November Gratitude Journal - 30 Blessings

Wow! I can't believe it is the second week of November. Seriously, I am not even sure there was an October. At least that is how I feel. In all honesty, it wasn't the best month for me. So, in order to "bring the mojo back" and focus on all the wonderful blessings in my life...I decided that November would be a fantastic time to make a Gratitude Journal or Mini Album. I have seen so many beautiful mini albums this fall (and in the past) that inspiration struck and I couldn't wait to get busy. 

Just recently, I received my me & my BIG ideas Design Team box too. Of course it was jam packed with so many inspiring products...perfect for this kind of project. I mean, LOOK at those gold glittery alphas above. Be still my beating (glitter loving) heart!

With gratitude on my mind and mambi goodies waiting to be used, I headed over to Hobby Lobby to find an album. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted, but I knew I wanted to have some small pocket pages in the album. Well, let me tell you, as soon as I saw this Paper Studio 6x8 chipboard album I may have let out a joyous squeal. (Yes, art & scrapbooking supplies bring audible bursts of happiness. Ha!) The album only costs $6.99 (HELLO) and it was on sale at 40% or 50% off. Amazing deal, especially since it had 10 pocket style scrappy pages inside. Divine!

The best part about a chipboard album is that it can easily be altered. There is an endless list of fun things that can be done to jazz up the cover. Personally, I love kraft just the way it is. But, for this project I wanted to get messy and alter the cover. I used some white gesso and modeling paste on the outside of the album and decided to keep the inside plain.

After I was happy with the texture, I played around with stacking some beautiful mambiSHEETS paper with a white doily and some mambi Die Cuts. The stack was glued together and I used some alphaCHIPS and mambiSTICKS for the title. I added bits of gesso on the edges of the paper and added some thin twine (bakers) along the side. I really love how my Gratitude Journal turned out. I am going to have tons of creative fun reflecting on my many blessings this month. :)

Journaling for the first page shown is behind the bottom card. I attached a little tab to the journal card and tucked it behind the other. The tab can be spotted on the right side. Sometimes, I like to keep the journaling hidden or make pocket scrapping more interactive. 

Here are a few of the inside pages. Since I plan on documenting my gratitude daily or every couple of days, I didn't want the inside pages to become too "involved." I wanted the process to be simplified, so I could focus on the thankfulness and not become overwhelmed. I think it did help that I spent some time (while watching the 2nd season of Downton Abbey) prepping the inner pages. I just added some pretty papers, journal cards, and a few embellishments beforehand. This makes the actually recording run much smoother.

Thank you SO much for stopping by! I'll be back later with more updates on my Gratitude Journal....plus updates from my shop (Holy smokes it's been awhile), prepping for my December Daily, Art Journal love, mambi Design Team projects, and plenty of fun for a creative Christmas!

Happy Creating,

Fun, Festive Christmas Mini Album

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it is 2014? I know I can't. I honestly can't believe Christmas already whizzed by too. It came so fast this year. I could not keep up. :) It was a beautiful time for my family, but man...I blinked and POOF - it was gone!

To keep the holiday cheer around for just a wee bit longer I like to work on Christmas mini albums in January with the loads of pictures I took. This year I used my iphone for so many of our pictures. SO convenient, right!? It takes such great pictures and it is so much easier than my big Canon. BUT...nothing beats the quality of the photos when I use my Canon Rebel. So, I did use it as well. What do you do with all your holiday pictures?

Today I want to share an album I made for 2012 with all kinds of Christmas goodies from me & my BIG ideas. It is a December Daily style of album where I made 25 pages - one for each day.

The cover is made from pieces of chipboard that came in some packaging. The interior pages were all made from the mambi CARDS in an INSTANT, 12 x 12 paper stack, and a few transparent pages made from an old office folder. Pages are super easy to make. All I did was fold them in half and run my tape runner inside to seal it shut. EASY!

 

On the transparent pages I used a stencil and white acrylic paint. Once the paint was dry, I added some festive stickers. Remember, whatever you use will be seen on the back. I always plan a little cluster of embellishments on the back too.

Pockets were easily made by applying adhesive to three side of a cute me & my BIG ideas Specialty Card, then sticking it down. It is a perfect place to hold things you collect like ticket stubs, receipts, tags for journaling, cards, etc.

You can see that I repeated the use of some elements like doilies and vellum to have some continuity throughout the mini album. That really helps the flow of any book you are creating. :)

Another tip: Sometimes certain paper patterns or stickers are too bright for what I am working on. I tend to favor neutrals, faded colors, watercolor, and small muted patterns. However, in this album I wanted bright, traditional, festive color. The tree in the upper left picture is a chipboard sticker that had a pattern that did match the page. The shape was perfect for what I wanted, so I simply painting some white gesso over top. Gesso can be your best friend! It is just right for toning down bold color.

 

Thank you SO MUCH for visiting! 

I am looking forward to working on this year's Christmas mini album, as well as my Project Life pages for December in the coming weeks. I will share it all!

I'd love to hear what you plan on doing with your holiday pictures.

You can also see this Christmas album featured on the mambi blog right HERE. 

Happy Creating,