World's Fair Mini Album

Back when Tuesday Morning had lots of fun Graphic 45 paper packs, I kind of went overboard. I always figured that I could use the papers for cards. However, this particular collection, called "World's Fair" was something that I couldn't resist, even though its appeal might seem rather limited.

My mother worked at the San Diego World's Fair in 1934 or 35 when she was a young woman. The official name was actually California Pacific International Exposition. 

Disclaimer: Yes, I am older, but probably not as old as this might sound. She and my dad were both older when they married, and I was the youngest of their kids.

At any rate, I ended up going through her photos with her before she died, and several were from that time and place, so I will make copies to add to the back of some of the larger tags.

I think that I started this project in 2020 or 2021. I sent sheets of the World's Fair papers that I had to two of my scrapping friends, since I had quite an abundance of the papers to play with.  We had all moved to different states. I made a flip fold mini album base for each of the three of us, gave each one the same number of the papers, and mailed them with the challenge to make a mini album. It would be fun to see how our mini albums all differed.

However, with COVID, and the fact that both my crafty friends moved twice, I don't think any of us made very fast progress, and they may have purged the gifted papers in their moves. I won't be offended if they did. Since it was my challenge, I worked on it, but with my DH's back surgery, followed by the heart attack 3 months later, it was kind of a low priority. I became his caregiver. Thankfully, he has improved significantly, and I actually do craft more again these days.

I was going through some things, found several mini albums that I had done, and I decided to get this one out and see if I could finish it. There wasn't that much left to do. So here is my creative project. I didn't copy anyone or anything. It is all my own design, one reason that it took so long.

Because this is a Flip Fold Mini Album, pages may be out of sequence to some extent.

Cover page:

Inside front cover (left side) and last page (right side):

 

Inside front cover with tag pulled out. If you see a brad, it means the item rotates. The left side is a half page, with a pocket for the tag.

Left flap opened, tags pulled partially out of their pockets:

Middle front image is the center section, and the right image is the inside of the back cover:

When you turn the left side the the above page, you see this:

Below is with the tags removed. In case the print is too small to see in the photo just above, the hot air balloon slides up and don the vertical decorative sentiment strip.

This next section is actually the middle, with both of the side flaps closed. The right side is actually the open view of the third section of the Flip Fold Album.

The middle section, with the side flaps opened:

The last pages of the open mini album, with the tags pulled out of the middle pocket:

And the back cover:

Like other items that are held on with a brad, the ballon swivels. It helps to hold the journal/photo card in the pocket. As mentioned previously, all photos will be on the opposite side of the journal cards. I just need to get them printed, and since they are of my mother, I don't want them shown publicly, anyway.

I hope you liked my little World's Fair Flip Fold Album. I don't think the photos do it justice. It's more dimensional and impressive in person.

CARDtober #31 Favorite Color

This challenge was to use your favorite color. My favorite color is blue, especially royal blue, although the manufacturers don't seem to like it as much as I do, because I have little to no royal blue anything in my stash. I did the best that I could with what I had.

I die cut the blue overlay. I used the watercolors on the flowers, which I made with Heartfelt Creations products.

I also like pink, so I made the white flowers pink with the watercolors, which have a lovely, almost glittery shine to them.

 

CARDtober #30 Product Playtime: Watercolors

Various options were available for this challenge, but since I have never actually used the watercolors that I bought from Tuesday Morning years ago, I decided to pull them out and give them a try. I used them to paint the background, then stamped on top of it once dry, then added a few touches of watercolors again, especially on the seagull and clouds, after the stamping ink had dried. The watercolors have a shimmer to them.

CARDtober #29 Any Type of Texture

My take on this might be a bit weird, but I added texture with Nuvo drops and gems.

I fussy cut the woman, phrase, and florals, and added Nuvo Drops, for a slight texture that can be felt as you run your fingers across the card.

 

Tiny gems were added to the centers of flowers in the paper, which could be easily seen and felt.

CARDtober #28 Monday Multiples

For the record, I did make 2 of this card, although the 1st one didn't have a pocket or card inside. I may scan and add it later, but for now, I am just showing the second version.

