Family Time

left to right, my Sister Carol, my Sister-in-law Betty, Me

and front and center, Aunty Hulda

Hello everyone, today I'm posting a non-crafty note.  I've been home in Washington State since April 16th visiting family and friends.  I was fortunate on this trip to be able to travel to Lebanon Oregon to visit my Aunty Hulda who will celebrate her 100th birthday in September.  

This little lady has been a part of my life always, I used to spend summers at her house riding horses with my cousins.  Many memories of days gone by.  Visiting her brought a little of my Momma back to me, she's been gone for 3 years now, seems impossible but any of you that have lost your Mommas know how wonderful it is to have memories flood your mind with stories of yesterdays, that's what Aunty Hulda's visit did to me.  I hope you'll all be able to visit a family member that you haven't seen for a while, give them a big hug, and just enjoy some family time together.  

My visit ends this Saturday and then I'll be hopping the Portland flight back to the desert and my other half who says our house is awfully quiet without me there.  Hmmm now does that mean I talk too much, nope couldn't be that, lol.  I hope you're all having a bright and sunny Spring and working on some fun projects. I'll be back to post more installments in my Mother Goose series shortly.  Until them Happy Crafting everyone!  Hugs, Patti

Creating a Travel Mini

Recently we traveled to Grandby Colorado, in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, to meet my Sister in Law and Brother as they made a road trip from Washington State to Tennessee up to Michigan, over to Glacier National Park and back home.  

When we stopped at Grand Junction the first night I found a Hobby Lobby, the first one I've ever visited. Browsing around I ran across The Paper Studios paper stack, The Great Rock Island Route.  I loved it!  It has a real deep rich color on the papers and they have almost a linen feel to them.  The next night I was showing them to my sister in law and she liked them as well as I did.  That's when the idea of a mini for her, with pictures of our time together and their trip began to form.

This mini is made using Kathy Orta's 

Build a Page system

Die cuts from Simple Stories Destinations collection

and some cut from my Cricut finish out the

front cover.

 

My sister in law surprised me with a bag of antique crocheted pieces that had been my Mom's.

I'm sure they were made by my Grandmothers and Aunts years ago.

Her only request, to make her something with a piece on it.

I used a pineapple as the closure 

attaching it securely (with Fabri-Tac by Beacon) to the 

back and looping it around a Tim Holtz knob on the front.

Many flips, flaps and fold outs

To trace the path of their road trip I plotted it out on

Google Maps, copied it to Photo Shop

and sliced it into 4 to fit the 4 fold out sections shown above.

Then I took Google Images of Road Signs 

to each state and printed and cut them into Inchies to

put along the map route (which is highlighted

with Glossy Accents)

I did a lot of fun cutting and printing of photos,

like this one of Betty where I printed her shooting

a photo with her camera and then cut her out,

inked the edges and used her like you would

an embellishment on the page.

This flip out houses a map we got from the Ranger

of the trip we took to Alpine Ridge.

It flips up and then out.  The inside top and bottom

house the map, the outside of the top houses a photo

I took along the way.  Great memories.

On the very last page I included this little Matchbook

Mini, inside are several papers I distressed, sprayed with 

water, crinkled, dried and ironed.  Love the effect!

The antique crochet closure.

You can find my 2 videos on the Assembly of this mini here:

 

And the completed mini here:

And lastly a collection of photos of the mini here:

Sonia's Wedding Album

My Great-Niece was recently married and I wanted to do an album to commemorate this special occasion in their life.  (I have a lot of Great's in my family so I'm sure there will be many more of these albums to come, and then come babies, oh my I do not see an end! :-)

I found SWOON paper collection from Little Yellow Bicycle at Scrapbook.com and I knew it would be perfect since their colors were Black and Grey.  I find it really hard to find collections dedicated to just wedding.  

I have difficulty with the outside covers of my books.  I get the inside done and then sit and stare wondering ok what do I do now??  I love the chain closures that I see on so many albums so decided this was the time to try it out and I am happy with the outcome.  But, if you'd been sitting in my seat you'd know it didn't just happen, lol, it took lots and lots of tweeking.  

Each time I step outside my comfort box I see my craft grow a little more so if you find something is a little difficult for you or you shy away from a particular style or design I urge you to reach out and try to conquer the fear, you just may find something new you love to do.

You may either skip to my YouTube of the album or
just glance below at the photos.
Either way enjoy .. and again.. thanks for sharing your time with me.

 

 

I used all but 3 pages of the 6x6 pad and probably 10-12 12x12 sheets
so the leftovers were scarce and small.  I managed to find enough pieces
for the tags and mats first and then finished up with the flowers
throughout the book.

 

 

 

I was so happy when the postman brought my seam binding.  I've never had any
but loved seeing how everyone else was using it.  This was Winter White
and I used some home made mists on it to color it this shade of grey.

 

 

Don't you just love this strip of bling down the right hand side of the envelope?
That's from Webster's Pages and it's just gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking, I hope you'll leave me a comment and let me know what you think
of my newest album.