Faithbooking Workshop

It's finally available! I've worked so hard on this faithbooking workshop. It includes a 20-page PDF of instructions as well as 40 collage sheets! That's not 40 collage sheet images, but 40 different collage sheets, each with multiple images. I've put this in my Etsy shop as an instant download. You can print these images over and over as many times as you like and use these in your journals, scrapbooking projects, card making projects, mixed media projects, etc. You can use these for personal use and for items that you create to sell, but they cannot be sold as PDF files or as-is. If you purchase this for a Bible study group, you have permission to make one copy for each participant in your group without each having to purchase the product. These collage sheets include blank journaling spots for your journals, She sayings (all faith-based), a variety of dolls and images, Christian images, Bible verses, hymn lyrics, vintage images and more. This is an over-the-top collection. 

You can also purchase just the collage sheets. Here are some previews of the multiple collage sheets included.

Giant Paper Bag Scrapbook Album

Last year our city banned plastic grocery bags.  It has been kind of a throw-back to the seventies before stores used plastic grocery bags and now stores give paper bags, unless you bring your own reusable bags.  At first the stores tried to charge extra for the paper bags, but they eventually realized customers balked and for the most part they do not charge for the paper bags.  We do bring our own reusable bags for the most part, but once in a great while we forget so we are given paper bags.  Well, these were really starting to pile up!  So I started saving a stack of them in my studio.  And finally I couldn't stand it any longer, I just had to make a paper bag book!

I took the handles off of each bag and then folded it in half.  I couldn't find my bone folder, but I remembered seeing that you could use the handles of your scissors in a pinch, so that is what I did to get a nice crisp edge on each bag.  I decorated each bag first with papers such as wallpaper samples, sheet music and paper scraps, and then with various clip-art images and journal spots.  The covers are made from an old Cheerios box covered in some handmade paper from my local scrapbook store.

 Since this book is super tall, I printed images at the largest size I could.  It also allows for big old journaling spots.

I added just one small lunch size bag inside one of the signatures.  That is the one with the orange polka-dots above.

Each bag has a small flap on the inside that I also included a tall, narrow journaling card on.  I adhered the pages back to back very carefully and bound it together with a sewn tapes binding.

And I made large pull-outs for the pockets for each bag.  Because of how big the bags are, I was able to make super big journaling spots.  And there is one on each side of each pull-out.

Free Printable Collage Sheet

We have a new free printable collage sheet on our website.  It's a sheet of three couches and one chair. 

I love to cut these out and use them in my planners, scrapbooks, journals, etc.  I tried to find images that are easy to cut and not too fine of details that make them too difficult to cut.  I then like to take images of either children or people sitting and place them on the couch.  Here is one from my journal that was kind of fun.

You can get a full sized PDF printable from our website here.
 

Desktop Calendar Tutorial

Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  It was pretty special for us to have our precious Samuel who is only two months old to share it with.

Several years ago I did a tutorial on creating a desktop calendar with my Bind-It-All.  In the tutorial I use the Teresa Collins calendar pages.  I realize these are getting harder and harder to get (I did hoard my pack for just such an occasion).  But I want you guys to be able to make one of these calendars if you want to, so I made up some free 2016 printable calendars that will fit this calendar perfectly.  You can get the free tutorial and the printables on my website at Desktop Calendar Tutorial.  The printable calendars are in PDF format and there are four to a page with three pages.  

Merry Christmas

I have definitely been getting into the Christmas spirit around here.  Our tree has been decorated for weeks, gifts are purchased and mostly wrapped, and I've been working on this little upcycled Christmas scrapbook / smashbook, December Daily type book.

I've taken an old children's Christmas classic, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and made all new pages for the inside.  Actually, I kept a couple of the pages from the book to use as it adds a charm I kind of like.

I like using old lace on the sides of the pages and then lots of journaling spots and photo mounts to jot down those special memories.

I also love these fun altered art images from various Etsy shops and places on the internet. 

I also like making some of the pages smaller than the outer pages as it gives it a little more interest.

There are some little tags in the pocket here, which I think make great "secret" journaling spots.

I also love making these side pockets that are great for putting little cards and treasures in.



 
 

He's here!

Our first grandchild Samuel was born November 10, 2015.  We thought for a short time that he was going to be born on my birthday, November 7th, but he decided to make us wait an additional three days.  But he was definitely worth the wait.  He is so much fun!  I was blessed to be able to spend the first week at my daughter and her husband's house helping them out.  I am also blessed that we only live 10 minutes away, so I get to still see him often.  I am looking forward to the many memories we will be making with Mr. Samuel.  I see a lot of scrapbooking in my future!