On the left is the closed card. The top portion is a flap. The bottom part is a pocket, which is overlapped slightly by the flap. The right image is the open card, with the card insert taken out of the pocket.

CARDtober 27 Pretty Patterned Paper

For this challenge, we were to use patterned papers to create either a set or a single card using the Sheet Load of Cards pattern for May 2020.  This was my take, although instead of a circle, I used a Silhouette print and cut design. I really liked the scalloped edge, and it seemed to match relatively closely to the yellow of the polka dot paper. The ultra thin border of the outside edge is not actually part of the card pattern, but just a piece of card stock that I put behind the card when I scanned it. The cards with a white border don't show up well on the blog, since it also has a white background.

CARDtober 26 Framed by Die Cuts

This one took me 3 tries before I was happy with the results. The first one wasn't bad:

 

I just wasn't really that happy with it. So I tried a second time, hated the border, so I didn't even glue anything down. The example was multiple die cut leaves, which looked really nice, and which went all the way to the outside edge, but a lot of die cutting and/or punching is hard on my hands. I needed something that was easier, but I was having difficulty finding dies that seemed suitable. I finally chose some dies that looked like wooden boards, and that you can ink like stamps for the wood grain to show. I added an AI fall design in the center, and I was a lot happier with this one.

 

CARDtober #25 Loving Leftovers Double Cluster

For this challenge, I am asking card makers to make a card with TWO embellishment clusters: one large, one small.

I used Queen & Co. dies to cut out the cooky jar, baking sheet, rolling pin, and cookies, as well as the mini banners for the small cluster.

CARDtober24 Color Triad

For this challenge, we were to use a color triad. I chose blue, yellow, and purple. I used an older BoBunny paper pad. The colors look better together in real life than the scan makes it seem. I did a bit of fussy cutting to get the flowers on the banner and the beehive.

 

CARtober 23 Product: Ribbon

This challenge is to use two or more ribbons or fibers. The example used woven ribbons. I chose to make a bow, and decided to add it on a shaped card (Queen & Co. Stocking shaker, but I didn't use the shaker parts). The white top of the stocking is velveteen paper.

 

CARDtober 22 Texture

This challenge was to emboss then sand or ink. I used a card stock that I thought would work for the sanding, but it wasn't enough of a contrast, so I inked it. I added AI clip art that I printed and cut awhile back, and used a stamped phrase that I had made for a previous project, and added a small banner die cut behind it.

 

CARDtober 21 Multiple Monday

We had a sketch to follow, and we were to make 4 cards. Mine are identical except for the tag on each card. I did adapt the sketch a bit. The card base is a cream color, although it looks darker in the photo. The floral/butterfly tags were a jpg file from either Etsy or Creative Fabrica. The stamp that I used was from a very old Technique Tuesday stamp set.

 

CARDtober #20 Patterned Paper

This project was about using a sketch and pretty patterned paper to create a card or a set of 4 cards. I chose to just make one card, since I am using scraps to make most of my CARDtober challenge projects.

I found some red, white, and blue papers and decided to go with a July 4th/patriotic card. I gave a background mat to a piece of print and cut ephemera for the image. I used a product information strip that had a design on the back side for the fireworks strip.

CARDtober #19 Sketchtember

I adapted this one a bit. The sample card had rows of punched circles, and a strip with the sentiment. I felt the sentiment strip detracted. And I wanted a bit more visual interest, so I used a scalloped envelope flap die from Queen & Co. Like most of the cards I am making this month, I used leftover scraps.

CARDtober #18 Loving Leftovers

It's time for a bit of fall fun. Whether you make a spooky cluster or a fall one, make an embellishment cluster from leftovers that represents October and/or where you live. I had some leftover die cuts and stamped images that were sitting in my stash, so I used them for the spooky card. I also made a card with a western theme, since I live in Texas

CARDtober #17 Color Combos

For this challenge, we were to use black and white, and one other color. I immediately thought of Alice in Wonderland, especially the Queen of Hearts, so I chose red for the third color. My daughter loves anything related to Alice in Wonderland, so I will be giving this card to her.

