Hello!  Becky back with you today to share with you a mini album that I made using Basically Bare’s ‘Banners’ embellishments as well as one of the cutest and most versatile mini albums in our line, the Oh So Mini – Scallops!  Here is the front cover ….

For the front cover I spritzed the top with water in a mister bottle and let it sit for a few minutes.  Then it is a simple process to just peel off the top layer of kraft paper to reveal the corrugation.  Next I added an element from the Simple Stories ‘Happy Day’ paper collection and topped it off with three pieces from the Banner Embellishments.

For the second page I made a ‘flip’ photo mat that is super simple to make and gives you spaces for two photos.  Simply cut a strip of card stock the width, and two times the height you want it to be.  For instance, this mat (that is under the ‘Happy Happy Birthday To You’ card) is 3″ by 4″, so I cut the strip 3″ x 8″ and scored it in the center (at 4″), folded it and applied the card from the paper collection, and adhered the flip mat to the background.

For page three, I removed the canvas page from the mini and inked the edges, then using my sewing machine, stitched a zig zag around three sides of one of the elements from the paper collection.  This made an easy and quick pocket to hold photos or mementos from the birthday party.  I embellished with another piece from the paper collection, a sticker, some Stickles and a couple of bubble cap stars using my Epiphany tool.

Above is a close up of pages two and three … on the left you can see how the flip mat cover will lift up, and on the right you see how I took the 3 x 4 cards from the Simple Stories paper collection and use them for interactive pieces.  They fit into the pocket and you can use the reverse for photos or journaling … or both!

Pages four and five were easy!  page four is simply a journaling space using one of the 4 x 6 cards from the paper collection.  I inked the canvas and the chipboard binding border to give it a bit of an aged look.  For page five, the clear acrylic page, I took mod podge (matte) and mixed in some deep brick red glitter and coated one side, let it dry and then coated the other side and let it dry.  Then I added another element from the Simple Stories paper and added a square of card stock for a photo mat, a couple of elements from the paper, some lace and a few sticker letters.  Red Stickles makes the cherry on the ice cream cone pop!

Page six is a piece of patterned paper, an element with lines for journaling that begins with ‘birthday memories’ and a photo mat cut from card stock.  I added a thin line of Paprika Stickles around the mat.  To get a very thin, fine line of Stickles, rest the tip of the bottle firmly on the background and against the photo mat, and go slowly, and you will get just enough glitter!

In case you haven’t noticed, I am CRAZY for pockets, pouches, flips and all kinds of interactive elements in mini albums.  Page seven is a VERY easy pocket to make.  First I simply adhered a piece of striped paper to the felt page of the mini.  Next I took an element from the Simple Stories paper and, using a kraft knife and ruler, cut from center out to ward the edges on the top of the ‘best day ever’ border.  On each end I left about 3/8″ uncut, then I glued the top strip, down the sides and around the bottom, leaving room in the bottom part for the pocket.  So easy!

Page eight is simply another element from the patterned paper collection, a 4 x 6 card, topped with a bit of washi tape and a sticker.  Page nine is another flip mat – made exactly like the one on page two except different dimensions.  And I topped it with a place for journaling and a sticker.  I find that adding a sticker or word of some kind – in this case ‘life of the party’ – can lead you into your journaling … for instance, you know the next two pictures are of the birthday boy or girl, and the journaling can talk about how much they enjoyed their day and kept the party going.

Above is a close-up of the bigger flip photo mat.

The outside back cover of this mini is simply a piece of patterned paper, but it would make a great place for another photo or some journaling.

And of course I tied on bits and pieces of ribbons and trims to embellish those ‘naked’ binder rings!  I love that this album will stand up on it’s on, and that is why I made it so that it opens vertically rather than horizontally.  There are no rules when it comes to making mini albums with these amazing ‘bones’ from Basically Bare.

Thanks so much for visiting, and don’t forget to come back soon for more inspiring ideas from our design team.  Blessings, Becky

Hi Everyone! Kristin here to share a holiday layout with you.

