Monday, November 6, 2017

Prima's Amber Moon Large 10x10" Mini Album

a Country Craft Creations design team project

Fall is such a beautiful time of year.  While the leaves are still rustling around on the branches and the clear days are crisp and clean waiting for those first winter snows.  Frank Garcia's Amber Moon collection for Prima sure has a lot of those gorgeous fall feelings in each and every page.  I loved working with it.  Thank you Tammy Merrill from Country Craft Creations for allowing me to play with this beautiful collection.


This mini is much larger than my norm, it measures 10"x10"x3".  I really enjoyed having so much room to play with because of the larger scale.  I did adjust my hinges to a 3/8" gusset between each page so I could cram six pages into the book.  The cover is Bo Bunny's Vintage Double Dot, which plays so nice with this Prima collection. The spine is Kraft-Tex which I've had forever (I bought it at Amazon) but had yet to try.  I must say I was pleased with the way it glued and punched.  It's called a paper fabric and I do believe is almost indestructible. 


To adorn the front I used a laser cut chipboard swirled heart I'd won from Creative Embellishments.  I tell you viewers over and over, enter to win, you can't win these fantastic prizes companies offer if you don't win.  I covered the heart completely with TCW Gold Gesso, I love this Gesso.  It's super creamy, goes on without any problems and creates a luscious gold glimmer.  In the middle of the heart I placed one of the Amber Moon collections chipboard pieces and surrounded it with these Prima flowers called Amber Moon-Raven.  I had used the polka dot sheer ribbon for a bow and used the remainder snipped pieces tucked here and there amongst the flowers.  The closure is a clock key that's been moved here and there in my crafty stash for eons.  I used a Tim Holtz elastic closure pulled from the back and looped around the clock key to secure the book closed.  See if you hold onto things long enough they finally have a purpose.


The pages measure 9 1/2" wide by 9" tall that allowed me head space to add top tags.  Each page has an insert opening on the backside for a huge tag.  I used my Cricut to cut a decorative mat and then recut it again smaller with the solid cardstock, placing it front and back to give the tags more stability and a great home for an extra large photo.


I didn't do a tutorial on this because it's simply a matter of building pockets, flaps and belly bands and then adding lots and lots of tags and foldable spots for photos.  I used a lot of the chipboard and puffy stickers from the Amber Moon collection throughout the book.  I only used one punch, an older EK Success, called Deco Scallop punch, to add some movement to some of the page edges and tags.


I also added a spring clamp on each page tied with the three colors of seam binding I was using in this mini.  This allows either a folded page to stay shut or an extra tag or photo to be hung.  These clamps were a gift from my friend Paula, and again have been resting quietly in the back recesses of a crafty drawer.  They actually come with red rubber feet on the prongs but red just didn't cut it so that part was easily removed.


I did pull out some very old Kaisercraft paper that I'd been hoarding.  Oh I'd pull it out drool over it and stick it back.  Not this time this time it was the perfect compliment to the Prima collection.  You can see I used it on the belly band here and backing the word circle.  Again you can see how nicely the Bo Bunny Vintage Double Dot paper played with the collection as well.   There are no rules when you are creating.  If you, as most of us, have stuff stuck back here and there pull it out and see if the colors and designs play nice with one another.  If so it gives you lots of additional options in your creation.


Just this week I had a YouTube viewer leave me a comment and remarked that I'm always so willing to share my oops and oh no moments.  I just think if new crafters realize at the onset that we all have those moments and it's ok, most everything you do is fixable.  Sometimes the end result of fixing up an error results in a page better than the beginning.  Here you can see I added some butterflies to the brown background paper.  That was an oops moment where I stuck a gluey finger onto the brown and left a mark.  There will probably be a large photo placed here but in the meantime every time i came to this page I'd see that mark, simple solution, butterflies.  And just as I said, I like the brown so much better with the addition of the butterflies.  So never fear mistakes are only mistakes until you make them into creativeness!


OK a couple of things I want to bring your attention to here.  I had this odd shaped piece laying on my crafty desk.  Of course this page with the sheet music was instantly one of my favs in this set of papers. The more I looked at the scrap the more I saw a house so with a little trimming and the matting of the brown I think it looks like a church steeple, ok so I have an imagination, lol.  Point of story is those odd shaped scraps can often lead to very interesting pockets.  I added a chipboard bird and a Bo Bunny brad and then had a great pocket for tags and photos.