CARDtober #16 Product Playtime Inking

This challenge was to use inking. I chose to ink an embossing folder, and use the inked (debossed) side. I'm happy with the inked and debossed chicken wire. Of course, it needed chickens, so I used a Silhouette print and cut file. I typed the sentiment and turned it into a print and cut file. The inside of the card will say, "Get Well Soon."

CARDtober #15 Texture Tuesdays Debossing

For this challenge, we were to deboss. In the example, the wood slats of a door were created with a stylus. I have been wanting to use this AI door image for awhile, so I decided to deboss the slats of the door. The debossing doesn't show. So I used the reverse side of an embossing folder for my background. In real life, you can see that the vine background is debossed, but somehow the scanned image looks embossed. I can't win on this one. It really is debossed, even if it doesn't look like it.

CARDtober #14 Multiples

CARDtober #14 is Monday Multiples. We make 4 cards based on a sketch she gives us. We were supposed to use 4 different sentiments, but since I needed birthday cards for family birthdays, I might have fudged slightly. They are different sentiments, just all birthday sentiments.

I used embossed card stock instead of patterned paper. The images are AI clip art from the internet that I downloaded awhile back. I'm not sure if the ones that I used are from Creative Fabrica or Etsy.

 

CARDtober #13 Patterned Paper FunFold

This card challenge was about using patterned paper and was combined with a Fun Fold. It was the first time that I had made this particular Fun Fold. It looks better in person than in the photo. If I were to do this Fun Fold again, I would probably use different papers.

CARDtober 12 Sketch

I have no die for this one, and I tried to do it with a different die, then adapt. It was a waste of card stock scraps. I finally went to my computer and thankfully had a Silhouette file for a sunburst.

The above image was my first version of this chard challenge. Perfect? Not by a long shot. It was all I felt able to do at the moment, and it was better than my first attempt. I thought it would be good enough...

That lasted a day and a half. I didn't have the energy to do any crafting yesterday, but I woke up this morning deciding the card needed more. As it was, I would never be willing to send it to anyone, so it would be a waste of paper.

This morning I adapted it a bit, and I am much happier with the final result:

2024 CARDtober 11 Leftover Ephemera

It's my turn again to host the CARDtober Challenge. This challenge is to use leftover ephemera and/or other printed images made into an embellishment cluster, then add it to a card front.

I bought a card kit from the new LSS "near" me (near enough to drive to and not be gone from my DH too long, since I am his caregiver). To my surprise, once I had punched out and separated all of the kit pieces for the 8 cards, there were "leftovers." And that is what started me making embellishment clusters, and why I am on a "Leftovers" kick.

So here is the card that I made from some of the leftover ephemera:

 

My embellishment cluster is the circle, blue butterfly, two flowers, and two bees. The rest were added to finish the card, because the cluster was a bit too small to stand alone.

2024 CARDtober 10 Color Combinations

This challenge was to use a rainbow color combination. I started it right before I left town and had to finish it after I got back, so I kept it pretty simple. I used a patterned paper with mini rainbows (two are visible, but one is harder to spot than the other), colored her umbrella with 3 coordinating colors, and used foam tape to pop the little girl and the yellow banner with the sentiment. The banner is more yellow than it looks in the photo.

2024 CARDtober 09 Glitter

Glitter is my nemesis. Ever since a grandchild dumped a container of red glitter on my cream colored carpet, which I never succeeded in vacuuming completely up, I have basically banned glitter from my home. This CARDtober challenge, however, is to use glitter paper. I don't even have a lot of that, but I did have a sheet of silver glitter card stock, just not as chunky as most glitter paper. Seemed perfect. Except that paper, or maybe the intricut Spellbinders die I used, did not cut well, and the weeding was obnoxious. So I kept the card pretty simple, since it had already taken me far too long. However, it is done, and here is my card:

It is mounted on a white card base. It's a normal 5.5x4.25 inch card, with straight edges, even if they don't show here.

CARDtober 08 Tuesday Textures

For this challenge, we were asked to use a velveteen or fuzzy ribbon or paper. Yes, fuzzy papers used to be a thing in scrapbooking, probably because of the tear bear craze. I'm dating myself.

