Cigar Box Swap

In February/March, I participated in a Cigar Box Swap at Mini Album Scraps. This was my first time doing one of these and I really enjoyed it. I hope I get the chance to do it again sometime.

We had to decorate a cigar box and then fill it with $20 worth of NEW goodies and 1 hand made item. I picked up a cigar box from my local cigar shop for around $2. I painted it with white acrylic paint. I downloaded a vintage ledger paper from The Graphics Fairy and printed it on cream cardstock and trimmed it to fit the top of my box. The butterfly paper is from the 7gypsies Conservatory 6x6 pad. The bling and the flowers I received in a past swap.

On the inside lid of my box I adhered another sheet of the vintage ledger paper and another sheet of the Conservatory paper. The bling I picked up at the CKC Expo last year and the lace and flowers were from a previous swap.

I also lined the inside of the box with another piece of the vintage ledger paper.

 Here are all the goodies that I bought to fill her box. I'm sure there is more than $20 worth, since I picked most of it up on sale or clearance.

We had to include one handmade item in our box. I made these flowers for a swap that I changed my mind about participating in. I sent 2 sets. See this post for details on the flowers.

Now, this is the box that my partner made for me. I just love it! I told her that I wanted to use my box to store my stick pins in and if she could make the lid (inside or outside) padded, I would appreciate it.

Not only did she pad the inside of the lid, she made this super cute pin cushion for the top of the box.

The inside of the lid is padded in order to give me more room to store stick pins. She sent me all kinds of beads and charms to add to my growing selection of stick pin paraphernalia. : ) Oh, and she sent me a Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink.

TP Mini for Christy

This mini is for the February/March TP Mini Album Swap at Mini Album Scraps. My partner was Christy. She made a super cute mini for me. You can check it out here. This was the first time I have made a mini out of toilet paper rolls. It was a fun little project, but it was hard to do something so small!

Check out the video below for all the scrappy details. :)

Vintage Grunge Flower Swap

I am working on my flower collection so I have joined another flower swap at Mini Album Scraps. The theme for this swap was "vintage grunge" and the flowers had to be made out of book or music pages. For the two larger flowers I used a book that I picked up from the Dollar Tree. For the smaller flower I used a vintage dictionary page from The Graphics Fairy.

For this large flower I used the Sizzix 3-D Flower #2 Die. I wanted to use both of the large flowers from this die but they are so LARGE. This flower is pretty close to 4". I'm sure it's going to get squished in transit. Hopefully, it will fluff back up and be as good as new.

I found a tutorial *somewhere* on YouTube for this flower.

I learned how to make this flower from YouTube, as well. It's just 8 circles all scrunched up around a brad. Pretty simple.

 

Folded Journal Spot Swap

I created these journal spots for the February Journal Spot Swap at Mini Album Scraps. This month we had to make a journal spot that had a fold. Any type of fold was acceptable as long the journaling is inside a folded project.

I used two sheets of patterned paper from the Cotton Tails line by We R Memory Keepers. I made my journal spot from one of the invitations on the Wild Card cricut cartridge. I cut it at 4". I picked up the trim along the bottom from Hobby Lobby. I also included 4 tags cut at 4.5" (from Tags, Bags, Boxes & More cricut cartridge).

Check out the video below for all the scrappy details. :)

Springtime Up-cycle Gift Bag

These gift bags are for an "up-cycle" gift bag swap at Mini Album Scraps. The general idea is to use items you already have to decorate brown paper lunch bags. I used items already in my stash except for the tulle to make the flowers. I picked that up at the Dollar Tree, so that wasn't too much money to spend. :)

Paper: K&Co Black and White Fusion
Flowers: Recollections
Fibers, ribbon, lace, and bling are all from my stash
Black Soot Distress Ink

I used this video to make the tulle flowers. They were really simple to make. I used this video to learn how to make the bead spray. The beads came from my friend, Katie. (Thank you Katie!)

I distressed all the edges with Black Soot Distress Ink. I used a strip of the left over paper to create a little card that is tied on to the ribbon closure at the top. The folded size is about 2.5"x3". Since this paper is double sided and the inside the black polka dot, I lined one side of the card with a piece of plain white cardstock.

Mini Album for Katie

I made this mini album for my friend Katie. Katie and I actually met on Facebook. We both make cards for Operation Write Home and we are also part of a swap group on Facebook. She told me about Mini Album Scraps in November 2011 and I decided to join. One of the first swaps I joined was the Mini Album Swap. Imagine my surprise when I found out that Katie was my swap partner!

Katie is going to be a Grandma very soon (Congratulations!) and she requested a baby themed mini album. Her only request was that it wasn't too baby-ish. I picked up the Hopscotch paper line by K&Co. I made the album 6"x6" and used my Bind-It-All to bind it. I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink to ink all the edges. This album has room for lots and lots of pictures. There are at least 3 tags of various sizes on just about every page, plus 3 of the pages have a "mini within the mini" that will each hold 7-12 MORE pictures. Most of the ribbon that I used actually came from Katie. She sent them to me as a "hostess treat" for hosting a swap that she participated in. I hope she didn't hate the ribbon because it's coming back to her in her mini album!

