DIY Mini Scrapbook Album – Vacay

I was inspired to try making my own mini scrapbook album from scratch after watching Heidi Swapp’s tutorial class on Scrapbook.com. It’s a free class & she uses boxed cards to make the base of the album.

I had a few photos printed from my last vacation to Aruba and decided to use those for the album. They are press prints from Persnickety Prints that I had hanging on my Christmas tree last year. The press prints are so nice and sturdy, just love them. I also highly recommend the pearl finish when you have an image that you want to shimmer.

I had this Simple Stories Good Day Sunshine paper pad that I’ve been using for years now. I think it was a freebie from the Stamp & Scrapbook Expo, so it was a big stack with multiple pages of each design. I decided to try to kill it off with this album.

I chose a few papers and cut them down so that the album would be a 6×8 size. I adhered some pages together and used my sewing machine to sew pockets in a few pages (3). Heidi Swapp gives this idea/tip in her 2nd video in the class series. I like the idea of mixing the pages, some with pocket tags, some without.

I cut some chipboard to 6×8 and adhered it all together with Tombo permanent adhesive. For the cover I chose a paper that was 9 inches long so there would be overhang onto the back of the album to cover the spine. The journal card pages worked perfect for that.

Once the base of the album was complete, I loosely outlined where I wanted the photos then proceeded to complete & embellish each page. In total it probably took about 6-7 hours to complete the whole thing. Probably the quickest I’ve ever completed a project like this. Using the one paper pack as a base and sticking to a theme probably helped me focus more and get it done.

I used a lot of stash supplies, that “escape” sticker is from 7 Gypsies. Lots of Simple Stories embellishments from their mini “snap” packs and some other beach/paradise collection like “Here We Go”.

I love tags, and finally picked up a tag die-cut set at Stamp & Scrapbook Expo last year. It is from Hero Arts, the Infinity Tag set.

These papers worked out well because of the way they are color blocked for divided page protectors, it sort of blocks off different parts of the page layouts and also provides embellishment without having to add too much extra.

The “pure magic” is from Me & My Big Ideas, the other stickers and washi are Simple Stories Here We Go collection.

This fruity paper is from a 6×6 pad – American Crafts Dear Lizzy Happy Place. It was perfect for a visit to the smoothie bowl shack.

When I decided to start this album I had no printer ink, so couldn’t print additional photos that way. I did use my Lifeprint mini printer to print out mini photos of the food and snacks from the trip. The strip of paper under “good eats” is inked with Ranger Distress Inks. Again the pattern paper was already designed, so I didn’t have to add anything to it.

Sunglasses paper from 6×6 pad – American Crafts Dear Lizzy Happy Place. I also started by using the kraft photo corners, then just decided to continue that throughout the album for cohesiveness. The press prints are such a nice quality and I didn’t want to adhere them down.

This layout probably took the longest because I was trying to block off the left page to add some small stories. I have a Lifeprint hyperphoto that will take the place of the regular photo on the top part about these swans, fish and a swimming iguana. (Their servers were down at the time 😦 )

The bottom was a visit to a favorite night spot, Bugaloe, with live music & the best grouper ceviche – yum!

For the right side, I added a different paper from Simple Stories Summer Vibes collection. I cut parts off to make the words make sense for the theme.

I wanted to include some journaling in the album, some was recorded in Day One app and other in an Instagram post. I put the journaling (which I write a word or two about the different things that happen, places visited or inside joke type stories) on the viewable page. Then I add my more personal take to the pocket tag.

For the page I wanted to put the journaling right on that busy page, so I used the negative from the tag die-cut to ink a space that journaling printed on vellum would show up. I used Ranger Oxide Inks to get a nice layer of ink to cover up the images on the paper. At first I just printed the font in black, but then decided I would like it reversed better. I use apps on my phone to create this journaling and print directly to my Canon printer using their printer app. (Letterglow app, PicStitch app, and Canon Print – learn more about that here) I continued that inking on the right side of the page to outline the photo a bit more.

Used my typewriter for this journaling on the tag.

This album was fun and surprisingly easy to come together. I’m glad I have a completed project for something I wasn’t even sure I was going to scrap the photos for to begin with.

I highly recommend checking out Heidi’s class and trying a mini album of your own.

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Best Day Ever layout

Best Day Ever layout

This story was important for me to get recorded. I’ve thought about it a lot since it happened in August.

We were at the shore/boardwalk with the family. It was nice to be in walking distance to the amusement rides and games. After some motion sickness and recovery, we were playing some of the boardwalk games and started to get lucky. My nephew was so excited.

Finally we had a big enough group of people to play for the big prize at the water gun shooting game. I know that if I get off to the right start in that game, I have a good chance of winning. I knew as soon as the bell rang that I had it in the bag because my water gun was spot on the target! He was excited to pick a big prize, he almost didn’t know what to take. We recommended the pirate Minion as he loves pirates. With all the toys in his arms, he was laughing & jumping, he exclaimed “this is the best day ever!” It’s those kind of moments you are so grateful to share with the little people in your life. Seeing them truly happy and excited and innocent, just to bottle that up would be priceless.

Best Day Ever layout zoom

I’ve had the photo for a bit knowing what the page title would be. I came across this vellum “best day ever” from a Heidi Swapp collection and put it aside for this layout.

Again I like the simplicity of the one 8.5×11 page with the 4×4 photo (I’m leaning towards an 8.5×11 album for 2016). I pulled the turquoise ombre paper from a value pack from Maggie Holmes, Crate Paper – Flea Market theme. The colors in the photo had some greens and yellows, and there was also black. I thought I would put some black under the photo to help it pop a bit. I saw this pattern paper in Amy Tangerine’s Plus One paper pad, and thought it would look good to use the part that divided the design down the middle. The dots ended up providing lines to include my journaling.

A sweet summer memory!

I feel like I always lean more towards these turquoise/teal/mint colors. Sometimes I think oh I should do something different, but then I think well if that is what I like and what I want, then ok! Do you have a certain color palette you always tend to stick with?  

I’ve destashed a lot of paper in the past 2 years and I keep getting rid of colors I don’t really use as much. I think maybe having fewer choices would actually work better for me.  I’ve divided by color, but sometimes I keep certain paper packs together because I like complementary colors versus the same shades combined. What paper storing methods have worked for you and what has not?