QUICK EASY LITTLE ALBUM

I was experimenting a couple of weeks ago on how to make a quick little photo album and how I could make one using 1 piece of 8-1/2" x 11" card stock.  I had gotten a new 2" paper punch that made a circle with scalloped edges, and wanted to use it to cut little circle pictures out of some photos of a little trip my sister and I took.  Here's what I did:

Used only 1 piece of 8-1/2" x 11" card stock! 

Out of my one piece of card stock, I cut two 3" by 9" strips.  I scored each strip at 3" and 6" and then accordian-folded each.  I then glued the two strips together, end to end, so I had a long 3" x 15" strip with accordian folds.  Next, I stamped each square with my CTMH A1120 Quick Cards Butterfly stamp, using cocoa ink. I just love that stamp as it looks so vintage!  I also distressed the edges of the strips, and the folds, with my coca ink and a sponge.  Here's how the stamp looks:

You can see the little scalloped circle I cut out of the same card stock with my new punch. I distressed it and printed on it with black ink and adhered it using 3-D foam tape so it would stand up a little bit.

After I had stamped all of the edges of the long strip, I cut nine 2-1/2" by 2-1/2" squares using other SB papers. Unfortunately, these are not CTMH papers as I was just experimenting, but you get the idea. (I wish I had used CTMH papers!)  I also distressed the edges of each little paper square with my cocoa ink. I then glued the squares onto each section of the accordian folded strip.  Next I punched circle pictures out of some of the photos I had of our trip, trying to get close-ups if I could.  I think I printed my photos from my computer to be 3x5's for a good size to punch out.  You'll see on the finished product, that I did some of the stamping with my butterfly stamp OVER the 2-1/2" squares on some of them.  I then glued each little photo on top of the 2-1/2" x 2-1/2" squares.

Add a little bling! I added a little bling to some of the pages by gluing on a little crystal here and there.  To keep the little booklet closed, I made a little slider out of a piece of coordinating paper which was 3/4" by about 6-3/8" and glued it together at one end, after testing that it would slide off and on easily. On top of that, I glued a little embellishment (again not CTMH).   Here is the finished album:

Here's the slider I made with a little crystal in the middle.

Voila! Finished album!  I just love it!

Have fun and hope you can make a little album of your own.  CTMH does have a similar little accordian album already made if you don't want to make your own.  It's My Creations Memory Showcase, Z1195 on pg. 131 of the S/S 2012 Idea Book. 

HAVE FUN!

FREE CARDS - DRAWING TOMORROW!

Here are 3 of the cards I will be sending out to the lucky someone who signed up for my Close to My Heart Newsletter.  I have 2 more "surprise" cards done also!  If you haven't already signed up for my CTMH Newsletter, you can go to my website at http://www.pinkpapercottage.ctmh.com at the top where it says New Customer? Start Here.  Then fill in your name and information and check mark the box that says you want the Newsletter.

First two - using Dotty papaers! Left one inside says "you warm my heart".  Right one inside says "Treasurerd Friend" with a verse.



Here is the third card - also with Dotty papers in a different layout. So fun!



Here is the inside of one of the cards, using beautiful My Acrylix Stamp #A1123.  The inside of each card is different.

 Good luck to you all!

STAMPAGANZA FOR JUNE!

Incredible!

The special for June is buy two sets of My Acrylix Stamps and get one free (of equal or lesser value)!  Now how can you beat that?  This is amazing and only comes around once a year.  This includes all sizes of stamp sets but excludes the Workshop on the Go stamps (which are unique to that set of papers and assessories) and excludes the custom name stamps. 

Buy two get one free!  Awesome!

Now is the time to get those stamp sets you have coveted from the Fall/Winter 2011 Idea Book as they are only available until the end of July!

I'm going to get at least 3 stamp sets from the Fall/Winter 2011 Idea Book as they are totally beautiful and awesome.  Most of the ones I love are the ones with woodsy animals such as a bear, eagle, reindeer, wolf and moose (Nature's Gift $13.95 - C1424 pg. 71 of the Fall/Winter 2011 Idea Book), and Christmas stamps that have Santa, a sleigh and 2 different reindeer (I Believe $13.95 - C1427 pg. 80 of the Fall/Winter 2011 Idea Book) and the other lovely vintage-look Christmas stamp sets.  The ones I've listed here I especially love because they have all these scrolly designs within the stamp which I can color in with paints or pens! 

You can go to my Pinterest site to view the above stamps and some of my other favorites at http://www.pinterest.com/pinkcottagegirl/ and view the board entitled "Acrylix Stamp Sets I Love". 

HAPPY STAMPING!!

Email Me!

If you have any questions at all or would like to find out more about my classes, workshops and home gatherings, please email me at:

pinkpapercottage@yahoo.com

I will soon have a schedule posted of my classes.

My Close to My Heart Website

My Etsy shop link is: MyPinkPaperCottage.

I hope you will take time to visit my shop and enjoy my little paper and fabric treasures, and a few vintage fabrics and tea towells. I LOVE collecting vintage fabrics and laces, and I have sold quite a few of my own fabrics from the 70's and 80's. I haven't listed them all yet, so visit often!  

Marilyn

OLD LACE!

What a find!

