Adding a photo to a finished layout in my Childhood Christmas Memories Album - Ruby RockIt Creative Team

In addition to finding the Santa photo in my previous Ruby Rock-It Project I found this treasure that I didn't know existed.  I remember posing for it but I thought it had been among photos lost during our first house flood.  I can't tell you how happy I am to have found this.  I just had to get it into my Childhood Christmas Memories Album but slight hiccup, the perfect spot for it is finish so what to do? I decided I would create a 6x6 layout with the Crafters Choice Nostalgic Treasures range that I can stick to the back of my tip in that is for something that occurred this Christmas.
I am sure this photo is from the year that St Nick came to me for the first time, and that is a important memory as it highlights just how close my family and my childhood best friend's family had become, we had started to adopt some of their Christmas traditions and it was wonderful.

I selected a paper from the 6x6 paper pad as my background paper and a matte for my photo and paper for my journalling tag. 

I matted my photo onto white cardstock and that red Christmas sparkles paper (as I like to call it) and added my Advent Candle die cut (I do love a embellishment that helps tell the story of my photo and this one did just that as part of the Schumm's Christmas was a Advent Candle Wreath).
I didn't adhere any of this down to my 6x6 background page yet.  I adhered them to each other but not the page as I needed to make a pocket for my journalling tag.

I created my journalling tag and then set about creating my pocket for my journalling.
Note to self:  Don't Journal Tired, you make too many mistakes you have to fix later.  ;)

To create my pocket I used Stickmaster Heat Resistant Tape as in my climate all other tapes used on pockets and minis have given way.
I worked out how I wanted my tag to poke out as it would form part of my layers and embellishments and I added my tape to accommodate this.

I adhered my cluster down to my page.
When I created my tag I added this poinsettia as a pull for the tag and positioned it to act as a additional embellishment to the layout.

When I went to add the layout into my album I realised it was going to have overhang so I added a 2 inch piece of the poinsettia paper to the back ensuring it went past the die cut and then I trimmed it off, so when it is stuck down you won't see white from the top page.














The front page has holly on it so adding a Holly die cut from the Nostalgic Treasures die cut over where the Poinsettia die cut back is was a perfect was to blend the 2 page edges together to make it feel finished.















You can find a flip through of my completed album here.

Santa - Childhood Christmas Memories Album - Ruby RockIt Creative Team

 

Those of you who were following me in 2017 may remember my Childhood Christmas Memories Altered Album and that I couldn't find the only photo of me taken with Santa so I had saved the front page for when I did find it.  I found it.  I am so excited.  Plus I found another Christmas photo of me that I thought had been lost/destroyed years ago, but that photo is for another post.
Those of you who weren't here for this project you can find out all about it by checking out my YouTube Playlist for it and/or my blog posts for the pages I created in 2017. 
Basically as I had no photos of Christmas as a child I Google Image searched the tree we had, decorations we had, places we visited and I obtained a Little Golden Book that I think I had as a kid and altered it into a mini album about my Childhood Christmas Memories.  It is one of my absolute all time favourite and most treasured projects.
When I found my Santa photo I felt Crafter's Choice Nostalgic Treasures was the perfect choice for scrapping it into my altered book.

As the photo is red and white I wanted to use a red paper as my background page, I loved the opulent cushion feel of this paper.
As the pages of my Little Golden Book are 6x8 I needed to use a paper from the 12x12 paper pad to ensure I could get a piece big enough.  I simply cut the 12x12 down to 6x8 and glued it in with Helmar Acid Free Glue.

After matting my photo on white cardstock and gluing it down to my page I decided it needed another layer so I cut a 1/2 strip of this paper that reminds me of a sparkly Christmas night from the 6x6 paper pad and trimmed the top and bottom off to get a shorter piece from the middle.  I glued it down so it look like it was under my photo matte.

