Design Team Showcase: G45 Place In Time

I am SO excited to be posting my very first Design Team Project for Lone Wolf Designs. I created a calendar/mini album for my friend, Katie. Please check out her YouTube channel: CraftyKhandy.

The album is approximately 5"x7." The cover is made with mat board and wrapped with Tim Holtz Shabby Vintage Paper Stash. I used my Bind-It-All and 1" o-wires for the binding. After taking the photos, I noticed that I didn't tie any ribbons and fibers to the binding. I'll be doing that before it gets in the mail to Katie. 

I decorated the cover with a pretty floral arrangement. The blue flowers are by Prima and the leaves are from the dollar bin at Michael's. The cream paper flowers I received from my friend Tami for Christmas. I received the stick pin, metal embellishments and pearl trim in various swaps last year.

The paper stack I used is "Place in Time" by Graphic 45. I love every single sheet in this stack. Can you say that about a paper stack that you own? I'm glad I purchased two of these. I'm definitely going to have to make a mini album for myself with the other stack. : )

One of the things I love about G45 paper stacks is the "Cut Apart" page. For each month, there are 24 tags, cards, and strips on this page. That is a lot of embellishments! I used several of the these on each page of the mini album. There are several tags and a postcard which would be great for journaling. Several of the Cut Aparts are large enough for photos to be placed on the back.

This is the back of the January Cut Apart page that is pictured above.

The inside of the album is made with lightweight chipboard and black envelopes and cards (from Recollections). I painted the edges of the chipboard with black acrylic paint and then glued the envelopes down with mod podge. The chipboard is cut about 1/4" larger than the envelopes. The envelopes are sealed and then a sliver cut off one of the long sides so that it can be used as a pocket. Most of the large photo mats (on top of the envelopes) are cut from Stampin Up cardstock and they are cut about 1/4" smaller than the envelopes. Everything is inked with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. The vintage calendar is a free printable from Crafty Secrets.

Inside the pocket I used the matching cards as a photo mat. I cut them in half and then cut them down to 4.5"x6.5," rounded the corners, and added a matching pull tab made with my Stampin' Up Tab Punch.

Here is a closeup of the March page. You can see that I used the large image from the Cut Apart page and glued it down to the base. I cut out the row of stamps and glued them down on 3 sides to make a pocket and then used dimensional foam tape on the bottom portion of the calendar.

The pages are all very similar. From the Cut Apart page I used the large image, one of the smaller images, the post card, a tag, and the calendar stick. There is also a monthly calendar image on each page.

On this month, I used some Fun Fur (specialty yarn) on one of the tags.

An example of how to use these elements would be to write a summary of the month on the calendar stick or just note important dates and events with a few dates and words. On the tag, you could have journaling on the front and a small photo on the back. The post card is large enough for an almost full-sized photo. You could place a smaller photo on the right hand side of the front or do some journaling on the address lines.

For July, I added a flower (from the dollar bin at Michael's) and a button to the top corner. I made a belly band by cutting one of the strips from the Cut Apart sheet and glued it down only on the two ends. I also added Glossy Accents to the red stars. Glossy Accents is one of my favorite items to use when crafting. It gives a nice shine or epoxy look to anything! On the February page (shown earlier in the post), I used Glossy Accents on the lipstick prints. I used my old Fiskar edge scissors to cut one of the stamps out and glued it on the bottom only to use a photo stop to keep the tags from falling out.

I'm not sure if you can tell it from these pictures, but I used gold glitter glue on the sand area of the large tag.

Christmas~my favorite time of year! I added another one of those flowers from the dollar bin at Michael's. I used one of the smaller pieces from the Cut Apart page and glued it down on two sides to make a pocket for the tags.

On these tags I used red glitter glue on the holly berries and clear on the mistletoe.

A close-up of the holly berries, though I'm not sure if you can see the sparkle of the glitter glue in the photo.

I had a lot of fun making this album. Once I decided on the general page design, it all came together quickly. The hardest part is trying to decide on additional embellishments for each page.

I'd like to leave with you a few tips to take your next creation up to the next level:

• Ink your edges~Find an ink that you love, like Tim Holtz Distress Inks, and use it to ink all the edges in your project. It adds a nice dimension and finished touch to your project.
• Dimensional adhesive~There are many kinds out there. Pick one that you like to work with and add dimension to your projects. It's amazing how a little bit of dimensional layering brings a new look to your work.
• Shimmer and Shine~Stickles (or glitter glue) are great for adding a little something extra to your work. Glossy Accents provides that epoxy look with just a little bit of drying time.
• Ribbons and Fibers~Great for pull tags and the bindings of your mini albums

Here are just a couple more pictures of the finished mini album. Thanks for sticking with me for all of them!

Check out this video of the finished mini album. I also go into a little more detail about some of the embellishments.

If you would like to purchase any of the products used for this project, most of them can be ordered or purchased through Kris at Lone Wolf Designs. Please join her Facebook Group "Lone Wolf Designs Discount Retail Sales" to make a purchase.

And now for Blog Candy!

Subscribe to my blog and leave a comment, then head over to Lone Wolf Designs and enter the giveaway for a Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Ink pad and a Ranger Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool. Hurry! Contest ends Thursday, January 31, 2013!

Go and Be Creative!

12 Tags of 2013~January

This year I have decided to spread my crafty wings and try new things. So far, I have added THREE new creative things to my list:

1. I am part of the Design Team for Lone Wolf Designs. That's definitely something new! Be sure to check back on Friday (Jan 25th) to see my first Design Team Showcase. 
2. I'm also trying out new techniques. I have joined the Art Journal Challenge at Your Paper Pantry and I'm having fun with that. 
3. I decided to try out the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013. 

