Baby Mini Chipboard Album

Hi everyone!  How are you doing today?

Remember the baby card I made a few posts ago for our neighbors that had a baby boy?  If you  missed it, you can view the card here.  Well, I had to get them a little gift to go with the card and I thought to myself: self....why buy something when I can make something for them!  And that's when I figured that I would try my hand at a mini chipboard album since I've wanted to do one for quite some time now and watched countless videos on how to do them on youtube during my surgery recovery. 

This would probably be a good time to get a cuppa something, lol.  I've got a lot of photos and some descriptions to go along with each photo!  You'll have to be kind though, as this is the first time I'm photographing a mini and had no idea really had to capture it just right.  So here goes...the front cover:

 

The chipboard already came scalloped, but it was a light kraft color.  I decided to apply two coats of white acrylic paint to every piece of chipboard to match the Authentique Journey papers I used.  Plenty of ribbons, Michael's Recollections flowers *I took the pearls out and replaced them with aqua gemstones to match*, a sprig of Magnolia gems and Momenta dimensional stickers completed the cover.  The sentiment is from the TPC STamps Beautiful Baby Boy clear stamp set.  On to the next page:

 Here I personalized this photo page with some Making Memories glittered stickers and some self-adhesive gemstones.  Next up is the baby info page:

The stamp is from the same set as mentioned above.  I found these Making Memories metal stickers at Tuesday Morning and thought they were perfect.  Mom can use the tag to journal or add a small pic on the tag.   Next page I just matted a small square for a baby pic - the stamp is from the TPC Beautiful Baby Boy clear stamp set as well.  I colored the outline of the star in Copics.

Here is one of my favorite pages.  It's a little interactive as you'll see in the next shot.  The flower is Prima with a little bling in the center:

Open this up and voila!  Two photo mats with a little bling to accent the pics Mom chooses to include here.

Next page is for another tag to journal on, or to add some important things like a newspaper clipping or a lock of hair.  I made the flower using a Prima flower and a Recollections flower together.  The swirls were cut on my Cricut and accented by some bling.

Next up:  Just a page to add a photo of the baby.  The flourished metal corners are stickers by Momenta.

Another page to add a darling photo of the baby. 

And last but not least, I made a library pocket for the last page.  There are two photo mats inside the pocket for baby pics or journaling.  There is still room for more if Mom has something else she wants to add.  The back cover is just some more matted Authentique paper so that it can lay flat!

Well thats all there is to that.  I hope I've inspired you to try a mini chipboard album.  It was tons of fun and I'm already thinking of more to make for upcoming birthdays, Christmas or just because.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your day!

~hugs

Challenges:
For Fun Challenges - Use a Stamp
PaperCraft Star - Add a key and/or lock * my key is on cover page*
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Whimsy Inspiration - Anything Goes
Party Time Tuesdays - Anything Goes
Lexi's Creations - Make a Gift - anything but a card
The Paper Girls - Baby
Come and Get It Challenges - Anything But a Card
Pile It On - Fabric or Felt
FabnFunky - Starts with F  (I used flowers)

Loads of Love

Happy Sunday y'all!

How is your weekend going?  I've had a great weekend - shopping, crafting, and some good home cooking.  What more could you want?  :)

I was able to whip up this cute little card last night for the current sketch over at My Favorite Things for the Wednesday Stamp Club.  I've been absolutely lovin' their weekly sketches - lovely layers and it really gets me thinking outside my little comfortable box :)  If you love sketches, you should definitely go over and check them out!

So here is the current sketch for the week:

And here is my card using the image and sentiment from the Pure Innocence Loads of Love stamp set which is one of my new faves:

Enjoy what's left of the weekend everybody!

Recipe:

Copics, Memento Tuxedo Black & Rich Cocoa Ink Pads

Image & Sentiment:  MFT PI Loads of Love

Papers:  Wassau cs and My Minds Eye Pretty Please collection

Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Sharpie White Pen *for cheeks*

Cotton Candy Stickles *heart in hair*

Brads & Hemp Twine in stash

Creative Memories Corner Rounder

Challenges:

CraftyMess Challenge Blog - Distressed/Aged

Secret Crafter - Distressing

Heck of a Challenge- Anything Goes

Delightful Challenges - Distressed

MilkCoffee-At least 2 different shapes

Welcome Little Baby

There must be something in the water on our street where we live!  Everyone is pregnant or having a baby.  And the funny thing is, they are all expecting or having boys!!  Nope, don't worry, I drink bottled water ;)

My one neighbor delivered their baby boy on Labor Day, and I admit to being a little late, lol!

I had colored up this sweet image a few days ago, and put it aside as my Mojo deserted me shortly after coloring him up.  But then I saw current sketch over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday and it all sorta came together in a quick.  Love how that happens :)

So here is Sketch #172 over at SSW:

And here is my card using the sketch flipped: 

Hope this will help welcome our newest member on the block!