When going through the die cuts pack this sleigh with white horses stood out as I had given Santa a white horse like this on this day.
I absolutely love it when a embellishment helps me tell the story of a photo so I knew this was the perfect die cut for my layout and I felt it was all I needed.
The story is the year before some of my teenage cousins wanted to take me to Santa for the first time and 2.5 year old me did not cope and I screamed and kicked the poor Santa.  So I really wanted to give him a gift to say sorry.  The Santa didn't want to take it so Mum had to explain out of earshot of me why it was important he take it.

I added some journalling in my usual black pen and then after adding my title, date and some snowflakes in white I decided to make it white.

I decided my page needed some snow so using one of the gorgeous snowflake stamps from the Crafters Choice Nostalgic Treasures Icons stamp set.
As I didn't have a white ink pad I just coloured the stamp with my white gel pen and hoped for the best, I actually really like how it turned out, it feels more snow like to me.
I then added my title with some ancient alphas from my stash and the year the photo was taken in the top corner.  I may be off by a year but I think I am correct.

I will do a new flip through video of my completed project at the end of December so you can see how it has all come together to be a gorgeous memento of my childhood Christmas.

Childhood Christmas Memories album - 2 more pages - CraftOnline Creative Team

When creating the Trifold Card in my Simple Christmas Cards video I felt that the papers from Simple Vintage Christmas by Simple Stories were perfect for my St Nick and Decoration pages in my Childhood Christmas Memories project so I decided to do a second video for you this month and share my process of creating these 2 pages for you.

Items used in this project include.

Simple Stories Simple Vintage Christmas 6x8 paper pad  

Simple Stories Simple Vintage Christmas chipboard stickers  

Dina Wakley paint in Peacock 

Tim Holtz Poinsiettia Stencil  

Previously I left myself 2 pages short so I added a page in earlier but I still needed one more page in this section as this time period in my memories needs 3 pages so I used 1 of the papers from the 6x8 paper pad to become a large tip in that folds up from the top.

For the page that will be behind my tip in I added the top half of another paper from the paper pad over the join so it would look like it belonged.

I needed to pull in the colours from my previous page so I stenciled with the Tim Holtz stencil using my Dina Wakley paint in Peacock to pull part of this design over while also having the more traditional look needed for these pages.

I made sure my stenciling went over the bottom of the piece to pull it together and make if feel like it was meant to be that way.

I matted my photos in a cluster on some red cardstock and fussy cut the holly on the paper so it could sit on top of my photo.

For the front page/tip in this was going to be my St Nick page so I just matted my photo and added a couple of chipboard stickers to finish it off.

I needed these pages to be fairly flat as I didn't want to add anymore chunk to it, the chipboard stickers gave a little chunk but didn't over do it, they were perfect for my needs.

I love how these pages turned out and I have the back side of my St Nick page to add in my journaling when I am happy with what I have written.

I hope this project has inspired you to record some precious memories.

3 layouts in my Childhood Christmas Memories mini - Helmar Creative Team

Last year I started creating a Childhood Christmas Memories mini by altering a Little Golden Book that I think is one I had as a child for the December 2017 YouTube Hop.

Before I get into how I created the layouts I did for this post I just want to explain how this project came to be, I cover this in the YouTube Hop video but I will cover it here too.  I only have one Christmas photo of myself as a child.  Like most 80's kids not many photos were taken but I have even less now than what I had a few years ago as my Mum unfortunately did some odd things before her stroke including throwing out photo albums, she had been reluctant to part with photos as she liked to treasure them all so a lot of irreplaceable photos were lost when this happened.  I mention this as it is so important we scan those precious photos relatives have so we all have a copy and right now with the bush fires in Qld last week it reminded me that I need to scan all the photos I myself have that were taken before I had a digital camera and only exist in my albums or in boxes awaiting scrapbooking.  I did start scanning a few years ago but the hard drive I was using at the time was borrowed and lost before I could back it up, so I need to start the task again and save as I go to 2 places to ensure that work isn't lost again.

