Stampin' Mama: A mama that stamps

Paper Bag Book....

A while back, I got into making handmade albums. These evolved into my Paper Bag Albums. These are, by far, one of my most favorite projects to make.

I have these books down to a science now. I no longer have to look at my list of dimensions to know what to cut my paper at, what to cut my ribbon at or what to cut and score my binding at. I can almost make these books with my eyes closed.

The best thing about these books is that with all the awesome patterned paper and embellishments out there, you can just keep making and making these and they'll never turn out the same.

While I love to use all kinds of paper and embellishments, my favorite product to use is Stampin' Up's Simply Scrappin' Kits. I love that all the papers and cardstocks coordinate and all the embellishments are right there in the kit! The only thing I have to come up with is some ribbon for the tie on the book and that's not hard at all considering that I'm a ribbon hoarder (yes, I admit it, I hoard EVERYTHING!).

When I say that I have these books down to a science, I really do. I can actually create one in under 2 hours!  I DID tell you they were one of my favorite projects!

These books make amazing gifts for new moms (I just brought one along as a gift to a baby shower that my daughter and I attended recently), for a young woman going off to college, as a travel journal for a friend going away on a summer trip, a gift to a teacher.....or even as a way to create a whole library of interesting and interactive albums of your own.

You can put all sorts of things on the pages.....pictures, journaling blocks, stickers, etc. And you can put all sorts of things in the paper bag pages, as well. Pamphlets from tourist destinations, boarding passes and train tickets, receipts, recipes, pictures, tags with hidden journaling, etc. These albums truly become interactive and treasured keepsakes. They're so much more than an album. So much more than a book. So much more than a scrapbook. They're ALL of those things and more.

The holidays are coming up.....these make the perfect home made gift. Even for the non-crafters on your wish list. You could make the album and the kids could help you put the pictures and trinkets inside....a true family made gift.

For the semi-crafter, you could make the album and let them finish it off with their own pictures and memorabilia.

And for the crafter on your wish list, you could give them the gift of creativity....by getting them the Paper Bag Book Tutorial CD and some goodies to craft with.

Hope you all have had a wonderful Tuesday! I'll be back tomorrow with some new projects to share!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Wedding Guestbook/Scrapbook

Remember my post about the Wedding Invitation that I designed for my friend in Canada?

The other day, I decorated the front of a beautiful Maple Lane Press album (from Scrapbooking Paradise's online site) for my friend's Guestbook/Scrapbook. It was hard to find an 11 x 8.5" landscape style album, especially in the color that I needed, but after about an hour and a half of looking online, I finally found one (along with extra page protetors to match). It's PERFECT! And Scrapbooking Paradise shipped everything VERY quickly and has AWESOME customer service! They were willing to go above and beyond for me!

The album started out as this:

I pulled the colors, as well as the photo, that I used on their invitation:

and created this (click on picture for larger view):

I purchased a pre-cut black matte frame and used my black brush marker to go aroudnd the outside edges of it so that you couldn't see the whites edges. I used a piece of acetate (aka: window sheet) on top of the photo so that it would be protected. I adhered the acetate to the frame with Mini Glue Dots. I adhered the picture with SNAIL Adhesive and then stuck the entire frame to the album with hot glue.

My friend wanted some sort of flowers on her album and I've had these sweet, little paper flowers from Making Memories. I put the small flowers on top of the big flowers and fastened them together with silver brads. I used hot glue to adhere the flowers to the frame.

The finishing touch was tying Black Grossgrain Ribbon around the front cover of the album, near the spine (which was left over from the invitations I created).

Now, all that's left is the inside of the album. The plan is to create a scrapbook-type of guestbook for the wedding. Most times at weddings, people just write their name and address into a book.....one that ends up sitting on a shelf or stored away in a box. My friend had a fresh, new idea for the wedding guestbook. Each person/couple/family will have their picture taken in all their "finery" and will then write inside the guestbook on a page that has printed lines on the right hand side of the page. I printed the lines on vanilla cardstock so that people would have a "defined" area to write in. When they get the pictures back, they'll just pop the pictures into the black photo corners that I will be adhering to the pages this weekend. This way, they'll have a picture of absolutely EVERY person that came to their wedding, along with well wishes. How many people can say that they have pictures of EVERYONE that came to their wedding?

There will also be 8 pages in the back of the album with lines for the name of the person/couple/family that attended next to the description of the gifts that they gave the couple. So, this album is not only a guestbook, but a scrapbook AND a gift registry. Talk about a great keepsake from your special day! This is definitely not going to be shoved into a box in the closet.

I can't WAIT to get on that plane next Wednesday and hand this album to my friend! (I know she'll see it here, but it's not the same as seeing it in person.)