Fall Trees ATC

I have a good stash of gel prints and the 'fall trees' theme for this ATC swap was the perfect opportunity to use some up.  The tree border dies are from Lawn Fawn.  I LOVE these tree dies but hardly ever use them.  Anyone out there a hoarder of cool things that you don't get around to using?  (gulp...don't spill the beans to the hubs.  LOL)

Anyway, several years ago I made an accordion ATC and decided to do the same here.  Imagine frolicking in crunchy multi-colored leaves on a crisp fall afternoon.  I did!

Thanks for swinging by today.  Happy Autumn!

It's a Jungle Out There!

I've really enjoyed working on mini albums again. My family loves to look through them and reminisce. When I made this Our Wildlife Adventure mini album I was thinking about a trip to the zoo, (or here in the Pacific Northwest we also have Northwest Trek), but really this could be used for all kinds of adventures - tropical adventures, Africa, Asia, South America ...

This 6" x 6" scrapbook is in the accordion style which makes it great as a display piece (I change mine out frequently depending on the time of year or what's going on with us). Photos can go on both sides - lots of room - and of course, I added pockets and flaps to make it interactive.

* Click on the photos for a better view. *

I glued bits of raffia along the bottom of the left page to simulate dried grass.  Torn strips of paper and rugged burlap ribbon adorn the top of the flap on the right-hand side.  Lots of room inside for both journaling and a photo or two.

The right-hand page here also has burlap ribbon across the top.  I made sure the words 'Nature' and 'Untamed' lifted off the page so your photo can slip underneath them.

This pocket on the left has two tags which pull out for journaling or photos. I distressed the headings 'Journey' and 'Adventure' to give them appearance of aged leather.

The tag on the right is tied with raffia and a decorative brad.    The base is embossed with a really cool, rugged pattern and then I rubbed some walnut ink over the top to make it stand out even more.

I love the way this pocket turned out.  It is a glassine envelope that I stained and scrunched to give it the appearance and texture of worn leather.  It's embellished with pattrned paper and a decorative brad.  Inside is a tag reinforced with a brass eyelet and tied with hemp twine.  The background also has hand-sewn embellishement using the hemp twine.

In total this mini album has 8 pages for photos and journaling.  Get more information on it here in my Etsy shop.

Playing with Pretty Paper to Produce a Pyramid

What is it about the letter P that makes it fun to say?  As I started writing this post about my latest project I couldn't help but throw all those P words in there.  ANYWAY ... my Facebook followers have already seen this but if you missed it I recently created this paper wonder for a challenge going on at my local scrapbooking store, Urban Scrapbooker. 

Every month Brooke sells a monthly kit loaded with paper and embellishments and challenges us to come up with something unique and wonderful.  I have never participated but have wanted to and I was especially intrigued by the February kit she chose - Authentique's Gathering line.  This line is not something I would normally choose - I'm not a big orange and floral fan - but I was tempted by those lucious rubenesque poppies. (Can poppies be rubenesque?  I don't know.)  Wanting to do something other than a scrapbook layout, I decided to tweak the traditional and go for a pyramid box with a mini album nestled inside.  My apologies for some of these photos - should have taken them all at the same time.

Here is the the box closed.  I took some pictures and let the box sit on my mantle for a couple of days to see how I liked it.  I decided to add some flat teal marbles as feet on the bottom - just what the doctor ordered.  Lots of fun little details - added some pearls, glitter, watch parts, beads and irididescent mist to glam it up a bit.

When the little triangle on top is lifted off the sides fall open to reveal a triangular accordion mini album sitting on the bottom.  I haven't added any pictures yet, but there's room on both sides for the pages for a little something.  I decorated the box sides with stamps, die cuts and glitter as well. 

Thanks for looking at my little project.  I really enjoyed making this and it came together really quickly.  Try one!