This week we teamed up with Art Anthology to create some really awesome projects. As you might have noticed over the last few months, I have a very simple and clean design style. I wanted to share with you two great ways to incorporate Art Anthology products into your clean and simply designed projects.

1. Use mists as a watercolor paint & edge your borders: On this layout I took a paint brush to the bottle of ‘patience’ mist and gently outlined the edge of my cardstock. It left a soft edge with a great pop of color

2. Paint on your Embellishments to add some Sparkle!: I used ‘Splashed’ (which dries clear)to add a bunch of glitter to my embellishments. The ornaments on the tree, the stars, the frame, and the vellum all have a great sparkle because I used the dimensional gel paint on top of them.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Products Used:

Basically Bare Banners, Fanciful Frames II, Celestial Shapes;

Art Anthology Gelate in Splashed & Chocolate;

White Woodgrain Cardstock

My Mind’s Eye Enamel Dots

Freckled Fawn Washi Tape in Gold & Gold Airmail

Basic Grey Vellum Strips & Grey Chipboard Alphas

Dear Lizzy Brads

Katrina here and I am so excited for the swap with Bella Blvd. today!  At first, I thought I would definitely do a layout with all that fun goodies that we received.  BUT, then I started going thru my Basically Bare stash and decided that I would do a December Monthly.  I know most people are talking about December Dailies, but I know there is no way that I would keep up with a daily album.  (Hey, at least I know my weakness!)  So, I decided to make a fun little mini out of the Tiny Tabs album and just insert a few pictures of things here and there.

I used the Christmas Wishes collection from Bella Blvd.  I love the color combos and knew that it would make a fun little mini album.  If you want to see the pages bigger, just click on the collage pictures!

All of these pictures are in order of the book, except for the first two which are the front and back pages.  This first collage includes an acrylic button from the Buttons set, a tree from the Happy Little Trees set, and an acrylic star with some silver alcohol ink over it from the Celestial Shapes set .

These pages include a spool from the Sew Vintage set and an arrow from the Arrows set.  I ran the first acrylic page thru my Cuttlebug to emboss it and then put a thin layer of Art Anthology paint in frost over it.   I then ran the second acrylic page thru with a different embossing folder, used some Clover alcohol ink on it and then mixed in some of the Art Anthology paint over it.

 This collage uses a felt tree top from the Happy Little Trees set for the snow that the cute little reindeer is standing on.  A chipboard bird and felt wing from the Birds set.  Santa is made from three of the Large Pennants.  I painted a rounded canvas pennant and a V-shaped canvas pennant in Chili Powder red (Ranger/Jenni Bowlin), leaving the points of the V so that I could paint them with black paint.  I then glued the round pennant on top of the V-shaped one and ran ribbon around to make a belt.  I cut the scallop Large Pennant and used small pieces to make “fur” on the boots were the red and black paint meet.  The acrylic page here I just left plain and decorated it front and back, but still leaving area to see thru.

In this last collage, I used the two buttons from the Buttons set to make ornaments to place on the page.  I did emboss this acrylic page, but just left it clear.  I liked the way it looked.  I loved the penguins in the paper collection from Bella Blvd. and knew I wanted to do something fun with them.  This one, I made a snow globe for him to fit in.  I used the “top” from the Up, Up and Away set as my globe.  I cut the rounded bottom part from a dress form in the Dress Form set to make the base of my globe.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out all our designers postings this week for our swap with Bella Blvd.  And thank you to Bella Blvd. for the fun products to work with!

