Mini Albums To Go
October 2007

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Greetings

2007 is slowly coming to a close. Time flies by so quickly I can't believe that it is almost 2008! I haven't even come close to completing half of the projects that I set out to do this year. With Christmas just around the corner there is no room for slacking off. This time of the year is usually my favourite too. I get to start making lots of pretty Christmas gifts for all my family and friends. A mini album here, a calendar there... lots of fun. I had better get busy.

Good luck with Halloween this year to all of you lucky enough to get to have fun dressing up and partying. I'm so jealous that we don't get to celebrate this holiday down her in Australia (and NZ) Take lots of pictures! We'd love to see them.

I hope you enjoy another offering of mini album 'stuff'. If you have any questions, comments or if you just want to say Hi then please send me an email me at peata@scrapbook-crazy.com

Have Fun,
Peata
www.scrapbook-crazy.com

In this Issue

Make a calendar winner
Interview with an album maker - Felt albums
Family mini album printables
Pic of the bunch
You oughta know

Make a Calendar Winner

Congratulations to Kelly the winner of our make a calendar competition. You will have already seen a lot of Kelly's work in the Scrapbook-Crazy gallery but she has really outdone herself this time with her 2008 calendar submission. She has created a sturdy stand up calendar with clear monthly overlays that she can remove at the end of the year to leave her with a beautiful 2008 mini album.

View all the pictures and tips on how she made this scrapbbooking calendar here.

Thank you to everyone who participated.

Interview with an Album Maker

This month we will chat with another mini album maker Shelley who has volunteered to share with us her tips on how she made this groovy felt mini album from just two pieces of felt, a length of embroidery floss and a quick online tutorial on blanket stitching. Shelley's creation is more of a pocket calendar but I will definitely be scrap lifting her design idea to make my own little brag books and mini albums.

What inspired you to make this album?

I had seen some felt book shrines made from felt, ribbon and buttons. I love the look achieved by a simple blanket stitch and thought that I could easily adapt the design to a mini album. There were also other mini albums that I had previously seen that were made with felt and material. I thought I could use the felt for the front cover of my pocket calendar and attach an accordion insert to add the months.

Have you ever used felt or sewing on a craft project before?

Never! This would have to be the first time I have ever picked up a needle and thread. I was anxious when I first set out to make this album. I ironed the felt pieces 10 or more times each because I was too nervous to actually start the stitching process.

What products did you use to make this album?

Two felt squares, one pink and one black that I bought from hobby lobby for 50c each and some pink embroidery floss. For the closure I used two velcro spots and a button that I had in my bits and baubles supplies. The accordion album itself was made following the scrapbook-crazy one sheet accordion made from a sheet of 12" x 12" cardstock.

What is the best adhesive to use with felt?

I used Beacons felt glue. It is excellent for sticking ribbon as well. A scrapping buddy recommended fabri-tac which is also made by Beacon. I used the felt glue to stick the accordion insert to the inside of the felt covers.

Where did you learn to blanket stitch?

I used the tutorial that you linked to from your blog, and there are also lots of tutorials on the net. It took me several tries but I mastered it in the end. I still get a little bit confused when starting and finishing but I make it work somehow.

On a scale of one to ten, how easy was this album to make.

9. Learning how to blanket stitch was really easy. It takes a little practice but the end result is awesome. If you make a mistake it's OK since felt is so cheap, it will not be a difficult task to start over.

How long did it take you to complete?

In total, I would make a guess at around two-three hours - including the time that it took to learn how to blanket stitch

ALBUM TEMPLATE

This was a very simple design for me to try. It was really very easy to make I even surprised myself.

note: Find the tutorial for Shelleys Felt mini album here

OTHER COMMENTS

Other methods and techniques that I have found useful to attach embellishments to felt include stitching, staples, brads and eyelets, buttons, binder clips, staples

Thanks so much for sharing your calendar with us Shelley.

HANDY LINKS

blanket stitch - tutorial by future girl, this is a great tutorial that is easy to follow. It covers a couple of extra points like what to do when you run out of thread.

embroider on felt - tutorial by future girl

Family mini album printables

Enjoy these free printable quotes, titles and items to for your Family mini album.

Each is in the form of a high quality jpeg. Click on the text link to view the image. Right click the image and select 'Save image as' to save the quote to your desktop. Now you can insert the quote into a word processing document like Microsoft Word or Word Perfect and print them directly on to your cardstock. To ensure clear crisp lines do not resize the image too much.

The family is one of nature's masterpieces. George Santayana
Check list
Our Family Tree
Memories journaling spot
fam-i-ly n. 4. any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins
fam-i-ly
Notes: journaling spot
Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future. Blue \| Black

Pick of the Bunch

This month I have a couple of readers albums I would like to share with you this month. The first one is a small concertina album made by Gill from somewhere over in England. This is her first ever mini album that she has made. It is a cute little accordion fold bragging album for a friend that has just become a grandmother for the first time. Well done Gill, I'm sure she'll love it.

The second is an explosion box by Ann Chapman from Ella Bella Design Studios. Don't you just love it. It's soooo cute.

As always we would really love to see what you've been up to. So make sure you share some of your mini album mojo with the rest of us and send me an email of your latest scrapbook mini album caper along with photos of your album and yourself (if you like) I will pick out an email or two each month to feature on my newsletter... So don't be shy now and send your stuff to peata@scrapbook-crazy.com with 'mini album submission' in the subject box.

note. I don't wanna get into any trouble so make sure any submissions are your own work.

Stuff you oughta know

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Mini Albums To Go October 2007