I had two types. The fuzzier one was perfect for stamping baby bears on it, but the fuzzy paper didn't take the ink well. The velour type paper was white. I didn't want polar bears. Copics didn't color correctly on this paper. So I dug out my chalks, and they worked. I used an older Heartfelt Creations line called Woodsy Wonderland and the background paper is one of the papers from that line. The log is one of the stamps from the same line. The baby bears are Judikins stamps from long ago, too. The "Relax" stamp was from a Gemini stamp set, and I am going to use another stamp from that set to add "Take it Easy" on the inside of the card. I used a few Queen & Co. Foundation dies to cut the card base, and the banners.

 

CARDtober 07 Multiples Monday

For this challenge, we were given a card sketch and asked to make multiple cards using the sketch. I used a couple of different paper combinations for a total of 4 cards. As with all previous challenges, I have used only scraps/leftovers to make my cards for each challenge.

CARDtober 06 Playing w/Pretty Patterned Paper

The challenge for this one involved Crafty Al's Sheet Load of Cards sketch from July 2019. I don't do a bunch of cards at once. I prefer more variety, and I'm not fond of sketches. I started card making before sketches were popular, and I've always been used to just designing my own cards. I also decided to use a 6x6 paper pad, which doesn't lend itself to making multiple cards, unless you want to wipe out an entire pad, which I don't. So I do one card, based on the sketch, and call it good. I used one of my favorite BoBunny pads called Enchanted Harvest Collection. I wish I'd found it sooner, and I would have bought more. I got it at Tuesday Morning, and it's perfect for fall cards. It also worked well for this particular sketch.

CARDtober 05 Saturday Sketches

I'm not usually a big fan of sketches, but I did like this one. I adapted slightly, but not much. This was the sketch:

Below is my version. I used Heartfelt Creations paper, and digital print & cut images.

2024 CARDtober #4 Loving Leftovers

It's my turn to host CARDtober, and I chose to use leftover scraps for my challenges. I can't be the only one who has scraps too large or lovely to throw away.

However, my challenges are not just about using leftover scraps. That is only a part of the challenge. I'm using scraps to create embellishment clusters, which will become the focal point of my card.

I used my scraps to create a simple cluster of 3 shapes:

The purple is just to help the image show better. The white envelope did not scan well on the scanner, which has a white lid. 

Once I had finished my embellishment cluster to use as a focal point, I designed my card around the cluster. I added small banners, stamped one banner, added hand made flowers (which I die cut, then shaped), and used some half pearls for the floral centers. The pearls are also leftovers, since I had opened the pack and used several of the pearls previously.

Here is the finished card:

2024 CARDtober 03 Color Combos

This challenge was to make a card using a color combination of blues and oranges, possibly some yellows and browns, too. 

Confession: Orange is one of my least favorite colors. Well at least some shades of orange.

However, Orange and blue are considered complimentary colors, and they do look good together.

Anyway, this is what I came up with:

I also used Glossy Accents and Nuvo Drops.

2024 CARDtober 02 Product Playtime Washi Tape

I have Washi Tape. I even use it once in a blue moon. I just am not that fond of it. However, it was today's challenge, and her sample used layered and angled strips of Washi on her card base. I did cover a piece of card stock, but then I die cut a tag from it, along with two banners. I used a sentiment from Queen & Co.'s Harmony shaker kit, and die cut a few musical notes for the card front, to go with the sentiment. two of the Washi strips did have musical notes, although I realized belatedly that I die cut the tag in a way that those music notes are upside down. It's annoying, but I'm not doing it over. My Washi is old, and some of those strips kept tearing the wrong way, didn't want to come off, etc.

2024 CARDtober 01

It's the start of CARDtober over at the RefuPeas message board, and the first challenge is based on Textures, to make a card that has an element of twine or ribbon on it. I used Queen & Co. Foundation dies, as well as a print and cut fall design that I think was probably from Creative Fabrica. Other than that, I used leftover scraps to make my card.

