Make A Custom Smash Book

Smash Books are extremely popular lately and Cutters Creek has a great selection of books and products.  The books are full of great designs, but sometimes they’re just not what you’re looking for.  I’m taking a vacation to Disney World in a couple of weeks and I thought a smash book would be perfect for keeping memories and memorabilia from the trip.  A Disney themed smash book does not exist (yet), so I decided to make my own.  All you need for this project is a binding machine like a cinch or bind it all, some chipboard for your covers, cardstock, some smash supplies and embellishments. 

The first thing I did is to cover the edges of my raw chipboard covers with sharpie.  This makes it look like I’m using black chipboard for the covers and hides any raw edges. 

My covers are 8 1/2 by 11.  After I had my edges inked up, I cut some paper for the cover.  I cut my paper at 8 3/8 by 10 7/8 so I could center it in the middle of the cover and not worry about it hanging over the edge. 

This is the outside of the front cover and this is the inside of the front cover

Next it was time to move on to my inside pages.  The smash book pages are made of really nice strong cardstock.  To recreate that feel, I covered some white cardstock with patterned paper. 

Some of the pages I covered completely with paper and some of them I layered with scraps leftover from another project.

  I had Kim special order me some awesome washi tape in different Disney patterns and I used a strip of that down the middle of this page. 

Next step was to start on my smash supplies.  Some of them will work as is, but some of them just don’t go with my color scheme.  I found some 6x8 mailing envelopes and turned them into smash pockets.  I took one of my smash pockets and laid it down on the envelope and traced the outline.

  Then I layered it with patterned paper and more great washi tape and cut along the diagonal.  Now I have a pocket that coordinates perfectly with my theme.

  It’s perfect for holding daily schedules of maps of the park.  The smash pads are perfect for jotting down notes and memories.  There is no need to recreate the wheel on this.  I dressed them up with some more washi tape and stickers to give them a Disney look.

      

I also gave the little smash calendar pocket a Disney feel with you guessed it- more washi tape and stickers. 

Just because a Smash Book doesn’t have the exact look and feel you need doesn’t mean you can’t make it your own.  I only have 2 weeks, so I need to get to work!

 

Get your Smash supplies at Cutters Creek

Fun with Instagram

I admit I have a slight Instagram obsession I love playing with all the different filters and changing the look of my photos.  I really never knew what to do with them until recently.   I’m determined to try and get back to scrapbooking.  I started as a scrapbooker and then I made some cards and I was hooked. I still take a lot of pictures with the intention of scrapping them, but very few photos ever get printed.  I got an email the other day about printing instagram photos and I had to try it out.  I love the pocket style page protectors by We R Memory Keepers and one of the styles in the pack holds 9 4x4 photos.  This is the perfect size for Instagram prints.  So, I gathered up a few of my favorites and made some layouts. 

                                 

The page protector has 9 individual photo pockets and you just drop your prints in.  It couldn’t be easier.  For the layout on the left I added a few blocks of Echo Park paper to give it some pop.  For the layout on the right I added some decorative paper and a journaling block.  I love how easy this was and I’m hooked on this style of scrapbooking.  I can’t wait to add some pictures to rest of the styles that come in the variety pack. 

 

Cutters Creek Shopping List

Echo Park Papers

We R Memory Keepers photo pocket pages

More Disney Autograph book pages

I only have about 40 more days until my Disney trip, so I've been working hard to finish up my daughter's autograph book.  I have three more pages to post today.  This first page is Daisy. 

I printed some paper on my Imagine for her background page.  All of the layers have been printed and cut on my Imagine using RGB codes.  I added some stickles to this one to give her some bling. 

 

We're going to the Winnie the Pooh breakfast at the Crystal Palace, so we're making a page for all of the Pooh characters.  Here is Piglet's page. 

 

All of the Pooh characters have a chevron background page to give that section some uniformity.  My daughter got her nickname Piggy from Piglet, so he's always been a favorite. 

Next I have Kanga and Roo.  I'm not sure we'll see them, but just in case we made them a page also. 

 This is a time consuming project, but it's a lot of fun.  I do have some pointers if you decide to make a project like this of your own. 

1. Punch your pages first-  that way you won't have part of your character chopped up in the holes.  Also, it prevents you from putting a page together backwards.

2.  Use a white pen for the whites of the eyes.  Those pieces are way too small to mess with.  Also, stickles works great for the lips of the princesses and makes it look like they're wearing lipstick.

3.  Write down all the RGB codes you use in case you need to go back.