Category: Crafting

My First Insta-Album

On By celestelindIn CraftingLeave a comment

I finally finished my first Insta-Album. I was super excited when HC came out with it on Black Friday (2018), but unfortunately had other pressing obligations (like Christmas! hello!) and so I didn’t really get to dive into it until late January. I’ve had a lot of fun figuring out where everything should go, and using the new mini-pocket dies that really dress up the album.

I also had quite a bit of fun making the flowers, and I wanted to do the album paper justice, since there really isn’t any room to put dimensional flowers inside the album, the outside is all I had to work with.

Here are a couple of pictures of my flowers:

These are just simple little pre-made flowers you can get at any craft store, which were happily, near the exact size of the roses on the paper. The little white blossom are simply punched flowers with a single prill for their centers.

Now these flowers are all hand made, and we used some glossy accents on them as well. The rose buds on the top left are wired with florist tape holding the paper, and acting a bit like the base of the flower.

Here’s the whole thing. I think it turned out rather pretty!

If you’re interested in the inside, check out the YouTube video here:

Christmas Cards

On By celestelindIn CraftingLeave a comment

I decided to make my own Christmas cards this year, and they turned out so darn cute, I just had to share. I used Heartfelt Creations Holly Jolly paper, their poinsettia die and stamp, and the tag die as well.

Here are the first ones:

Then I decided to do a couple of folios, and I really enjoyed these!!

Look! There’s even a little gift card holder!! So cute! Gotta admit, got my idea from Kathy Clement, one of the queens of scrapbooking!!

Go make your own, and have fun!

Enjoy!

4 Panel Scrapbook

On By celestelindIn CraftingLeave a comment

So I decided to play a little with some older paper pads I had lying around. These are beautiful papers From K&Company, but unlike Heartfelt Creations, Graphic 45 , Stamperia and the like, although they have a design on both sides of each paper, there are no pages set up as ephemera, or just right to make a card. These are beautiful though, as you will see.

First I built up the album using black chipboard, which I covered with black cardstock. And since this was just an experiment, I actually used black duck tape to tape them together. Four panels of 9″x7″, one 9″x3″, and two 9″x1″. In retrospect, the thinner panels should’ve been 1.5″ wide, because as things were added it was getting kinda fat!

So that’s the front. I borrowed from several scrapbooks and portfolios to pull this off. I also use a lot of punches from Martha Stewart, and die cuts that I get from everywhere, DiesrUs, G45, and Spellbinders too.

Page one and two:

Pages 3 & 4 – obviously you’ll have to watch the video to see everything!!

And finally the last two “pages”! I had a lot of fun designing this project. I have no idea, but imagine you could easily put 100 photos in here.

Hope I’ve inspired you!!

Check out the video here. Have a great day!

Italian Riviera Mini Album

On By celestelindIn CraftingLeave a comment

I’m sharing another mini album with you today. I made this one several months ago for my mother, and gifted it to her for Christmas. (I’m not sure she knows exactly what to do with it, as she generally keeps her photos on her phone.). Once again this is from the Heartfelt Creations paper collection, this one is called Italiana Riviera, and it has a very purple theme, my moms favorite color (I think). We had some difficulties making this album, especially the gate that you will see around page 10 or 12.

I’m really enjoying the crafting of these mini albums, they are a great creative outlet for me, especially as I’m not an artist at all ( I can’t draw much more than stick figures!) but if I cut and paste carefully (hello, kindergarten!) I can create a thing of beauty.

Some of the tools that I have acquired, and spend money on are Scor-tape, and those amazingly strong neodymium magnets. Follow the links and you’ll see where I get them.

Here’s the album. Hope you enjoy it!

Catching Up on How I Measure Up, and a Scrapbook to Share!

On By celestelindIn Contemplation, CraftingLeave a comment

It’s been a few months since my last post, and if anyone out there is actually following me, I’m really sorry, but I’ve been busy, busy, busy!

For some looney reason, I decided to make scrapbook albums for all the sisters in my family for Christmas gifts this last year. So in September, I got started. Each book took me about three weeks, as I could only work on them in the evenings after work, if I had any energy left after my day (which generally begins at 4:30am), and on the weekends. (If you count the cost of all the paper, embellishments and supplies, you would probably spend about $75, so if you see any of these on Etsy going for $100-$150, now you know why!!). I’ve fallen in love with Spellbinders die cutting, and Heartfelt Creations scrapbook paper & their die cuts as well.

This is a nice creative outlet for me, and I feel like it is really pretty hard to mess up. I’ve found some tutorials on You Tube via Pinterest which got me launched actually several months ago, and I’ve really grown, and have now started (eight or nine mini-albums later) to come up with creative ideas of my own, so I’m not simply copying others work. Although I must remind my mentors, that copying someone is the highest form of praise.

As I said, it’s kind of hard to mess up with scrapbooking. Unlike cake decorating, you can almost always correct a mistake, and there is a good chance no one but you will ever know. When I make cakes, it is easy for me to see my mistakes, and I will have to turn the cake “just so” or strategically place a flower or ribbon to disguise my error. Gumpaste and fondant are actually not very forgiving.

So here is the scrapbook I made for one of my nieces. I don’t really have any stills, other than of the cover, so please just follow the link over to You Tube to see the entire book. Any feedback would be appreciated.