Starburst Photo Album

It's time for another fun challenge over at Creative Creases, and I'm back with a GD project. Please join the fun with your own fun-fold projects here: https://secretstamper.com/category/creative-creases-challenge/

I recently attended the online Scrapbooking Fun Summit, and one of the projects was a starburst photo album. I liked the concept and decided to modify it to make some mini albums using the monthly pictures my daughter-in-law Allie took of my grandson Sawyer during his first year (he's 16 months old now). I wanted to include Allie's notes about Sawyer's likes and dislikes each month, so I created a pocket behind the photos to slip a folded note card in for each month's commentary. Since Sawyer posed each month on a jungle-themed quilt a close friend of the family quilted for him, I chose matching card stock and embellishments with a jungle theme. Then I took out my container of ribbon and twine and chose a colorful assortment to tie onto the note cards so they can be pulled out easily. 

I had my daughter-in-law send me all 12 of the photos she had taken so that I could resize them and print them out. I did a print and cut of them using my Silhouette Studio software and made enough copies to do 7 albums. It was an ambitious undertaking, but I wanted to give an album to all the grandparents and great-grandparents as well as my son and DIL. Sawyer is very blessed to have so many people in his life who absolutely adore him. 

The albums weren't hard to make, but it was a time-consuming process to glue everything together. I had to reprint a few of the photos when I noticed I had glued a couple panels into the album upside down, too! I was quite careful to check each time before adhering them down after that 😄!

For the cover and backpage of the album, I designed 2 print and cut files using my Silhouette Design Studio software. I hadn't used text-to-path in awhile, so I watched a video to remind myself how to curve the text to get Sawyer's name to follow the circle shape of the sentiment panel. I chose Jeremiah 1:5 for the back panel: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart." Such a beautiful verse and a good reminder that God Himself forms each life in the womb, and every human being is infinitely precious to Him.  

Top view:

A look at the pages:

The front and back of the album:

The note cards for each month:

A look at the inside of a few of them:

 Challenges I'm entering:

We Love to Create mixed media Challenge Blog...sponsored by Polkadoodles (welove2create.blogspot.com) ATG (ends 12/1/23)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG or for a child (ends at the end of the month)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (ends 12/7/23)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG with option of Thankful (ends at the end of the month)

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (ends 12/3/23)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (ends 12/1/23)

Doodle Challenge (rabiscochallenge.blogspot.com): ATG (ends at the end of the month)

A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge: ATG (ends at the end of the month)

The Paper Shelter: All About Family (11/28/23)

Creative Knockouts: Lots of layers (ends 11/30/23)

Crafty Calendar Challenge : November Challenge - 'Anything Goes': (ends at the end of the month)

Mini Album Mania: MAM #2 Any Type of Mini Album Goes + MAM #1 Winner & Top Picks: ATG wtih a mini album (ends at the end of January)

Poppy Trifold Thank You Card

A couple days ago, I received a surprise package from a longtime friend of mine and her family back in my hometown. They sent me a lovely gift box from The Swiss Colony aptly titled "The Colossal Breakfast." Let me just say that it truly is an enormous amount of food in a giant box! It was an unexpected Thanksgiving present that came at the perfect time since I'm having out-of-town relatives arriving this Tuesday to spend a week with us over the Thanksgiving holiday. We will put it to good use! The timing made me think of the statement in a recent lecture I heard in my BSF class: "Not one molecule or millisecond is outside God's sovereign control." How gracious He is!

Of course I wanted to thank my friend and her family for their generous gift, so I made them a thank you card using some pretty floral card stock and putting into practice some coloring tips I learned from Mary Polanco in her alcohol marker class this weekend. The card base was cut on my Silhouette Cameo, and then I had fun embellishing it. I used a sentiment from the SU! Flowering Tulips set for the thank you message, and then in order to follow the theme over at the Butterfly Challenge, I stamped 2 poppies from SU! Painted Poppies set and colored them with my Ohuhu alcohol  ink markers after die cutting them with the coordinating dies. I then die cut 3 butterflies from the SU! Butterfly Brilliance bundle and added some pearls to them. I adhered all the circle layers and then the sentiments and die cuts to finish the card.  It's hard to tell in the photos, but the card stock I used for the butterflies and the thank you sentiment circle is a pale peach that matches the lightest color in the floral card stock I used for the base of the card. Hopefully this card will convey my gratitude to my friend and her family for their thoughtfulness and generosity.

Front view:

Left side close up:

Middle panel close up:

Right side close up:

Top view:

Another view of the card when open:

The card closes flat to mail:

 Challenges I'm entering: 

Butterfly Challenge (butterflyspotchallenge.blogspot.com): Poppies, layers, and butterflies (ends 11/22/23)

We Love to Create mixed media Challenge Blog...sponsored by Polkadoodles (welove2create.blogspot.com) ATG (ends 12/1/23)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG or for a child (ends at the end of the month)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges********** (pammiesinkypinkieschallenges.blogspot.com): ATG (1/3; ends 11/19/23)

Anything Goes With a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #70 (secretstamper.com): ATG with a fun fold (ends 11/24/23)

simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Thanks/Thanksgiving (1/5; ends 11/20/23)

The Paper Shelter: Fun folds (1/2; ends 11/23/23)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (ends 11/22/23)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG with option of Thankful (ends at the end of the month)

Allsorts challenge blog: Christmas or ATG (ends 11/24/23)

No more challenges. 

