Mini Baby Album in a Tin/Graphic 45 Tutorial

I'm so excited this week waiting for my friend ,Trina, to come back from Iqaluit . She will be bringing home her precious new daughter, Carlie, a little sister for Mackenzie. Two very lucky little girls who are blessed with such wonderful parents in Trina and Svein!

I warned you that I wasn't finished play with Graphic 45 's adorable Little Darlings line of pp. I found these gift card holder tins at Walmart a couple of weeks ago in the card section for $1 each.

The black card holder part was very easily removed  from the tin and I immediately thought " Hmmmm...this would make a cute little holder for a mini book......".And so I turned it into this!

 And this is what it looks like on the inside....an accordion style book with pages for photos and pages with little tag inserts for Trina to jot down little tidbits about her sweet little Carlie. The last page is adhered to the inside of the tin.

 Here's a view of the back side of the accordion book.....

This would make a very sturdy brag book to carry in your purse as the tin seals tight and protects all the contents.

So here's a quick little peek at how I made this little book.

As stated above, I first removed the card holder insert and discarded it. I then flipped the tin over and measured it to determine the size I would need for my page bases. My tin measured 11.5 cm long by 9 cm wide. I decided to cut my base a little smaller at 11cm x 8.5 cm and I knew I wanted to make it "accordion" style, so I marked my plain cardstock as shown on the next photo.

I cut out three identical pieces, adhering them end to end to make a longer accordion. I then rounded each corner with an EK Success corner rounder punch as the tin itself had rounded corners.

 Next I inked all edges and seams in between the pages both front and back with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.

Eeeeewwww...looks messy doesn't it? Don't worry. It'll just have a little distressed edge showing when we are done.

 I then proceeded to cut out my actual pages , 8 cm x 10.5 cm . I used a variety of papers from the  G45 Little Darlings pps. I rounded all these corners as well and also inked all edges with DI Vintage Photo.  .

I chose five pages to be journal pages. To make these, I first cut out five baby pictures/blocks off the " Bundle of Joy" sheet . I attached them to their respective pages by using 1/8 th" skor tape on just the sides and across the bottom thereby creating a little pocket for my journaling tags. I used standard 4 3/4 x 2 3/8 shipping tags which I trimmed slightly in both width and length to fit in my pockets. I also punched the bottom edges with the Eyelet Lace punch by Martha Stewart and inked all edges.

Here's a close up of two finished pages.

 And here are all my "finished' pages:

 The 'bands' across the bottoms of the pages are only adhered on the back of the pages so that a photo may be slipped underneath.
 Now proceed to glue down your pages to the base in whatever order you desire.  I punched and inked a bunch of butterflies  with the classic Martha Stewart butterfly punch and added them nilly willy on my pages for a little additional decoration. One more note. I cut the' Rock a Bye Baby' piece from the "Bundle of Joy' sheet, punched the corners with the rounder, inked all edges and slipped it under the ribbons to complete the front of the tin and viola! a unique, sturdy little present for sweet Carlie!

 Of course, what's a gift without a card , right?  I whipped up this little card from my scraps to go along with this present.

 Thanks so much for popping by again today. I can't believe I've done a posting TWO days in a row.  Can I make it three???? ummmmmm...let me think about it ! LOL Toodles

Crop News Round Up!!!

Well my crop last weekend was a great success! A good time had by all and I was amazed at all the LOs these talented ladies produced ! I 'm sorry that I didn't take more photos { don't know why cuz that is sooooo unlike me!} and unfortunately some of my photos came out a bit blurry...a few ladies really didn't want their photos taken { you know who you are!} and for some reason I missed a few girls and for that I apologize. Here are a few snaps from the day...
                                                                  

Tracey seemed to have a really good time and got lots accomplished that day!

Shirley actually remembered to bring her supplies this time! { Though I've already warned her that she had better be WELL prepared for the crop she and I will be attending in Springdale next month or she had better bring some Ativan for ME!!!!}LOL

Tara  and Tammy were creating beautiful double page spreads . This was Tara's first time at the crop and she seemed  to enjoy herself. Tammy is an old pro and we were glad to have her back for this crop!\

Two other "newbies" to my crop were Sabrina and Jennifer { tho certainly not newbies to scrapping overall!}. Jennifer was actually the lucky duck who won a year's subscription to Canadian Scrapbooker magazine by participating in the Sketchy challenge. Congrats Jennifer!

                                    Little old me!

 But here's the best participant photo...It's Susan and Barb and their cool scrap T-shirts they made!Check out what's written on them! Aren't they cute { both the girls and the shirts LOL}? And by the way , Susan, I'm still waiting for my T-shirt...nudge nudge wink wink!

 So....did I actually get much scrapping done at my own crop???? Hahaa...you're kidding right?I spent alot of time helping the girls with the machines{ Cricut, cuttlebug etc} , offering my 2 cents when asked for , adding up bills [ those girls really like to shop!} and prepping snacks and meals...but there ya go...I WAS the hostess so I didn't really expect to get much done. My Stampin' Up rep, KATHY, dropped by for a couple of hours to get a start on her daughter's wedding album and she really enjoyed herself. She said it was sooooo different to be able to just sit there and play instead of instructing  as she does in all her classes. I'm glad you could get a little "me" time Kathy!

 I did however manage to get one Lo done ....using Graphic 45's gorgeous new Little Darlings line of paper. I 'll be doing lots with this paper line...I absolutely adore it!

                                                                  
 I just noticed!!!There are NO FLOWERS on this LO GASP!!!!! That is sooooo unlike me!This was my first time using the Martha Stewart "Cherish" punch around the page punch set. I just love it!  I have so many more plans for this paper ...did I mention I adore it??? LOL
PS This is Chelsea on her first birthday ...God love her, she was such a little baldy!

I 'd like to say congrats to the ladies who won the door prizes at the crop:

Tracey and Tammy won beautiful kits from ScrapThat! { a GREAT Canadian kit company !}

Susan A. won TWO prizes...a great  handmade crop garbage bag that  hangs on the edge of the table and a 5 pk of beautiful handmade cards graciously donated by my Stampin'Up rep, KATHY.

I'm having a little brain fart but I "think' it was Shirley who won the Quick Quotes card making kit.

 And as previously mentioned, Jennifer won the Year's subscription to Canadian Scrapbooker magazine.

I think pretty well everyone got to wear the LO princess crown and got to pick out of the prize box at some point during the day. Nobody went home empty handed.

Well that's it for tonight ladies . Thanks for dropping by. Wishing you all a blessed, peaceful and Happy Easter.