Facebook group – Play Along’s Paper Bag Mini Album Challenge

Recently, I signed up for a group on Facebook called Play Along, which offers a bunch of challenges. Some are for prizes, some for fun, some have deadlines and others are open-ended. It all started out because of YouTube!

A couple of weeks ago when I was home, sitting on the couch, I looked to YouTube for inspiration. I came across this YouTube channel called My Sister’s Scrapper. Ginger, the woman running the channel, was making these paper bag mini albums. So, I thought, I could do this once I get better and get back to my craft room. And, that’s as far as I got! Until the other day.

I also subscribe to a blog written by a woman named Janis. Her blog is Pause Dream Enjoy. I found her blog from a YouTube channel that I follow called CardzTV. Anyway, in this blog was a link to the Facebook page and on that page was the challenge to make one of the Paper Bag mini albums. I figured that since I saw the challenge, I should at least attempt to make one. 

So I did. I went through my house and gathered up the necessary items and then started watching all the parts to her videos. Her directions are so clear and precise – I was amazed that even I could follow them!! It does take a while to construct the basic form of the album, but I was really impressed with how mine turned out. I have a few things to keep in mind for the next one, but the simple fact that I said I will make a “next one” shows you how easy it was to follow along with the videos.

Just a couple of tips if you are going to play along. Janis says that the albums take a lot of paper and they do. I used a My Mind’s Eye paper pack called Lost & Found. I also supplemented with some plain colored card stock that I embossed (both dry and powder) or used punches to add decorations to, as well as some coordinating card stock. She also suggests that you go through your paper pack (if you are using one) and pick the cover paper first. That way, you don’t use those pages on something else. The cover is one of the last things you will do.

Here are some pictures of what my paper bag mini album looks like so far. I have a lot more to do – make tags for inside the top of the paper bag part and tags for the pockets inside and work on the embellishment parts of the album. I’m not sure if this is going to go up on Etsy or not. SInce it’s the first one I’ve done, I am not sure if I want to keep it or not. Let me know what you think. 

The cover:

The front inside cover:

The back inside cover (with a waterfall feature):

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my paper bag mini album. Once I finish this, I will post an update with more pictures. I am hoping to work on it this weekend, so hopefully you will be able to see the finished product soon. Feel free to leave a comment and subscribe!

Teddy Bear Parade and Love You a Latte

Recently, I ordered these two Cricut cartridges. Walmart had a deal 2 for $50. It looks as though Walmart is really the only one who carries the Teddy Bear Parade cartridge, so I thought that I would go ahead and order it. I have been wanting it for awhile. Especially after I saw diamondrose123’s video on how you can use that cartridge with other ones that feature animals, like Create a Critter.  I’ve seen many cute projects from the Love you a Latte cartridge as well. I was so excited to use these cartridges.

Until the post office got involved. I ordered them on Jan 1st and they got shipped by UPS to my post office by the 4th. They didn’t deliver them to me until the 8th. Not sure why they kept them so long. But, by the time I got them, I was in full remodel mode of my craft room. So, unfortunately I haven’t had time to use either of them.

But, even though I haven’t used them, I have several ideas for some projects. So I will be making a lot soon – hopefully this weekend. Look for some pictures to come soon!

Since I haven’t been able to craft, I’ve been busy redoing my room. I got a couple of closet organizers from Home Depot and some baskets.  It’s coming together nicely. i have several shelves of scrapbooks, places for my stamps and punches and even little cubby holes and holders for some of my smaller supplies.

Here’s the video if you want to check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRoxhcf04Ng

 

Here’s a picture of the closet:

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave a comment!

Using the Cuttlebug for program fans

I have been starting to use the Cuttlebug more and more for projects lately. When I bought it right after Christmas (thanks to some gift cards that were given to me by my sister and future brother-in-law!) I wasn’t sure how much I would use it. I think I tend to have an obsession – I buy something and then use it a lot and amass lots of its accessories. Then I tend to forget about it and come back to it months later.

