Mini Album Makers - October Challenge

Hello Friends

The first of October means that we are starting a new challenge at Mini Album Makers and as always Our Rules are very straightforward : Any Handmade Book goes.  Enter any form of handmade mini album, scrapbook, journal or book art.  Our focus is on completed works, so no layouts or journal spreads that are not part of a complete handmade book project. 

Since we are sponsored this month by Seth Apter, I have created a mini album using Seth's fabulous Baked Textures along with his dies and stamps and Paper Artsy paints.

I also used my favourite Eileen Hull journal die - Passport (Sizzix 660331).

Using heavyweight black card I brayered several colours randomly onto the card and then over-stamped with a 'crackle' stamp (make unknown) to add some texture.  I did several sheets of card.  I just love the way the colours look against the black card.

I die cut my pieces for the cover and two extras for the inside covers, in plain black.  I also cut three signature covers from the same brayered cardstock. The beauty of the Passport die is that it also cuts perfect signatures to fit inside the Passport journal.

After die cutting the spine in plain cardstock I used Seth's Baked Textures Embossing Powder  - Rocky Road to create a lovely contrast.  I also die cut several pieces from Seth's Steering Wheel die (S4-741) and his Broken Maze die (S4-743) for a couple of the signature fronts too.  These were also embossed with Rocky Road Baked Textures.  The EPs give a wonderful tactile feel to the die cuts.

I created a pocket for the inside of the journal and applied the 'steering wheel' due cuts to the signature covers.  The steering wheel on the front cover of the journal was layered up three times and I added a mini corked jar, filled with some Baked Texture powder (Vintage Beeswax).

I added the signatures to the journal and stamped the word Experiment from Seth's ESA08 stamp set, this was also embossed with Rocky Road.

To finish off I always like to add some handmade charms and I also added a black crinkle ribbon closure.

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Our generous Sponsor this month is Seth Apter who is offering one lucky winner a full set of his Baked Textures Embossing Powders by Emerald Creek - what a fabulous prize!!

Website - http://www.sethapter.com/

Blog - https://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sethapter/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thealteredpage

Twitter - https://twitter.com/sethapter

I hope you will visit us at Mini Album Makers to see what my talented teamies have made and also to join in - you might just win the wonderful prize from Seth Apter!

Thanks so much for your visit, I hope to see you again soon!

Hugs, Anne xxx

Fall-O-Ween (2) for Eileen Hull

Hello Friends!

This is my second post this month for Eileen Hull, this time using two of Eileen's journal dies and Halloween papers from DCWV (Die Cuts with a View).

Sadly, this is my last post as part of Eileen's Inspiration Team, I have taken the difficult decision to step down from the Team after four and half wonderful years.  I will miss my Teamies a lot but I will still be using Eileen's dies and inks as often as possible, I do believe that Eileen designs some of the best dies in the industry.  My grateful thanks to Eileen and the whole team!

I have two projects to share with you, one using Eileen's Wrapped Journal and one with Eileen's Passport die along with papers from DCWV (thank you DCWV!).

I am not going to take you through step by step this time, but I have some photos to share of the cover and inside of each album.  This one is made with Eileen's Wrapped Journal (Sizzix 662816).  It will hold four signatures, with plenty of room for more.

The papers are wonderful for creating the signatures, I have used a whole range of them - although choosing was quite difficult.  I always like to add a tag/ticket holder in my journals and I love to add pockets to the inside front and back.

Journal Number 2

For this journal I used Eileen's Passport die (Sizzix 660331), which is my favourite (currently) of Eileen's journal dies.  It is such a handy size.

Again, my signatures were made with the beautiful DCWV Halloween papers, the paper pad comes with stickers and elements that can be used as tags.  Some of the papers are beautifully foiled too.

I added tabs to the signature covers to add some interest.

Here are the DCWV paper pads that I used, one is pattered and one is plain - the plain one is full of gorgeous Halloween coloured papers.

