Secret Garden Mini Album with Mixed Media cover - Tutorial!

Hello there blogging beauties! I hope you are all having a GREAT week so far. The clouds decided to roll in here in "sunny" California... signs of Spring were just upon us yesterday, what happened?! Oh well... a few more drops of rain means more colorful flowers in the Spring, right? And what a perfect segway to my latest project....

I am so excited to share this Graphic 45 project with you all. To be honest, I wasn't sure how the cover of this mini album was going to turn out. I kept telling myself, "it's just the cover, I can always start over if it doesn't turn out..." But I'm so super thrilled with the end result! With just a little bit of patience and liberating fun, it ended up being one of my favorite altered art pieces to date! ♥

This mini album was created using Graphic 45's new Secret Garden paper collection and Metal Staples (all products listed and linked at the end of this blog post.)

This is how the cover of the album looked before I primed it up with gesso and sprayed away with my Lindy's Stamp Gang Startburst Sprays...

Here's what it looked like after all the spraying madness! ♥

I incorporated additional embellishments after I primed and sprayed to "fill in" the gaps...

I used garment pins to dangle each element from the charm which hangs from the binding of the album. Some of the elements include a Prima metal flower, Secret Garden chipboard tag, Staples Metal Butterfly, metal key, and a small metal frame accented with stickers from the Secret Garden Sticker sheet...

Do you spy an Ornate Metal Door Pull? It was the perfect "crown" over the mini frame, which holds a sweet sentiment from the Secret Garden "Springtime" paper.

I seriously used up all the Ornate Metal Keys from Graphic 45's Metal Staples collection. I was so super bummed that I didn't have any left for this project. :-( But I managed to find this large metal key in my stash to accent the mini frame. I primed it with gesso, as with all the other elements on the cover, then sprayed it with my LSG sprays...

I used some beautiful I Am Roses flowers to accent around the frame. At the base of the frame, I used a  small Graphic 45 Metal Tag and layered an ornate metal embellishment from Momenta over it. To the right, you'll see my old time favorite, Staples Metal Button...

Here's a close up of the frame and surrounding embellishments...

The sentiment above the frame says "CHERISH". It got a little "distressed" as I was priming up and spraying it...

Another view, different angle, of the charm I created hanging from the binding of the album.

Do you spy a "Remember" Metal Clothes Pin? I love to disassemble the clothes pin to fit a side of it nicely into a project. You can see it here on the right corner under the butterfly, over the clock face...

I used a metal corner from Momenta to accent the right corner of the cover. Check out all the texture on the base of the cover created with crepe paper, lace, and stenciling. I love how that came out! ♥

The "F" is the initial of my Mom's first name, which happens to be Flordelis (or, "fleur di lis" which is a type of Iris bearing bright colored flowers.) My Mom loves to garden and she takes many pictures of her flowers when they are in full bloom. I created this album for her to place those photos and journal about her joy of gardening...

So how did you like the mixed media cover of this mini album? ♥

Here is a video tutorial showing you how I created this album cover... in case you want to give one of these a whirl! ♥

Well, we're not finished just quite yet... I want to show you the inside of this album! ♥

Here are some photos of the interior of my album...

This is the back cover of the album with my personalized stamp...

Whew! So that's my Secret Garden Mini Album with Mixed Media Altered cover. ♥

Thanks a ton for hanging in there and letting me share this creation with you. I had so much fun with the Secret Garden paper collection, I just can't get enough of it! ♥

I hope you give one of these albums a try sometime... it certainly is worth all the effort in the end!

This project, along with other Secret Garden projects from my Graphic 45 DT teamies, will be featured on the Graphic 45 blog today... so please stop on over to check it out! ♥

xoxo ♥,

Product List:

Secret Garden paper collection

Secret Garden 12x12 Paper pad

Secret Garden 8x8 Paper pad

Secret Garden 6x6 Patterns and Solids pack

Secret Garden Banners

Secret Garden Tags & Envelopes

Secret Garden Stickers

Secret Garden Alphabet Stickers

Secret Garden Chipboard 1 & 2

Staples: Metal Butterfly, Antique Metal Door Pull, Metal Tag, Metal Button, Ornate Metal Key Hole, Metal Clothespin

Imaginarium Designs clock chippie

Miscellaneous metal embellishments

Lace

Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays: Salt Water Taffy, Cotton Candy Pink, Cosmo Pink, Cape Cod Coral, Fuzzy Navel Peach, Sea grass Green, My Mojito Green, Gator Gumbo Olive

Crafter's Workshop "chicken wire" 6x6 stencil

White doilies

May Arts ribbon

I Am Roses flowers

Recollections flowers

Petaloo flowers

Heavy Chipboard

Accucut dies: Tab Album, Pocket

Sizzix die: Pocket

Memory Box dies: Large shutter, Small window

Making Memories garment pins

Pink and Gold tulle

Mod Podge

Gesso (white)

Liquitex Modeling Paste

E6000

Glossy Accents

Hot Glue

CINCH by We R Memory Keepers

Bind-it-all owires (gold, 1")

Graphic 45 "Place in Time" Calendar Tag Mini Album

Hi blogging friends! It's been awhile since I've posted. Life has really got the best of me these days! But I have a fun one for you today! ♥

I created this Place in Time calendar tag mini album for Winter CHA 2013 using Graphic 45's Place in Time collection and the new Staples Regular Tag Album. I had fun creating this little mini and it's the perfect size to keep at your desk to track the days of the month!

Here are some sneak peeks of this project...

For more pictures and a detailed product list for this project, please stop over at the Graphic 45 blog where this calendar tag mini album will be featured today! ♥

Here is a video I put together showing you, page by page, the details of this calendar tag mini album.

Thanks for stopping by and allowing me to share my latest creation with you! I'll be back again next week with another Graphic 45 project, featured this year at Winter CHA 2013!

xoxo! ♥

Craft-e-Corner's "Craft Pink" Event: Altered Art Box and Album

Hi everyone and happy Wednesday! I have a fun project to share with you today and it comes with contribution to a GREAT cause!

As you may know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and over at Craft-e-Corner, the celebration is under way with the "Craft Pink" event! In support of breast cancer awareness, Craft-e-Corner will be donating a portion of all sales proceeds to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Won't you join us and contribute to this amazing cause?

To support this event, members of several design teams, including the Graphic 45 designers, were invited to participate by creating a "pink" project. I used Graphic 45's A Ladies' Diary collection and a Kraft Altered Art Box. Details of my project will be featured over at the Craft-e-Corner blog in detail, so be sure to hop on over... we'd LOVE your support!

Here are a couple of sneak peeks of my project:

I also have a video sharing how I created this fun little altered box and mini album:

 

Be sure to stop by the Craft-e-Corner blog for details about the "Craft Pink" event and we hope you follow along for all the inspiring PINK projects that will be featured all month over at Craft-e-corner!

hugs!

Altered Graphic 45 Metal Film Canister with Album

Happy Tuesday and thanks for stopping by my blog today!

I'm excited to share one of the design team projects I created for display in the Graphic 45 booth at Summer CHA 2012. This is an altered Metal Film Canister with album, created using the GORGEOUS A Ladies' Diary paper collection!

Here is a little peek at the canister and album...

Metal Film Canister with Album

A Ladies' Diary

For project details, more pictures, a video tutorial and a written tutorial on how to alter the mini album included with the metal canister, visit the Graphic 45 blog for a FULL post! Run on over... I'll meet ya over there!

hugs! ❤