Tag Easel Card Tutorial

Lori Delp has created a lovely Tag Easel Card tutorial for our website.  It's not exactly a mini album, but we have started a new page on our website specifically for other paper related projects and this is the first one we are including.  She used Graphic 45 papers, which always make a project look great.  Lori included a template for the easel and the tag and wrote very clear, thorough instructions.  Thank you so much, Lori.  She is working on another project for the website that will be published very soon.

It's a...

Our daughter's baby is a BOY!  The whole family is abuzz with excitement!  His name is Samuel Herbert (the middle name after his father and grandfather).

I don't know if many of you are aware that besides the Making-Mini-Scrapbooks website, I also have a paper dolls website at Free-Paper-Dolls.com.  It's mostly scans of vintage paper dolls, but there are also some paper doll crafts and miscellaneous other things.  I made the above paper bag card with some fun printable paper dolls and just thought you might enjoy seeing it.

Is It a Boy or Is It a Girl?

Our oldest daughter, Andrea, is due to have her first baby (our first grandchild) at the end of October.  We are beyond excited about this new chapter of our lives.  Her and her husband are planning 4 children when all is said and done, so we are just in awe that there are four human beings that we haven't even met yet who will be so important to us!  Next Wednesday they will find out if it is a boy or a girl.  On Thursday the rest of the family gets to find out at the "reveal party."  I guess it's a thing these days, and a pretty cool thing it is.  I do not care if it is a boy or if it is a girl - all I care is that I will have a precious grandchild to love and cherish.  Obviously, I've had babies on the brain lately, so I put together two collage sheets for my Etsy shop.  One for baby boys and one for baby girls.  I'll let you know next week which one my daughter is having.

Free "Words" Printable

We made another Words collage sheet for you.  You can pick it up at our free collage sheet page on the website.  You can use these in your journals as prompts!  Wonderful Ideas (journal some ideas you have brewing), Treat Yourself (list ways you could treat yourself), Privacy (have enough?  Respect others'), Magic (whatever is magical to you), Wishing (what are you wishing for?), Simply the Best (in your opinion, what is simply the best), Favorite (so many directions to go with this one.  Favorite day, favorite color, favorite food, favorite TV show, etc.), Tranquility (what makes you feel tranquil?), Start Now! (what have you been putting off? What are you dreaming of doing?), Trends (in your life, that you see), Bliss (what's your bliss?), Goal Setting (set those goals!) ... 

 

You get the idea.  Enjoy!

Free Printable Doll Tag Collage Sheet

Work is still slamming busy (after a very slight slow-down), but I am managing to find little moments here and there to create.  It makes my workday so much more fun!  This past week I created these doll tags.  You can pick up a free PDF printable at the website here.  These are fun to use in your scrapbooks, journals, etc.  I tried to leave lots of room for journaling.  I used templates and papers from Pixel Scrapper.  I hope you enjoy them!

Printable Mini Album Spring

As some of you may know, I run a transcription business from our home.  I have been doing this since my oldest daughter was one year old.  (She is 25 now and going to be a mother herself in October!)  It was a great way for me to earn income and stay home with my children.  And it still keeps me BUSY!  Especially during the last part of March through the first part of May.  So phew, we are through the busiest part of the year and we survived.  Oh, and during April both my husband and I had an outpatient surgeries a week apart!.  So it was a little challenging lately, to say the least.  Thank goodness for the wonderful team of subcontractors that work for us all across the United States.

Before the busy season had started I had started a new printable mini album for the website, but didn't finish it before the transcription biz took over my life for a couple of months.  Last week I finally got back to it and was able to finish it up.

This spring mini album contains 6 patterned paper pages, a page of tags and brackets and two collage sheets.  You can download a free PDF file on our website.

Faithbooking Printables

I have been working on some faithbooking printables.  I have more to create, but I wanted to give you all a small preview.  I am also thinking about a printable faith-based mini album if there is an interest for that?  Let me know what you think. 

So here is the first printable I made in this theme.  These are some Bible verses.  There is a printable PDF at the main website.  Look where it says "here" and click to download.  My thought was to create some cards you can put into your faithbooks and meditate on them and perhaps even journal about them. God bless!

23 Paper Bag Journals

My youngest daughter, Rachel, and I got a bit ambitious this December!  We decided to make paper bag journals for a local drug rehab center's residents.  These are mostly young women who are working at getting their lives back from the horrible disease of addiction.  They are the happiest, sweetest, and most grateful people!  It is amazing how the smallest thing just means so much to them.  When we started this project I don't think either of us knew how much work it was going to be.  I started by doing a couple while my daughter finished up her college classes for the semester.  By the time she joined me, we realized we had a lot of work ahead of us, but I had already committed us and we take that pretty seriously.  So we worked and worked and worked and delivered them just in time for Christmas!  It was a lot of fun, but if we do it for next year we need to start now and just do one each every month.  Then we won't have any stress at the end on if we are going to finish in time or not.  It was well worth the effort though and we are sure we're going to do it again! 

