How would you like to put together a beautiful mini album – from start to finish – in about an hour?
Sounds good, doesn’t it?
You know what, let me throw in a special feature that will turn your mini album from a beautiful albeit simple board-book into an intricate gate-album that is guaranteed to extract some “oohs and ahs” [I am pretty sure it’s a technical term. Please correct me if I’m wrong].
Are you interested? Yes? Then keep reading.
Oh, wait. Have I mentioned there’s a video tutorial included in the package?
Tools and Supply
2 Heavy-weight acetate or acrylic sheets – 4″ by 6″ each.
5 pieces of heavy-weight chipboard (about an 1/8″ thick) – 4″ by 6″ each
[Music with permission is by Josh Woodward from his album “Here Today”]
Step By Step Instructions
Cut all your acetate and chipboard pieces to size and arrange them according to the following chart:
The top and bottom acetate (or acrylic) pieces protect your photos. You may leave those pieces out if you wish.
Mark a 1/4″ line – lengthwise – on the respective edges and mark 3 dots on that line – 1 dot in the center and 2 other dots 1″ above and below the center one. Punch these marks with a Crop-A-Dile.
After you have punched 3 holes on each side on one piece, you may use it to mark the holes on the other pieces and punch them accordingly.
Adhere each photo to the chipboard with a generous application of glue stick. Start with one side, use a brayer to insure strong adhesion, and re-punch the holes before moving on to adhering the photo to the backside.
You may replace each photo with a 4″ by 6″ sheet of patterned paper or cardstock – whatever works best for your needs.
If the photo is bigger than the chipboard piece, trim the excess with a sharp craft knife.
Double check the orientation of each photo, before you adhere it.
Assemble all your layers, following the chart above, and attach together with binding rings.
Embellish!
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If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment here, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your own creations, so don’t be shy and share 🙂
This week’s creativity prompt is more of an idea on how to reuse drier sheets after they have made your laundry smell fresher and become softer. You know how much I love recycling, so this project is right up my alley.
It takes merely seconds to make this flower and it has a fabric-like texture. Think of it as a tissue paper that won’t rip.
The added bonus of the drier sheet is that even after it does its job inside the drier machine, it still holds its smell. That means that you are not only adding cuteness to the project but a scent too!
Add color by rubbing ink directly onto the circles. If the ink pad falls off, no worries. Stick it right back with a glob of Diamond Glaze.
Cluster the circles together and adhere with Diamond Glaze – a dot of glue will do. (dry adhesive, like a tape runner or glue dots will not work)
To finish off the look, thread an embroidery floss through a button and adhere to the top circle with another dab of Diamond Glaze.
Let dry. After the adhesive has dried up and hardened, you can go ahead and attach the flower to the project with a glue dot. (Position the glue dot directly on the hardened adhesive).
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Share your thoughts and your own drier-sheet creations by leaving a comment!
Score each strip at 3″, 6″ & 9″. You can just align your score lines with the 3″ mark on your paper trimmer.
Fold your score lines – once up and once down – to create an accordion fold.
Adhere the folded cardstock strips to the fun foam with a double sided adhesive. Optional – Before attaching each cardstock strip, you can add a strip of ribbon to it – just align the middle of the ribbon with the center point of the back of the cardstock and adhere to the fun foam. Tie the ends of the ribbon in a bow to make sure your accordion fold stays put.
Find the center of the fun-foam cover’s flap with the grid ruler and mark 1″ on each side. Cut along these marks all the way to the bottom of the flap and snip off the ends.
Adhere the velcro or magnetic snaps to the flap. To make sure the aligning is perfect, adhere both parts of the velcro while they’re attached together and then peel off the backing and close the flap. To allow some room for bulky embellishments, make sure you don’t close the flap too snag.
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If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment here, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your own creations, so don’t be shy and share 🙂
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Every once in a while when I feel the muse is playing hide-and-seek I like to take a step backward, get rid of all the fluff and go back to the basics. The same applies to scrapbooking.