To finish off both journals, I added some handmade charm hangings, a few die cuts and Sari ribbon, sparkly twine and yarn.  I had such a lot of fun making these!

So there we have it, two more Halloween journals finished, I seem to be building up quite the collection!  I may even be back with more before Halloween.

Thanks so much for all your support whilst I have been part of Eileen's team, I hope to see you in Eileen's Fan Club (there are over 3,000 members now!) or here in the future!

Hugs, Anne  xxx

Leather Journals ...

Hello Friends!

  All this month Eileen Hull's team are sharing projects from the new e-Book (Gifts to Die For - details on my sidebar if you wish to purchase one).  As I have already shared my project HERE, I am sharing some Christmas gifts I made for my lovely friends Jenny and Tracy.

Being in a bit of a tizzy with all the Christmas prep etc., I forgot to take photos of the journals (I know, I blame my age - lol), so Jenny took some photos for me - thank you Jenny!

I made the red leather one for Jenny and the turquoise one for Tracy.  I am not going to share lots of details on how to make the journals as I have done that in several previous posts, using Eileen's wonderful Passport Book die (Sizzix 660331).

I personalised each journal with a name tag and made a page marker for each, using Tracy Easson's fabulous stamp set 'We are Three'.  The page markers were then laminated to give them strength and I added a die cut 'today' to the top.  I also used our very own Tracy's sentiment stamp from her new stamp set by AALL & Create.

Each journal has two signatures and a 2018 diary.  I purchased very reasonable diaries from the shop that sells everything for £1, took the covers off and slipped them into a handmade holder so that they would match the other elements in the journal.

Finally, I added a pen holder and pen to each journal, along with a name tag (I am practicing stamping onto leather - still have a lot to learn!).  The journal on the left is shown from the back and the one on the right is from the front.  The beautiful leather I used on both journals is from a UK company - Artisan Leather.

Useful Tip: I have found, when cutting leather, it is easy to cut right through the scored areas of the die (the spine) and it can be difficult to patch them up again.  I use the Sizzix Premium Crease Pad and it scores the lines perfectly, without cutting them through.

You may have seen a photo on social media but here we all are having a wonderful time, meeting up for lunch (6 hours long!) and a chat about all things crafty!

Thanks so much for your visit.  I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Hugs, Anne xxx

Art With Heart - October Hauntings & Holidays - Part 2 with Graphic 45

Hello Everyone

First of all I would like to say a big thank you to Graphic 45 for sharing my Apothecary Cabinet on their Facebook page, it is such an honour to be featured there!
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My next projects for Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team - October Hauntings & Holidays - using the wonderful G45 Rare Oddities paper pad, are some more Halloween makes.  I do so love Halloween!  You can see more of my talented teamies work over here.

A witches hat and using Eileen's Passport Book die, a little piece to celebrate all things Halloween!  As I have quite a few pictures, I will keep the words to the minimum.  I will start by showing the inside of the book.

G45 papers, Tim Holtz cat die, Tim Holtz web embossing folder.

G45 papers plus spider web (make unknown)

G45 papers and Tim Holtz die cut cage and Raven

G45 papers, Tim Holtz cat die, Memory Box fence die

G45 papers, Tim Holtz dies - Halloween people, fence and owl

G45 papers, Tim Holtz die cut words, Memory Box die village scene, cobweb sticker (unknown make).

And finally!  The back of the book, embossed with Tim Holtz's web embossing folder.  I just love how dies and papers from different company's all work so well together.

The front cover of the book is embossed with the Tim Holtz cobweb embossing folder and I dragged a black archival ink pad over the top.  The spider is a Tim Holtz die. The skull is from my stash....

The witch hat was simply made by making a cone shape for the top and a large circle for the brim.  I embellished it with a broom and pumpkin (a gift from a lovely friend).

There is still time to enter Eileen Hull's Art With Heart Challenge which you can find HERE.  I do hope you will share your October Hauntings and or Holidays project with us there.  Eileen always has great prizes on offer!

Thanks very much for looking and I hope to see you again soon.

Hugs, Anne xx