Craft Consortium The Gift of Giving Mini-Album

   My great-niece has a birthday coming up and she wants everyone to pitch in money to get her a lap top.  She will be 10 years old.  I was given strict instructions from her grandmother -- no other gifts.  So, I thought I would make her a little mini-album to put her birthday pictures in and I also made a couple booklets for her to write and/or draw in (she loves to draw).  And because it is a crafty thing that I am making, it doesn't really count as a gift, but I hope she will like playing with it.  

   I used Craft Consortium's The Gift of Giving 6 x 6 paper pack and some of the decoupage sheets from the same collection.   

   The cover chip board is 7 1/8 inches long and 6 5/8 inches tall.  The spine is 1 3/4ths inches wide, but I wish I would have made it an even 2 inches wide, because I had to modify some of the decorations and such to keep the covers from gapping open.  There are 3 base pages, but I glued the pockets of them shut to help with the gapping problem with the covers.  There are only 3 pages.  I used the Country Craft Creations basic build to the book, but I modified the hinge to be similar to Kathy Ortega King's hidden hinge plus system.

The front of the album has a page of the Craft Consortium paper on top of a piece of cardstock.  The background piece of one of the decoupage papers was placed on top of a piece of glitter paper and that was backed with chipboard and glued on top.  

The spine is matted with some designer paper from my stash (I think it is ancient Debbie Munn) and some of the fussy cut pieces from the inside covers of the paper pack.

The back cover has the same papers from my stash and my Paper Sushi stamp.

When you open the front cover you see this:

The inside of the front cover has an accordion pocket with a little booklet in it (it is only white paper stapled inside for her to write of draw in) decorated with one of the cut a-parts from the collection.  And it has a tiny folder decorated with another of the cut a-parts.

The 3 pages are 6 1/8 x 6 1/8 inches.  

Page one has a pocket decorated with part of the decoupage images and Allie's name.  The pocket has two tags in it with the main images from the decoupage sheets and the backs blank, so Allie can add pictures or draw on them.  This pocket page unfolds to the right, leaving room for pictures and it has one of the cut a-parts that will fold up.

The next pages:

The left page has a vertical pocket decorated with some of the decoupage pieces containing a folder (again decorated with the decoupage pieces).

The right page is the pockets that open to the right with plain white tags inside.  The bottom pocket (decorated with a fussy cut piece from the inside covers of the paper pack) opens down and the top pocket opens up.  These are real tight, so I am suspecting that because the page is so little (and then obviously the pockets themselves are even littler) it makes it too tight to work well.  So, I learned not to use this type of pocket on the smaller albums.

And the next pages:

The left hand page has a tuck spot decorated with one of the cut a-parts from the collection.  I tucked a tag into the spot with room for a picture.  The right side has a waterfall held close with a magnet on the strap.  I had a cute plastic balloon on the strap, but I had to remove it to make the pages close better.  I replaced the balloon with a circle punched from the paper.  

And turn the page:

The left page is plain except for part of the decoupage piece.

The inside of the back cover is another pocket page.  Originally, it was suppose to be a gusseted pocket, but I had to cut the gusset part off to get the covers to close properly.  It has another booklet in it, again just made with stapling pages.  It is decorated with the base sheet of one of the decoupage pieces.

I think I have found the way that I like the hinges and spine!  I just have to be more careful watching that I have enough room to keep the covers from gapping.  I hope Allie likes it.

Fall 3 inch Artist Trading Coins and a Fall Memory Dex Card

 For a swap at A & M Creative Exploring Paper Crafters on Facebook.  3 ATC coins.

Made with Hobby Lobby items. Why is the bottom piece showing up pink?  It's an orange shade.

It packaged with a dangle that I made:

Items used are also from Hobby Lobby.

It packaged with a clothes pin that I layered 2 Hobby Lobby flowers on:

And the last one that is made with chip board pieces that I think are from Craft Consortium:

And it packaged up:

The memory-dex card here is made with mainly stuff from Hobby Lobby.  I printed the message out on the computer and added the foiling to the words:

And it packaged up with some trim and a felt sunflower from Hobby Lobby:

More Cottage Meadow Memorydex Cards

With the COVID-19 quarantine going on, I am running out of embellishments to match this paper collection.😀  But I still think they turned out o.k.

Originally, I had added a bow to the upper right corner, too; then I decided it was too much and removed it:

This one ended up being my favorite out of this bunch of cards.  The house that has the phrase on it is from the cut outs that Craft Consortium always prints on the inside of the paper pack covers.  The bee box is from the wooden piece ephemera set (which is why it is so shiny):

This one is made from the wood piece ephemera and one the the cut aparts:

This is another of my favorites.  It is made with the cut out pieces from the insides of the covers and some words from a Bo Bunny set:

A wooden ephemera piece, a cut apart, and some old plastic bees go with an Echo Park chip board word:

This one has 2 of the wooden pieces (the green shed and the mouse holding the flowers), the mice in the wheelbarrow are cut out from the inside of the cover.  The butterfly and the happiness came out of my stash:

This one has two wooden pieces (the trowel and the larger pack of seeds), a cut out from the covers (the smaller seed pack) and an old plastic "Friends" piece from my stash plus some leaf stickers and plastic dots:

A cut out, a tiny banner piece, and a stamped sentiment, plus 3 wooden bees from the Craft Consortium set:

One of the cut outs and a verse and butterfly from my stash:

One of the cut outs from the inside of the covers, with tickets and stickers from my stash:

 A cut apart with some Stickles added and things from my stash:

   

A cut apart with things from my stash:

More Cottage Meadow Memorydex Cards

The goal is to use all of this 6 x 6 paper pad from Craft Consortium.  I have the paper pad and the little wooden embellishments for this collection, so I have been having to add a lot of embellishments from other collections too.

I angled a light into this one, so the dimension will show up.  (All of them actually have dimension).

Cottage Meadow Memorydex Cards

Here are 4 Memorydex cards made with a collection from Craft Consortium, named Cottage Meadows.

I put acetate in the frame and the pom-pom is on a tiny paperclip:

The picket fence is a piece from the wooden ephemera pack for this set:

This is the only one I inked around the edges of with vintage photo ink:

The mouse holding the seeds is on a wobble: