One of a Kind Mini Album

One of my goals for 2013 is to spend more time creating and crafting.  Lately I have been obsessed with making mini-albums.  Thank goodness for YouTube.  There is so much creativity and talent out there.  I found this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiOSgydczVo and thought the pocket pages on this mini album were genius and I set out to make my own. Additionally, I discovered a new way to bind my mini-albums on YouTube as well.  I highly recommend searching for "hidden hinge binding".  It is a brilliant and easy way to bind albums and the binding can be scaled from mini book size all the way up to 11" albums.
This album measures 6 1/2" x 6 1/2".  I used Basic Grey "Fact" papers to cover the pages.  Joann Fabrics and Crafts carries this Basic Grey line in 12" x 12" paper stacks as well as 6" x 6" stacks and loads of fun embellishments.  In my craft supplies I also had chipboard stickers from Basic Grey's "Junebug" line from a few years back.  It is possible I am a craft hoarder. I really liked how the colors of the new line and the stickers from the old line blended seamlessly.  The vellum sticker on the cover is from K & C Company. 
 My favorite elements of this mini-album may be the pinwheels I made for the cover, followed by the whimsical birds.  This album has six pocket pages, three with flaps with tags and three simple pocket pages. 

Kenley's Birthday Book

My closest friend Melissa's daughter Kenley's first birthday was this past weekend and I wanted to make something extra special for her.  I will be the first to admit that I am not a scrapbooker.  Honestly, I mostly make cards.  The scale of cards is easier for me to manage and the thought of creating 12x12 scrapbook pages is very overwhelming.  Recently though, I discovered that I do like making mini-albums and after watching a great tutorial video on the "Stack the Deck" binding system I put this book together in no time.
I used October Afternoon's Cakewalk papers, stickers and chipboards, along with some crochet trim I got at Michaels and some striped washi tape. 
The only thing I would do different is that I would have covered the cover entirely first, before adhering the bound pages.  I got a little overly excited about putting the book together and had to go back and add trim pieces to cover parts of the center binding where the inserts didn't cover.  There are tabs and six pockets with tabs to add additional photos.

 

Craft room organization 2013

While I haven't updated my blog in a while (how did 11 months go by? Seriously, 2013 will be the year blogging about my crafts becomes a priority) I  have been busy making a bunch of crafty things and organizing my ever evolving craft space.

So my craft room originally re-purposed my dining table and hutch.  Well, it wasn't enough storage and the dining area looked like it could use a table again so I had to come up with another solution.  I wanted it to be a space that was functional and relatively inexpensive to outfit.  The solution was simple and available at my local Target; plastic storage drawers.  They come in a range of sizes and shapes.  They are easily stackable, which is important if you have as many craft supplies as I have amassed over the years.  I absolutely love them. I store all my paper in upright bins that I found at Joanns.  My paper is organized by paper line, alphabetically.

For about $100 I was able to outfit an entire wall of my craft room.  The best part about the plastic bins is the amount of storage space the drawers offer. The drawers are deep enough and long enough to store a lot of stuff.   I used one of the smaller drawers to keep all my alphabet stickers arranged by color.  It is an easy way to quickly assess what colors and sizes of alphabet stickers I have available.  I use the same size drawer to organize any stickers, chipboards, and other accessories by paper line as well.  I use photo boxes inside the larger drawers to keep things separated.
I have an IKEA bookcase lining the other wall of my craft room.  I recently mounted a peg board on the same wall.  I use the storage cubes to keep larger items like my Cuttlebug, Xyron and photo albums organized.  I recently purchased some plastic paper trays from a local scrapbook store and use them to organize my scrap pieces of paper by color.  I find it is the easiest way to keep track of small pieces.  I use an IKEA desk for my crafting surface and set up another 4 foot table along the adjacent wall for additional crafting space, or for someone else to come over and craft too.  I love my space and have been using it quite a bit.