My LSNED 2012 Album - Template and Tutorial Included!

The 1st of September is creeping up very quickly, but I've managed to prep my Learn Something New Everyday Album just in time! If you don't know what LSNED is all about, it's an annual class by Shimelle Laine, and you can see more details on her blog here.

I've taken part in the class for the last two years, and I love both my albums, for the little details of life that are recorded in them. You can see my art-journal album from 2010 here, and my smash-style album from 2011 here. This year I decided to take inspiration from a previous project of my own - my Mini File-Folders Album from my Organisation Celebration weekend. I like the size and fun of it, and I'm hoping it will work well to record this month's lessons! 

This time I didn't have an empty soup box ready though, so instead I decided to make a box out of a sheet of cardstock. And just in case you'd like to make an album this style for yourself, I have a template and tutorial for you!

I'm using the Echo Park Every Day Eclectic Collection Pack, with a few other bits and pieces thrown in! 

To start making a similar album of your own, you'll need a bit of 12x12 cardstock, the sturdier the better. I've used a piece of Bazzill Basics textured cardstock in an aqua colour.

You can download the template here - it needs to be printed onto an A3 piece of paper. Sorry if you don't have access to an A3 printer, but I have included the measurements on the template, so you could draw it onto your cardstock by hand.

Cut the template out, and draw around the outline - I used a ruler to help me keep the paper still, and make sure the lines were straight:

Fold along the dashed lines, and draw them onto the carstock too - make sure you draw them dashed so you remember not to cut along them:

Cut out your box, then score and fold along the dashed lines:

Flip the box over, and apply ultra-strong double sided tape to the tabs which will stick the box together:

Peel off the tape backing and carefully stick your box together:

Decorate the front of your box with papers, letters, stickers, and jewels! I used Foam tape and dots to help some of the details stand out more:

To make the pages, cut a selection of papers down to 4" x 5½". Decide on the order you want the pages to appear, and then cut tabs along the top, by measuring half inch square tabs, and cutting off the excess at the top of the paper:

You can leave the tabs like this, or decorate them if you wish. For my previous file-folder album I used a variety of chipboards and other bits for the tabs, but as this is an album with daily entries, I used some Maya Road Numbers to 'date' the pages:

I love how they look peeping out of the top of the album - I've used kraft in some way or another on each LSNED album so far, a tradition I hope to continue!:

There we go, all ready to fill throughout September. I hope to share some pages from the album every few days. Are you joining in? If so, I hope to see you on the forum! 

I should be back tomorrow with my Month in Numbers! x

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Us ~ Crate Paper Layout

Here's another layout using a photo from My 30th Birthday Party. I used lots of Crate Paper for this page - bits from all different collections, including brads from the Little Bo Peep collection:

I was inspired to layer up the punched circles by this layout of Lisa-Jane's, though mine aren't scalloped! 

The central pale section (a sheet of 'Peppermint' paper) is all mounted on 3D foam tape, so that the negative cut title, and the hearts (all cut using the Basic Shapes Design Card with a Slice Design Cutter) show up really well. The heart spaces also have a smaller heart inside them, with gold thread stitched down the centre, so they stand out from the page:

And of course the page includes my usual scattering of small bits and pieces!

It's nice to have made a page featuring just me and my hubby, there aren't enough photos of just the two of us.

I'm liking using gold thread on my pages at the moment. The gold trend is one I'm certainly embracing, which surprises me, as I'm usually a silver girl! x

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The Height of Summer...

... The lovely Julie Kirk has asked a question of the general blogosphere... how tall are we? 

It's been interesting to see other people's blog posts pop up - and learning how we all measure up against each other! To see more info on what inspired Julie's question, check out her original post here, where you can also see how to join in. But you'll have to be quick, as on Thursday Julie will be posting a height chart featuring us all!

I've been pondering on how to join in, but time has run out for any clever statistics or stories, and I haven't even got any full length shots of all of us. I wanted to include the whole family's heights, to record this summer, before the kids grow more (and hopefully long before me and hubby start to shrink?!). I noticed that I'd recently taken separate photos on different occasions of me, my daughter, and my son, with us looking away from the camera, and the sky behind us. I had to go back a few years to find a similar shot of hubby, as he always notices when I try to take this kind of shot of him, and pulls a face into the camera! I found one at last though.

