Sending Mini Books As Christmas Gifts

 Hello!!

Lisa here. I hope you are well and looking forward to Christmas.

I have a little Christmas gift idea for you today.

You may have seen this mini book as I started making it last month.

If you missed it, here's part 1 of the video. 

I wanted to finish the book and add pockets, trimming, journaling and photos ready to gift to my Mum.

Here's the second part of this video, there's a full flip through at the end so you can see the completed gift.

I used the Say Cheese Classic Mouse Collection fro, Simple Stories, which you can see here.

I added pom pom trims to the edge of some of the pages with a hot glue gun.

 

The papers are so fun and make creating a mini book so easy.

I cute the bottom piece which has the word 'photo' and used a corner punch to round the corners and popped it so it peeps out. 

I love how fun this gift is.

And it's full of photos and memories.

I really recommend making a mini book as a gift.

They make such a special and personalised treat for someone. 

I hope you like this idea.

Lisa x

Simple Stories - Simple Vintage Yuletide - Seasons Greetings Tag Book

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Papermaze blog.

It's Claire here with you today, and for this blog post, I have something slightly different.

In every Simple Stories collection, there's usually a sheet of tags, and the Simple Vintage Yuletide collection is no exception.  They are exquisite!! 

I was so taken with them, that this month I wanted to make a feature of them and so decided to make a tag book.

I typically have lots of photos over the festive season, but not all of them warrant a full 12x12 scrapbook page. So, I decided to make this tag book to capture some of the smaller, more intimate moments that all help to build that wonderful Christmas spirit during the holiday season.

Selecting several tags from the Tag Elements paper, I made sure to include some blank space for journaling, and some more graphical tags, as well as some that I could add extra embellishments to. As it's a festive project, I've added gold and red eyelets from my stash to each tag.

For my front cover, I kept it fairly simple. opting for one of the sentiments from the Bits & Pieces pack, offset against some small gold Nuvo Drops to add that extra touch of festive magic and sparkle. 

On the reverse, I added a small photo and a sentiment from the Foam Stickers and a small star from the Sentiment Bits & Pieces.

Next, I added pockets to two tags, using a small piece of the 2x2/4x4 Elements Paper.

This was really easy to do, adhering each piece in place with strong red line tape along each outer edge. These pockets are great for holding little journaling notes, photos or gift messages from the big day. Again I embellished with some Foam Stickers and Bits & Pieces, adding red Nuvo Drops around the edge of each pocket to bring in an extra pop of colour.

The Joy and Ticket inserts are from the Bits & Pieces and Sentiments Bits & Pieces packs.

I was enjoying the interactive elements of these tags, so after making the pockets, I added a small flap to the next, enabling it to open like a book by adhering in place with red line tape. I created the flap with a strip of paper from the 4x6 Elements paper, embellishing with a fussy cut Santa from the 2x2/4x4 Elements paper and Yuletide Bits & Pieces.

Inside, you can slot extra photographs, held in place by the edge of the striped paper that folds around the tag.

To make sure I had space for journaling, I chose two plain tags, adding just a few Nuvo Drops to create a framed border and banners from the Bits & Pieces and Sentiment Bits & Pieces packs.

On the back of the 25 tag, I created a feature photo from the big day itself - tracing around the tag and adhering my photo to it - trimming the edge to make sure it fit exactly to the tag.

A few Foam Stickers was all that was needed to finish this tag as I wanted the photo to shine.

I hope you've enjoyed this blog post and it's given you some extra inspiration for how you may document those precious little moments and smaller stories that make up the joy of the season.

I'll be back later this month with some more projects with this stunning collection. In the meantime you can check it out in full here.

Until then, happy scrapping!

Claire x

@scrappysoulmate

Mini Books Make The Best Gifts

 Yes they do!!

Hi, Lisa here.

I've started making Christmas gifts. Have you?

I love making gifts. I think it's such a special thing to do for someone.

We went to Disneyworld as a family last month, so I thought it would be really nice to make a mini book for my Mum as a Christmas gift and then fill it with photos.

I'm using some pieces from this collection here.

It's such an easy way to make a mini book.

I used this piece here for the front and back cover sticking them on cardboard for extra strength.

I then cut my papers to size, a little smaller than the covers.

And I put them in order.

Then using the Cinch Binder I pieced them together with the wires.

I did create some flips and pockets and I used these cute stickers here too.

I will be printing off some photos to add and decorating it, so that will be in a new video.

If you would like to check out this video and see it being made, it's here. 

I hope this has inspired you to make some Christmas gifts too.

Using a collection like this makes it so quick and easy.

Have fun.

Lisa x

Mintay Papers - Playtime - Mini Album

Hello, Karen here. Today I have something different to share with you - a mini album. I usually use my design team kit to make scrapbook layouts but this time I thought the papers would be perfect for a  mini book. 

I created the basic album using this tutorial from Graphic 45 although I adjusted the sizes slightly. 

The basic album was created using a sheet of chipboard and a sheet of Bazzill Basics Lava Cardstock.

In the spine I created hinges for 6 double sided pages. The pages were created using the papers form the collection. I cut six 6x4 pieces which I folded in half and stuck to the hinges. By leaving some of the edges unstuck, I was able to create pockets for tags, etc. Pieces of paper #4 were stuck to the covers, inside covers and spine.

