Do You Remember - NSD 2020 - Nat's completed mini album for her son (Ready #4)

Hi everyone, hope you are all well!

Here is my completed simple little memory album all about Angel and my son Jesse.  They used to have the best cuddles 😊

So as I showed in my previous blog, I used the 6x6 'I Love My Dog' paper pad from Echo Park to make the pages for this one.  

I had a stack of Echo Park ephemera left over from making my album, and was able to split this up to go between the two albums for my children. Therefore the decoration consisted of pieces from the 'I Love My Dog' Ephemera, Frames and 12 x 12 Sticker Sheet.

 

I also used offcuts and journalling cards from the 12 x 12 papers to decorate the pages - a great way to use up the scrappy bits!

I had lots of fun using the Echo Park Clear Stamps 'Puppy Love'.  I stamped these on art diary paper with Stazon Ink and then used watercolour paints and brush markers to colour them.  This was a great way to make extra ephemera when I began getting low!

The doghouse below is one of these stamps.......

.....as is the puppy on this page, so cute!  I love the cuddles I managed to capture on film of these two.

This album shows the bond between them from when Jesse was five years of age to now at twenty.  In these photos the colour started changing and I realised I needed to refill my printer cartridge.  After doing this all my photos had lines through them 😓. Fortunately I had enough good photos for this album but have put my daughters on hold for now, suffice to say - it is much the same, just with lots of blue instead 😊

I wasn't sure if Jesse would like this album (you know what boys are like!) but I showed him last night and his face lit up at all the precious memories captured that he had forgotten.  I am so glad to have made this album (and the others) and absolutely had a ball using the Echo Park range!

Now I am off to plan just one last little project with a few of these fun papers that I put aside - and 'no' it is not another mini album!!! 😉

Hope you are having fun and crafting along with the AVSC team for NSD month and GO TEAM NAT!!!!

Take care,

Nat xxx

Products I am using for the month of May that will be discounted are listed here:

• Echo Park - I Love My Dog - Collection Kit
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog Clear Stamp Set - Puppy Love
• Echo Park - My Favorite Christmas - Co-ordinating Solids 
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog Frames & Tags
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog Ephemera
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog - 6x6 Paper Pad
• Aunty Vera Washi Tape - Puppy Dogs

Do You Remember - NSD 2020 - Nat's Scrapbook Layout (Ready, FINAL YAY!!!!!)

Hi everyone 😊.  Here is my last project for May and National Scrapbooking month at Aunty Vera's, and things just didn't feel right without trying my hand at another scrapbooking layout. 

Here are my two favourite pieces of the Echo Park 'I Love My Dog' 12 x 12 papers that I stashed away just for this project.

The 'Dog Tags' paper was cut diagonally across following the lines on the print to place from corner to corner across the 'Go Fetch' paper.  I then used some of the Echo Park 'Christmas Solids' paper scraps to create two green photo mats for my pictures, cut just a little larger to create a narrow border around the photos.

I applied black distress ink to the edges of the photos and their mats to take away any white edges, then used double-sided tape to adhere the diagonal pieces to the page with the photo mats tucked underneath.

This cute journal card from the 12 x 12 papers was the next item to stick down, but I decided it needed something behind and grabbed my calico scraps. I used the card as a guide and my rotary cutter to cut the fabric just a little bigger than the card.

   

The edges were frayed and then vintage photo distress ink was applied with a blending tool to darken the calico a little.

I stuck the photos onto their mats with double-sided tape and used Helmars glue to adhere the journal card to the fabric and then to the paper.  It is all starting to come together now which is a good feeling!

Another scrap of the solids paper was used and backed onto more calico to make a title for the page.  I utilised some alpha stickers,  doodled a border and underlined the words with a black gel pen.  I also found a cute paw-print sticker from the Echo Park 12 x 12 Sticker sheet which I added as an extra embellishment.

Using my red and black Distress Inks and Echo Park 'Puppy Love' stamps, I stamped the paw print and love hearts on the title piece, and the 'top dog' stamp in the middle of the page.  Such a cute set of stamps!

