Christmas Themed Acrylic Mini Album

I tried to get all fancy and edit the video I made but that just didn't work out too well. I hate that we are forced to change things that we know how to use and then can't find somthing similar, such as the Windows Movie Maker. Oh I could use it but it won't recognize the type of file my camera uses and well it was just one headache after another so I just uploaded the dang thing to Youtube "as is". Ya'll are gonna have to excuse my poor video skills...I know I really do suck at it.

The paper I used for the album is Basic Grey Wassail and was one of the first BG collections I purchased. Oh how I did use to love my Basic Grey! At least until they started getting some really funky patterns and by then I had started my love affair with Graphic 45.

Anyway here is video of the mini album and by golly someone better watch it because it a dang hour and a half to upload! I seriously went to Walmart and came back and the thing was still uploading so....

WATCH THE DANG VIDEO PLEASE!!!

Together We Make A Family - Layout

So while digging around in my files I found this layout I made back in January and never posted *okie thinks she should write sticky notes sometimes for her to keep track of her life* and thought I should get it posted in case anyone would want to use the file.

One of my first loves of paper was Basic Grey and while I still love it I have slowed down on buying it because...*okie looks from left to right and then right to left, leans closer, puts her index finger to her mouth and whispers* let's face it, I dont really have much room left for more paper. The papers used in this layout is from their Origins Collection and was probably the first collection I ever bought. 

I wanted to make the tree a little more interesting and stole the idea of using the buttons from my friend Carmen who made me a card years ago that had buttons embellishing the tree on the card. These particular buttons are from the same collection, I believe I have brads for this collection as well. That is one thing I love about collections, being able to have matching embellies and not having to dig through everything to find something that matches. I also thought the buttons were more interesting than cutting a bunch of leaves out of paper...*okie takes a deep breath and ponders for a moment then sighs deeply and hangs her head* okay I'll tell the truth...I was just too damn lazy to cut a bunch of leaves and put them on the tree and branch. Are you happy now? Are you happy that I admit I'm a lazy crafter??? *okie pouts for a second and then raises her head and puts her nose in the air* But you have to admit that the buttons are a very creative idea!

I liked the idea of the title swerving with the tree branch and that took a little finagling *okie is amazed she spelled that word correctly and knows it is correct since spell check didn't underline it* and right now I can't remember exactly what I did to make it curve. I might have adjusted each letter separately and then welded them together. 

I hope someone does use the file because I think it is a nice design. 

If you download please leave a comment of "thank you", "downloaded" or even "kiss my ass bitch" so I know my files are getting used. If they aren't being downloaded then I don't want to go to the time of converting them, uploading them to Google Drive, editing to share and then posting them. 

Carmen's Double Door Album

I fell off the wagon again about posting on here! I wanted to share Carmen's Double Door Album from our challenge *okie won't mention that was almost two weeks ago* before I share our latest challenge, which was another album.

Carmen used a Basic Grey Sugar Rush on her album as well and to keep the front closed she used a Basic Grey magnetic closure for her book. I told her that I had planned on doing that with mine as well but couldn't find the closures. 

I think her pages came out brighter than mine did even though we used the same papers. It's amazing how moving papers around can give things a totally different look.

 I love the way she cut out titles for her pages. The thought of doing that never even crossed my mind!

 

I am not sure here but I am guessing maybe she used the Print and Cut feature on her Cameo. I can't wait to get my new Pazzles Vue to see if I can figure out PnC!

Instead of cutting mats for her photo placement she cut frames and I really like that idea as well.













 

This is probably my favorite page because of the camera and title!

I like how she added embellishment to the frames.

Personally I think a picture of Carmen and myself should go on this page! HA HA HA

We both talked about how we used almost used the full pack of the Basic Grey Sugar Rush and couldn't believe how much paper it took to complete the albums. We did think it was worth the sacrifice and Carmen said the challenge was good so we could use up some of our meager stash of supplies *okie wonders if anyone will believe that she or Carmen have a meager stash*.







Next I will be posting our last challenge we did which was a 6x6 mini album and I said we had to use Graphic45 papers. Oddly enough we both chose to use Le Cirque and didn't even know until we had started our albums!

What Happens When Carmen and I Challenge Each Other

My friend, BFF Carmen, and I decided to challenge each other to a project for the weekend. She had just completed a huge project for a friend of making wedding invitations, save the date and those kind of things and I just wanted to make something. We thought about things we could do and did a search for projects and discussed doing something with Graphic45 paper but none of their project appealed to us. We did an image search for mini albums and found a few we liked and decided on one that I am calling a Double Door Album.