Here's our current heights:

Me ~ 5ft 4" (though perhaps this hat makes me a little bit taller?):

Hubby ~ 6ft 4" (I remember telling a friend I'd never date someone more than a few inches taller than me. Then I fell in love with a man a foot taller - I just about reach his shoulder. It was worth breaking my oath though!):

Little Miss ~ 3ft 5" (I know her height because we measured her before we went to Disneyland Paris, and she was the exact height to be allowed on the Thunder Mountain roller coaster. She went on it - but she didn't like it!):

Cheeky Boy ~ 2ft 7" (I just measured him in his sleep - this is as accurate as I was able to get with a squirmy 1 year old!):

So that's how we all stack up. Are you tall, short, or in-between? I think my height is about average, and I've never worried about it too much - though this might change if my children eventually surpass me. I'm sure I'll get used to it though...

It doesn't matter how tall you are - you can still reach to the sky! 

P.S. I'll be back tomorrow or Thursday with a layout! x

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Little Bo Peep Sneaks

My latest DT projects went live today on the SJ Crafts Blog, here. They were made using the very pretty Little Bo Peep collection by Crate Paper. I absolutely love this collection, the colours are so rich, yet so soft at the same time! You can see all my projects on the shop blog, but here's a couple of sneaks to tempt you over there:

A Tag Mini-Book:

A New Baby Card:

Please go and check the rest out - there's a layout over there too!

I hope you're having a sweet day, x

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SJ Crafts Challenge #8

It's time for a new challenge at the SJ Crafts blog, and the theme is 'Summer time'. Interpret this how you like - what does Summer mean to you?

The first thing I think of when I hear the words 'summer time', is the beach! I decided to use the beach as my inspiration for the layout, but not using beach photos, though the photos have a lose connection because of the mermaid / captain costumes (another layout for my 30th birthday album, yay!):

Supplies: Crate Paper Little Bo Peep 'Alice' Paper, Bo Peep Border Stickers, Crate Portrait Alphas, American Crafts Thickers, Gold Thread, Red Ric-Rac, Pumice Texture Gel, White Gesso, Anita's Glitterations Stickers, White Crepe Paper, Staples, A Black Gel Pen, A Blue Drawing Pen, and a variety of Gems and Pearls.

I used beachy colours of yellow and blue, layered blue border stickers and crepe paper under the main photo like waves, plus I used hints of gold for the glinting sun, and blue gems and pearls to look like water droplets. I also added some pumice texture gel to gesso for some sandy dots, which I doodled around with a blue pen to make them stand out more:

Have you ever tried to use a location as inspiration for your projects - but when the project is not about that actual place? I might try this again - perhaps a city/building inspired layout next!

Don't forget to join in with the SJ Crafts challenge - it would be great to see more scrapbook entries over there! You could win a pack of mixed embellishments, and the closing date is the 19th of September at 1pm. Good luck!

x

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Away We Go To The Beach - Mini-Album

Regular readers will know I take a lot of beach photos. I had some printed out that I'd decided not to use on 12x12 layouts, but I still wanted to scrapbook them. So, as I was in a summery scrapping mood,  I've made a mini album to display them:

I made the pages by cutting 5 pieces of Echo Park Everyday Eclectic paper down to 5" wide - then rounded off the top edges of the papers using a bowl as a template:

And I cut the height of the pages down so that they increase in size - the front cover is 6" tall, the first page is 7", the second page is 8⅛", the third 9¼", the last page is 10⅜" tall:

And then I decorated the album with more Everyday Eclectic bits, a little machine stitching using white and gold thread, a Papermania Brad Making Kit, buttons and gems from my stash, plus some of these epoxies which have been sitting in my stash for too long:

They went well with the theme:

The photos were various sizes and orientations, but I managed to cut them all down to 4x4" square to give continuity to the album:

I love making mini albums at the moment - I have them all on display in a basket in my dining room, for visitors to peruse!

Have you got any photos printed out and lurking in storage that you could use in a mini-album? Don't forget you can link up mini-albums to my Scrapbooking Soiree, as well as layouts!

x

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Anniversary Card

Hello! I have a quick post today, to show you the Anniversary card I made for my friend and her hubby, who just celebrated their first year of marriage. I used some strips of the Studio Calico Hey Day 6x6 paper pad on a kraft card base for the background, layered the sentiment on top, and then finished the card off with some co-ordinating butterflies from my glass full of butterflies:

A nice, fluttery, summery card! I haven't seen many butterflies this year, I guess the horrible weather we've had made it difficult for them. Have you seen many butterflies lately where you are?

x

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10 Things... Magical Disneyland Moments

My Ten Things this month had to include photos from Disneyland Paris, where we spent last weekend! 'Ten Things on the Tenth' is led by the wonderful Shimelle Laine - though today I see her post has been hijacked by the also fabulous SJ!