The other thing I wanted to draw your attention to is the mat with the funky pull.  That's actually two sheets of paper from the A4 paper pad leaving the top potion (the part that's bound into the paper pad) intact.  I glued two papers together to create this mat and great pull at the top.


I think I'll stop with the page reviews with this one, as always there is a complete walk through on the video as well as lots of other photos.  I just wanted you to see here how nicely the cut aparts made into a deep bottom pocket.  I kind of wished I'd lined them with a deep brown across the top to give them even more of a punch but still like the look of the pocket as is.

I hope you'll join me on the video.  Links to store products, Country Craft Creations social media sites and my own sites will be directly below the video.  Thank you my crafty friends for spending time with me.


Supplies from the Country Craft Creations Store

Please visit Country Craft Creations here -
you can also join the Facebook group
Scrapbookers of Country Craft Creations here - http://tinyurl.com/zhess6s
Or Coffee Talk page here - http://tinyurl.com/y8byhnel

Visit me at A Soul's Heartbeat on

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Upcycling Paper Cores


I had the best time upcycling these thick heavy cardboard cores my niece brought me.  She works for a grocery store and they get these daily.  They were tossing them until they discovered we might be able to do something crafty with them.  I've wanted something to house my markers in so thought this would be a good project to use them with.


As always you can check out the complete blog post over on the Canvas Corp Blog and my how to step by step video below.


Supplies from the Canvas Corp Stores –
Tattered Angels –  Decor and DIY paint – Scarlet

Follow Canvas Corp Brands StoreBlog and Facebook Collective Group (this is a group you must request to join, but boy is it worth it!!!)Canvas Home Basics at Facebook and Instagram.
7gypsies at Facebook and Instagram.Tattered Angels on Facebook and Instagram.
Visit me at A Soul’s Heartbeat on BloggerFacebookYouTubePinterest and Instagram.

Monday, October 16, 2017

Overall Album for that Little Guy

a Sa Crafters Design Team Project

Please check out the complete blog post over on Sa Crafters blog here .  I absolutely loved creating this shaped little boy overall mini.  It's always so fun, and different, to do a shaped mini opposed to one I've created with front, back and hinges.  It's just a whole different animal and so much fun.  I loved decorating each of the 10 overall pages.  In fact it was kind of hard to go back and add the photo spots and tuck ins because the overalls and shirts were just so darn adorable.  But, a mini needs room to add all those favorite photos of your little guy and this one certainly doesn't disappoint.  It always is amazing how many photos a mini like this can hold and this one is no exception, with room for lots of 4"x6" photos.


Because this mini isn't bound it uses rings to hold it together at the tops of each page.  I use round rings to begin with but switched them out for larger D rings that were much stronger and allowed the pages to turn easier.  I adorned the rings with ribbons I'd used on the pages.


There are lots of tuck spots, pockets and areas to house tags, mats and photos.  After all a new baby needs all the room in the world to be shared and shown off.


As always I'm notorious for using fussy cut images and I just couldn't help myself with all these adorable little ones.  So you'll find them climbing up edges or sleeping on ledges, anywhere I could find to put them there they are and they make me smile every time I look at them.


I like to add booklets or waterfalls whenever possible because it just adds to the amount of photos you can place.  Here I have a little booklet that hold photos behind acetate spots as well as on the mats.  This little ones hold 6 photos plus a generous area for jotting down some memories to preserve.


There's lots to see that I won't show here or on Sa's blogpost but you'll find it all on the video below.  I'll also share how I prepped the pages and the supplies I used.  I have an older post that uses the little Girl Dress Shaped Mini that I'd love for you to revisit as well.



From Sa Crafters Store

Visit Sa Crafters at -

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Bo Bunny Dreams of Autumn Wide Spine Mini

a Country Craft Creations Design Team Project

Hello crafty friends!  Today I'm so happy to share not only my mini with you but the beginning of a brand new video tutorial series showing the construction and the decoration of the mini.  I'm doing these videos page by page.  It means more videos but it also allows you to only look for the video that shows the construction or decoration of a certain page.  That way you can easily skip the videos that aren't pertinent to what you want to know.  Also, as always, I'll have the complete walk through video so you can see all the how to's and just see what I made.  That's the video that will be listed at the bottom of this blog post.  I have the first four How-To videos uploaded and will turn those live as well all grouped together in a new Playlist called Wide Spine Mini Tutorial Series  Hopefully I've found something for all of you.  If you are a newbie then the videos are presented in such a way that they will be easy for you to follow along allowing you to make your very first mini.  Don't forget I'm only a message away if you get stuck!  So go for it, make your own mini today.  It's so much fun!