Hugs,

Katrina Hunt

Paper, Scissors and Glue

Basically Bare Supplies:  Album-Tiny Tabs    Embellishment Sets-Celestial Shapes, Sew Vintage, Buttons, Large Pennants, Up, Up & Away, Dress Forms, Arrows, Happy Little Trees

Bella Blvd. Collection:  Christmas Wishes, plus Washi Tape and Buttons

Other Supplies: Acrylic Paint (Ranger/DecoArt); Dimensional Paint (Art Anthology); Alcohol Inks (Ranger); Twine (May Arts/Stampin’ Up); Cuttlbug; Embossing Folders (Lifestyle Crafts/Sizzix/ProvoCraft); Ribbon (May Arts/My Mind’s Eye/Unknown); Mists (Studio Calico Mr. Huey’s); Bling (Recollections); Pen-Zig Millennium; Silhouette Cameo; Adhesives (Fabri-Tac/Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L/Scotch ATG); Doily (Wilton); Modeling Paste

Hey Everyone!  It’s October and I am busy making all kinds of Halloween goodies.  I really love fall and all the muted colors; and I love decorating for Halloween!  I always try and make my front door very welcoming with lots of jack-0-lanterns so the kiddos know they can trick-0-treat.  I also give away those bite size chocolate snickers, mars, 3 musketeers bars; but really between you and me, those are my favorite so I buy lots and hey if there are left overs … I can eat them all

So today I want to share a cute “BOO” banner I made to hang on my front door.  I made it with the “Oh So Mini” mix and match canvas pages.  I used the tab, stamp and a scalloped shaped canvas pages.  To start decorating my canvas I first sprayed them with Tattered Angels mist, then I took a 6×6 Crafters Workshop stencil (circle) and filled the dots in with my Zig fabri pen.

I then prepared my Basically Bare “Fanciful Frames II” by painting them black with a couple of coates and letting them dry.  Then I brushed some glossy accents on top and let that dry overnight.

Happy Halloween!

Veronica Johnson, Kitsnbitscraps

Supplies Used:

Basically Bare:  Fanciful Frames II, Oh So Mini Album Canvas pages

Other Supplies:  My Mind’s Eye “Lost & Found Halloween” collection, May Arts, Zig Fabri-color Pen, Kaiser Craft Flowers, Prima Flowers, Petaloo Flowers Buttons Galore, Crafters Workshop, Tattered Angels mist, Fabri Tac adhesives

Hey everyone!  Katrina here again with a layout this time.  Have you ever left your camera unattended with teenagers around?  Well, I bet you can guess that I have by my layout today.  We were at the bowling alley and I had no idea these pictures were on my memory card till I started going thru them.  BTW, this can happen with ANY camera that is laying around…iPad, phone, you name it!

I was inspired to scrap these from a layout that I have seen, but I cannot remember where.  (trust me it is bugging me!)  The designer had done a layout with random pictures that she had found on her camera that were taken by some “rogue” picture takers!  And my Basically Bare inspiration was one of my favorite sets, the Paparazzi set!  This layout is a little out of my usual style, but I loved the way it turned out.  I used one of my kit club kits (Cocoa Daisy) and then just added my Basically Bare pieces in with it.  I also faux stitched with my Zig Millennium pen around the entire layout.

I used the black chipboard pieces, because I really liked the bare look of it with everything else going on in my layout.  I tucked that film strip in underneath and angled it slightly.

That scallop border punch is one of my favorites, but it needed a little kick to it.  I just added some of the scallop banner pennants that were the perfect size to fit in the scallops with a little area left around them.  I just used some Fabri Tac adhesive to adhere my pattern paper to them, cut around the shape and then sanded the edges.  And if you are wondering, I usually use Fabri Tac on all my chipboard and canvas work here.  It does great with the Basically Bare chipboard and canvas.

And then there is that camera!  I just covered it with a strip of pattern paper and then cut out the lens center with an Xacto knife.  I backed that with a circle piece of canvas that I cut out of a canvas heart from Basically Bare.  I made a small tag on another smaller piece of canvas by stamping the “snapshot” and then just trimming around it.  I placed the tag in the center of the lens and called it done!

So get out your kits that you have sitting around and add some Basically Bare goodies to them to use them up!  Adding little bits and pieces from Basically Bare is a great way to make your kits go further!

