Mother's Day Scrap-O-Dex

I want to wish all the Mothers out there a VERY Happy Mother's Day!!!

Teehee, now a moment of rudeness to my own Mom (sorry, Mom!) but you can't see this until you get it! So go away! Love you though! :)

Obviously, this Scrap-O-Dex is something I made for my Mother in honor of the holiday. While this did take a lot of time, it was all using simple techniques. I've already mentioned the flower texturizing technique in my earlier post with the matching house box for this SOD. The rest is simply lots and lots of Stickles! Of course, the Scrap-O-Dex is from Zsiage. The patterned papers, again, are Zsiage's Starr Brites II collection (designed by Jen Starr). All the chipboard shapes interspersed throughout are from one sheet of Zsiage Chippies (also by Jen). Several of the shapes I actually cut in half to make the fit the space better (which used a lot less too!) There are a lot of leftover shapes as well to use on other projects. The flowers are from Prima and, again, punched from Zsiage papers (the punches are from EK and Carl). The Stickles from Ranger (I used orange and pink). The quote stickers (all from one sheet!) are from Cloud 9, and the pen I used to outline on each page is from Sakura. The Magic Mesh, of course, is from Magic Mesh.

I actually worked on this in layers. First I completed the Scrap-O-Dex itself. I covered the front and back with Magic Mesh and then added the Stickled letters and then the flowers. Then I covered all the chipboard pages with patterned papers and trimmed them. I picked out the chipboard shapes to use and covered half with orange and half with pink and set them to dry while I created all the flowers. I did a lot of those flowers over the space of a few days - usually while watching TV, lol! Then I picked out all my pictures and trimmed them down to an appropriate size. Then I began assembling! For each page, I simply cut a piece of paper big enough to fit the quote I was using and slip behind part of my picture. No measuring. Just left them random! After attaching the paper, quote and picture, I then edged the paper with a black pen just to be sure it stuck out nicely against the background. I would have inked them all had I thought of it before attaching the first one but since I did, I had to go ahead and make do and follow through the rest the same way. Once all the pages were done to that point, I determined placement in the Scrap-O-Dex and put them in. Then, working from the back to the front, I began layering and adding flowers and the Stickled chipboard pieces. It's much easier to visualize and make everything tie together (for me at least) working this way. I do the same with acrylic albums just so I can see where I should be working and what will show through from page to page. It helps to see where there are gaps and where things might be bunched up too much as a whole and in sections.

Accordian Receipt Organizer

In case you couldn't tell, I just finished up my taxes, lol! THIS year I think I'll try being organized. I've forever got receipts scattered everywhere so I thought I'd make up a little holder to tuck them into - not just my tax stuff, but also major purchases, etc. and stuff I just tend to keep.

I started with an accordian folder album from Zsiage - it's 6x12 so this came together really fast. I adhered papers from Zsiage's New England line. The stripe is Cape Cod Stripe and I used that on the front and back, then covered the pockets with Surf and Turf. I used a metallic embroidery thead from DMC (I separated out 1/2 the strands to use) to sew the pockets closed at the sides, making sure the stitching was even on the front and back. I also added a drop of glue to each of the knots as this metallic floss has an odd slickness to it that made me wonder if it would STAY knotted without some help. I cut some smaller pieces of Ocean View and attached a piece to the front and smaller pieces to each of the pockets. I labeled the pocket pieces with my categories (using a Permapaque pen from Sakura) and then outlined each of the pieces with Cinammon Stickles (I LOVE this color!!).

The chipboard numbers and letters on the front are also from Zsiage. The numbers come packaged together and then the letters are 1.5" Monica font. You'll need to click on the photo of the front to see the detail. For all the chipboard pieces, I first textured them with the Tim Holtz hammer. Which was fun, lol, I want to play with that some more! Then I used alcohol inks to cover the chipboard. I finished it off using the metallic mixatives by themselves (well, I added just a touch of the blending solution) both dabbing and swiping to get it really random then wiped some away as well.