The industry is flooded with beautiful products and tools. Wonderful papers, inks, stamps, embellishments, die-cuts and so on and so forth. Design team members are making layouts that can be presented in art galleries. Little by little, the wonderful hobby of putting together a scrapbook to tell our stories is becoming a tedious chore with a lot of pressure involved.
I am sorry to say that I have heard many creative people deciding to give up scrapbooking altogether. Some did it knowingly and some just don’t get to it anymore because of all the work and pressure involved… Isn’t it a shame?
Pressure and high expectations are known foes of our inner creative child. They practically eliminate our creativity and drive our muse away.
Therefore for this week’s creativity prompt, I prod you to go back to scrapbooking basics. Make a layout with only your photos and cardstock and nothing else. Preferably without using any fancy tools as well.
Use the grid on your cutting mat and ruler to align and cut elements to size without measuring. Just align the edge with the marks on the grid for a fool-proof straight-cutting and even positioning.
You can also use the grid ruler to draw perfect frames around any element. Align the edge of your element with the grid and trace with a marker.
Emboss your journaling surface (either a tag or the background cardstock itself) to create subtle journaling guidelines.
Vary the tip size of the markers you use to add instant graphic interest to your journaling design.
DON’T FORGET THE STORY.
Most importantly – don’t fiddle with your layout. Know when to call it done and move forward to the next story. HINT – Perfection is NOT the criteria…
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How are you going back to scrapbooking basics? When was the last time you only pulled out your photos and cardstock?
Being environmentally friendly is important to me. It is actually very selfish of me, as I want my posterity to enjoy mother earth as long as possible. Therefore on one of my very first creativity prompts I have shown you how to turn your trash into treasure.
This week I am revisiting this idea and I am going to show you how you can upcycle an empty yogurt container, just before it hits the recycle bin, and make a beautiful surprise mini album with it. If you are not a big fan of mini albums in boxes, you can stop half way through and make a lovely pencil (or brushes…) holder from it.
So if you are interested in turning your trash into treasure too, keep on reading.
[The fabulous music is by Josh Woodward from his album: “Not Quite Connected”]
Step By Step Instructions
Measure the lid’s diameter with a ruler.
Cut a circle from your patterned paper in the same diameter.
Adhere the patterned paper circle to the lid with Mod-Podge and seal with another generous layer of Mod-Podge on top. Let dry completely.
Cut a bunch of patterned papers to the same height as your container and a 1″ width. [mine are 4″ by 1″]
Adhere the strips to the container – one by one – using Mod Podge. To eliminate air bubbles, rub each stripe with your finger. It’s messy, but important to secure your paper strips to the plastic container.
Seal your strips of paper with another generous layer of Mod Podge and put aside until it dries completely.
Measure the diameter of the bottom of your container to figure out the smallest size of a circle that can fit into your container.
Cut as many cardstock circles as the number of pages you wish to have in your mini-album. The circles vary in size whilst the smallest has the same diameter as the container’s bottom and the largest has the same size as the container’s lid.
To find the center of the cardstock circles, cut some more circles from scrap paper, at the same size as your cardstock ones. Fold each scrap paper circle once vertically and once horizontally and mark the point of conjunction. This point is exactly at the center.
Use the scrap circles as a template and punch a hole at the center of each cardstock circle.
Cut a long strip of strong decorative string and fold in half.
Make a knot at the fold (with the two long string edges coming out of it).
Weave both edges of the string through the circles. Secure each circle with a knot and add another knot between each circle, at about 1″, as a spacer.
Punch a hole at the center of the lid and apply Diamond Glaze (or any other strong liquid adhesive) to the inside of the lid.
Thread the ends of the string through the hole and make sure the top cardstock circle gets stuck well to the inside of the lid.
To finish off the lid, thread the ends of the string through the paper flower and the button and secure in a knot. Dab some diamond Glaze on the knot to make sure it stays put.
Cut a piece of ribbon that circumscribes the top of your container. Apply a strong tape adhesive to the back of the ribbon and adhere to the top edge of your container. Repeat on the bottom of your container. This will finish off the edges.
