mini album using the 6 coin envelopes included in this months Express Kit.  The size of the envelopes is 6 1/2" by 3 1/2" and are a dark manila color.  Don't have these envelopes or a December Express Kit you say??  You can easily use the envelopes you get from your bank!  Just upcycle and alter away!  These types of envelopes are so versatile to alter, making the possibilities endless.

 

Finishing touches on the front cover:

~I made a little trinket chain using burlap string, the mini spools, wooden buttons and a sculpted flower.  I also used the intricate wood veneer piece in two ways.  First, I used it as a base for the pretty vintage flower, then as a photo mat on the other side.  The rest of cover is pretty simple.  I upcycled some chipboard from product packaging and used two sided Scotch tape and Glossy Accents to adhere my patterned paper to it.  Then, I cut out the butterfly from the patterned paper in the kit and put a heavy coat of Glossy Accents on it.  I added 3 pearls down the middle and popped up the wings for some added dimension.  I also added Maya Road small rosette trim after I Glimmer Misted it with Sunflower.  The ribbon closure was done by threading the ribbon through two stacked glitter buttons, leaving one end very long.  I tied a simple knot on top and hot glued it in place.  I repeated this for the back cover also, but only used one button layer.

 

Inside the coin envelope mini:

~I cut some of the flaps off the envelopes to add tags with a bulkier pull tab on top.The stickers not included in the Express Kit that I used are from Cosmo Cricket (last season) and the Kraft pockets are from Canvas Corp.  I used the Unity Stamps: Just A Note, Delight in the Little Things and Calendar Month.

 

 

I made my cards after creating my coin envelope mini book and layout.  I like to make the most of the papers I have and use my scraps.  Adding simple touches like a border punch, twine or burlap string adds a hint of texture without getting too bulky. 

  

Thank you for stopping by today & hope you find ways to make the most of your Express Kits contects each month!  See ya next week.

Express Kit Monday: Vintage Findings TeamWorks Projects

You were inspired by the home office team last week as I shared their Vintage Findings projects. This week, sit back and enjoy the creative musings of TeamWorks members.

Let's start with Sandy Zent:

"All You" Layout

"My Family" Layout

"Butterfly" Card

"Button" Card

"Forget Me Not" Card

"Sew" Card

Moving on to projects by Kelly Holbrook:

Altered Flower Pin

"Best Friends" Layout

"Happy Birthday" Card

"Happy Hellos" Card

"Wish" Card

And finally, projects by me, Danielle Hunter:

Altered Bird Houses

"My Family" Layout

"My Room" Layout

"Butterfly" Card

"Dec" Card

"So In Love" Card

"Us" Card

I hope you enjoyed these projects as much as I loved creating with the Vintage Findings kit! Until next week...

Inspiration Friday- Christmas Cards

Happy Friday! Only 9 days left before the "Big Guy" shows up! We are in full swing of Christmas madness at our house. Trying to wrap up all of the loose ends, bake cookies, shopping, wrapping gifts. You know all of that good stuff:)

Today I have some Christmas Cards to share with you....

Don't Open Until Christmas

The little kraft bag on the front is the perfect size to insert a gift card.

I love to add layers to my projects, whether it be cards or layouts, bring on the pop dots!

Christmas

Trees and Twine seemed to end up on almost all of my cards this year.

Super easy tree here, just cut a triangle out of pattern paper.

Sending You Warm Wishes

Notice that I arranged my die cut shapes to mimic a banner, you don't always have to use flag shapes to create a banner. Super cute!

Another close up of all the layers here, really you cannot have too many.

Here are the products that I used on these cards, currently available in the Memory Works Catalog..

Bella Blvd - Christmas Wishes Theme Set

Bella Blvd - Christmas Wishes Mini Stickers

Any of these card designs can be used to alter a gift bag or box to match. Speaking of gift bags, have you checked out the Monthly Challenge on the Studio? The challenged it to create an altered gift bag and tag. There are already several submissions and all of them are super cute and inspiring.

Thanks for stopping by!!