I know the flowers don't quite match, but I'm out of the teal in that size so I just went with what Primas I had handy. I liked the bit of contrast it gave but may go back and change that. One of the other Zsiagettes had put together a layout with these papers and used either a red or a pink accent (wracking my brain trying to remember - gonna have to go check) and it ended up just looking fantastic together and it's one of those things I NEVER would have thought up on my own, lol, being such the matchy-matchy girl I am! Anyways. The flower centers are chipboard dots from Zsiage's Chippies set covered in the Cinammon Stickles again.

50th Post!

Wow! Just realized my little blog has hit a milestone! It makes me glad this is a picture-heavy day, lol! This is the matching album to the wooden gift bag I posted yesterday. It's made from a wooden mini-album from Kaiser Craft (I desperately need Hobby Lobby to pick them up so I have easier access - I LOVE their stuff!!!). This went super fast because I found a quick, easy formula and stuck with it. I used the same paper I used for the gift bag (total between the two projects was under two pieces - I still have tons of scraps) and Mod Podged it onto the fronts of all the discs. I painted the backs and edges with Lipstick paint from Making Memories. All the glittered chipboard hearts are from Scrapworks and again, I have tons of these left over from the original box. This was my one attempt at proper "design" - I used the visual triangle to "frame" my pictures. The pictures themselves are printed on self-adhesive cotton from Shortcuts (now distributed by DMD). This stuff is amazing! It can go through your printer, you can stamp on it, whatever! Gorgeous texture - you end up with a canvas-like end result. I have tons and tons of this and had forgotten all about it but will try to bring it out again to show you some of the fun tecniques you can do with this. The last thing I used on every page was 3D paper paint from PSX that I outlined all the pictures with. I used a few other things on the cover and back, but will mention those near the pictures.

The whole album


The cover. I used Papier Glass Finish from Plaid inside the hearts. This is very similar to Ranger's glossy accents. The one I used happened to be a tinted version in baby blue. Which I totally did not notice for some reason (and actually thought it would eventually dry clear because I just wasn't paying attention) but it worked out nicely because of the blue in the paper...crisis averted, lol! I literally noticed this when I grabbed the bottle just now to make sure I credited the product correctly. I KNEW this product usually dried crystal clear, lol (and it does...when you don't use baby blue...). Anyways. Now that I've embarassed myself, just wanted to let you in on HOW I did the heart on the left that's hanging off the edge. Since the outline hearts are open in the middle all the way through I was kind of bummed that I wouldn't be able to fill that one in like I had the one in the middle then I got a brainstorm. I took a piece of clear packaging (in this case it was the little plastic box the Target ribbon came in) and glued it under the overhang. Once that dried, I was able to fill that heart in as well and after the glass finish (blue...) had dried, I was able to use a craft knife to cut off the excess plastic and it left the heart transparent. As always, I've uploaded these in hi-res so if you click on any picture you can get a gigantic version to see close up (eek, and any mistakes I've made). I mention this here because only close up can you see the oops moment I had when I was trimming the excess and just under the left side of the heart I cut into the dark pink stripe. I used a tiny piece of scrap to Mod Podge over it. Another crisis averted. Are you sensing a pattern? LOL!


The inside pages.

The back cover. Here I've used a chipboard coaster I've had forever from Little Davis. I love finding things I'd forgotten about just at the right moment! I surrounded it with Prima's and used the same PSX 3D paper paint as the centers. I use this a lot for flower centers because I love the way it keeps its chocolate chip shape after it's dried.

And the whole gift. You'll notice I didn't photograph any of the backs of the pages in the album, well those will be used for the sentiments for the recipient so I figured they didn't need to go on the blog. At least PART of this project will be a surprise for her, lol, since of all days, she started reading my blog yesterday. Thanks, mom, lol!