Next I die-cut a tag from craft cardstock, and stamped this with Angel's name using this business stamp maker I picked up at the second-hand store - it's fiddly but handy for small projects! Again I used the distress inks and 'Puppy Love' stamps to embellish.

Here is my dog-tag hanging from the calico using a bulb pin.  I finished off embellishing my page with some paper flowers and buttons also picked up second-hand.

Here is my finished page, not perfect for sure - but I love it and am learning as I go 😊.  I have had so much fun this month with the 'Do You Remember' theme and remembering this beautiful, bubbly dog who gave the kids and I so much love 💕

Hope you are all having as much fun as I during NSD month at Aunty Vera's and check out the other ladies blogs for some great projects and bargains.  Most of all - 
 Take care and have fun crafting,

Nat xxx

Products I am using for the month of May that will be discounted are listed here:

• Echo Park - I Love My Dog - Collection Kit
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog Clear Stamp Set - Puppy Love
• Echo Park - My Favorite Christmas - Co-ordinating Solids 
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog Frames & Tags
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog Ephemera
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog - 6x6 Paper Pad
• Aunty Vera Washi Tape - Puppy Dogs

Do You Remember? - NSD - Kid's Mini Albums (Ready)

Hi everyone, hope you are all crafting away, having some fun and enjoying the NSD projects the Aunty Vera team have been creating for the month! 

Now you all would have seen the album that I made for myself in honour of my little, furry friend.  Well I also have two adult children who grew up with Angel, and I wanted to make a memory album for each of them to remember their good, fun times together with her too.

These are in a similar vein to the one I made previously - with a few little adjustments, therefore I decided to share the method and items used to give you all ideas on different ways to put them together with what you have on hand.

For these two albums I used the Echo Park 'I Love My Dog' 6 x 6" paper pad.  I decided to make my son's album more red and brown tones and my daughter's blue (her favourite colour).  I chose ten papers for each album that I thought would fit best.

The papers from the pad have the hole punched at the top, so I cut this edge down to make the papers 6 x 6".

I ran a thin line of glue around the sides and bottom of one page and stuck another page on top leaving the top open as a pocket. I repeated this four times to make four pocket pages (for each album), leaving two papers for the album cover insides.

I had some large journal cards left from the 12x12" Echo Park 'I Love My Dog' paper pack and some paper scraps from the Echo Park Christmas Solids papers and 12x12" Echo Park 'I Love My Dog' papers which I cut a similar size as the journal cards, these were to be used to slip into the pockets.

I used a zigzag stitch on my sewing machine to stitch around the pocket pages for extra strength.  I also like the way it looks. I used blue cotton for my daughters pages and brown for my sons.

I put dots at the three inch, one inch and five inch marks along the side of the pages to guide where to put my holes, I punched these and added eyelets - using silver for my daughters and bronze for my sons books.

I recycled some cardboard from packaging for the front and back covers and cut this about 1/8" larger than the size of the pages.  The 6 x 6 papers I put aside for these were then adhered to the insides.

Some blue and craft cardstock was chosen from my stash to cover the cardboard outer front and back covers, and cut the the same size.

I used my Aunty Vera Wash tapes around the edges of the cover insides to mask the fact the paper didn't quite cover the board, and as a decorative extra.  I love the cute 'Puppy Dogs' washi!

I used a page as a guide to show where to punch the holes in the covers for eyelet insertion.

String was chosen and tied off with double knots to bind these two albums .........

........and a punch used to make tabs for each journal card - cut out of the cardstock used for the front and back covers.

Then I rounded the top corners of my journal cards and glued the tabs on.

These were then slipped into the pockets, and the album covers were embellished using big journalling cards that I cut down.  Gorgeous stickers from the 12 x 12 'I Love My Dog' sticker sheet added some cute finishing touches.

Now my albums are ready for photos and decorations to fill up the inside. I will be back to show you the pages when they are done.  These albums are great if you only have 6x6" paper pads and don't want to use solid colours behind the patterned papers - as I did with my first album.  There were so many great embellishments in this collection to be able to decorate all my albums and 'Oh what fun'!!!