Queen & Co. Crystal Ball Shaker

Today I got happy mail from Queen & Co. I haven't ordered much from them or any other company for awhile. My DH had two medical procedures on his heart this summer, so I haven't felt that I should spend money on more dies. However, the new crystal ball shaker kit was really cute, and I went ahead and ordered it.

So this is my first card with it. I used a background paper that I printed, and another Queen set for the tombstone, and the bat at the top of the tombstone was from the Halloween Foundations set. The tombstone is backed with foam, so it's right against the clear plastic of the shaker.

Most Recent Card Made with an Embellishment Cluster

I have made simple clusters, with only 3 or 4 items, and some with more items in a cluster. I've made some cards with the clusters that I've made, and some are still waiting to be added to a card.

Today, I planned both the cluster and the card base together. It's a simple card and simple cluster. It shouldn't have taken me as long as it did, but it was challenging finding the right papers and embellishments because I am trying to use only leftover scraps and leftover/unused ephemera.

To Swap or Not to Swap, That is the Question...

As I mentioned in at least one previous post, designing and making items for the swaps on the Ginger's Corner Facebook Group have been theraputic for me. However, participating in the swaps hasn't exactly helped me accomplish my own personal crafting goals. I also have mixed feelings about swaps, mostly due to an experience that I had several years ago.

This was a swap group where we had 7 people creating 7 items for a teaching kit each month. We took turns as to what each person's assignment would be. I am skilled at creating/designing games, which was the reason they accepted me into the swap group, but creating a game every month was a lot more work than most of the other assignments, so everyone ended up taking a turn for the different categories, and I created a game every 7th month. One month, I actually provided 3 different games. I am an overachiever sometimes.

Over time, one of the other gals and I started to get more than a little frustrated. When 1/3 of a group do their best, 1/3 do a decent job, and the remaining 1/3 do the least they can get by with or leave theirs till the last minute and turn in something quick just to get it done, then those who create something really nice feel that the situation is unfair.

It seems to be a common scenario for various kinds of swaps. Sometimes on Ginger's Corner, there are some great creations. However, not everyone has access to a large stash of stamps, dies, etc., and some things are obviously hand drawn, hand cut. And there are some who are very unpredictable. One month they do something really nice, and another month, they just die cut some shapes and call it good.

The rules require at least two layers, so throwing in a bunch of die cuts is kind of frustrating to someone who created something really nice. Newbies who are just learning how the swaps work are assigned to a Captain who gives them guidance in a very kind, tactful way. I just graduated from the newbies group recently.

However, there are also times when it is obvious that a person has been there awhile, has done some nice things previously, but then just does the bare minimum for some reason (or even less than the bare minimum).

When the latter happens, it's kind of hard to want to keep swapping. My first swaps were probably mostly other beginners like me, and most of the items that I got back were not something I'd use. I recently got back the most recent swap I participated in. One swap item was very cute. The others were fine, with one being a slight disappointment. I can't see myself ever using it on a project, but it did show a decent amount of effort. I have made my projects for two more swaps. After that, I don't know if I will keep swapping. It's fun to make the swap items, but it has also sometimes been a disappointment in what I receive back.

Learning to Make Clusters

Yes, I realize that "clusters" have been popular for awhile now in both card making and scrapbooking, but  as is probably obvious, I craft more for "therapy" than to follow the trends. I'm a care giver, and this summer, my husband had two medical procedures on his heart, lots of doctor appointments to drive him to, and a houseful of guests. And for the record, I invited my guests for reasons that I won't discuss here. But when I need a chance to de-stress, I head to my craft room. Trendy isn't as important to me as just playing with paper. When I'm too tired to craft, I sometimes just watch crafty videos. Most aren't my style, but I still enjoy seeing what others are doing.

On Ginger's Corner, Ginger did a video on making clusters. This one was a bit more interesting. I rather like this trend, although some clusters obviously look better than others, and it was a skill that I felt was not one that I had. So I printed a bunch of AI designs, and did some die cutting, and here are some clusters that I did.

While these clusters can be used for both cards and/or layouts, I think I would do better starting my layout first, so I know what colors I really need or want, but it was still good therapy for me.

The top middle one, and the lower right one were mostly made with Heartfelt Creations digital designs and papers that I die cut.