Vintage Record Album



When I was out thrifting recently I came upon a couple of old children's records. It brought me back to my little record player and my favorite story record peter pan!  I was so excited to find them in really good condition and in several colors! That inspired me to make this little album..I really wanted to see if I could drill some holes in the record, but I thought it too risky as they might crack. Instead I used a piece of chipboard (my good ol' cereal box!) painted black for the cover. I laid the record over the chipboard and traced the record shape leaving enough at the top to make a binding with my bind-it-all. After I cut the cover out I traced that on all my patterned paper. I cut the paper out 3 sheets at a time, then glued the record onto the cover. I lined up all the paper and the cover to make the album and put it through the bind-it-all. All that was left to do was embellish the pages and covers. It was so much fun using Studio Calico, Echo Park and Cosmo Cricket paper..and of course my stash of vintage buttons, cards and ribbon!

Sew Natural Photo Tree



My project for the August  Papercrafting Class at JoAnns is the Sew Natural Photo Tree. The supply list called for the Tim Coffey Travel line,  but I wanted to do something a little more feminine. I included some photos of my beautiful nieces Jennifer and Kayla. I found some K & Co pink flower speciality paper and coordinating bird stickers on sale at JoAnns. I chose pink cotton floss for the sewing. I did cross-stitch, back stitch and the straight stitch on the trading cards. Being that my photo tree was bird themed I decided to make a little nest (out of ribbon from my stash) on the vase and included little pink jelly beans for the eggs. I also added punched pink flowers on the branches (which I got from my backyard). Im going to bring it to work with me to brighten up my desk!

Vintage Flashcard Mini Albums

I recently got a Zutter bind-it-all (awesome ebay!) that punches holes and presses a wire binding togther to create an album or journal. You can use lots of things to make books out of...I made two mini albums out of vintage flash cards. One "girl learning/school" themed and one "boy learning/school" themed. First, I measured then cut out the front and back covers from a cereal box. I painted them black using acrylic craft paint and a sponge brush. While the covers were drying  I covered every other side of the flashcards with patterned paper. Then I decided in what order I wanted the cards to be in, and arranged them. I used my Zutter machine to punch holes and bind the album. Lastly, I embelished the cover and pages. To add alittle something to the boy album I punched a hole in two bottle caps, set an eyelet in each and attached to the binding with a small chain.  I'm officially hooked on making mini albums..but I don't think I can give up my paper lunch

sacks just yet!   

Oh The Possibilities....

I was at a local army surplus store recently and saw some old military cloth ammo bags..perfect for altering and making cute! The guy at the counter asked me what I was going to do with all the bags  I was buying..and I told him "why make them into cute purses of course!" He looked at me funny and replied oohh.  It seems as though I just see things a little differently than most.  In my world old stuff is full of possibilities.. For this beauty I first washed it in the washer on gentle cycle and let air dry. I made the butterfly by cutting out a piece of cream canvas from my fabric stash. I rubber stamped a butterfly on the canvas using chocolate brown ink, trimmed off the excess canvas material, added a copper paperclip from my stash and glued with fabritac.  Next I made several fabric flowers (my ultimate favorite project in the world), gathered several buttons from my stash and glued them around the butterfly. To finish off the purse I attached a doilie by spraying it with adhesive, poking the clasp through the middle of the doilie and gluing with fabritac.  I'll always see a possibility in an army bag....hmmmm...how would a vintage hankerchief look on one....

Fantastic Fabric

One of the best things to find at thrist stores is old fabric..wether it's a shirt, table cloth, curtains or a pillow case.. I get such a happy feeling finding patterns that catches my eye. There's endless things to do with fabric and sewing stuff. I recently picked up a few old suitcases for less than $5 each at my favorite thirft shop. I decided to sit down and try my hand at mode podge (MP). It was really easy and kind of theraputic! First I cut all the pieces of fabric into squares, then laid out a pattern on the suitcase. A dry run of sorts before I commited! I did each side with the same alternating fabric pieces and then did the rest with a diffrent alternating fabric. I used what I already had in my fabric stash and tried to stick with greens and browns. I put a thin layer of modge podge on the suitcase a little at a time, then laid the fabric smoothing it down with my hand. I also put a thin layer over the fabric after I smoothed it out. I tried to be speedy becasue the MP dries rather quickly. The space by the top handle and bottom feet were a little tricky. I ended up cutting several tiny pieces and overlaping them to cover the wierd angles. I let it dry and then glued on white rick rac with Beacons fabri tac. I love how it turned out..