This mini measures 6"x7" with a 5" spine, thus the name Wide Spine Mini.  I like using a wide spine this way because the mini actually lays flat on the spine when open.  It allows for an enormous amount of bulky embellishment or hoards of photos to be added.


In order to expand and contract as the contents of the mini grow I choose to use a three-color braided and tied satin ribbon closure.  The three colors of fall just complement the colors of the mini so well.


There are 7 pages in this mini and each page has a 1/2" gusset to allow so much room for all your goodies.  I won't be able to share each page and all the special add ons, flip outs, tuck ins here but they all be shared on the video along with the video construction of the basic page and then a video showing the decoration of each page.  Don't feel you'll be tied to this fabulous paper line it can easily be adapted to any paper collection you're in love with at the moment.  I did this same style of mini, with 1/4" gussets and 14 pages for a wedding mini.  I loved it.  Because of the wide spine the pages still laid the same way.  Wonderful!  (so keep that in mind, by changing the width of the gussets you can easily add many more pages).


You'll find I used my trusty Cutter Bee scissors throughout this mini, fussy cutting lots of elements to use in different ways.  Here I took the bouquet of flowers in the pail and used them as a stopper for the flap.  I originally had intended the brad to act as a swivel to hold the flap closed but it just wasn't tight enough.  It was easily solved by added a magnet on back of the flowers and the including the belly band with a hidden magnet behind it.  There's always a way!


Included in my goodies from Tammy Merrill from Country Craft Creations was an Ephemera package which among many other things had a decorative mat with these gorgeous flowers on them.  I cut them out of the paper and used them throughout the book,  Here they adorn the flap on the left and act as a nice stopper to my cute foxy bookmark holder on the right.


Another of my favorite pages was again using parts from the Ephemera package.  This time I used the little banner for the flap on the left.  I added some leaves along the bottom.  Backing each section with a black Artisan paper from Country Craft Creations allows the elements, like the acorn, to pop.  I use a lot of the Artisan paper since it cuts and scores wonderfully and is the best paper for not cracking.  The mini was covered in the black and the pages are constructed with it.  It is my go to basic paper line.


I always like to look at paper and see what can I take out of it to use in a different way.  That's how the basket came to fruition.  I didn't think I'd be able to use the bicycle with the basket of fall goodies I was able to though as you'll see it became the inside front cover pocket.  I just loved the basket and fussy cut it from the bicycle, added a magnet behind and backed it with the black Artisan paper.  Later I found I could use the whole image on the front inside cover.  I took the part below the basket and attached it on three sides over the bottom paper.  Now I have a great pocket but I still have the whole image of this fall bicycle.  So always look at the images within your page and see what perhaps could be cut out and used somewhere else.  Sometimes the smallest of elements, when cut and backed, can create wonderful little embellishments elsewhere.


I also wanted to tell you to not discard the cover sheet, especially if it is the same weight paper as the cardstock.  Bo Bunny prints their name, the name of their collection and samples of all the papers included in the collection on a 12x12" flysheet for the front of the package.  It was wonderful, I cut it up and used it in numerous spots throughout the book.  Case in point, the little pocket stopper for the center section here is actually the Collection name from this front flysheet.  I'll share several other spots I used parts of this page.  It's like getting and extra sheet of decorative paper.  I wish all companies would use the same paper for this cover sheet often it's a shiny slick paper, this was perfect.


My friends there is just so much more to share with you but space prohibits me here.  Check out the video below for the walk through and if interested check out the Video Tutorial playlist.  I'll be adding the remainder of the videos over the next few days.  As always thank you for sharing your time with me!  I'll include links to Country Craft Creations and to all my social media site below the video.  I've also included my supply list with links to the store.  Don't forget relax, create and enjoy it will make your world such a happier place!



