A couple of weeks ago my husband and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. I couldn’t believe a year has already passed by, but it was a fabulous and an adventurous year for the two of us. Leaving our families and friends and moving to a foreign country in another continent had been quite an experience for us, but together we can really conquer all.

As a wonderful gift, my husband bought me a brand new digital SLR camera, Canon Rebel XTI. He also told me the sweetest thing, he said he didn’t need a present as giving me a gift is already a present for him. Isn’t he the cutest?

Well, I couldn’t really follow his request, could I ?! So I have decided to give him something handmade. Something that can reflect my great love for him and the journey we have made together. Additionally, I wanted it to be something he can always carry along with him. Something which is small in size but big in value.

Eventually, I have made him a circular pocket album with pictures that showcase our life together over the past few years and in my journaling I was counting the ways in which I love him. If that idea sounds interesting for you (you can adapt the theme to fit your own milestones in life), here’s a quick tutorial:

Supply –

• Coluzzle cutting system (If you have a die-cut machine, you can also use that)

• White card stock (as many as you need)

• 1 sheet of Orange card stock

• Patterned papers

• Journaling spots (I made my own journaling spots by using stamps)

• Adhesive

• Ribbon

• Embellishments

Directions –

Cut your card stock into strips the width of your desired diameter (mine was 2 ¾ “).

Score the length of the strips by the desired diameter, making it about a ¼ ” short (in my album, each 2 ½ “). Fold the s

trip, following your score lines, in an accordion fold.

Put your circle template on your folded strip and select the size which fits your desired diameter. Make sure you don’t cut all the w

ay through the folds (this is why the score lines were a tad shorter). On the other hand, also make sure your template fully covers your folded strip, except for the folded part (The photo below is a good example for what you need to avoid – when the template exceeds the stripe at the bottom). If you feel uncomfortable with the cut, make a template out of scrap papers and try to cut it first and make sure you get it right before cutting through the card stock.

Repeat the former two steps until you have enough circles for all your photos and journaling spots. While calculating how many stripes you need, take the following under consideration:

a. You are using both sides of the circles, so multiple the number of circles you’ve got by 2 (I’ve had 4 circles, so that’s 8 pages);

b. Subtract 2 pages out, as the cover, or the next and former strips will be attached to it.

Attach the strips together by mounting the last circle of one strip to the first one of the other. Make sure that the direction of the accordion fold is kept.

For the covers, make 2 more circles, ½ “ larger in diameter from the orange card stock.

Adhere th

e ribbon to the bottom cover, in a way that the middle of the ribbon would be on the middle of the cover circle.

Crop your photos to feet the circle pages and put the pocket album together.

Adhere the 2 cover pieces to your accordion album and embellish.

The global warming is a disturbing fact and it is up to us to lead environmentally friendly life. One of my ways of doing so is by using alchemy (a.k.a: recycling). I always think of ways to give a new lease of life to used objects and practically making something out of nothing.

It is much simpler to throw away things than to think about ways of reusing them – but finding a new purpose to something you were about to throw away is a great exercise for your creativity.

Think of all the creative ways you can use junk mail, scraps of paper and card stock, chipboard which is attached to paper pads and scrapbooking supply’s packages. Recycling all these bits and pieces also gives you a great value for your money, which is another great reason to repurpose trash.

This week’s creativity prompt is taking this notion one step farther by reusing empty plastic containers. I love making lasagna but I am always left with at least three empty plastic containers, not very environmentally friendly…

One day, just before throwing away all the empty ricotta cheese containers, I was thinking of all the small embellishments that are cluttering my drawers. Then an idea came to my mind, I should use these containers to store these small embellishments. Two problems solved at once !!

I washed the containers thoroughly to get rid of all the cheese enzymes (apparently they were dishwasher safe) and ended up with pretty ugly small plastic containers. The look of them wasn’t particularly inspiring so my next step was to decorate them. Here’s a short tutorial on how I did that:

Supply –

• Acrylic paint & paintbrush
• Circle cutter (I have used both Fiskar’s and Provo Craft’s Coluzzle circle cutting systems)
• Patterned paper & card stock
• Permanent adhesive
• Ribbon or embroidery floss
• Ink pad

Directions –

Paint the entire container with an acrylic paint. A couple of layers should create an opaque coverage.

Measure the diameter of the container’s lid and cut a circle from the patterned paper accordingly. Note that the diameter of the inside and of the outside of the lid might be different, so make sure to measure them both.

Adhere the patterned paper to both sides of the lid.

