Father's Day Gift

A Walk Down Memory Lane carries these mini library drawers that are made by 7 Gypsies. Since I first saw them, there's been a little voice in the back of my mind saying, "There's got to be a cool way to use that as a mini album." Well full inspiration finally hit, and while it's not exactly a mini album, I've decided to use it to hold a whole series of mini albums.

This will be a Father's Day gift for my dad. Almost every time we go visit my parents (who live about 7 1/2 hrs away) my boys ask to go to my dad's work. You see, Papa Bruce's work has lots of cool bucket trucks, diggers, and work trucks. They put on their safety glasses and pretend to be drivers. I cut a stencil from vinyl, and added the words "Papa's Work" to the drawer with a bit of paint. Then I set about creating mini tag albums to house in the library drawer. I have 4 albums that will be given with the drawer for Father's Day. As part of the gift, I will continue to make mini tag albums from pictures from future visits to add to the drawer.

This album, of their most recent visit, was made from Bo Bunny's On The Go collection. For a little extra fun I asked my boys what Papa Bruce does at work, and then added their answers to the mini album.

This album was created from My Mind's Eye's Miss Caroline. This was the very first visit to Papa's work. My boys were so little (translation: sort attention spans) that I only have 2 pictures from this visit to Papa's work, but the beauty of these small tag albums is that 2 pictures are enough to make a meaningful album.

This album was created from Echo Park's This & That Charming. Another bonus to these tag albums is that you can make them from leftover scraps from other projects. I created a few layouts from my This & That collection pack and then created this album.

I'd also mention that tag albums are a great way to start if you want to try your hand at a mini album, but feel a little overwhelmed by the idea. You can buy a package of pre-made tags and then add as many tags as you need to have the right number of pages.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Get Your Game On - and giveaway winner

I'm really loving Get Your Game On by Little Yellow Bicycle. There's so much great stuff in this line. The papers are bold and easy to work with (read: they're sports themed, without being cartoonishly so), there are canvas colorables (I can't wait to show you what I've been doing with these), TONS of stickers, a tear-out ticket book (kind of like journaling cards), chipboard shapes, banners....well you get the idea. I made some really fun frames for my youngest's room (you'll have to wait to see those), and this past week I made this:
I'm not exactly sure what to call it, but basically I'll be using it to hold sport schedules and ticket stubs from games that I don't want to throw out just yet (like when my husband and I go to a Packer game this winter). The best part is, the metal holders are spring mounted, so it's really easy to switch out and move things around.

The base is a 7 Gypsies Receipt Holder. I added paper and embellishments from Game On to create a multi-sport theme so I can use it for football, hockey, baseball, and any other sport we find ourselves going to. I added black alphabet stickers to the metal holders to spell out "game time".

You can even add chipboard pieces to the top of the metal holders like I did with the blue/black star. Just make sure to use a nice strong liquid glue (I used E6000). Because this isn't a traditional frame with glass covering it, you're not limited by the size of the frame. You can mix, match, and layer without limitation. If you would like to see the full supply list for this project, just scroll down to the bottom of this post.

Now on to the giveaway winner:
Random.org chose commenter #1 who happened to be Cindy deRosier! Congrats, Cindy! If you could please e-mail me at potaylor@hotmail.com with your address I'll get your prize out to you soon. Thanks everyone for playing along and taking the time to read my blog.

Happy crafting!

Ticket Tray Supplies:
Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle Get Your Game On (Football Collage, Football Field, Dug Out, All Stars, Game On Pennants, Words Blue, Basketball Court, All Star Red, Field Dirt, Game Day Words, Football Collage)
Accessories: Little Yellow Bicycle Get Your Game On (Favorite Pieces Stickers Baseball, Favorite Pieces Stickers Football, Mini Banners Basketball, Chip Pieces, Tear Out Ticket Book), Glitz Designs Black Alphas
Adhesives: Ultra Thin Glue Dots®, E6000

Scraptiv!ty

I'm so excited to introduce to you my favorite kit company, Scraptiv!ty! Today is the release of their November kit. For the past week and a half I have been creating like crazy with this kit. It is packed full of all sorts of amazing goodies. I've created 5 projects already, and still have over 1/2 my kit left. What's in this monthly kit? Amazing paper, fabulous stamps, and my favorite - a 7 Gypsies Artist Printing tray. To see all of what's in this month's kit, you just have to do is click here.
Later today myself and all of the ladies on the Scraptiv!ty design team will upload our creations to the gallery here. I have a peak at two of my creations below, and a little info on them. Check back later in the week to see what else I've created.
First up is the Artist Printing Tray from 7 Gypsies. The possibilities are truly endless. I decided to turn it into a photo collage that says "Escape Explore Discover"
Everything from the tray to the paper, to the photo turns (in the bottom left and top right hand corners) are from my kit. The only thing that came from my personal stash was the red thread under "Discover". The sections of the tray measure about 3 3/4" x 2 3/4", so it's perfect for displaying wallet sized photos.
The photo tray may have been my favorite kit item, but an extremely close second were the Prima stamps. How gorgeous are these stamps? Again, everything here is from the kit, except for the brown ink and a brown marker. The background is stamped with the Prima Damask stamp in brown ink on Core'dinations Whitewash paper. I hadn't used Core'dinations paper until this kit. It's so cool! Sanding it reveals a core color (here red), and when you stamp on it, the ink absorbs into it, giving it a more muted look. I used the Prima Chandelier stamp to stamp brown ink on white Bazzill paper. I then cut the chandelier and decorative corner out and attached them to the paper. The chandelier is attached with foam adhesives to give it more dimension. The bottom, red strip, is Bazzill pre-embossed paper, and the brown card stock base is more Core'dinations.
I hope you enjoyed your first peak at this month's kit. Check back later this week for more Scraptiv!ty November kit goodies, including a couple of fun layouts!