4"x6" Micro-Mini

I've just finished a new album that I'm calling a "micro-mini". Well, it's micro to me, since most of my minis are not really that mini. This album, believe it or not, will hold 47 pics!! The pics will need to be wallet-sized or smaller, but I tried it out with some small shots of my dog and it was really cute! I'll be uploading a video of this one by the end of the week and I'll demonstrate using those pics.

I've been wanting to do a really small one like this ever since I placed an order with Wild Orchid Crafts and accidentally bought a whole lot of closed rosebuds in a teeny tiny size. They were really unusable in my albums because they were so tiny. So... I designed a teeny tiny mini to use them in!

This mini has a different page design on each page and several new features. I'll have the tutorial of it in  my Etsy shop hopefully by Friday of this week. Using the tutorial, it will be easy to create this one within a week spending an hour or two a day and it uses one 6x6 paper pad. It will make a quick gift-giving option when you want to do a little something handmade. I used the MME "Bramble Rose" 6x6 pad on this one, but you could easily use any 6x6 paper for any occasion. It would be adorable as a new baby gift!

I'll post a link later on in the week to the video of this mini so you can see all the details.

This completed album is currently listed on eBay HERE ending on 4/2/13.

Hope your week gets off to a great start!

6x8 Botanical Noel PDF Tutorial

Good Morning!

 I've been working away these past few weeks on re-creating the Botanical Noel mini and developing the PDF tutorial and it's now in the shop. This is a HUGE file! The tutorial is 57 pages long with 146 photos. Some of the pages in this mini had a lot of steps involved and I've broken down the process in {hopefully} very manageable steps with lots of photos along the way to clarify.

 This one is available as a digital download only through MediaFire as it's way too big to send as an email attachment. The beautiful thing about the digital download is viewing these on an iPad or similar tablet. It's just a click of a button and the document can be viewed in a Kindle app right on your workspace. It's easy to enlarge the photos if you need to and flip through the pages quickly.

 The PDF tutorial is available HERE.

 I'm starting on a new mini this week that I think will make a really nice gift-giving option. I'll be doing a tutorial on this one as I create it, so it will be available right away after completion of the mini. It should be fairly quick to work up if you have someone that you'd really like to make a little something handmade for and not a lot of time.

 Hope you all have a great start to your week!

6"x6" JE T' ADORE Mini-Album PDF Tutorial

Happy Friday everyone!

I've got the 6" x 6" JE T' ADORE mini-album tutorial in the shop today! I've made a few "upgrades" to this one and I'm really really happy with how this turned out. I hope those of you who purchase it will be too:)

On the early tutorials I made, I neglected to think about having a nice cover page on them for printing purposes. I know if I was printing one of these I would like a nice full size color photo of the project on the front page, so I've added that to this one. Developing these tutorials is a learning process for me and you would not believe how much I've learned working in Pages and Keynote over the past 6 weeks. I'm probably going to continue making minor changes and "upgrades" as I discover new tricks in those programs.

This is a really big file. In fact, I think it's the largest PDF tutorial I've done so far. There's 40 pages altogether with 103 color photos and lots of typewritten description on all of the steps. I've added a little text to some of the photos for even better clarification of the steps wherever I thought it would be helpful. I've also tried to include text and arrows on photos with score lines involved as I know the score lines can be difficult to see.

I've got a few projects underway right now and I think one of them will make some people very happy! Lots of red cardstock, lots of cardinals, you get the idea...

I'm also in the planning stages for a new mini that should really appeal to those who like the December Daily/Project Life type of album. I'm pretty excited about this one and the paper collection I've chosen is one of my favorites from CHA last month.

I'm looking forward to a long holiday weekend! Hope you have a great one!!

6x6 JE T'ADORE Valentine's Mini-Album

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

I have a new 6x6 mini that's listing on eBay this evening. HERE is the link if you're interested.

I used that cute Paper Studio paper pad on this one that I showed you a few days ago. I made the entire album using just one of the 6x6 paper pads and a few sheets of 12x12 paper from my stash. There were some  die-cut sticker embellishments that coordinated with this paper and a few extras in the Valentine's seasonal section of Hobby Lobby that I incorporated in this mini. I used my 6" binding on this one and you'll notice how I was able to add all those rolled rosebuds inside! There's lots of room between the pages to just go crazy with your embellishments.

The mini is 10 pages and I've worked in a few new features and altered a few older features to give a lot of square footage in this smaller album for lots of photos and journaling. All of the pages were also stitched to give it that extra bit of detail.

I don't know about you, but I plan on cozying up with my iPad this evening in front of a fire with the game in the background and inspiration at my fingertips!

Hope you have a great week!

Brainstorming some new ideas...

Good Morning!

Have you all seen this little paper pad at Hobby Lobby? It's in the Valentine's section at the front of the store, at least at the one in my town. I would've missed it if I hadn't wandered into the seasonal section. They used to put scrapbooking supplies in the actual scrapbooking section of the store. Strange, and a little annoying.