So lately I’ve been on a Cuttlebug kick. I guess you can say its thanks to the two who originally helped me buy it! My sister purchased the program fans from AC Moore and was trying to figure out what to do with them. The groom’s mom and the groom both agreed that they would look better with a picture in them. My sister, her fiancé and I all took a trip to AC Moore to try to find a punch that would work with fans. But, most punches only come up a couple of inches from the bottom of the paper and the Martha Stewart punch around the page punches don’t have openings large enough for a picture. What a dilemma.

I came up with a solution that I thought would work, but my sister’s fiancé wanted to ask the lady who worked at the store. She came up with a circle template and circle cutter that would cost almost $30! Then someone (not me!) would have to sit there and cut out 44 circles. He said he would do it – but everyone knows what that means! I can’t see him sitting there cutting out all those circles.

So we went back to my solution. The Cuttlebug. Sizzle makes these Nestabilities dies that will cut or emboss shapes and gives you a range of sizes (usually 5 to 8 die cuts in each package). I took them back over to that section and they decided that they wanted the oval package. Normally they are $24.99. It was one of AC Moore’s Midnight Madness sales where they offer 20% off everything and the dies were already 40% off.

First, they printed whatever they wanted on their fans, leaving room for the picture. Then they punched the fans out and taking the paper trimmer, cut down the folding line. I was given the front half of the fan to be run through the Cuttlebug with the correct size oval. Even though I had to run 44 of them through the machine, it only took me about an hour. If we had gone with the circle cutter and template, who knows how long that would have taken! (Plus I can never seem to get a good circle cut out of those things. Could be user error though!)

They asked me to do one more thing before giving the fronts back to them, but I will wait until after the wedding to reveal the final fan!

Hope this helps you find another use for your Cuttlebug! Happy scrapping!

Organizing your supplies

Last night I finally had it with my scrap room/office. It was so disorganized and such a mess that I had to do something about it. So I took a couple of hours to try and put everything in its place. Now if you know me, you know how much I HATE cleaning and organizing so this is a big deal!
First, I started off with the things on my desk. I have a tendency to use something and then not put it back where it belongs, especially if I tend to use that item a lot. So I had stamps, embossing powder, stickers and other embellishments along with paper scraps all over my desk. Another thing you probably know about me is that I hate to waste anything. I think, oh, I can use this scrap of paper for something. Some might call it hoarding, but I like to think of it as not being wasteful lol. It makes me feel better at least! With that being said, I first tackled the paper scraps and made three piles – one that had a good amount of unused space left that I could use again, a second pile of scraps to be thrown away and the third one was shapes that I cut out but didn’t use. With the Cricut, sometimes it takes one or two differ tried to get the image the size you want. I had a lot of random animals and paper doll cutouts lying around.
Over the past year or two, I have purchased photo/shoe boxes (the same size as the ones I used for my sister’s centerpieces) and large paper storage boxes made out of the same material. I had a couple of large ones so I thought that those could house my wooden stamps, punches and cling stamps along with some regular ink pads. I have a bunch of smaller boxes for markers, embossing powders and perfect pearl products, scissors and other supplies. I then placed these boxes on either side of my craft mat. I don’t think that this is the most practical solution, but for right now I am going to make it work.

The last thing I need to organize is my paper supply. Right now I have some of my solid card stock and patterned paper in file folder racks. It isn’t the best solution and I am trying to figure out how to store them. My friend Amanda, who writes the blog theperpetualplanner.wordpress.com had some great ideas. I’m not going to steal them on here – I told her to write them in her blog. She’s very organized and I knew she would be the perfect person to ask. So check out her blog for suggestions on how to organize almost anything!
Part of my paper storage problem is the paper scraps. I am still looking for a way to store them. I think I may have found a good solution, but I have to purchase the storage bin and then I will see how it works. If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to share.

Here is what my scrap room looks like now (it’s not perfect, but its 100% better than it was before I started to organize!)