Birthday Mini Album

Another of my lockdown makes, this time an album for my sisters birthday. I decided that instead of opening it like a regular book, this one would open from the top, stand on the spine of the book and be easy to display. So you lift the magnetised flap, and the book flops open........

Again, there are loads of pockets etc to explore. In the photo opposite, on the page lying flat you can see some tabs in the peach paper. The whole thing is actually six black envelopes glued together to form a concertina type file folder to take lots of photos

 All the papers are from the Bloom and Wonder paper pad by Trimcraft. I apologise for the quality of the photos, I was not thinking of the blog when I took them, just shot them quickly to show my nieces why I needed the photos they had to raid family photo albums to get! It was worth it, my sister loved it......... 

Mini Album

One of the things I have loved making during lockdown are mini albums. This one was for my friend Anne (who has given me permission to publish the completed pages) and is all about her grandchildren.

I built the whole thing from scratch, it's a long time since I made one of these, I made a couple back in my Florida crafting days. I do love them, and try to make them very interactive with loads of flaps - and magnet closures, I love magnets!

So I went a bit crazy with flaps, waterfalls and it was nice to use stuff like border punches and dies. I even dusted off my Cricut! They do make lovely gifts, I have a couple more to share tomorrow.

If you are new to mini album making I can recommend my friend Cal Summers, who is a mini album genius. She runs a Facebook group called Paper, Scissors, Story and does live demo's each week

So if, like me, you are a bit jaded with cardmaking, have a go at one of these, there is something very satisfying about starting off with pieces of chipboard and card and ending up with a very personal gift for special people - I also made one for my son's milestone birthday, and a couple for Christmas gifts 

 

Bauble Mini Album

I spent the day on Thursday making this little Christmas mini album. It will be our Christmas card to Max and Milo's 'other' grandparents. The chipboard album was in the dollar bins at Michaels, and each page was covered with papers from this years Christmas stack by Papermania UK

I chose this adorable shot of the boys giving each other a hug for the cover........

Max is growing up fast - he starts school this month at the age of 4

He is still obsessed by firemen and rushes around in his uniform yelling EMERGENCY.......

Our sweet little busy bee Milo.........

and Daddy caught them in a pensive mood.........

Milo with Mummy.....

and on holiday in Portugal.....

I found a fabulous quote which is on another page, it reads

Small children keep you feeling

OLD!

So true, that will raise a rueful smile from them.

No funny observations or stories from me today, instead I am remembering, together with the rest of the world, in respectful silence

September 11th 2001

Mitten Book

I found this mitten chipboard book in the dollar bin at Michaels, what a bargain! I covered it in an American Crafts paper that already had a striped border on it, so that did for the cuff. The letter stickers are also from a AC pad, and I cut out tiny images of the children from those index prints that you get when you get photos developed

Here's a couple of pages from the inside, love those photos of Kiki playing in the snow last winter- the only snow she has ever seen in her 5 years living in London! Yes, I know I put a flower among the snowflakes on this page, but with these tiny books I go for making the pages look pretty and busy rather than telling a story. This little book will be James and Annie's christmas card this year.
It also fits in nicely with the challenge over on colour create this week, red, white and green.