Here are 10 Magical Moments from our time at Disneyland Paris 

(photos are roughly in order of when they were taken):

1. Seeing the books I made for me and the kids getting filled up with drawings, stories, and autographs. Even baby boy enjoyed doodling in his book - he loves to use crayons right now (and only occasionally tries to eat one!):

2. Going on 'It's a Small World' as our first ride, and watching the girls's reaction (my daughter and my niece). They were amazed:

3. Baby Boy's reaction to the illuminated parade, he kept pointing and smiling at each float as it passed by, though some of the loud music worried him a bit. This is the Aladdin float:

4. This was my personal favourite, the Disney Dreams spectacular when the park closes - a special event they're doing for their 20th anniversary. This photo doesn't do it justice, but it was a light / water / music / movies / fireworks show, with pictures projected onto the castle. It had a story about Peter Pan's shadow escaping and travelling through lots of the Disney Movies, and the lights and pictures transformed the castle into a waterfall, and Notre Dame, giant rockets, Asian ruins, and more (there's a video on You Tube of it here if you want to see more). I was gobsmacked at the whole thing, so much that it made me cry with joy to see it:

5. Appreciating time with family - we went with my Mum and Stepdad, my Brother and his Wife and Kids, my Sister, and her Boyfriend came for one night. The first picture was taken on our second morning, the next photo was taken on our third afternoon just before my sister's boyfriend had to return home. It was so lovely spending all this time together, my family are wonderful! (And yes, baby boy is asleep in both pictures!):

6. Realising how fearless my little girl can be sometimes - she's definitely not afraid of heights based on the Parachute Ride in Toyland in the Disney Studios Park. The 'parachutes' take you straight up into the air, and then let you down, not super fast, but not really gently either - it makes your stomach jump! Hubby was more worried than little miss though - she loved it, and said 'again again' as soon as we stepped off:

7. Seeing Ariel! After being Ariel for my 30th Birthday, I couldn;t wait to see her, and we finally saw her properly at a parade on our last evening. I waved at her like I was a little kid myself! And then I smugly thought that my costume was better, hee hee!

8. My daughter and my nephew holding hands. This was the first time my nephew has been old enough and bold enough to play properly with my daughter, and they were getting on so well together, chasing each other around and chatting about things. The heart melting moment was when they walked along together after breakfast on our last day holding hands, so sweetly:

9. Looking at the little details. One of the things I like about Disneyland is all the extra details they put in so you really feel like you're in another place, like the queue lines that always have things to look at. But I still miss lots that you walk past quickly - not so for my daughter, who kept pointing things out. My favourite was when we were on our way to meet the princesses, and she said, 'I think we'll meet Rapunzel, because there's a Golden Flower up there', and pointed up to the top of a tower, where there was a flower just like the one drawn in the Tangled film. We didn't meet Rapunzel, but we did glimpse her later so it was okay:

10. Meeting characters. We met Goofy, and Pluto, and Mickey and Minnie, and Snow White, plus a few more. The kids loved meeting them and getting their autographs, it was sweet to see their expressions when they spotted another character, though my daughter was a bit shy of some of them, and baby boy cried at a couple of the larger ones!:

We had such a wonderful, though tiring, time! I hope we get to go again someday, when baby boy will be old enough to appreciate it more. Even though he won't remember much from this trip I know he enjoyed it, and we'll be able to tell him all about it, show him the many scrapbooks that I'm sure I'll create, and know that we've made moments to treasure for all our lives:

Hooray for Disneyland!

x

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The Scrapbooking Soiree - August!

Sorry this month's Soiree is a little late - Disneyland Paris distracted me! But here we go for this month's party! 

If you don't know what the Soriee is all about, then check out the details here. 

I was so impressed with all the links in July's Soiree, I was especially inspired by a few of them. There were several Graduation layouts, but this one by Dogmatix stood out because the photo is similar to one I have of me on my graduation day, and it made me think I should really scrapbook my own! I'd also like to make a motherhood page like this one by Bonnie, she fitted lots of photos and journaling on to one beautiful page. And ScrappyJacky's street party album here made me want to fill up my 8x8 albums, and also made me want to organise a street party!

The winner of last month's prize (a 6x6 Fancy Pants 'Beach Bum' paper pad) was randomly chosen:

So the winner was Mel J, with some great layouts including this one - I love the painty swirls:

Thanks for joining in Mel! Please email me your postal address at jennifer grace (at) hotmail (dot) co (dot) uk, and I'll get the pad sent out to you!

Now you can all start to add your links for this month. Please only link projects that you've posted on your blog or gallery between 8th of August and 7th of September - no linking back to earlier projects! If you join in this month you'll be in with a chance to win this Bo Bunny Chipboard 'Family' Album:

If you'd like to Link Up, so that others can see your work, but you don't want to win the album, then just let me know in the comments!

Thanks so much for joining in with my Soiree, I hope you'll party with me this month! Please remember to visit at least one other link once you've added your own - it's not a party if we don't chat to each other! x

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