I made a file in Make The Cut for us to use so the basics of our albums would be the same. We decided to use Basic Grey Sweet Threads since we both had a package of it on hand. That left us with how we decided to decorate to be up to the individual. I will post Carmen's album on another post.

Since the inside couldn't have much dimension I thought I would really dress up the front with some dimension and did some paper flowers to make the front pop. I thought the title "timeless memories" was a great thing to put on the front of the album.

Here is how the album looks open. You might want to click the picture so you can see it larger.

I tried to do a little extra on each page of the album but I really had to watch how much thickness I was adding. The white cardstock is to be used as templates for photos. I did find some different embellishments to use and even got out the ol' button punch.

Some pages I left plain. I did use some of my stamps on a few of them to add a little interest.

Carmen said her favorite thing about the album was working on the tags. I think the little pockets were kinda fun to decorate too.

I stamped some lines on a few of mine for journaling. Others I added some corner stamps and some I left plain.

To help keep the album closed I used some Basic Grey magnet discs. I did have to use some Terrifically Tacky tape instead of the adhesive that was on there because it wasn't strong enough to hold the magnets.

Okay I'll try to get Carmen's album uploaded tomorrow and post it. We have another challenge this weekend...we are doing a 6x6 mini album!

Basic Grey Warehouse Sale

Did anyone get the Basic Grey warehouse box? Well I did! Actually got two of them. I forgot to take pictures of the stuff to post but man oh man there was a ton of stuff! I got to complete sets of paper, Phoebe was one of them and can't remember the other. There was a ton of single sheet paper from probably 20 different lines. Some of them I already had and others I had a few sheets and then a few I had none of. I got all kinds of embellishments from buttons, chipboard albums, rub-ons, stickers *okie makes an exception on stickers when it comes to Basic Grey* and doily paper.

My friend Carmen got two boxes as well and from what she told me her boxes had completely different things. We both got greeting card kids, mine was from Hopscotch and then a Christmas set. Carmen got Oxford and Hello Luscious. She even got a few things from some of their newer lines...making me totally jelly!

I, of course, had to immediately start sorting mine and putting it away...completely forgetting to to take a few snapshots!! Luckily I caught Carmen before she put all of hers away and was able to get her to send me pictures of hers! When I asked her to do this I didn't know she was going to go into such detail but I am glad she did so you can see what wonderful goodies were in these boxes!

Here are all the pictures Carmen sent me...now look and drool! HA HA HA

 I got a few sheets of this Max and Whiskers collection. I had a few before so this will be a nice addition.

June Bug is a collection I was never able to get my hands on. I do have a few sheets I have found here and there and I got this sheet as well along with two others.

 My doily pages were different than these, think these are prettier than mine.

I am not a big sticker fan but I do have to say I love BG stickers since they go with the collections. I got a card kit from this collection while Carmen got stickers.

 Love this layout kit that Carmen got. I didn't get any of this collection.

 Fruitcake is a line from a few years back. I got some chipboard albums but mine were not this one. I can 't believe I have absolutely NO Fruitcake paper! LOL

My greeting card kit is with the Hopscotch line. I am not sure which this one is but you can never go wrong with these. If you are wanting to get someone who isn't very crafty a crafting gift these are great since they have all the pieces to make the cards and include the envies as well!

 Another great greeting card kit.

I did get the lacy embellies but not the other two that Carmen is showing.

 I don't think I got any woolies in my boxes but the ones that Carmen got are nice.

 More embellies that Carmen got in her boxes.

Carmen said she doesn't have any of the Cupcake paper that the chip stickers go with, I might be able to talk her out of those since I do have a few sheets of that collection! HA HA HA

 I think all the boxes had sticker alphabets, I got several sheets myself. I don't use a whole lot of these but they are great for adding to layouts.

I did get both of these embellies. I don't know what I will use the baby stickers for but I do have the paper line that the Varnish stickers to with.

 Green At Heart is a collection I have and I got a few sheets of this one as well but not the same as the ones Carmen got.

 Curio are the bottom sheets and I got those as well.

 Lauderdale is a great collection that I got some extra sheets of to add to my full collection.

 This collection is Mellow and was the very first collection I ever bought and got me hooked on Basic Grey!

Origins is a good collection for more masculine layouts and projects.