Saturday 5 January 2013

Card Albums - a photo heavy post!

Hi Everyone,

Saturday is almost over and here I am just getting a chance to sit down at the computer!

How has your day been? Fun, I hope :) It's been another busy sort of day for me - some of it crafting but some of it was spent taking down and packing away the Christmas decorations for another year. I always feel so sad when we reach day twelve and have to pack Christmas away ... the house always looks so dull without the decs!

One thing that I just needed to sort out was the handcrafted Christmas cards we have received, not just this year but for several previous years. We used to simply throw them away, or give them to charity, but that was before I became a cardmaker. Now I really appreciate the amount of work that goes into a handmade card and so just have to keep them.  But that means I have piles of them stashed away in boxes - not very tidily at that - they are works of art and, as such, deserve to be better treated. This year I've put my organiser's hat on and this is what I came up with.


Two card albums, one for Christmas and the other for the more general cards. They look very decorative on my brag shelf and anyone can take them down and browse through them whenever they like. The albums started life as plain, ordinary Academic diaries ... I hoard diaries, notebooks and journals too. If there's a cure for all this hoarding I haven't discovered it yet!!!


I removed the diary pages and any planner pages that had been used ... as both had been under-utilised this was quickly done. Next I raided the snippet box to pretty up the covers. First the Christmas Card Album.


The papers are a mix of Daisy Bucket Designs - the polka dotted paper - and DCWV Holiday Specialty Diecuts Stack. The title a is also made up from a mix of BoBunny alphas - Father Christmas (green) and Serenity (red). The poinsettia petals and leaves were ready cut, from snippets - using the Spellbinders Layered Poinsettia die. I'd gone through the card snippets some time ago and cut a stash of them - really handy to have :)

Here's a few more photos from the completed album.

the inside front cover
back cover 

one of the inside pages


Both albums have a plastic pocket like the one above - handy for holding cards that have a lot of dimension to them.


The second album is pretty much the same as the Christmas album, it's just covered with another mix of papers that includes the absolute last ... sob ... of that polka dot paper from Daisy Bucket designs. The other papers are from Docrafts Papermania - Happy Days and Boutique (the grey leaf design). The title is made up of letters from Docrafts Forever Friends (red) and Jillibean Soup Alphabeans (black) alphas. The embellishment flowers are simply made up of punched shapes and were inspired by one of the prompts in Shimelle's Scrapbook Remix course.

To finish here's a few pics of pages from this album.

inside front cover
back cover
inside back cover
I won't bore you with any more - the inside of both albums are unremarkably similar :)

I'll be submitting this to Pixie's Crafty Snippets tomorrow just as soon as Di opens up the playground again for week #54.

If you have hung on in this far, well done and thank you very much ... you deserve a medal :)

I hope you found it worth while and if you have the same hoarding instincts as I have, perhaps my altered notebooks have given you some inspiration too. Neither album took too long to do, and they do look very decorative on that shelf :))

I now find myself eyeing up my stash of notebooks, etc., thinking of how I can either re-purpose them or simply prettify them with some of the many scraps of leftover paper there is lingering in the snippet box!

Right, there's a half done scrap layout on my desk awaiting my attention so I'm off to finish it and perhaps even start another ... I must be the slowest scrapper on record!

I hope you all having a great weekend, whether crafting or not.

Take care and happy crafting,

17 comments:

scrappymo! said...

What a great idea Elizabeth...your hoarded books have come in handy...See.......that is why we should never throw useful things away. teehee
I love the way you did the covers and in tru Eliabeth style, made the backs of the books so pretty too!

I have a cupboard of hoarded journals, (used some in my last post) in that cupboard is my supply of purchased cards...yes, purchased cards! Sometimes they are on special for 25 or maybe 50 cents and I buy them for the envelopes! Especially after Xmas...the ones with the gilded metallic envelopes will soon be 90% off...It is fun to be a hoarder at times! teeheehee

Julia S-W said...

Hi Elizabeth, Happy New Year to you and your family!
You have been a busy bee with these albums haven't you? I know what you mean about keeping wonderful cards that people have made especially for you. Love how you went to your snippet box for the cover - mine never seem to be used up at all!
Do stay in touch - you know where I am!
Juliax

Krisha said...

What a clever idea! I tend to hoard journals ans such too, then I even make my own.....LOL

Darnell said...

These are brilliant, Elizabeth, brilliant, I tell you! If you have lots of notebooks, you could make them as gifts. A great idea and a wonderful way to respect those cards. Very, very nice!!

Ustvarjalni utrinki Tamara P. said...

Great idea! Lovely card albums-thanks for visiting my blog and your sweet comment
Tamara :)

Jo said...

Fantastic idea Elizabeth! Both albums look gorgeous, a great way to store your cards. I have mine in boxes but I think that's about to change......something else to go on my "to do" list!
Hugs Jo x

Sarn said...

Lovely use of snippets on these wonderful card albums Elizabeth.

Happy New Year to you and yours.

Hugs
Sarn xxx

Di said...

Yay! What a super idea Elizabeth - like you I always keep hand made cards sent to me, but they're in a box. Albums are a much better idea - and I recognise the back cover of your Christmas album :)

Hugs, Di xx

Cass said...

Wow what a fantastic idea. I do keep snippets but then end up with so many that I have to have a sort out. But I will try harder this year to use them up.

xx

Cassidy

Irene said...

A brilliant idea Elizabeth, I am afraid mine are in a big box.
luv
irene
xxxx

Kim Dellow said...

Oh wow! They are amazing and fabulous ideas. Kim

Bonnie said...

What a wonderful idea, Elizabeth! I've been keeping mine in a Christmas basket and I get them out to sit on the coffee table each year. My basket is getting very full so this would be a good way to save them. Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year.

Mrs A. said...

Lovely idea and makes use of your old diaries to boot. Hugs Mrs A.

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

Superb work there Elizabeth.. great way to display them neatly.. and re the sob last of polka dot paper...

Oh, and maybe an idea too late for polka dots though!!


But I scan all my worthwhile fav type DP and them make them into digi paper and use good quality but not that expensive inkjet paper to print them on in high resolution and just have an ordinary Canon.

Would you believe some of my DP done that way look heaps better than the original?!
Even washi paper!! :D
love Shaz in oz.x

Hazel said...

Super idea, Elizabeth - and so well organised! I'm afraid with the number I've collected over the years I've always been a hoarder with boxes ... you've given food for thought (when I've got time ... whenever that is!) Happy New Year xx

Sandra H said...

Hi Elizabeth, Your so clever!! thank you for sharing this idea its brilliant xx

Juls said...

love these!! such a creative idea!! and fabby use of those scrap papers!! Hugs Juls