Have an awesome day everyone :)

Recipe:
Stamp:  Elisabeth Bell
Inks:  Copics, Memento Tuxedo Black
Papers:  Wassau cs, Authentique Journey
Liquid Pearls in Silver
Momenta metal dimensional corner sticker/Momenta metal dimensional LOVE sticker
Ribbon in stash
Fiskars Treading Water punch

Challenges:
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch #172
Dutch Dare - All Things Boy
Whimsy Inspirations Challenge - Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps - Bingo (I used Grey, Free and Square)
Johanna Sheen Challenge Blog - So Sweet

Start Each Day

Good morning my bloggy friends!

How are things going in your neck of the woods ?

We had such a beautiful week weather wise here in Jersey, however, today is quite miserable out --its dark, cloudy and rainy!!  The kiddies are home sick from school with nasty colds, too :(    LOL, I guess the school year is officially upon us now ;)

Escaping into my crafty crave to try to ward off icky germs and catching their bug, I used this week's awesome sketch from My Favorite Things as inspiration for my card:

For my take on the sketch, I went with this adorable stamp from MFT called Start the Day with Whee :

I hope that you all have a day that makes you smile :)

Recipe:
Inks:  Copics, Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black, Making Memories in Black
Papers:  Wassau cs, MME Breeze 
Paper Studio self-adhesive gemstones

Challenges:
Stamptacular Sunday - Less is More
Creative Craft Challenges - Anything Goes 
Papelitos Stamps - Anything Goes
Through The Craft Room Door- Anything Goes

Think Pink

Happy Sunday everyone! 


I was fooling around the other day with my Copics and felt like doing something a little different.  I had gotten some new colors from Oozak *squeal* and had to try them out.  Wasn't sure what I wanted to do exactly, but I knew that I wanted to color up the CC Syren image from The Greeting Farm.  And that's when it hit me...why not try pink hair?

I've never strayed from the regular hair color shades and thought it would be fun - especially on this little cutie.

So while the kids were hanging with Daddy last night, I stole away into my happy place and came up with this based on the current monthly sketch over at iheart2stamp.com:

 And here is my take on the sketch:

Love her!!! And of course, I had to use up some scraps from my new fave paper line, you know, that Recollections stack I was telling you about in my last post.  Swoon....I'm pretty happy with how it turned out :)

Hope you all have a fabulous day ahead of you !!

~hugs

Recipe:
Copics:  Skin:  E0000, E000,E00, E11 & R20
               Hair:  RV00, RV13, RV14
               Tail:  G40, G43, G46
               Shadow:  C2
Image:  CC Syren from TGF
Paper:  Recollections The Neapolitan Collection, Wassau cs
Fiskars punch
EK Success Dimensional striped heart stickers 
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

Challenges:
SFYTT - September 2012 Monthly Sketch
Challenges4Everybody - Anything Goes 
NMWC- Die Cuts and/or Punches
The Squirrel & The Fox - Anything Goes
Challenge Up Your Life - Fantasy
Polka Doodle - Ice Cream Colors
Dutch Dare - Sugar & Spice
Crafts & Me - In the Pink

Been Gone Way Too Long

Hi everyone...it sure seems like forever since I've done a blog post.  I hope that each one of you has had a fabulous summer filled with lots of special memories.

The past several months have been extremely tough having to go through major back surgery and recovering from that.  At one point, I even questioned whether or not I had done the right thing.  The pain was worse than childbirth, and every little thing I did sent me spinning in agony.

However,  I went to the orthopedic surgeon the other day for my three month checkup after surgery and I am happy to report that from the xrays he said that I am healing perfectly.  For the first time in 6 years I am able to walk without any assistance or devices and all the hard work and suffering is finally paying off and coming to end.  I am blessed beyond measure to have been given my life back and my little ones are so happy to have their mommy back, too.    I am still doing physical therapy and dealing with residual pain which will last for awhile I'm afraid, but I thrilled, to say the very least, that all went well with the surgery and I am up on my feet now.

Recently, my good friend Gina came to visit me and we had a fantastic coloring session together.  It had felt so good to be able to sit up and to color, especially coloring with my dear friend!!! although I admit, I felt like I had lost a lot of my coloring skills while taking my mini hiatus!

She definitely helped jumpstart my mojo, and this week for the first time in a very long time, I made a card for my daughter who just turned 13!!  My little girl is no longer a baby *tear*
 

For my card, I used the Pure Innocence stamp called Heart Stripes which I had colored while Gina was up for the weekend.  The papers are from Recollections that I picked up with Gina from Michael's called The Neapolitan Collection which are just the cutest papers I've seen in a long time.  I may go over and get another stack just because I love it so much!  The hearts on her dress and in her hair were originally colored in Copics but then I added some EK Success dimensional polka dot heart stickers to give it a little oomph!  The die behind her is inked in some Studio G chalk in and embossed with the Swiss Dots folder.  The sketch is from MFT from their Wednesday Stamp Club which you can view here.

I just want to thank those of you that have kept me and my family in your prayers during this difficult time as well as for all the emails and cards that have been sent.  Your love and support has made my recovery process a little easier to bear and I believe has enabled me to heal a lot faster...and for that, and your friendships, I am eternally grateful.   

With hugs,
Sara

Challenges:
SCS - MFT Wednesday Stamp Club - Sketch #88
Card Makin' Mamas - Hearts
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes
Crafts and Me - Add A Flower
Simon Says Stamp - Put a stamp on it