I really enjoyed making my tag for January. At first, I was disappointed that I didn't have hardly any of the items that Tim used to create his tag. I realized that I had to do some creative thinking and that's it's really more about trying out new techniques than making a tag that looks just like Tim's. 

This is Tim's tag:

And here is mine:

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about how I did the techniques, but you can follow along with Tim as he gives an in-depth photo tutorial HERE.

In this photo, you can see my embossed background (Sizzix Tropical Paisley). I used 5 different colors of Distress Inks on my tag. I used Iced Spruce, Stormy Sky, Wild Honey, and Gathered Twig to color my tag and my seam binding for the top of the tag. I used Black Soot for all the stamping. After I got the tag all inked up, I sprayed it with homemade gold shimmer mist.

I don't have any of the film strip ribbon (yet!), so I improvised with this filmstrip stamp (Foto Set) and Spellbinders die (Snapshot) by Donna Salazar. I inked up some grungeboard arrows with the same inks that I used on the background and then sprayed them with homemade gold shimmer mist. I attached them to the tag with Glossy Accents. I also added some Want2Scrap bling for the butterfly trail.

I picked out a couple of TH adage tickets that went with my quote. I inked the edges with Gathered Twigs, traced the letters with Glossy Accents, then glued them down with Glossy Accents and pieces of dimensional foam adhesive. I picked up those paper flowers from the dollar bin at Michael's. I used Wild Honey to ink up the edges. The butterfly was a gift from my friend Tami. It was a bright copper and not quite the right color for this project so painted it with gold metallic acrylic paint and then rubbed a little Gathered Twigs on it. I attached it to the flowers with Glossy Accents.

Let's see...next is the quote (Travel Collage by TPC Studios). I stamped and embossed the quote on brown paper and cut it apart and inked the edges with Gathered Twigs. I used the same inking technique as I used on the big tag. I covered the entire front of the tag with Glossy Accents and spread it around in a thin layer. I then placed the quote on the tag and covered it with more Glossy Accents. I attached another one of those grungeboard arrows with Glossy Accents. I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but since the arrow is curved, I made one end come from behind the tag and then attached the other end to the front.

Last is the seam binding at the top. In Tim's tutorial, he stamped crinkle ribbon with archival ink and then colored the ribbon with Distress Stain. I don't have crinkle ribbon, archival ink, or distress stain. Yikes! What am I going to do?!? I used a small postal-type stamp (from the same stamp set as the quote) and Gathered Twigs to stamp my ribbon. I colored it with the same 4 colors (Iced Spruce, Stormy Sky, Wild Honey, and Gathered Twig) that I have been using throughout this project.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with how my tag turned out, even though I didn't have all the same products that were used in Tim's tag. Sometimes you just have to think outside the box and be creative with the items you already have on hand. Have you participated in Tim's 12 Tags? Leave me a comment below with a link so I can check it out!

Go and Be Creative!

"Black Tie Event" Stick Pin Swap

These are the stick pins that I made for the January Stick Pin Swap at The Scrap Cafe. The theme this month is "Black Tie Event" and the color choices are black, white, and/or silver. 

The beads are probably from Hobby Lobby. I used from my stash, so I'm not sure, but that is where I usually get my beads. I used the Tim Holtz "Postal" Texture Fade and embossed vellum for my card base. I attached it to a piece of black cardstock that I sprayed with homemade silver shimmer spray and then attached that layer to a piece of blue cardstock. I made a rosette with the Tim Holtz Mini Rosette Die with a piece of Colorbok silver-grey paper. I attached the rosette with 2 layers of foam tape and used that to hold 

my stick pins in place. The finished size of my tag is approximately 4.25"x5.5."

A close-up of the stick pins:

Have you tried your hand at making stick pins? They are so much fun to make! They add a nice touch to a card or scrapbook page. I encourage you to join us over at The Scrap Cafe on Facebook. It is a drama-free group and we love to share our projects. There are 2 swaps per month. You are sure to find something to interest you and expand your creativity.

Lone Wolf Designs~The Design Team

I am so thrilled to be a member of the Design Team for Lone Wolf Designs. If you check out the LWD blog HERE, you can see the bios of the current team. There's still room for at least one more person (and maybe more). If you think you have what it takes, check out this post for the qualifications. We would love to have you join us!

Lone Wolf Design Team Blogs
DeAnna~DeAnna's Crafts and Creations That's me!
Kris~Lone Wolf Designs LLC
Tami~Fashioned in Faith
**You Could Be Here!**

Design Team projects are posted every Friday. Be sure to "follow" or "subscribe" to all of us so you don't miss any of the fun. We hope to inspire you and push your creativity to the next level!

Go and Be Creative!

The blog got a face lift!

My friend Kris, over at Lone Wolf Designs has asked me to be a part of her Design Team. I am beyond thrilled and honored at this request! I already have my first project done and can't wait to post it. She is also looking for at least one more Design Team member. Check out this post for all the details. You can also join us on Facebook in the LWD Discount Retail Sales Group

So....I figured it was time for the blog to get a face lift. What do you think? Since Pinterest is all the rage right now, I added "Pin It" buttons to all the photos. I'm working on a light box this week to make sure I get a better quality photo. Now, if I can just remember to watermark my photos...


Go and be creative!