Journal case album

This is another project from the 2009 Club Scrap Retreat (have you registered yet for the 2010 Retreat?). I adapted this project a bit to the personality of the recipients. The album on the left was a present for my in-laws for Christmas. The album outside is made from Infusions paper from Club Scrap. The album on the right was for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. She loves blue, so I chose the Concrete Jungle paper.

Inside the case is a 6x6 album. This is very simply constructed - just page protectors with a simple ring closure. By tying a bunch of ribbons to the ring, you get this very funky, shabby chic, look. We filled these albums with pictures from our trip to England this past summer. This album was made from Asian Artisan paper:

The other album continued with using the Concrete Jungle paper:

I really like how these books can sit on a shelf and look great, but contain a really nice surprise inside. They also were easy to pack and ship to England! Everyone enjoyed them, and it's nice to be able to share them with everyone now.

Paper bag goodness

This is a project I made at the 2009 Club Scrap retreat. If you're interested in attending the 2010 retreat, registration is now open. This is an experience I look forward to every year. We make the most fantastic projects, and we have such a fun time. This was our opening project - it's made entirely of paper bags and butcher paper. Since the materials are quite hardy, I decided to embellish this for my nephew for Christmas. We got a bunch of pictures from our trip this summer, and Paul and I both journaled in it. I hope that he loves looking at the pictures now, and appreciates the memories later. I had a heck of a time getting great pictures of this, and was in a bit of a rush to get this mailed to him, so I had to settle for what I could get.

The majority of the embellishments are from the Concrete Jungle kit by Club Scrap (yes, I'm addicted to Club Scrap). The blue was a perfect accent to the brown paper bag, and the graffiti nature of the designs fit well with a little boy.

I also loved the swirls of the Be Still stamp. I can't believe I didn't want this stamp initially. I've learned to love it and its versatility.
These pictures below are from my favorite parts of England (so far) - Devon and Cornwall. We didn't have great weather, but the sights were still beautiful. I loved the ruggedness of the country. If you want to read more about our vacation, take a look at Charlesworth's Adventures.

I love creating books and giving them as present. I hope you enjoyed a peek at it, too.

Scraptastic snowflakes!

I'm really glad the holidays are over, and the semester is well underway! I have a lot of work to do between Thanksgiving and just after the new year, plus projects for the holidays. Most of my crafting in the last two months have been gifts for family, so they're not great to post! I can start sharing them now, including this card which ended up in some special homes this year.

This card also turned into the inspiration for a class I'm teaching at our local scrapbooking store tomorrow. I'm teaching a bunch of my favorite techniques for using scraps in new ways. I certainly have more scraps than I can probably ever use up on my own. This card used the Club Scrap card making deck to inspire the basic design of the card, and I added my own touches with the super cool snowman from Hero Arts. Each of the panels is embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder (Snowflakes). I was really into pinks and green for holiday cards this year. There is something really sweet about these colors, and they're a little bit unexpected.

The "quadrant" technique can also be used with scraps, and the panels can also be stamped. Kay from Club Scrap demos other ways you can interpret this technique in the Club Scrap cinema.

I'll be sharing more samples and techniques over the next week.