Remember that mini book I promised?????

Okay, as promised, here are the pages to my Fall Mini Album!  This one went quick because I chose to keep it fairly simple.  The pages were 8x8 pages and I used a lot of cute embellishements!  Because I used a kit, it made it so so so simple!

I love this photo of the line of pumpkins!  I created lots of pockets in this mini to put journaling tags in because I was limited with the amount of space I could use.

I collected a bunch of stash items like chipboard shapes and coordinating super old embellishements I had laying around.  I threw all the extra embellies that matched into a big box containing my kit I got from Simply Obsessed.  And as I created my pages, I picked through the stash items and used them in my mini!

I get soooo excited when I use up old items cuz that means I CAN BUY MORE next year!!!!  He he!!!

I used lots of extra alpha stickers for my titles and lots of prima flowers!  I did a lot of layering on photos...again because of the limited space on my mini pages!

I got to play with my mists and old die cuts!

And I used lots of black pages to showcase the lovely photos taken on that wonderful trip to the Pumpkin Patch!

All the pages were fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants designing.  I just "went with it" and let it flow......

If I added up all the time it took to make this scrapbook, I think it was maybe 3 or 4 hours.  Not bad.

Did I tell you how much I love the Fall?????

And I got to take photos with my babies!  Yay!  I'm actually IN this mini book!!!  This mini book was my present to myself.....

I played with my pink Glimmer Mist.....see the heart????  So cute!

I love little girls!

I took a bunch of wonderful candid shots of kids just being kids....

Look at him in his cute lil boots!

My nephew is too adorable!  I just wanna squeeze him!

"Diva P" loved looking around at all the pumpkins.

And my brother took this awesome photo!

This girl is too stinkin' cute!

Well, that's all for today!  I hope you enjoyed!  You got a mini you need to make?  My family LOVES getting scrapbooks for presents!  So, come on...if you got something you need to make...you can do it!  There's still time!!!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I'll work on taking a bunch of photos of EVERYTHING I've been creating!  I still gotta crank out a couple more mini books!  Wish me luck!

Hugs,

Mo

Our Memories....A Vintage Book

Once again, I had a BLAST participating in the Creative Cafe at Vintage Plum this past Tuesday! (CLICK HERE FOR THE TUTORIAL ON CC). Beth hosted CC and posted a tutorial on how she altered a vintage book! Miss Beth is so CRAZY TALENTED! (Click on that last link to learn more about my wonderful friend!)

I am soooooo happy with what I created! For the longest time I've been waiting to find a way to showcase some of my early childhood family photos. Then, Vintage Plum put together the April Kit called Hopscotch and I KNEW I had some wonderful materials to use! Then....Beth showed us some CRAZY vintage books she made a few weeks ago and I went BALLISTIC!

I have to say that I've learned few things about my scrap booking style these past couple of months being addicted to Vintage Plum! I've expanded my talents and learned so much! Thanks to all the VP Homies!!!!!! Woot woot!

Here's my book!I grabbed everything vintagy I had and laid it around the table and just let the MoJo flow! I loved these papers from the Hopscotch kit....the colors reminded me so much of Hawaii! I'm soooo happy!

And then my two-year-old son was running around with this little red fabric flower he pulled off one of my fake plants....I grabbed him and said "Can I have that?".....thank goodness he didn't pitch a fit...he handed it right over! It looks wonderful with the paper!

I love that turquoise color! And the font on the rub ons (another yummy part of the Hopscotch Kit) are sooooo perfect!

I grabbed my bag of ribbon scraps and went WACKY! The messier the ribbon looked...the better it worked! And I found that cute fabric heart in that stash. I actually saved it....it was part of he tag from a baby outfit that was given to my son! Isn't it so adorable! I knew I'd find a good way to use it in my crafting!

Here's a side view so you can see the tags and hanging-outy thingys that peek out from my book! I love that look. It's so here-and-there-and-everywhere....just like my brain! (Don't believe me? Ask my friends and family!)

And to be totally honest.....I wasn't sure about the whole doily thing in the VP Kit...but MAN did it look good on this book! I went from anti-doily to DOILY FREAK! I need more doilys!

My booky book...you're looking so beautiful! Beth! She looks so beautiful, doesn't she?????? (he he he)
I couldn't stop snapping pictures of this book! I can't wait for my sisters to see it in person! My mom saw it and thought it was wonderful!

Look at that red flower....it's like it's just lookin' at you and smiling!

So I got a good start on this...it's not done. I just started few pages. It's gonna take a bit because I have to scan my photos first (I can't cut up the originals!). I'm so glad I got a printer/scanner last year!

Here's my first page. I love this stamp! It's by Provo Craft and it's a rolling journaling stamp called CIRCA. I will be using this lots in my vintage book!

About the photo: For the first 3 years of my life we lived in Guam (Dad was in the Navy. GO NAVY!). Then we moved to Hawaii. Yes, my dad's first car was a VW bug!