Take care and have fun crafting,

Nat xxx

Products I am using for the month of May that will be discounted are listed here:

• Echo Park - I Love My Dog - Collection Kit
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog Clear Stamp Set - Puppy Love
• Echo Park - My Favorite Christmas - Co-ordinating Solids 
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog Frames & Tags
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog Ephemera
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog - 6x6 Paper Pad
• Aunty Vera Washi Tape - Puppy Dogs

Life Within the Seed 2 - Nat's LGB Easter Journals (Ready #4)

Hi everyone, hope you are all well and keeping busy.
It is my last project for April and when pondering the theme of 'Life Within the Seed', and perusing gorgeous Bo Bunny 'Garden Grove' papers, two things came to mind - Easter and Spring.  For a long time now I have been collecting Little Golden Books (LGBs) with the idea of altering them for journals and I decided there is no better time than now! Another great project that can be done with/for the kids and adults alike to use.
Here are some of the pages and decorations in my journals using the wonderful products from Aunty Vera Scrap and Craft, be sure to scroll to the end as there will be links to a full flip-through of both books and a process video of the making of these cuties.

 

As you can see the spines of both are covered with fabric and fabric ruffles have been added on the edge of some pages. First I will show you some of 'The Golden Egg' LGB. 

 

On this page I have made a little decoration including a 'tuck spot' for the blue tickets to be slipped in.  I used the Impression Obsession 'Basket' and Lawn Fawn 'Stackable Egg' dies to achieve this.  I love the versatility of these dies - so much fun to play with 😊

I used a cute Easter gift bag clipped to the page with the base folded up and stuck on the side edges to create another tuck-spot that I could slip this cute egg embellishment in. The egg was created using the Impression Obsession 'Mini Bunnies' dies to embellish.

This lovely card was previously made using the Bo Bunny Chipboard pieces and I have hung it over the top of the page and paper-clipped it on to the gorgeous Garden Grove paper.

I love the colours and spring feel of the Garden Grove collection that we have to use this month and the colours suit these LGB journals perfectly! For this first journal I predominantly chose papers that were full of yellow, orange and green.

Here is another egg shaped card that I had made and added some of the Santoro Leaf Ribbon to.  I used quite a bit of this in both journals as it is a lovely embellishment. This card slips into the gift bag shown that has been sewn in to the journal as a page.

At the end of this first journal is a tuck spot made with off cuts of the Garden Grove papers (as have most of my tuck spots) that includes this cute journalling card embellished with a pre-made egg,  more Santoro ribbon and a strip of 'Easter Grass' Washi tape.
I love how bright and cheerful this book is! They are not colours I would usually use, but the Bo Bunny papers and embellishments I chose pulled it all together very nicely and I love it.

My second LGB journal is much more of a favourable colour scheme for me and again - I just love the floral, butterflies and 'Spring' feel of the Garden Grove collection added to this!

Here I have used off-cuts to make a tuck spot and journalling card to slip in it, which I decorated using the Kaisercraft 'Flower Bunch' stencil and Deco Art Texture Paste, then I painted with watercolours.

The Garden Grove 'Lovely' paper really brightens this journal up nicely and add that pop of colour.

Here is another tuck spot made by punching a circle out of the gorgeous paper.  An off-cut used for a journalling card embellished with another cute basket, this time decorated with paper flowers. I added a fabric flip to the other side as a nice interactive decoration.

I love this tag I had made with more of Garden Grove paper and chipboard pieces, so I decided to paperclip it in.  I clipped most of the embellishment in or slipped them in tuck spots rather than adhering them to the pages so that the recipient can move them about or even remove them if desired.

 Another tuck-spot simply decorated with Santoro ribbon....

I love this card I made previously using the Garden Grove papers and a cute chipboard element, therefore I decided to create another tuck spot to add it into this journal.