I was making some cards for my giveaway on June 15th, and looking for some little pieces of lace for embellishments, and what did I find but all of my old lace from 30 years ago!  What a find!  A girlfriend and I were so into making quilted pillows with lace on them, and at that time (in the late 70's and 80's) there were The Lace Ladies, in the Portland/Vancouver area.  They would go around to places like bazaars, school events, etc. and set up their lace tables - full of all kinds of lace!  We loved it all, and of course bought it all too!  We were drowning in lace!  I've used alot over the years, but still have alot left and I've finally found a use for some of them.  Here are a few that I thought would be good to embellish cards and SB pages.  Can you tell I like pink and green even back then?

All the lovely laces.

I love the look of crocheted lace.

See how I can add it to a strip on a card - lovely!

I can add the little flowered lace on top of a strip.

 I'm going to add some lace trim to a couple of my give-away cards that I'm making and I'll post those when done.

I think I'll use the pretty crocheted lace for some Lucy papers and make a few cards.  I love pink and green and the look of old vintage things so this will work nicely on the gorgeous pinks of the Lucy papers. :-)  (I love Lucy).

So gals... go look for that stash of old lace.  Now I have something new to look for at garage sales!

PLAYING WITH PHOTOS.

Today, I should be working on cards I am giving away for my June 15th drawing for anyone who signed up for my Newsletter!  but instead..........I'm playing with my photos on my computer!  Good thing is.... I do have 3 of those cards done and will post them in a couple of days.  I just love all of my photos of my flowers that I have taken over the last few years and never tire of looking at them.. One of these days I'm going to do a scrapbook of just my flowers!  I think I'll use Close to My Heart Studio J to do my digital scrapbook.

I went outside a couple of weeks ago and took some awesome pictures of my rhododendrons that were in full bloom.  We live at a high elevation (about 1300 feet) so things bloom late around here.  We have some yellow ones that you just don't see too often around here.  Am posting a few pictures here, just to share them with you.  I've been playing around on Pinterest too, and boy is that addictive!  Have pinned some of my favorite flower pictures and a few of rivers and trees that I took.  I just love photography and wish I had a better camera.  One of these days............. that's the next thing on my list, well under a few other things........Cricut Expressions, My Story Book Binding machine, better sewing machine.......

For today, let's enjoy the beauty of nature!

My beautiful yellow rhododendron.

My "garden window" that I painted from old frame - the shrub in the foreground is from LaPine, Oregon.

Who can not also love these palest pink rhododendrons!

ABOUT ME

I love scrapbooking, paper crafting, quilting, gardening and photography! I am a semi-retired mother of two, and now have time to make up for all the hours I didn't have time to craft and create during my working and child raising years. Between kids, full-time jobs, horses and husband(s), I never felt like I got to fulfill this passion of mine enough!

Somehow though, I did manage to squeeze in my passion at that time, which was sewing. While I sewed, my boys used to sit on the floor beside me, playing with their little cars. I have such sweet memories of that! And as they got older, I always made their Halloween costumes and school costumes, hemmed their pants and made them clothes. In their teen years, they always cornered me to "fix" something, sew something "on" their coat, or hem their jeans. 

I used to stay up until the wee hours of the morning, sewing on my special projects. For many years, I handmade everyone's Christmas and birthday gifts! (I wonder now, how did I do that with two little kids?!!)

As I've  gotten older, I have more of a passion for preserving memories and experiences with photos and journaling. That is why I love to scrapbook, and why I love the ease of digital scrapbooking. I can spend hours, playing with my beautiful papers, doo dads, ribbons, lace, buttons, stamps, inks, pens, and fabrics. I can also spend hours on the computer, digital scrapbooking. It is so fun and creative! 

I vowed when I retired that I would spend more time being creative. I joined Close to My Heart in March, 2012, so I could have a venue to share, create and teach, and use all of their gorgeous products. I want to use this Blog to share my ideas, my photography, projects, creations and all that Close to My Heart has to offer. I love their Studio J digital scrapbooking program and hope to teach it to others so they can learn another fun way to preserve their photos and memories. I also may, now and then, slip in some of my quilting and sewing projects, as all of my wonderful fabrics that I've gathered over the last 40 years seem to be becoming very good friends with all my newly acquired, beautiful CTMH papers!  Some of my favorite photos that I have taken over the years may also find their way to this Blog!

I have so many ideas for projects... I can hardly wait to share them with you!

STAMP OF THE MONTH FOR JUNE!

Beautiful Stamps, Amazing Discounts

Every month, Close to My Heart has a "stamp of the month".  Each month, you can enjoy a new D-size stamp set (normally $17.95) for just $5.00, when you place an order of $50 or more in Close to My Heart products.  Each month's stamps are shown in detail in the back of each Idea Book and they are only offered during that one month! 

Here is the June stamp of the month - Life is Tweet (S1206).

Spend $50 and get this Stamp set for just $5!

To view a picture of the set of stamps, go to my website at http://www.pinkpapercottage.ctmh.com/ and view the Products Section "Stamp of the Month".  There are cute little birdies with stick legs, flowers, a little branch with leaves and flowers, balloons, and birthday and anniversary sentiments.  It is so Tweet!  You'll love it!

There are also several different projects and pictures shown there, and how-to instructions for each project.  Go get inspired!