Close to My Heart

Card Workshop Video Week 5

This video shows you how to cut papers from the guide below,  and walks you through my processes for using up scrap pieces to create cards.   I hope you enjoy!

Unfortunately I gave away the cards I made in this video before I took photos of them.  Opps!

Happy Crafting!

Scrapbook Video Week #5

Soon I will be starting weekly videos again for both scrapbooks & cards.   I need to find my craft table,  reset my cameras and remind myself of some of the little things that help my recording sessions go more smoothly.

As I’ve started doing some re-organizing, purging and discovery around the house,  I’ve realized I have too many good ideas and not enough execution of those ideas.  For example,  I found a cookbook that was given to me.  I have no need of the contents of the cookbook,  but I remember keeping it because it had a great 3 ring binder and would be perfect for a small scrapbook project.  Wah-lah,  that will be the project for our first fall video, coming soon to a facebook live station near you.  🙂

In the meantime,  I’ve learned that I sometimes feel over whelmed by guilt of paper that is just languishing in boxes and on shelves.  These are not unopened paper packs,  but more the “left overs” and remains of paper packs from previous workshops & projects.    It’s one of the reasons that I’ve been trying to fully use up packs so as not to add to the abandoned paper pack stash.  In aid of reducing this APS (Abandoned Paper Stash) I’ve returned to some of my previous projects and pulling out different paper,  did the same layouts again.   I sometimes forget how much I love the “old” Pattern books,  and this is a great way to reacquaint myself with them.  Hope you enjoy!

As a bonus to help you envision your own papers in this pattern,  here’s a photo from another gal that did this workshop.

The colors she choose work so well with her photos.   I also love that this layout seems to draw my eye to the photos rather than to the papers & embellishments!   Great Job Pat W!

If you have completed any of these projects,  I would love to see them.  You can email me the photos at Amanda@craftingwithamanda.com

Happy Crafting!

 

Surprise Album Part 2

The album was accepted and enjoyed,  but time didn’t allow me to print more photos and put them in the album while we were there.  (I thought that might happened)  So,  now that I’m home,  I will use these photos of the remaining pages and choose the prints that will work on each page.  The titles and  other embellishments I created are in a bundle and I left them with Mom.  Hopefully she will remember to pack them for their return to Florida so that when I send the prints she can just place them in the book and have it completed quickly.

Here are the remaining pages from the book.  I think I might have to use this as inspiration to create another not so mini album in the future.  They are fun and satisfying to do.

 

Happy Crafting!

Surprise Album Part 1

Have your heard the saying  you find love when you least expect it?   Or when you’re not looking for it?  That’s exactly what happened to my Mom this year.  She connected on facebook with a high school classmate and they got married this week.   It has been a special journey for her,  and for me as her daughter.  I’ve seen and heard  her joy, elation, vulnerabilities and cheered her rollercoaster ride to love.

I’ve had very little tractor time this summer,  so once they announced the wedding date,  I have been stealing time from other things and putting together this wedding album for them.   The first few pages are already filled with photo from their HS year book,  facebook posts and personal photos from when we got to meet Mom’s fiancé.   The remaining pages are to be filled with photos from the wedding weekend.  I also provided several roses, hearts & titles to match the style I had already started.

I was really pleased with my solution for adding both horizontal and vertical photo memory protectors to the book.  Mom will be able to add more in between later pages as I created them to be modular.  I took the standard  memory protectors  and using my bind it all,  I punched holes along the edge and then cut a slit into the center of each of the punched holes.  This allows me to place them anywhere in the book that I need more photo spaces.

Without further ado,  here are the first few pages with photo inserts I have finished.

I found some photos of Mom in the HS yearbooks on line  🙂   yay!

I do believe necessity is the mother of invention.  I had no clue how I was going to include the next photos that were tall when all I had were vertical page protectors.  As I was sitting in a room of crafting supplies I decided to see what I could find.  I found the 12 x 6″  page protectors for a 12 x 12 scrapbook and decided I would sacrifice one slot and see if I could make it work.  I could!  And,   was able to use all three slots by just cutting the first photo a half inch narrower.  yeah.

being 3 photos wide was too big for my book,  so I folded the last section in and filled it up!
I had to have some extra built in flaps too.  Makes it more interactive  right?

This is a far as filled it before leaving for the wedding weekend.

Happy Crafting!

 

 

Next quilling project

I decided to take control of my eating.  To help with that, I have been focusing on crafting.  So far this is working well for my eating, my office/studio is a mess however.

Today I would like to share my “owl” quilling project.  I didn’t know when I started it was going to become my owl project,  but it did,  and I’m happy with it.  I think I’m going to enter it in to the fair for judging.  😉

I am not sure why I didn’t think of this earlier,  but I got out my spray pens with re-inker & alcohol and started to spray a canvas.   LOVING the results.

When I started quilling,  I would create just to try new techniques,  so I have several containers with flowers, leaves, this and that.    I dumped them on my desk and found some that worked with the colors on the pallet. Once I created the “C,” it needed something so I posted this on  facebook to ask for ideas.   The feedback was great,  but I just couldn’t figure out how to create fireflies with quilling.  So,  instead I decided to do an owl.  (Besides,  I loved doing all the beehive quilling I did on the tree for the Winnie the pooh project. and knew it would fit for the feathers.) Once again,  the quilling didn’t go the way I thought it would,  but took me in a different direction.  Sometimes you have to let the project lead.

Owl done, but still needed something.  Did some google searching for key words like wisdom, knowledge,  life. . .  and in the process was inspired and decided to go with Knowledge Speaks . . . Wisdom Listens.

Happy Crafting!