Anyways, it's a little different, not overly cute, and I love pretty much anything with a Paris theme. I'm working on a little 6" mini with this paper and I wanted to mention it and show you what it looks like because I'll be doing a tutorial using this one next. Since it's seasonal, it will probably be unavailable here pretty soon.

I know there's a lot of mixed feelings about Hobby Lobby out there right now and I don't want to get people stirred up and start some kind of political discussion on here. That's definitely not my intent:) We have very limited craft stores here and frankly, Hobby Lobby still carries a large amount of scrapbooking goodies and occasionally gets some good stuff in.

On to the "brainstorming some new ideas" part:

I'm working on a few new designs for a Project Life type album that will hopefully stay true to my "style". I love all the flips and flaps (can you tell??) and the interactive nature of a mini, so I'm working on incorporating that into a PL format.

I'd like to hear what you all think about that. I have to admit, PL is one bandwagon I just haven't jumped on. Please don't take that as I'm knocking it or anything. It just isn't the way I normally like to create. I know it's hugely popular though, and I can see why with busy lifestyles and less time all around to "play" with a hobby or document memories, etc. I'd like to offer a slightly different take on it that will allow for a little "play" time (i.e. embellishments and bling, flips and flaps, and magnets), but still be something that gives lots of smaller spaces for pics and journaling spots. It won't be something you can put a whole year of photos in or anything, but maybe a month, and definitely an event.

So, if you get a chance and feel like leaving a comment here or sending me an email, I'd love to hear from you!

I've put a like button over on the side here for my Etsy shop facebook fan page. I'd love it if you'd come on over and become a fan! I promise I won't just post about new listings:) I plan on posting little tips and tricks and probably some hints about upcoming projects. I'd like it to be a place where I can get feedback from you all on what you'd like to see, favorite paper lines, etc.

Hope you're having a great week!

6"x8" Sweet Memories Mini-Album Tutorial

Good Morning!

 I've been working working working!! It's been a lot of fun though and a whole new learning experience:) I was seriously burning the midnight oil last night to put the finishing touches on a new tutorial.

 My 6"x8" "Sweet Memories" mini-album tutorial is now in my Etsy shop HERE.

 As with my other tutorials, this one will walk you through step-by-step how to create the front and back covers and all 14 pages with photo mats and tags. I've also included instructions for finishing off the spine with the ribbon, bow and charm. The tutorial is 38 pages long with 86 photos.

My mini-album tutorials DO NOT include the instructions for the binding and cover assembly. I offer that in a separate tutorial in my shop in both 8" and 6" sizes. I plan to offer many mini-album tutorials in the future in both sizes, so it's a one-time purchase on the binding tutorials that can be used over and over in your crafting adventures.

 I've stitched all of the pages and photo mats/tags in this mini and I've included specific steps in the tutorial for when and how to do this. If you choose not to stitch the mini, that's ok too! You can still create this mini using the tutorial and just skip right over those stitching steps.

 What if you can't find the Basic Grey "Kissing Booth" collection or you want to use a different paper collection? No problem! The measurements in this tutorial are not specific to those papers. In fact, I've used a few papers from my stash in various places throughout the mini. All you need is your favorite 12x12 or 8x8 paper collection and you're off and running!

 I'm currently working on a new 6" mini and should have that finished up this week. I hope to have a video of it up on my YouTube channel by the end of the weekend.


 One other little piece of business news: 

 I'm starting a Facebook fan page (hopefully today) for my Etsy shop and I'd love it if you'd come become a fan! I'll try to get a button on my blog here to make that easy for you:) I've got some plans in the works to help grow my little business venture and shhhhhhhhh....they might just include giveaways on mini-albums.....(I want to see how many people are actually reading all of my blabbering on here:))


 Hope you all have a fantastic Tuesday and I'm off to go get crafty!

6" Mini-Album Binding Tutorial

Good Morning! I hope everyone's enjoying the weekend and staying warm if you're in some arctic weather right now. I've listed a new tutorial in my Etsy shop for a 6" mini-album binding. I'll have a tutorial up soon for a complete 6" mini-album, so I wanted to put that out there now for anyone who wants to get a head start.

This binding uses the same concept as the 8" binding with a few small differences. I've scaled the measurements down, but instead of 14 pages this size has 10 pages with even more room between them for really chunky embellishments and features. When I make a smaller mini like this, I like to make them really dimensional on the inside but still have them able to close nicely like a real book. You'll be able to use those cute and intricate rolled rosebuds on the inside without sacrificing the finished look of the album.This tutorial is a little bit longer than the 8" as I've also included a few extra steps with photos for jazzing up the spine a little more.

For those who have asked for tutorials on some of my minis from last December, please stick with me here! I will get to those next, but as I've mentioned before, I wasn't developing tutorials at the time those were made so I have to re-create those albums. I'm working overtime here to get these new ones out and revisit the previous ones. I should hopefully be caught up in the next few weeks.

I want to thank everyone who has purchased one of my tutorials, left amazing comments here and on my YouTube channel, and encouraged me to continue with this little venture! Thank you for your interest and support:)

Now get crafting!!