Journal for a Friend

I have been busy working on some gifts lately.  So much to do, so little time!  The page here is from a book for a friend's upcoming birthday.  The background papers are just random scrapbook papers and a couple of bits from some painted pattern pages I made in one of Mary Ann Moss's classes.  The image is one of the fun freebie ones that Land of Nod gives away.  And then I just included a journal card from a Project Life set.  I am decorating half the pages pretty much in the same way, some background papers, a quirky image, and a journaling spot.  I am leaving the other half of the pages blank (except for whatever the background happens to be) in order for my friend to fill them in as she likes.  I am just hoping to get her creative juices going with what I've included and see what she comes up with on the other pages. 

Free Printable Mini Album - Thanksgiving Theme

I just posted the first of many printable mini albums to come over at our website.  This is a free printable mini album in PDF format that you can print at home and then decorate.  It includes 6 different pages, a collage sheet, a page of tags and tabs and a page of large tabs.  You can add any embellishments you like to your completed book and you can bind it in any way that is pleasing to you.  Rings, Bind-It-All, eyelets, etc.  Anything could work! 

Here is the link to the printable mini albums.  Thanksgiving Printable Mini Album.  The album is for personal use, but I would LOVE it if you shared the link with your scrapbooking friends and/or Pin It on Pinterest. 

I hope you enjoy it!

Paper Bag Scrapbook Tutorial

I created a new tutorial for the main website the other day.  It's a variation of a paper bag scrapbook.  This one has a hard cover, both front and back and the bags are sewn together using the sewn tapes binding that I am still so hooked on.  I seem to be using it on a lot of my stuff these days.

I used 12 bags for this one and I think that's about right.  Many more and it would not lay properly when the book was closed.  But I do like the thickness of it like this.  Nice and fat! 

You can find the free tutorial on my Making-Mini-Scrapbooks website here:  Paper Bag Book.

Collage Sheets Addiction

I have been addicted to collage sheets for quite some time now.  I love buying them on Etsy and downloading the freebies offered all over the internet.  I use them mostly in my journals and sometimes in my scrapbooks.  I have been trying to teach myself to use The Gimp, which is a free photo editing software very similar to PhotoShop.  I've been offering quite a few of my attempts on my website as free collage sheets. 

I still have a lot to learn, but it sure is fun learning!  I am creating a travel journal now for a trip my husband and I are taking in November to Cabo.  This prompted me to put together some travel collage sheets, which I just listed in my Etsy shop.

Our Daughter's Wedding Was Beautiful

Our daughter's wedding was August 2nd!  It was so beautiful!  They had the ceremony at their new house.  Her husband just bought it a few months ago and he has been living there since then.  It was charming and sweet, just like our girl Andrea.  You can read more about the ceremony at our photographer, Lydia Photography blog

She did an amazing job of capturing the feel of the wedding and the perfectness of the day.

Here is a photo of my husband, Dave, walking Andrea down the aisle.  I think this is among my top 3 photos from the wedding.

For the reception we rented a hall a couple of miles away called The Horsemen's Lodge in Grass Valley.  We had some amazing help from family and friends on setting everything up and bringing food, etc.  Andrea's maid of honor's mother did all of the decorations for the hall, including the table decorations.

Here are a couple of photos of the hall.

It was a lot of work, but it was so fun and a day to be remembered forever.  Congratulations and best wishes Andrea and Roland!

Daughter's Wedding Takes Over Mom's Life

Wow, are we getting close.  Two weeks from tomorrow is the big day of my oldest daughter's wedding.  Last Saturday her bridesmaids threw her a bridal shower here at our home.  Here is a photo of the beautiful table they did.

Of course a ton of yummy finger foods were added to the table as well.  Tomorrow is another bridal shower being put on by the ladies of their church.  Did I mention that her fiance is a pastor?  They will be the pastoral couple for a small First Baptist Church in Nevada City and will be living 10 minutes from me.  Yeah!!

These next two weeks are going to be incredibly busy.  This is where all the little tiny details have to come together.  Who is going to pick up what when and bring it where?  The ceremony will be in their soon-to-be backyard and the reception across town at The Horsemen's Lodge.  Her maid of honor's mother has been amazing in helping with the decorations for that and the arch at the ceremony.  It is all so much work, but also so much fun.  What a very special time in our daughter's life!  Loving it!!!