Back to this project.  As a scrapper I record so much and I found myself thinking that I would love to record my childhood memories, I reached out to the group for my Primary School to see if anyone had photos of me for just general childhood scrapping, I reached out to my Mum's best friend for her memories of me and our families holidaying together but Christmas there was no one with photos and I knew it so I Google Image searched the locations that we celebrated Christmas at during my pre-teen and teen years and I tried searching for the distinct tree we had when I was little and the decorations we had and I actually found 1 photo of the tree, I was so excited.  It is a close up and you can't see much but it meant I could scrap that tree.

When I got my album out from storage I thought I had forgotten to glue the pages together so I started by gluing the pages together with Helmar Acid Free Glue to give a stronger background page.  I would realise after doing 2 layouts that this was a mistake and I had left just enough pages in the book so I would wind up needing to add a page, I will show you how I did this later in the post.  

So the first page I worked on for this post was for the tree, I was going to do a double page spread with the decorations on the other side but I forgot that when I printed the photos last year I printed them too big so I will save doing that page for another post.

I wanted to bring the feel of the tree into the rest of the page, the tree was blue and green foil so I grabbed out what I thought were lovely shimmery paint samples that I got in a mystery box from Dusty Attic back in October to add to some texture paste, they were actually some gorgeous shimmery mica powder.
I used a Tim Holtz stencil to stencil poinsettias onto the page with my lovely shimmery texture paste.  I let the 2 colours blend together through the stencil and I love the results.

When doing another layout I would decide to add the lace Christmas Tree from Scrapping Fun Kits November 2017 Aussie Christmas Kit which I coloured with the mica powders and some water to the finished layout using Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive.

I backed the photo with some teal cardstock from my stash and adhered it with Helmar Acid Free Glue.  I added some stickers from my stash.  I titled the page TREE at Mt Waverly and called this page done.  I do want to add some journaling but I think I will incorporate that into the opposite page that will have the decorations on it. 

The next layout I worked on was my Carols by Candlelight spread.

I started by adhering some red foil tissue paper across the 2 pages with Helmar Acid Free Glue.  I then matted my photos with some red cardstock and built my spread with some paper scraps and stickers from my stash.  Adding a journal tag with memories of watching Carols by Candlelight on TV with my family.

It was after I did my Carols by Candlelight spread that I realised I needed a extra page and that it should go between my Tree page and this spread as it was our celebrations in Sorrento when we would watch Carols on TV, so I was happy I hadn't been able to do the right side of my Tree spread as I could add a page here.

I cut some one sided paper down to 6 1/2 inches x 8 inches and scored it on 1 side so the finished page would be 6x8 which is the measurement of the pages of my book.  I then applied Helmar Acid Free Glue to the 1/2 inch section and added it to the edge of the page.

I chose a paper that would suit my decoration photos but I plan to pull it together by repeating the stencilling on this page once I have smaller photos.

Now I could create my Sorrento layout.
I decided to keep the 4x6 photo size for this layout as I wanted to have that gorgeous visual of Sorrento Back Beach so I created a 2 photo waterfall on my added page.  The space behind my front photo will be perfect for adding journaling to as I come up with suitable wording for detailing these memories.

This is the first time I have created a Waterfall with Helmar Acid Free Glue and it is definitely a far better way to do create it as you have some wiggle to get it perfect which is much harder to do with tape.

I also included a photo of Portsea taken from in the water as often when we were at my relatives at Sorrento we would go to Portsea for a swim and I would look back at the Portsea Life Saving Club while swimming in the beach.

I used papers and stickers from the Scrapping Fun Kits November 2017 Aussie Christmas Kit to build my layers and decorate.  I needed things to be as flat as possible so these were perfect for this.












For my title I cut down a piece of Memorymaze chipboard to being just a gumleaf and gumnut and the word Christmas and coloured it by spraying it with a blue ink spray, I then added the blue mica powder to the wet chipboard.
I then realised the leaf should be green and the gumnut should be brown so I added the green mica powder to the leaf and some gold and then brown ink spray to the gumnut.  It gave it a Christmas decoration feel and I love it.  I adhered the chipboard piece with Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to ensure it had a strong hold.
I finished my title with some alphas from my stash and added a small amount of journaling to my righthand page.

I love how these pages have turned out and because I have used Helmar I know they will last.

