CHRISTMAS MINI ALBUMS

I have been inspired by Ali Edwards in 2008, 2009 and 2010 to create a "December Daily" where you take at least one photo a day and put them all together in a yummy little album. My '08 and '09 projects were predominantly Kaiser, particularly the wooden album which I combined with acrylic album and rubons!  Here are a few sample pages. I did one in 2010 with my wrist just out of plaster, but using different products. Bring on December 2011 - this is one of my favorite projects!

The page on the right is Christmas fabric with wadding in it! And I loved the Kaiser Gingerbread man.

There is a circle acrylic page there on the right, see there is a rubon on it!

Just a Christmassy envelope and lots of rubons.

 And from the year before - 2008 - this was my first ever December daily.

Lots of layers, lots of hidden interesting bits and details.

My little boy called him Fireman Christmas!!  I thought I did something cool with the acrylic square, it frames little Andy's sleeping face, then when you turn the page....

here we all are!

YEAH I DEFINITELY THINK THIS PAGE IS THE BEST PAGE IN THE ALBUM!!! :-)

Some of the other products are: Making Memories, Theresa Collins & American Crafts. A product list can be supplied for particular pages upon request :-)

NAN'S FAVORITES

A project made today, just before I hit submit and send this off to Kaiser :-) I see those incredibly simple cards as appealing to someone who might want to make a whole lot of cards to sell, how cute to package them up like this with 3 different sized cards and a jar of home made chutney. Maybe a project for the school fair. The cards are so quick and that's what you want if you are selling them!

ADVANCED TECHNIQUE

Papers by Graphic 45, Letters & Brads by Do Crafts, Lace swirl by Bo Bunny. Fabric, buttons, lace, my own stash.

I just finished this work of art today - I reckon I have spent 15-20 hours on it and I have to say I am completely thrilled. I have been hanging onto this photo for the right layout for over a year. The layout is now on its way to the big PrintBlocks convention - fingers crossed they like it! The layout is called Two Little Pixies in the Woods, and you can see the way that  my little Andrew is peeping at beautiful Elena, I tried to duplicate this shy, coyness with the hidden pixies all around the page. There is machine stitching all over the layout, lots of ink and lots of magic mount. I wanted to include this (one of two non- Kaiser layouts) to demonstrate the extent of my techniques as a lot of my layouts are quick and easy (which I think people generally would prefer to copy!) Every so often it is wonderful to create something so special.

DEVONSHIRE

I just love this gorgeous background paper. The letters are K & Co. The strip brads are ancient Making Memories products as is the acrylic frame. The strip of gold paper is Basic Grey. I used some twill and DMC thread. Pen by Zig.

I think this transparency was Autumn Leaves, the rest is Kaiser except the buttons which come from my stash.

Letters and tag by Basic Grey. The die cut for the flowers was by Tim Holtz. Lace from my stash.

Transparency by Autumn Leaves. Transparent stickers by Chatterbox. Stamp in the corner by 7 Gypsies.

Another transparency by Autumn Leaves.

Stickers and letters by Basic Grey. I tried making the scallop edge with my Fiskars punch, it was a big mess, so Cheryl-Lee did this one with the computer! Ah, technology.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I Love Christmas, and I ADORE a good Christmas layout. I did these for a class called Christmas in July last year. The class and spare kits sold out pretty fast. All the products were Kaiser except for the little charm (no idea who made that) and the letters were by Jenni Bowlin. Christmas layouts are tricky because usually the photos aren't that great, so I always set up various delightful portraits of my boys for a few special Chrissy layouts, then just fling together more of a collage of people eating, unwrapping gifts etc.

PINA COLADA

That's me 18 years ago ... oh that sounds scary!!! I was pretty happy with this layout - I thought I showcased the papers well without letting them take over. Lucky I still had the post cards from all those years ago.

ABOUT ME

On 8/10/11 I slipped on a wet escalator in a shopping centre and severely fractured my dominant right wrist. Somehow when I was in plaster I managed to do 12 layouts COMPLETELY left handed - my right arm was in a sling as I worked. So I guess that's a strength - I will still scrap even with a broken right wrist!

Papers- Crate Paper; Alphas, flowers, badge - American Crafts; Mini letters - Making Memories; Pen - Zig; Hippo button - Dress it Up; Ribbons - my stash