Supplies from Country Craft Creations

Please visit Country Craft Creations here -
you can also join the Facebook group
Scrapbookers of Country Craft Creations here - http://tinyurl.com/zhess6s
Or Coffee Talk page here - http://tinyurl.com/y8byhnel

Visit me at A Soul's Heartbeat on


Sunday, September 17, 2017

How Many Days until Halloween?

a Sa Crafters Design Team Project

Hi everyone today I'm sharing a post for Sa Crafters.  I'll leave links to the products I used from her store and social media sites for both Sa and myself directly below the video at the bottom of this post.  I'm only going to give you a little teaser of what I made here, to see the whole post pop on over to Sa's blog and check out the full blog post and photos here.


Ha ha I'm sharing the backside of my Countdown to Halloween decoration.  You'll have to check out the blog post on Sa's blog or watch my video, or better still do both.  On video I'll share lots of photos and of course the why and how comes of what I did.  This is a super fun project to make.  Check it out and lots of other things to make in Sa's store.  Oh yes if you spend $30 Sa is offering a 10% off discount by using the code pattifans at checkout.  

Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies -

Follow Sa Crafters here - Store - Blog - YouTube - Facebook - Instagram


Visit me at A Soul’s Heartbeat on BloggerFacebookYouTubePinterest and Instagram.

Monday, September 11, 2017

7 Gypsies Journal - Mini

a Canvas Corp Crew project

Many of you are still just getting familiar with Canvas Corp Brands.  They have 3 separate stores, Canvas Home Basics, 7 Gypsies and Tattered Angels.  All three companies intermingle and play extremely well together.  A few months back I took one of the Canvas Home Basics journal, altereing it with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists and 7 Gypsies Architextures Parchment Rub Ons.  Then it went back in my crafty space, patiently waiting for me to say, ok let's finish you up.

I ran across it a couple of weeks ago and thought, oh I want to play again.  So using the 7 Gypsies 8x8" paper pad, Wanderlust, I created this canvas bound mini - journal.  I'm so happy with how it turned out.  It's being featured on the Canvas Corp blog so I hope you'll check out the full story here.  


The journal innards are constructed with the bulk Kraft cardstock available in the store (all links to supplies will be at the bottom of this post.  I used 4 sheets, cutting them to fit the 5"x7" outer cover and stitching them though the middle.  You can see how chunky they got and how the outer edges of the journal expanded.  Typical for things I create, I always want to add just one more thing.


To keep the mini securely closed I made a belly band that closes with velcro strips, that way it can expand as the mini expands.  I adorned it with flowers cut from the collection (I used Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die for the flowers, one of my favs).

I hope you'll check out the video, it will share how and why I did what in the construction and then offer you many more still photos to inspire you to create your own canvas bound mini-journal  Don't forget when shopping in the store, if you live in the USA and place a $5 order your items are shipped for free.  WOW unheard of in this day and age.  Be sure to have a cuppa of something near by, once you start browsing the store it's really hard to leave, there are so many fantastic items just waiting for your crafty hands to get ahold of them!



Follow Canvas Corp Brands StoreBlog and Facebook Collective Group (this is a group you must request to join, but boy is it worth it!!!)Tattered Angels on Facebook and Instagram.Canvas Home Basics at Facebook and Instagram.7gypsies at Facebook and Instagram.

Visit me at A Soul’s Heartbeat on BloggerFacebookYouTubePinterest and Instagram.
Thank you for spending your time with me!
Patti 

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

For the Guys in my Life

A Canvas Corp Brands CREW project share

If you're a repeat visitor here you've often heard me say what a challenge the guys in my family are to make for.  Well I think I solved that for one special fellow with this birthday card featuring Canvas Corp's Architextures papers.  Oh man are these fabulous for anything masculine you might have, not that us gals can't use them as well.


I'm only going to give you just a sneak peek because I'd really like you to pop on over to the Canvas Corp blog and check out the full post there.

I'd love for you to watch my YouTube video though, I'll share how I put this ultra dimensional card together and perhaps introduce you to some fabulous Canvas Corp products you might not be familiar with.  As always thanks so much for stopping by!



Supplies from the Canvas Corp Brands Store – 
7gypsies
Tattered Angels
Canvas Home Basics

Follow Canvas Corp Brands StoreBlog and Facebook Collective Group (this is a group you must request to join, but boy is it worth it!!!) Tattered Angels on Facebook and Instagram.Canvas Home Basics at Facebook and Instagram. 7gypsies at Facebook and Instagram.
Visit me at A Soul’s Heartbeat on BloggerFacebookYouTubePinterest and Instagram.