For a more cohesive look, add a second strip of ribbon (about 1½ times the circumference of your container) and then adhere to the edges with glue dots, while pleating the ribbon at each 1″. Secure each pleat with a glue dot.
Variation – You can skip steps 1-3 & 7-16 and make a quick and easy pencil holder instead…
How Ideas Become Creativity Prompts…
A page torn from my bedside journal:
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If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment here, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your own creations, so don’t be shy and share 🙂
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I am equally [i.e. very] passionate about two things: making stuff and reading… Therefore, it is only natural that sooner or later I came up with a way to combine both by making bookmarks – so cute I sometimes stare at them for a while before I start reading (another oddity you’ve learned about me).
A few years back, when I had no time for arts and crafts – working looooong hours at the office – I purchased a laminating machine, making bookmarks for my self and for my parents and for my sisters and… Well, you got the picture. Sadly the laminating machine passed away after we had moved to Ireland. It never made it to California. Technically speaking it didn’t even make it to Ireland…
Well, when laminating is out of the question, lets pull out our felt stash and make the cutest bookmark e-v-e-r! Are you with me on that?
Tools & Supply
Felt scraps (2 strips at your desired bookmark’s size)
Cardstock (scraps would work, you need only 1 strip)
[Music by the talented Josh Woodward from his album: “The Simple Life”]
Step by Step Instructions
Cut two pieces of felt to your desired bookmark’s size (mine were 9¼” by 1½”).
Trace one of your felt strips on a piece of plain cardstock.
Align the edge of your traced rectangular with the ¼” mark of your ruler and draw a line – both lengthwise and widthwise, then cut the smaller rectangle with sharp scissors.
Make s felt “sandwich”, by placing the cardstock strip between the 2 felt strips. temporarily adhere the cardstock to the felt with a [permanent] tape runner.
Take your ruler and place it about an 1/8th of an inch from the edge of your felt sandwich and mark at each ¼” as a sewing guide for later on. Keep on marking all around the rectangle’s edges – you can also make smaller marks, depending on your desired stitch’s size.
To allow your ribbon to easily go through the button’s holes, cut both ends to a pointy edge, then thread it through 2 of the button’s holes. Cut the excess ribbon off and protect the edges from fraying by applying a tiny dab of Diamond Glaze.
We are using the button as a tool to finish off the sewing, as we cannot conceal the knot anywhere else. Therefore thread the embroidery floss through the button and into the flower and then through the felt sandwich. Leave a long tale for your knot at the end.
Keep on stitching the edges of the felt sandwich with a backstitch.
Secure your sewing by threading the embroidery floss back through the flower and the button and tying it in a knot with the tail you’ve left before. A dab of diamond glaze will keep the knot secured.
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If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment here, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your own creations, so don’t be shy and share 🙂
If you liked this post you may want to subscribe to my feed:
OK. I’ll admit it. I am addicted. Addicted to boxes… Luckily I have been moving a lot in the past years, so I got to buy boxes and treys over and over again. I just LOVE that everything has its place. Be it the tiniest of places, but a dedicated one.
Therefore when I saw this idea of a box of drawers online (in numerous places) I immediately knew that this project is right up my alley. So I whipped up my own version of this project with a couple quick sketches and voilà, in about 20 minutes I had one more box to add to my collection.
Usage Ideas for the Box of Drawers
Sewing kit – A place for your threads, threaders and needles.
Embellishments center (as shown above) – You can put your buttons, paper flowers, die cuts, eyelets and brads all in one place.
Office supply organizer – A chic way to camouflage your paper clips and staples stash…
Family “Mail-Box” – Attach a name tag to each drawer and leave heartfelt notes to each other. (This project can accommodate any family size, just alter the height of the drawers for a smaller family, or add more drawers and alter the height of the box for a bigger family).
I’d love to hear what ideas you come up with… so please do share!
So if you feel like making your own box of drawers keep on reading:
Score your cardstock at: 3″, 6″ & 9″ lengthwise and fold all your score lines with a bone folder.
Score LIGHTLY widthwise at each 1″ to draw some guidelines for the placement of the drawers.