Cut a circle tag out of your card stock and ink its edges. Attach the tag to the container (I have attached it by punching two 1/8” holes below the upper rim of the container and weaving the thread through them).

Voilà !!

The variety of premade mini albums is overwhelming. Almost every scrapbooking company has its own range and there are new releases all the time. However, I prefer to prepare my own mini-albums. It is cheaper to make your own ones (if precious time is not being taken into account), but it is not the reason I do that.

The main reason of making my own mini-albums is that it has become an integral part of the creative process and it makes me more attached to the end result – imperfections and all.

From time to time, I will post a tutorial on a different mini album. However, the whole point of making your own mini album is the flexibility of it. You can make your own in any possible shape and size, using a wide range of products, so feel free to stray from my tutorials and adapt them to your own taste and needs. It is easy.

This week’s creative prompt is a 4” by 6” mini chipboard album tutorial.

I love this design because it is very simple and its prep-time is very short. Additionally, this particular size comes in very handy when adding your photos inside, as no cropping is needed. You can either attach the photo directly to the chipboard page or make “photo pages” by adhering 2 photos – back to back – and using the chipboard page as a template for punching the holes.

Supply –

• Ruler & craft knife
• Chipboard (I use the ones that are added to packages of scrapbook supply for protection).
• Patterned paper
• Tab-punch
• Single hole punch (I use the Crop-A-Dile which cuts through chipboard like butter)
• 3 Metal rings

Directions –

Cut 7 pieces of the chipboard, measured 4”X6”.

Punch 5 tabs out of card stock in your preferred colors.

Adhere the tabs to the inner chipboard pages in a way that in one page the tab would adhere to the top and on the next page to the bottom.

Cover the chipboard pages with patterned paper, cut to size at 4″X6″ (you can file the edges with a nail file).

Punch 2 holes, each 3/4” from the side and 1” from the top/bottom of the page.

Attach all the pages with the metal rings and – Voilà !!

Before getting my creative juices flowing, I need to get inspired. Inspiration can come out of many sources. Some sources might be unexpected. An original new packaging of an old product. A unique ad in the newspaper. The shapes clouds are forming in the sky. The graduating colors of a flower’s petals. A memorable passage from a favorite book. The inspiration well is indeed bottomless.

Regrettably, inspiration can be very elusive at times we need it most. The outfall of inspiration dazzles us all through the day, but when we sit down to create something – either a painting, a scrapbook or a chapter in a book – we feel empty, blocked and uninspired.

Therefore, my number one prompt – chronologically and materially – is creating an inspiration well in which we will capture bits of inspiration for later use.

Capturing inspiration is tremendously easy – you just need to take note of things which have inspired you. You can have several wells – a computer file, a notebook or some sticky notes glued to your computer’s screen – as long as you know where to find your inspiration, it doesn’t matter where you have kept it. (Keeping it in mind, by the way, has proven to be not very effective).

Next time you tackle an inspiring quote – clip it. An interesting photo – save it. A great idea – write it. You won’t regret it.

A great way of getting you inspired to capture inspiration is by preparing an inspiration notebook. A small one that can be easily stashed in your wallet or handbag. It is so simple to make it, all you need is a few blank papers, one piece of construction paper, a needle and a thread and a scrap of patterned paper.

Step 1 –

Cut 3” X 8.5” straps of blank paper.

(Cut as many straps as you’d like, but not too many. I’ve made 20 straps)

Step 2 –

Cut one 3” X 8.5” strip of construction paper.

(You can use one of the blank papers as a guide).

Step 3 –

Stash all the strips of blank paper, together with the strip of the construction paper, on top of each other – so the strip of the construction paper would lie at the bottom of the stash and fold the stash in half.

Step 4 –

Mark the seam of the stash at ½”, 1”, 2”, 2 ½” and poke holes at the marks.

Make sure you go through all the papers with your paper piercer.

Make sure your stash is perfectly aligned when you poke the holes.

Step 5 –

With a needle and a vibrant colored thread (just for fun) sew the stash together, using the holes you have poked.

Step 6 –

Tie the two ends of the thread into a knot.

Step 7 –

Straighten the edges of the notebook using a ruler and a sharp craft knife. Hold the stash firmly and cut with steady and straight motions.

Step 8 –

Cut a 2” X 3” piece of patterned paper and attach it with a glue stick or Modge-Podge to the top of your notebook, to cover the seam and the thread.

Try to align the middle of the patterned paper with the seam. You can use a brayer to strengthen the hold.

Now your inspiration notebook is ready and all there is left is to embellish the notebook and start taking notes of inspiration !!!