This was my first attempt at making LGB journals and my first go at threading buttons onto the spine.  It was fiddly - but well worth it and I love the way they turned out.  If you haven't tried making one of these, give it a go as they are so much fun.

Here is the flip-through of both journals showing all pages:

 Check the process video below to see how I made these in more detail:

Take care and happy crafting,
Lots of love - Nat xxx

Aunty Vera Scrap and Craft kit products used:
* Bo Bunny - Garden Grove:
      - Layered Chipboard
      - Ambiance
      - Lovely
      - Spring
      - Tranquility
      - Flutter
      - Vibrant
      - Blanket
* Easter Grass Washi Tape
* Santoro Kori Kumi - Leaf Ribbon
* Deco Art - Texture Paste
* Kaisercraft - Flower Bunch Stencil
* Lawn Fawn Die Set - Outside In Easter Egg Stackables
* Impression Obsession Die Set - Mini Bunnies

Do You Remember - NSD - Making my Mini Album (Ready #2)

Hi all, hope you are well!

Now we are down to the nitty-gritty - lets get crafting and pull this album together 😊 Hope you have your papers, memories and some embellishments ready! Oh, and adhesive......will be needing lots of that 😉

First I cut my Echo Park Christmas Solids 12 x 12 sheets 7" by 12", scored them at the 6" mark so I could easily fold them in half to make six pocket pages for my mini album. I used the off-cuts to create cards that were 6" by 5" to slip inside the pockets.

I then rounded the outside corners of the pages and all corners of the cards - this is of course optional.

I ran glue across the top and bottom edges of one page then stuck them together to create my pockets.  In my video I talk about sewing along here too, but decided not too.

I measured along the folded edge of all pages and put a dot at the half-way point and about an inch from either end.  I used the dots to guide where to punch my holes then inserted eyelets of different colours to my pages that I thought would match or look appealing.

I have this tab punch so though I should use it (finally!) and cut tabs from the scraps of the Christmas solids papers.  These will be used later on the cards.

Time to grab out the colourful Echo Park "I Love My Dog" papers which I cut 5" by 6 and 5/8".  I rounded the two outside corners to make cheerful bases for my pages.  These were stuck to each side of my pocket pages.

For the cover I recycled some cardboard from a box that I had grabbed form the recycling bin while I was salvaging books a while back - I think it had held comics (by the look of it!). I cut these approximately 1/16 of an inch larger than my pages, then found some bright blue fabric that would go with the papers.  This was cut about 1/8 of an inch larger than the cover board and adhered with brushed on PVA glue.  Once dry, I sewed around the edges of both cover pieces to secure the fabric even more and to help prevent fraying.  I cut two more pieces of the I Love My Dog papers to cover the cardboard on the inside of the cover pieces.  Holes were punched in the covers (using the holes in a page as a template for my dots) and eyelets were added.

Here are all my pages thus far, you can see the gorgeous papers that have been stuck to my pocket pages, the pattern papers sit nicely on the solids I chose. I have grabbed my packs of Echo Park ephemera - now it is time for me to go, grab my photos and embellish this cute album.

Here is a video outlining these processes for you and one of a flip-through of the completed album, so between these and this blog, you should have the information required to put together one of these simple albums yourself and get decorating! They are so quick and easy to make and you can use whatever papers you have - or even better, check out what all the girls are using this month for AVSC (as it is all discounted) and grab some beautiful deals to make your album.  Whack one together and post the pictures on the Crafty Vera and Friends Facebook page.  GO TEAM NAT!!!!

Flip-through of completed project:

Take care and have fun crafting! 😊

Lots of love - xxx GO TEAM NAT!!!

Products I am using for the month of May that will be discounted are listed here:

• Echo Park - I Love My Dog - Collection Kit
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog Clear Stamp Set - Puppy Love
• Echo Park - Christmas - Co-ordinating Solids 
• Echo Park - Frames & Tags
• Echo Park - Ephemera
• Echo Park - I Love My Dog - 6x6 Paper Pad
• Aunty Vera Washi Tape - Puppy Dogs