Foiled Get Well Card

I recently purchased some Spellbinders foil plates when they were on sale for $5 each, and I've been playing with them a little. I am not great at foiling, but I am learning what works and what doesn't with my Todo machine. I have been finding that plain white cardstock doesn't give me very good results while thicker colored cardstocks seem to work better for me. I've also been adjusting the pressure dial to find that sweet spot where the foil transfers fully but doesn't give a lot of overfoiling. It's definitely a learning process! 

For this double gatefold card, I used Spellbinders' Magnolia Bouquet Glimmer Hot Foil Plates and Dies with Spellbinders gold glimmer foil. I ran the floral foil plates through my Todo machine with red cardstock and the leaves with green cardstock and then die cut all the pieces with the coordinating dies. The foiling isn't perfect, but it's still lovely in real life with all that shine. I also used the Spellbinders Geo Foliage set for the foiled polygon the die cut shapes are adhered to (if you look carefully, you can see that foiled outline on the red cardstock). That set comes with a die to cut the outside of the foiled area as well as an inner die that I used for the gold glitter cardstock background behind the magnolia flowers and leaves. 

For the card base, I followed a double gatefold card tutorial here: WOW - Double Gate Fun Fold that is EASY and QUICK - YouTube. This was a quick and easy card base to create. I layered it with green cardstock and some gold glitter cardstock. In hindsight, I wish I had embossed the green cardstock to add some texture, but each card is a learning opportunity, and I'll keep that in mind for next time. 

For the inside of the card, I used a get-well sentiment from SU!'s retired set Heavenly Hollyhocks. If you are interested in shopping for some lovely retired SU! bundles, here's a link to my friend Debbie Mageed's current list. She's offering bundles at really low prices with free shipping, and there's even an extra 10% off if you purchase 5 or more bundles. Here's the list: Bundles For Sale - Google Docs.

This card is for a woman at my church who just had knee replacement surgery, and I'm hoping it will be an encouragement to her with all the pretty shimmer and shine. 

Challenges I'm entering: 

Anything Goes With a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #70 (secretstamper.com): ATG with a fun fold (ends 11/23/23)

Allsorts challenge blog: Friendship or ATG (1/3; ends 11/18/23)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (1/4; ends 11/18/23)

Colorful Options: Red (ends at the end of the month)

Triple B (dd-tripleb.blogspot.com): ATG with birds, butterflies, and/or blooms (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

Doodle Challenge (rabiscochallenge.blogspot.com): ATG (2/5; ends at the end of the month)

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog (cardsgalorechallenges.blogspot.com): ATG (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (5/6; ends 11/12/23)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (2/5 for the week; 2/10 for the challenge; ends 11/22/23)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG with optional twist of Grateful, Thankful, or Thanks (1/4; ends 12/2/23)

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: Thinking of you (2/5; ends 11/15/23)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (1/2; ends 11/14/23)

Crafty Calendar Challenge: ATG (3/3; ends at the end of the month)

Inside-Out Stepper Card

I love fun fold cards, so I really enjoy being a guest designer over at Creative Creases Challenge. It’s time for Challenge #70 , and I chose this Inside-Out Stepper Card from Sam Calcott's YouTube channel as the inspiration for this card. Here's a link to the instructions in case you'd like to create one as well: TRY THIS Inside-out Stepper Card!!! - YouTube. If you make it or any other fun-fold project, be sure to join us over at Creative Creases. Here’s the link to challenge #70: https://wp.me/p4bS0N-bck

Since I already had a stepper card cut file in my Silhouette Design Studio library, I just had to cut two of them and then design the panels to cover the card sections. Then I chose my pattern paper and cut everything out using my Cameo 4. When I had the two white card bases and all the pattern paper pieces cut out, I adhered them together the way Sam showed in her video tutorial. Then I set about decorating the card and die cutting the butterflies, lace, and sunflower. After adding all the panels and embellishments, I used my Sizzix stamp and stencil platform to stamp the 2 sentiments: "For a feeling better kind of day" from SU! and "Love and hugs" from CTMH using Spectrum Noir's Rose Gold ink. (You can't really see it in the photos, but the ink has a beautiful shine to it.) One advantage of the Sizzix platform over my MISTI is that it doesn't have edges on the sides, so I can put any size card on it to stamp. The sticky mat is also better at holding card stock in place than the magnets in the MISTI in my opinion.

I really like this card design and plan to use it again soon for a card to send my group of shut ins from church. I think they'll enjoy it! 

Front view with all panels extended:

Front view with side panels folded back:

Close ups:

Top view:

With the panels folded to lay flat for mailing:

 Challenges I'm entering: 

Triple B (dd-tripleb.blogspot.com): ATG with birds, butterflies, and/or blooms (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

Doodle Challenge (rabiscochallenge.blogspot.com): ATG (1/5; ends at the end of the month)

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog (cardsgalorechallenges.blogspot.com): ATG (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (6/6; ends 11/12/23)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for the week; 1/10 for the challenge; ends 11/22/23)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG with optional twist of Grateful, Thankful, or Thanks (2/4; ends 12/2/23)

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: Thinking of you (1/5; ends 11/15/23)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (2/2; ends 11/14/23)

Crafty Calendar Challenge: ATG (2/3; ends at the end of the month)