Apply a strong double sided tape to each of the box’s walls in increments of 1″.
To embellish the inside of the boxes cut 6 pieces of patterned paper, as follows: 2 pieces at 2¾” by 2¾”, 2 pieces at 1¾” by 2¾” and 2 pieces at ¾” by 2¾” – Round their corners and ink the edges with distress ink. Then adhere to their respective place on the interior of the box.
Adhere the drawers to the box. Make sure not to place a drawer nor to apply adhesive on any of the score lines.
Lid –
Cut your cardstock at: 5¼” by 5¼”.
Score at 1″ all around. [Again you can align your cardstock with the paper trimmer’s 4¼” mark].
Cut a slit on each of the flaps up to the first score line.
To decorate the lid, cut a piece of 3″ by 3″ patterned paper. Round its edges and ink it up with distress ink, then adhere to the center of your cardstock.
Apply strong double-sided tape to the back of each of the flaps and adhere together, aligning edge with edge.
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If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment here, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your own creations, so don’t be shy and share 🙂
The idea is the same – planning the layout in advance helps in looking at the design as a whole, making sure it is harmonious, balanced and complete.
Also using a grid helps to figure out all the measurements for us and all we have left to do is to pull out our supply, cropped photos, paper trimmer and grid ruler and start playing.
In scrapbooking there is an additional advantage which is the ability to use the sketch as a layout template for digital scrapbooking. To learn how to use a digital layout template check out this nifty video by Jessica Sprague.
As a bonus to my fabulous readers I am making this week’s sketch available for a free download (for personal use only) both for digital and traditional scrapbookers. Just click on the right button below:
Use the grid ruler to find the center of your cardstock (or any other element) easily. After finding the center, it’s really easy to figure out the right placement.
Use the grid ruler to align your elements together. Just place the ruler on your element and make sure the grid line is aligned with the edge of your element and that the ruler protrudes from the edge at the exact size of your desired gap, then align the next element with the ruler’s edge.
Use your paper trimmer together with a stylus to create straight journaling guides. Just score your journaling box or journaling tag at every ¼”.
To create a perfect half circle notch, just temporary adhere your photos on a scrap piece of paper (junk mail will do just fine) with the same alignment as they are supposed to have on your layout. Then punch out your half circle, using an hand-held punch.
When using a colorful and vibrant photos on top of a bright-colored background you can add interest without overwhelming the eye by using either lace cardstock or an overlay instead of regular patterned paper.
Embossing adds texture and interest. To emphasize the embossing use a cardstock with a white core (or otherwise different colored core cardstock) and lightly sand it to reveal the core on the embossed image.
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If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment here, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr group!!!
I would be VERY happy to see your layouts based off of the sketch here, so don’t be shy and share – either leave a link at the comment section or share on the Creativity Prompt Flickr group‘s pool 🙂
Whenever I feel uninspired I try to change the way I go about my work. Lately I have been feeling I am getting into a creative rut and just haven’t been feeling “in the zone”. That’s why I have decided to get out of my comfort zone (which is designing “as I go”) and try something I do not usually do – plan the project in advance…
I went ahead and used my Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0, that makes my life a lot easier, but the same can be achieved with a simple grid paper, a ruler and some shape templates.
The benefits of using a sketch
Seeing the big picture. Sometimes only after the fact I see that some elements don’t go well together. The scale isn’t right or the space between the elements is either too big or too small. The design is too busy or too empty. By sketching the design on a scratch piece of paper (or a computer file) I can see if things work out or not, before pulling out the expensive products and adhering them down.
Easy placement and measuring. Working on a grid does the measuring for you. Instead of calculating how tall and how wide should be a panel in a 3 panels design, with an even gap between the panels and the edges of the card… – you just draw the shapes and start counting the square slots… Nothing gets easier than that. Translating the sketch onto your project is easy with the use of a T-Square ruler or a grid ruler. One square on the ruler is usually the same as one square on the grid you’re working with (usually an 1/8″ square)
An inspirations boost. Although it seems conversely, using a sketch with bare elements actually sparks your creativity and do not limit it. Each element in your sketch can be interpreted in a million ways. You can play with different products, textures, dimensions and so on and so forth. As the design is taken care of you are free to think about the rest of the elements without fearing it wouldn’t work out.
