I'm attending a baby shower on the weekend and have been busily creating a mini album to act as my gift. Since the baby hasn't been born yet and the sex is a secret, I chose to use Simple Stories "Baby Steps" papers and embellishments as my starting point. These papers are a wonderful mix of pink, blue, green, yellow and orange, all on a base of kraft - perfect for a gender-neutral project.
Rather than share my entire project in one long post, I decided that I would share a couple of pages at a time. So here are the first 2 pages of this super sweet (if I do say so myself - lol) baby album.
To start, I cut all of my album pages from chipboard using my
Grand Calibur and the
Creative Book Pages 1 die. I used kraft cardstock as my base. For the page on the left, I used a sketch from Sketchy Colors Challenge (see the sketch at the bottom of this post). All of the papers are Simple Stories and have been distressed lightly around the edges.
Next, I wanted to have a spot in the album for multiple pictures so I decided to include some photo sleeves. To make this, I bought a cheap album at the dollar store and cut out 5 of the photo sleeves. I added a strip of pretty paper along the top and then stitched across using some baker's twine to hold it all together. This is the first time I've used the twine and although you can't see it well in the photo, I really like how the stitching finished off the little flip book. I cut out 2 of the
Simple Stories 4x6" blocks for decoration. On the first one I added a sticker and chipboard piece.
On the last page I added an adorable little chickadee that I created using a brand-new die from
Dee's Distinctively Dies. I'm thrilled to be using this die since the creator is one of the owners of a nearby scrapbook store.
Supplies:
Simple Stories "Baby Steps" papers and stickers
Prima chipboards
Dee's Distinctively Dies "Chickadee" die cut
Spellbinders "Creative Book Pages 1" die cut
Challenges:
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - ribbon/twine
Crafting When We Can - things with wings
Creative Mondays - anything but a card
Critter Sketch - critters
Gingerloft - anything but a card
One Stop Craft - pastel & die cut
Paper Sundaes - use at least 2: kraft, lace, die cuts, charms
Pile it on - all about "S" (Simple Stories, sweet)
Sketchy Colors - sketch
The theme at Party Time Tuesdays is anything goes with Kraft. I was provided with 2 wonderful digital stamps from Crafty Sentiments to work with. I decided to show just how incredibly versatile and easy to use digital stamps can be by paper piecing Rosey - super easy to do, just print off the image and then using removable tape attach patterned paper scraps over the various parts of the image; then run through the printer for a second time and cut out the individual pieces.
Supplies:
The album cover is cut using Creative Book Pages 1 on my Grand Calibur. The paper is Simple Stories that has been distressed lightly around the edges. The tree & owls are fussy-cut from a larger piece of paper and although you can't tell in the photo, the owls and some of the leaves are popped up. The banner was also cut from a larger piece of paper and then hung on orange Doodlebug doodle twine. For extra texture, I also added some flourishes (along the left side) that started out as white die cuts but with some Tim Holtz distress ink ended up being the perfect shade.
To start, I cut all of my album pages from chipboard using my Grand Calibur and the Creative Book Pages 1 die. I used kraft cardstock as my base. For the page on the left, I used a sketch from Sketchy Colors Challenge (see the sketch at the bottom of this post). All of the papers are Simple Stories and have been distressed lightly around the edges.
Next, I wanted to have a spot in the album for multiple pictures so I decided to include some photo sleeves. To make this, I bought a cheap album at the dollar store and cut out 5 of the photo sleeves. I added a strip of pretty paper along the top and then stitched across using some baker's twine to hold it all together. This is the first time I've used the twine and although you can't see it well in the photo, I really like how the stitching finished off the little flip book. I cut out 2 of the Simple Stories 4x6" blocks for decoration. On the first one I added a sticker and chipboard piece. 
On the last page I added an adorable little chickadee that I created using a brand-new die from Dee's Distinctively Dies. I'm thrilled to be using this die since the creator is one of the owners of a nearby scrapbook store. 