I decorated the pages of the album using the Paper Elements Pack. On the inside cover I stuck a  round scalloped image raising it on 3D foam. The edge of pages 1 & 2 were left open and a tag created from paper #04 and some bakers twine, tucked inside. Using a circle punch I cut a simi-circle from the side of the page to make it easier to remove the tag and repeated this on several of the other pages.

On page 3 (and 4) I glued two more round scalloped images, back to back, to the edge of the pages. This allowed me to slip a journalling card created from more of the Paper Elements, underneath the unstuck side of the Scalloped pieces.

Page 5 & 6 were left open at the top and a tag was slipped inside.

The Elements Pack contains some envelopes and one of these was glued to page no 7. This could be used to hold memorabilia, a photo, etc..

I cut a couple of slits near the bottom of page no 8 and another tag was slipped behind the 'band'. To embellish the band I added a cute fox cut from paper #9 with some 3D foam underneath to raise it up slightly.

Pages 9 & 10 were left open at the top and a tag slipped inside.

On page 11 and 12 I created pockets using labels from the Elements Pack. On Page 11 I put a tag into the pocket.

In the pocket on page 12 I put a mini notebook created from a scrap of paper from the collection and some white copier paper.

In side the back cover I added another envelope.

On the front and back cover I added cards cut from paper #06 which I matted onto red cardstock and added to the album covers with 3D foam underneath.

To close the album, red ribbon was glued to the back and front of the album before adding the images on top. To the front of the album I added some metal corners.

To decorate the spine I strung beads and charms from my stash onto some silver elastic and secured them to the spine, tying the elastic ends together on the inside.

I hope you like this mini album. I really enjoyed making it and the Playtime collection was perfect for this. 

I'll be back soon. Take Care.

Karen x x

Retro Summer - Ephemera mini album

Hello again, I am back again with another project using my new favourite Simple Stories Retro Summer.  This collection is a mix of vintage seaside signs and gorgeous ice cream themes.  

I started with the Retro Sign Bits and knew immediately I had to do something with these gorgeous pieces of ephemera.  This pack consists of 19 cardstock die cut ephemera signs of varied sizes.  I used the larger pieces (approx. 21/2" x 31/2") to make a mini album.

I used a piece of bright pink acetate for the covers and used my crop-o-dile to punch holes into it and to fit some eyelets.  I then used a lot of the stickers from the sticker book, ephemera pieces and even pieces from the element stickers to create the cover.  I've learned to layer items and not to worry that you may not be able to see the whole sticker or whole piece of ephemera.  This has enabled me to create a layered effect on the cover.

The ephemera is blank on the back so I backed the ephemera with papers from the collection to add a little more colour.

On this page I couldn't resist making a shaker, I added white foam tape (which I know you can see) and a piece of acetate to make a simple shaker.  I rather liked the look of the foam tape as it looked a bit like a border and bit like the outside of a swimming pool. 

On the reverse I kept with the swimming pool theme and, using tag stickers, added a swimming pool piece of ephemera from the Bits and Pieces pack and made a little flip to add a little interest.

I continued to decorate the pages with trim and ribbon to add some bulk and who doesn't like pom pom trim!

On this page I used two stickers from the sticker book to again create a little flip.  I love finding different uses for the stickers that perhaps wouldn't be my first choice to make it onto a project.

I have loved how this little project turned out and I hope you enjoyed it too.  Ephemera is not always the side dish it can used as the main course too!  Join me next month for Christmas in July!!!

Paige Evans Go The Scenic Route - Mini Album

Hello, Karen C here again with another project using the Go The Scenic Route collection from Paige Evans. This collection is a travel themed collection so after creating three layouts with my design team kit I decided to create a travel themed mini album with what was left over. Last year my eldest son and a friend took part in a European car rally. It was quite an adventure as they visited 9 countries in 8 days. My son kindly shared his photos with me so I could create this album.

I found a cut file for a suitcase shaped mini accordion album in the Silhouette Studio and cut this from white cardstock. I then covered the front and back of the album with paper #21.

I strung a couple of the die cut tickets from the Journal Ephemera Pack and a camera charm from my stash onto some Bakers Twine which I used at the end to tie the album closed. I used some clear alphabet stickers to add the date and name of the car rally to the tickets.

A small wood veneer car from my stash was also stuck to the cover of the album. 

I used papers #2 on the inside pages of the album and stuck a 2x3 photo on each page. 

The pages of the album were kept simple and were embellished with stickers from the collection, travel themed images stamped onto white cardstock using some stamps from my stash......

and enamel dots.

I printed the names of the countries my son visited onto some white cardstock. The names of the counties were attached in the order of the trip and don't necessarily match the photos they are next to. I didn't have photos from every country as some countries were only visited for 30 minutes or were just a whistlestop visit to get some lunch en-route!

Finally, I doodled on the pages using a black gel pen.

I think the mini album is a nice keepsake of a memorable trip and the Go The Scenic Route collection was perfect for documenting this.

I hope over the last couple of months I've shown how versatile this collection is and inspired you to pop some of the collection into your basket when you next visit the shop.

Take Care, 

Karen x x