I broke into my big button jar....yay! I'm using up all kinds of stuff! Here I am just chillin' and relaxin'.....yes, they made swings back then (1977)! Look....it's made of aluminum!!!! He he.

The little birdy was made with my trusty Big Shot (It's the Birds and Blooms Sizzlits Die)! Order from Stampin' Up! If you don't already have a SU Demonstrator....order from ME ME ME! The black and white paper is part of a journaling book by Making Memories called 5th Avenue.

I asked my dad why they didn't smile in these old photos....he said they hadn't invented smiling in photos yet.....(he's a smart a**)! I never got a straight answer.

Here's a couple pages I started. I used another journaling page from my MM 5th Avenue spiral notebook. That beautiful strip of orange patterned paper is part of the March VP Kit "Hill Country" (can't remember the manufacturer).

Hope you liked the pics! I'll show you guys the pages as I complete them! This was tons of fun! Creative Cafe is on Tuesday at Vintage Plum (here are all the projects so far)! Can't be there on Tuesdays? The tutorials are posted and so you can do them later on your own time! Post your creations to the gallery! Want to peek at the other vintage books? CLICK HERE! Check back often to see new photos!

Okay your link lovers! I'm officially link overloaded AND I've got carpal tunnel! I'm done! See you soon!

Scrapbooking Recipes?????????

Have you ever tried to make a Recipe Scrapbook? My sister LOVES to cook. Unfortunately I don't share that interest....but I DO create in a different way....I SCRAPBOOK! Last year for her birthday, I created this wonderful scrapbook full of our mother's recipes. Our mother is A GREAT COOK....really....we're not just saying that...it is a shared opinion among many. Anyway, my sister moved to California a few years ago and it had prompted her to request that my mother write down her recipes. I came up with this idea to scrapbook it! But what I thought was REALLY cool was using my recipe card stamps and creating these recipe cards which I laminated and tucked into small pockets that I would create on a scrapbook page! So this way, my sister did not have to worry about damaging the pages - she can just grab the recipe cards she needs. She could even keep all the recipe cards together in a recipe box.

So I wanted to make double page spreads for each recipe. I included comments from 1 or 2 family members on a specific recipe (usually their favorite dish).

Note the recipe card tucked in a pocket I made on the page. Remember, you will have to measure your recipe card so that you can create a pocket that will not be too large nor to small to house the card. You want the card to be able to peek out just enough so you can see the tab. I used my Tab punch by Stampin' Up! to create the recipe card.

Our little sister, Krystal, loves our mother's spaghetti, so she is the family member featured on this page. I would get together with my mom and she would cook one of her dishes (which was perfect since that meant I didn't have to cook dinner that night)! I photographed each dish to include in the scrapbook and she would then go over the recipe with me and I'd make notes. Below is the second page of the 2 page spread. Below is what the recipe stamp set looks like. The exact one I used from my project is retired...but actually I prefer the current one in the catalog. Here's a photo of the set (image copyright Stampin' Up!):

My daughter LOVES this dish my mom makes. It's a Filipino dish called Aroscaldo. It's basically chicken rice soup. For our family, it's a sort of COMFORT FOOD. I love eating this in the winter. My version of this dish.....not that great...although my 6 year old was sweet enough to say it was "good.....in a different way" when I asked her to compare it to Lola's (a Filipino word for Grandma) cooking......ha ha ha ha.

My mother really likes this recipe she uses for pork chops, so I feature her (and my father) on this page. My favorite element on this page is the brown ring I use in the middle called a bosher (I dunno....kinda like a button and a washer....bosher?????). I wraped some linen thread around it. The bosher is made by Bazzil. The scrapbook store I purchased it from closed sometime last year but I did find a website that does sell it (here is the link). I really like the flowers on this patterned paper and so relied on the flowers to detail the page. It really didn't need much. The bosher did well to add some texture. All I added in addition to it was a tag and stickers!

What I like about the page above is the pocket. I made a pocket with some double-sided patterned paper, punched some holes down each side and threaded some ribbon through it. I knotted each end and then placed some foam adhesive to pop the pocket up from the page!

I played with patterns in the page above. I think it worked out. I like this page because if has a few quotes on it. Adding quotes really personalizes this recipe book....making it both a recipe book AND family scrapbook. And all the hours of work paid off when I got to see the smile on my sister's face when she opened it! I'm not always expressive of my love in words....and I think that is why I enjoy creating things for my friends and family.

This page is one of my favorites because I LOVE this dish and I like journaling with white gel pen on really dark cardstock. Be sure you are able to test out gel pens before purchasing them!!! You want to make sure the ink flows smoothly! I FINALLY found a great white gel pen when I purchased a Signo Gel Pen available in the Stampin' Up! catalog! I also love the colors here....makes me feel warm and cozy!

Well - that's it for now. Here's a slideshow of all the pages if you wanna peek at them!