I made a "baby" charm dangle from some metal tags I had in my stash. They were a door prize at the grand opening of a local scrapbook store. I have had them for about 3 years and never even opened them. I'm glad I finally had a chance to use them! I attached the dangle to the binding with a safety pin.

I have enjoyed participating in swaps over the last 2 months, but I think it is even more enjoyable when you know the person who is receiving your swap. I hope Katie loves her album and fills it up with lots of cute pictures of her new grandson!

Check out the video below for all the scrappy details. :)

Bank Envelope Mini for Ann

I made this mini album for my swap partner, Ann, at Mini Album Scraps. The swap rules said to make a mini album out of coffee sleeves or coin envelopes. As an alternative, we could also use bank envelopes, which is what I used. After I completed my album, someone from the group posted this video, which gives an excellent tutorial for making your own coin envelopes for mini albums that also provides lots of extra space for pictures. I'm definitely going to use that style next time!

OK--on to the mini album that I made...

I made this mini with 6 bank envelopes and used my Bind-It-All to bind it together. Ann said she wanted to use this album for pictures of her daughter and wanted the colors to be earth tones. I found the perfect paper line (and on sale, too!) to use for this project. I picked up a paper stack from K&Co called Edamame.  I bought the Designer Mat Stack which had 18 double sided papers that were 6.75"x4.75." I used 17 of the 18 sheets, plus one sheet of paper from the 12x12 pad. (I loved the paper so much that I had to go out and get some for myself!) I also bought a package of journaling spots, handmade flowers stickers, a set of butterfly stickers, and a package of the 12" border strips.

This album has LOTS of tags, with tons of room for journaling and/or photos. I inked all the edges of the paper and the envelopes with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I created 2 mini albums within this mini album. Each one allows room for 7 pictures. One is a waterfall album which will hold photos about 2.5" square and the other is a fold out accordion type album that will hold wallet sized photos. I also made a stick pin for the front and a dangling charm that is attached to the binding with a lobster claw clasp. The ribbon came from my stash. I purchased the crochet lace trim and the other trim on the front came in a box from my mother-in-law. I have used that trim on several projects. I did use my Vintage Photo Distress Ink to darken the trim since it was very white and the white just didn't go with the album.

I had a lot of fun making this mini album and I hope Ann likes it!

See the video below for all the scrappy details. :)

Vintage Romance Tag Swap

These are the tags I made for the Vintage Romance Tag Swap at Mini Album Scraps. You may recognize the paper from another set of tags that I made last week. : )

The paper line I used was Vintage Valentine by Fancy Pants Designs. The piece of paper I used for the front of these tags had lots of vintage postage stamp type images. After I cut the paper, I decided that it looked best going horizontal, instead of vertical like a traditional tag.

These tags needed to include at least 4 embellishments. I used some trim that came in a box from my mother-in-law. It was so very white! I used vintage photo distress ink to make it more "vintage." I made a paper flower from some striped paper from the collection. I also made a stick pin and a charm, which can both be removed and used on another project, if desired.

Check out the video for all the scrappy details.

Journal Spot Swap

I joined several swaps in December 2011. One of them was a Journal Spot Swap at Mini Album Scraps. For this swap we had to make a pocket or an envelope to hold a journaling tag. The color scheme was neutral (black, brown, white, cream, etc).

I had just finished making a wedding mini album as a gift and still had the paper stack out. I knew that the Black and Ivory Fusion by K&Co would be perfect for this swap.

Check out the video below the photo for all the scrappy details.

Christmas Flower Swap

I made these flowers for the December 2011 flower swap at Mini Album Scraps. The theme was Christmas and we had to make 5 cards with 3 handmade flowers on each card. The flowers could be made out of any material. Since this was my first time making flowers, I chose to use paper. I used 3 different pieces of double sided patterned paper from the Peppermint Twist line by We R Memory Keepers.

There are hundreds of tutorial videos on You Tube about how to make flowers. I just picked one that looked easy and I could use supplies that I had on hand. Each flower is made of 6 or 7 (can't remember!) 1.75" circles. I inked the edges, poked a hole in the middle, then misted them with water. I crumpled them up and let them dry for a few minutes. Next, I un-crumpled them and put a brad through the middle. I scrunched up all the layers around the brad and let them dry. After about 10 minutes or so, I pulled the layers apart and added a little more ink to the edges.

The red card tag base is A2 size. I ran it through my cuttlebug with a snowflake embossing folder. I attached my flowers (with a glue dot) to a narrow tag made with a left over strip of patterned paper. The tags are just tied together with several pieces of Fun Fur Yarn.

This was my first flower swap and I enjoyed making these flowers. I watched so many tutorials on flower making on You Tube. I'm looking forward to trying out some new techniques on future swaps.