If you are missing photos for some memories you want to record maybe try doing some Google Image searches for places or things you associate with the memory and create a album about your memories.

Christmas 2017 YouTube Hop - Childhood Christmas Memories Book

Welcome to the Christmas 2017 Aussie YouTube Hop.  
Wow can you believe it has been a year since I posted in a couple of groups asking if anyone would like to do a December Projects YouTube Hop with me and the lovely Morgyn jumped on board and has been just such a amazing organiser, these hops would not be what they are without her work on creating so much of the behind the scenes bits that make them work.
To think before this project our only contact was seeing each other post in scrapping groups and responding to some of each other's posts and now she is one of my dearest friends.  This Hop has been a wonderful way to make friends and share the hobby I love.  Thank you for supporting it by watching and commenting.

As we are celebrating a 1 year of Hops we have 5 wonderful sponsors for you, with 5 fantastic prizes in the prize draw, so please check them out.

Aunty Vera Scrap & Craft
Cocoa Vanilla Studio
Corbett Creations
Kitaholic Kits
Scrapping Fun Kits


Check out a couple of the awesome prizes in our Prize Draw.

From Aunty Vera Scrap & Craft we have a $50 Voucher with free postage.

From Scrapping Fun Kits we have a DD Kit.













From Corbett Creations we have a $20 Prize Pack.
From Cocoa Vanilla Studio we have a $25 Voucher.
And from Kitaholic Kits we have a Mini Kit.
Wow what a great prize pool.

For my project I have altered the cover of a Little Golden Book to use for my Childhood Christmas Memories.  
I used multiple items from my Scrapping Fun Kits DD Kit, a wood veneer tree from Scrapping Fun Kits July Kit and a burlap tree from a Christmas Garland I bought last year.









You can find a Playlist for the Hop here.

Christmas 2017 YouTube Hop order
Suzanne
Raelene
Lauren WK
Katie 
Amy
Lauren H
Chrissi
Silvia
Morgyn

Have you joined out Facebook Group for our Hop Fans yet?  

I hope you enjoy this Hop there are so many wonderful projects from these talented ladies, so much crafty inspiration.  
Make sure your entry is complete by watching every video and leaving a comment.  
If you love our work make sure you subscribe to us and give our videos a thumbs up.

Thank you for supporting our Hops.

Upcycled Fauxdori Traveler's Notebook from Enid Blyton Book

My lovely friend Alicia loves Enid Blyton so when I found this very damaged Enid Blyton at a op-shop that had torn pages, scribble in marker throughout, etc I knew just what I was going to do with it.
I carefully removed the pages, ran some strong wide tape down the inside of the spine, lined the inside with some scrapbooking paper, used my Crop-a-Dile to set some eyelets and a piercing tool for the middle hole.
I am pleased with my first attempt at upcycling a book into a Fauxdori.

I found this dragonfly charm and attached it to the elastic as it had pink beads and she loves pink.

The paper has a distressed feel that suited this rather distressed book.

I am now on the look out for more books that will suit this type of project.

Altered Book

I loved a Listers layout that had bookpaper as the background and thought I haven't started this year yet so why don't I alter a book so I can use it for my lists.
So I chose this book that was missing a couple of pages.

I decided to experiment with altering directly onto the paperback cover rather than adding cardstock or paper to it first.
I applied 2 coats of Gesso and then stencilled with Gesso again.
Once dry I applied a home made paint spray and it started to crinkle up.  I quiet like the effect but I lost most of my stencilling.
I had at least 20 different ways I wanted to do this book.  I prepared multiple chipboard pieces, from cogs that I made look rusty with paint, to the end result of some swirls that I used blue and silver paint on to coordinate with the broken piece of necklace that I added some charms to, I also added wood veneer bird and bird cage to the cover and some paper flowers.

To use the book I am gluing 2 pages together and removing 2 pages between each lot of glued pages to allow for chunky creativity.

After the first layer of Gesso.

Here is the back.   You can see the small amount of stencilling that partially remained.

What do you think of the finished cover?

I can't wait to get listing in this book.