Sunday, March 20, 2011

Toilet Paper Roll Mini Album

Yep, you heard me correctly. I've made 4 toilet paper rolls into a mini album. Make sure to let everyone in your family know that you want to save the cardboard tube that is left over after all the paper is gone. I was lucky because we have a small trash can in the bathroom that only holds the tubes. We never actually throw anything else in there.

Start out with a 4 regular tubes and flatten them down. If you need to make the edges a little crisper, try running a ruler down the edges while applying pressure.


You should end up with something that looks like this. Each page will be 2 5/8 x 4. If you want to punch a circle in the edge to act as gripper tabs, then now is the time to do it. After you cover it with paper, it will be too big to fit in an average punch. (I had to find out the hard way, so mine doesn't have tabs).

Next, cover each tube with your choice of papers. Double sided paper makes things easier because you have so many different sides to choose from. I used 4 different double sided pages that I had just scraps of. I like to leave a little bit of the edges showing so I cut my paper 2 1/2 by 4 inches. I used wonder tape on all the edges. I usually use stick glue on my projects, but the rolls still want to curl a little. So, I used the heavy duty stuff to make sure that it would be a secure fit. Make sure that you don't glue the tubes closed. You want to leave them open so they make a pocket for your journaling cards. I then used my Binderie to make to holes and secured with small black binding rings (both products are from 7Gypsies). At this point, my album looks like this:




 Also, cut 4 extra pieces of your double sided paper to use as cards. I trimmed off half and inch and cut three holes on the outer edge of each card. Then I put the furry fibers in each hole. (After using the fur fibers, my desk looked like a lion exploded on it. It gets very messy.)




Now your album is complete and ready to be embellished. I'm planning on going to the park today with my puppy Jada and using those photos to go in here. Jada needs a little treat. She got shaved today and she was actually very calm throughout the process. Here she is... mid-shave.


I hope you enjoyed this mini album. It's so much fun to make (and funny to see people's faces when you tell them it was a toilet paper roll). Thanks for viewing!

Friday, March 18, 2011

I'll take Green Paper anytime!

So, we finally had our green beer for St. Patty's day. The verdict? ...



I prefer green paper instead. Yes, I must admit it. My Irish ancestors are probably rolling over in their graves right now. (Sorry great-grandfather McSomething-or-another).  I guess I'm not the best judge of beer though. I've never been a drinker. But one taste of that stuff and I had to pass it off. At least I can check that off the bucket list.

Well, I went to Hobby Lobby afterwards to see about getting some letters and accent papers for my St. Patty's LO. Geez, I just got back and I'm already halfway done with my LO. You know you're a scrapbooker when.... haha! But on a more serious note, I need to rant for a moment. Take a look at the following picture and tell me if you notice anything weird about the gold letters.


There's only one P and one T! That's all they give. I bought one of each pack of letters because I wasn't sure which I'd like more. When I got home, I decided that the gold letters are the only real choice because they match my papers so well. But I can't even spell the word 'Happy' or even 'Patty'. Do I seriously have to go buy two more packs of those just to say happy st patty's? (That requires 3 P's and 3 T's). Whoever designed those letters, Kudos! But whoever designed their packaging... thanks alot <--sarcasm.

Tomorrow I'll be going out to my boyfriend's family's house. My wonderful FMIL is as addicted with scrapbooking as I am . I swear, it spreads like a cold. XD  We have decided to do a mini album swap. She's much more creative with mini albums than I am. A one page layout is pretty much all my ADD will let me get away with. But I'm going to give it a serious try. I'll try to post some pics up, but don't laugh to hard plz.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm very proud of my Irish heritage and now I have a wonderful boyfriend to share it with that is also Irish. I'm going to try my first green beer. I know that today is St. Patrick's Day, but we have decided to wait and celebrate tomorrow. Being out late on a weekday just isn't our thing. But I'm already trying to determine what kind of pictures I'll take and how many. (You know you're a scrapbook addict when you plan out your photos before you even attend the event!)


I picked up these amazing papers from my local Michael's. They're from the C-Thru Ruler Company's "Deja Views - Lucky Day" line. They look 10x better in real life. Each page is distressed and shiny. They just glitter when you turn them. I think I'm going to make a tag or something with that cream strip of paper with the Irish saying on it. I'll definitely keep you posted!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Little Frog



YAY! This is my first ever post. Well, lets see here... something witty to say.... umm, hi. :)

I thought I'd just get the ball started with a recent layout I did for a 4x6 photo challenge on twopeasinabucket.com. (I'll provide the link to the original challenge at the bottom). I decided to scrap the two pictures that I had of my adorable shih-tzu, Jada. She runs as fast as she can when she plays, but then she finds herself very tired and hot. So she finds a nice cold place on the floor and *plop*... down she goes. She lays with her legs splayed out so her tummy can rest on the floor. Everyone who has seen her do this thinks she looks like a frog. So I decided to make a page around that topic.

I wanted to use some of my old papers instead of rushing out and buying new stuff (which is soooo tempting). So I rummaged around and came across some old Martha Stewart papers. They were pastel colors that were originally intended for baby layouts. Obviously, I don't scrap baby photos so I had long ago labeled them 'Useless'. But with the frog theme in mind, the light sage green papers seemed to jump out at me.

I began by piecing together a little frog. Not the best looking little fellow, but I wasn't too concerned about making him perfect. I added some brown ink around the edges so he wouldn't just blend in together. The brown actually allowed me to bring in some accent papers and ribbon. I had been wanting to use this cute polka dotted ribbon since I bought it a year ago.


With all my papers and ribbons set, there was only the title and journaling left. I used some brown chipboard letters from the Paper Studio. I think I've used those letters on every single layout I've done recently. They're so pretty and easy to use. But with all those layouts, I've managed to use almost every letter. I had no more T's or i's. So, I improvised. I made two t's with leftover F's by cutting the tops off. The i came from an unused j that had the bottom chopped off.

 After that, I finished up with my journaling on white cardstock, backed with brown cardstock. And ta-da! All done. Though, I have to admit... my scanner gave my page a very strange hue. I'll have to see if I can get a better image later.

Thanks for viewing!

Original Challenge: http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/classes_and_events/classes/22-4x6-photo-love-with-shimelle-laine/lesson/1710824-4x6-photo-love-february-2011/