Creative Juice

Quick! Before the end of the month, I want to formally wish everyone a happy and healthy 2013. Things have been quiet around here while I finish moving to my new site but it doesn't mean things are quiet at home. Looking forward to 2013. Hope you are too!

Mini in Minutes with Kesi'art

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I know, I know, summer is over. But I can't dive into my December Daily project without first putting my thoughts down about our wonderful summer in France. Since time is a factor for me so I chose to go simple. I thought I'd share how I put together this simple mini book in a few easy steps. (Ce tuto est dispo en français sur le blog Kesiart.)

 

1 CHOOSE A FORMAT

I used the Kesi'art Mini Classeur in kraft. I decided on the spot that some pages would be whole photos and others would have paper.

2 PRINT PHOTOS

This is probably the most time consuming step. My first selection turned out 80 photos! That was too many so I narrowed my selection down to eight. I could have added more photos, but looking at my final selection I knew the themes I wanted to write about were represented. Also, some summer photos have already been documented in layouts. Before printing, I added a title in Photoshop to the one above (no. 2).

3 CHOOSE & CUT PAPERS

This step is pretty straightforward. I wanted rainbow and bright (it's a thing with me lately). So I picked a few patterned papers and trimmed them down to 17 cm x 12.5 cm.

4 STAMP & PRINT CAPTIONS ON STICKIES

For the design, I was inspired by this Pugly Pixel post with the label in the center. I stamped some Stickies (label stickers) with phrases from the the 12-in-1 stamps and printed the others using this technique from Catherine at Design Editor.

5 PRINT TITLES ONTO PAPER

I created a 17 cm x 12.5 cm document on my laptop and added my page titles. Next, I ran the trimmed paper through my printer. Et voila.

6 ASSEMBLE THE INNER PAGES

Make sure to check and double-check the direction before gluing it down!

7 TAPE STRIPES ONTO COVER

Now it's time to work on the structure. I used washi tape to make a striped pattern on the cover.

8 PAINT COVER

And a foam brush to paint the cover white.

9 REMOVE TAPE & FIX EDGES

Love the nautical look of the white stripes! I used a straight brush to fix a few jagged edges.

10 COVER THE INSIDE

The packaging from the album is sublime with the perfect chevron pattern and nice turquoise color. I liked it so much, I used it to cover the inside of the album. The bonus? The width fits just right.

11 ASSEMBLE EVERYTHING

12 ADD ALBUM TITLE

13 STICK STAMPED & PRINTED LABELS ON PHOTOS

These are the finishing touches. I aimed for full center positioning.

14 ADD YOUR THOUGHTS

This is what this project was about for me. I had memories and thoughts about our summer that I didn't want to forget. Having a place to store these was important to me. It is very simple, but it is done. And that's what counts. Right?

Here is a look at the inner pages :

Have a great weekend! Now that this is done, I'm ready for my December project. How about you?

Kesiart Color Combo

It's my turn today on the Kesiart blog to propose a color combo and I propose rainbow bright! Here is my colorful layout, perfect to documents Maxi's birthday, and a few close-ups.

Love all those bright colors which really brighten this rainy fall day. Have you already made a rainbow layout? Would you give it a try or are those too many colors?

Favorite Girl

The story. I'm sure he will have other favorite girls in the years to come, but this is honestly one of the sweetest things I've heard.

The process. I printed the photo strip and knew I wanted to use the quote as my title. The rest came together with elements from a SC kit and the new release from Kesiart (available in France on November 9th). Again, a little sewing and giving the ol' layering technique a try.

Girls

Not really sure what got into me for this layout. I went overboard piling on a bunch of embellishments. This layout was all about playing and not at all about storytelling which is rare for me. I had this photo of me with two of my sisters from a September trip to Miami that I wanted to use.

The papers and some embellishments are from the newest Kesiart release available November 9th. I really love this brand and am glad to be a part of the design team. I love the background paper with its giant font and vibrant colors and will probably be using it again. I also tested my neon pink thread on this layout. That is a keeper too.

Have a nice weekend!