Valentine Mini Journal

I created this mini Valentine art journal a while ago for a class I offered at a local community education program. It's actually one of my photo albums from my store and I created little panels each each page. Here are some close-ups:


I included a variety of different things - silk flowers, buttons, photos, scrabble tiles and stamped images.



Here's a picture of the whole thing open:


Happy Valentine's Day!

Mini Art Journal with Twinchies and Things I Love

Happy weekend everyone! I didn't have time to make a "Weekend Inspiration" post today, but it'll be back next week.

I found time for a play date with my supplies this week and made this little art journal. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

It came about because I had just filled a big order for my Mini Thanksgiving Journals and had a couple "seconds" leftover on my desk. You know - the ones that don't quite make the grade!


The journal itself is an accordion which measures 2.5" x 2.5" and the inside pages measure 2.25" x 2.25". So I created a bunch of mini collages measuring 2" x 2" (also known as twinchies) and adhered them to the journal pages.

There is really not rhyme or reason to the items I picked - just things I love! Lace, tags, quotes, buttons, transparencies, music, text etc.



I'm itching to make another! Hope you liked it :)

Ali

Travel Journal

We're still traveling in England, but before we left I made a travel album to record what we did and collect some of the bits & pieces we pick up on the way. The album is from 7 Gypsies and is made up of 10 very thick chipboard pages measuring 5" x 7.5". The patterned paper is a 6"x6" package from Memory Box called Valise.


I love the concept of prepping a journal or scrapbook before a trip for several reasons.

Firstly, I NEVER scrapbook after trips, even though I have the best of intentions. I'm good about printing photos, but I've never been a big 12x12 scrapper. So, these mini albums work great for me. (I should share some others I've created in the past).

Secondly, they're fun to use when you're on the trip. At the end of each day, it's good to spend a few minutes reflecting on what you've done and collating all the memorabilia. We all miss our studios/craft rooms when we're away from home, so it's fun to still be able to play around with paper and glue!

Finally, the preparation for any event - a holiday, vacation or other special occasion is part of the experience. Creating these journals ahead of time just adds to the excitement and sense of anticipation about the upcoming trip.

Here are the inside pages. I've included some binder clips to attach memorabilia.

I'm bringing with me some journaling tags to attach to pages as I go.

I'm also bringing with me some journaling cards to fill in each day.

I attached some clear envelopes to include 4" x 6" photos.

On the final page, I included an envelope for stray bits and pieces.

I'll post the finished album when I get back.....

Happy stamping,

Ali

Triple Challenge Card & Altering Magazines

We did a 'Once in a Blue Moon' challenge today on Gingersnaps. Basically, you combine two or more previously issued challenges on the blog.  I combined the Journeys challenge, the Tags challenge and the yellow, brown and green challenge to make this Autumn card.  [The stamp is from Innovative Stamp Creations.]

The background is a page I tore from a magazine.  I removed some the surface with metal polish and sandpaper.  And then added highlights with acrylic paint.  Here's how it started out - I used the center page with the ferns:

I've been playing with magazines all month - here are a couple of tags I created in my journal:

The background was created by lifting off the surface with packing tape and then sponging on some ink. The chicken is a packing tape transfer from the same magazine.

The background on this tag was created by first sanding and then applying acrylic paint.  The butterflies (Oxford Impressions) were stamped with Perfect Medium and covered with Perfect Pearls.

Finally this little robin was created by rubbing the surface with metal polish and over stamping with some text.  

None of it's rocket science, but it sure is a lot of fun to take old magazines and turn them into something new.