I was working on some card sketches, and this is what I came up with:
[Click on the sketch for a larger view. Feel free use the sketches for personal use]
These are the cards I made using the sketches:
Take a look at how I made this last card:
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If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment here, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr group!!!
I would be VERY happy to see your cards based off these sketches, so don’t be shy and share – either leave a link at the comment section or share on the Creativity Prompt Flickr group‘s pool 🙂
There are days in which I want to color the world around me in the colors of the rainbow. Days in which some “pick me up” color treatment wouldn’t hurt. Do you also have days like these sometimes? If so, then I have the perfect project: A rainbow colored mini album with an accordion fold spine and to finish things off, it is covered in a soft fun foam. (Is it wrong to cuddle with your mini-album? I am not sure I want to hear the answer…)
So if you want to learn how I made this cutie, stay tuned and keep on reading:
Cardstock. [You will need a total of five 4″ by 8″ pieces. A sheet of 12″ by 12″ yields 4, but in order to make this mini colorful, you’ll need 5 different colors – your choice].
To make your spine, cut your cardstock at: 4″ by 8″.
Score the cardstock at 1½” on each side and then every ½” in between the initial score lines.
Fold all your score lines in an accordion fold. That means a “mountain” fold (folding down) is followed by a “valley” fold (folding up). Make sure your creases are sharp by burnishing them well with the bone folder.
Cut the 5 cardstock signatures – 4″ by 8″ each. Score them at 4″ and fold in half.
Attach the signatures by applying a strong double-sided tape adhesive to each of the ½” folds. Apply the adhesive as close as possible to the crease but not directly on it. Apply some additional tape adhesive runner to all 4 inside edges of the signatures and attach to the spine. “Hug” each “mountain” fold in the spine with 1 signature.
For the cover cut your fun foam at 4½” by 12″.
Lay down your signatures on the fun foam and make sure you have enough room to cover them and then start marking the remaining flap, as follows:
Find the middle (lengthwise) and make two pencil marks – ½” downward and upward from the middle [That is going to help us create a 1″ flap in the middle].
With a T-Square ruler, draw lines that connect the edges with your tick marks – both lengthwise and widthwise.
Cut out the outer rectangles with your scissors.
Attach the signatures to the cover with a strong double-sided tape adhesive.
Attach your Velcro to the flap. I always attach the corresponding Velcro pieces together and remove the backing from both of them. Adhere one side to the flap and then close it – that adheres the corresponding piece of Velcro at the perfect spot on the cover.
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If you have any question, suggestion or remark – don’t hesitate to contact me – either leave a comment here, use the contact form or start a new thread on the Creativity Prompt Flickr Group!!!
I would also be very happy to see your own creations, so don’t be shy and share 🙂
How would you like to put together a beautiful mini album – from start to finish – in about an hour? 
This week’s creativity prompt is more of an idea on how to reuse drier sheets after they have made your laundry smell fresher and become softer. You know how much I love 
For this week I have a 5-minute-project for you. An adorable little brag book with a fun foam cover that makes it extra “snugglable”. 
Every once in a while when I feel the muse is playing hide-and-seek I like to take a step backward, get rid of all the fluff and go back to the basics. The same applies to scrapbooking.
Being environmentally friendly is important to me. It is actually very selfish of me, as I want my posterity to enjoy mother earth as long as possible. Therefore on one of my very first creativity prompts I have shown you how to 
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OK. I’ll admit it. I am addicted. Addicted to boxes… Luckily I have been moving a lot in the past years, so I got to buy boxes and treys over and over again. I just LOVE that everything has its place. Be it the tiniest of places, but a dedicated one.
Whenever I feel uninspired I try to change the way I go about my work. Lately I have been feeling I am getting into a creative rut and just haven’t been feeling “in the zone”. That’s why I have decided to get out of my comfort zone (which is designing “as I go”) and try something I do not usually do – plan the project in advance…