Hugs, Katrina

Paper, Scissors and Glue

Basically Bare Embellishments- Paparazzi  Set and Canvas Hearts

Other Supplies-Cocoa Daisy Kit (Sept 12), Amy Tangerine Today Roller Stamp, Tim Holtz Stapler

It’s Katrina here for the Authentique/Basically Bare swap.  I worked with the paper collection Lively and knew it would be a perfect fit for that Basically Bare Dress Form that I have fallen in love with.

I used the largest chipboard dress form in the package.  I painted the top and bottom of the “stand” with some Faber Castell Gelatos mixed in a couple of different shades, plus some acrylic paint thrown in.  Covered the body section with a variety of pattern paper, make sure to “hide” the seams where my different papers met.  I think it just gives a more finished look.  I then took some canvas leaves from the Blossom and Leaves set and colored them with some Gelatos that I had made into a watercolor.  I layered them to look like feathers or a ruffle and then added one of the blossoms on top as an accent.  A little twine and a button and the dress form was complete.

I wanted to use the Banner Pennants on the layout somewhere, and I thought that upper corner would work well.  I covered two of them with some stickers from the sticker sheet that Authentique has and then I painted one with just a creamy color.  I chose to use the same banner shape for all three, not exactly sure why, I just decided that that shape worked better with the layout.

After getting this far, I decided that that dress form needed to be anchored to something.  Plus those new Fanciful Frames in acrylic were screaming for me to use them.  So I took one and ran it thru my Cuttlebug to emboss it.  I felt it needed that, because the papers are on the busy side and I wanted it to be seen.  It still didn’t stand out clear, so I dug out my alcohol inks and made it a fun green color that goes well with the colors in the paper.  I wanted it to stand out, but I wanted it to be subtle also.  And you can get a close up of those canvas leaves on the dress form.

Thanks for stopping by today and hanging out with us and Authentique.  I had a lot of fun working with the collection and I can’t wait to see what everyone else has created.

Have a Scrappy Kinda Day~~Katrina

Supplies:  Pattern Paper/Stickers-Authentique (Lively); Journaling Tag-Elle’s Studio; Doily-Wilton; Button-Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker; Clothes Pin-Unknown; Pen-Zig Micron; Dressform/Banner Shapes/Acrylic Frame-Basically Bare; Acrylic Paint; Faber Castell Gelatos; Adhesive-Scotch ATG, Fabri-Tac and Scrapbook Adhesives; Flair-{a flair for buttons} Etsy shop; Punch-EK Success and American Crafts 

I can’t tell you how badly I wish I had made one of these First Year Mini Albums for my kids. It would have been a great way to store all of those precious memories that I have forgotten all too quickly!

I used the Polly’s Pocket album which has plenty of pockets for storing extra photos and memorabilia along with a ton of brightly hued papers from Bella Blvd.   The album is embellished with Stack-A-Bellie Owls, Bare Basics Wings, Welcome Little One, Bare Basics Heart Set #2, Blossoms and Leaves, and Buttons, and the Large Pennant Set.

I heat embossed the handle and legs of the stroller with Metallic Silver WOW embossing Powder before covering it with patterned paper.  I added a little umph to the wheels with self adhesive buttons.

{click on the photos to view a larger image}

I created the flower embellie by covering a chipboard flower with patterned paper, inking the edges and adhering a sticker with pop dots.

I used Zig Fabricolor Pens to add color to the felt banner.

I had a lot of fun creating the rattle!  I heat embossed the handle and covered the top in patterned paper.  I used a blister from product packaging to serve as the dome of the rattle.  I filled it with beads and glitter and hot glued it to the rattle.

I used clear snaps spray ink to add color to the canvas heart.

I love the stackable embellishments because there are so many options for customizing them.

I used Zig Fabricolor pens to color the wngs of the owl, and then dresed him in patterned paper and gems for his eyes.

Here are a few of the details –

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!!

Tanisha

Hi everyone!

How awesome it is to be working in this Nikki Sivils swap!!! Truly exciting, I had the opportunity to work with a really fun and cheerful collection called “Exit Here”. Truly a perfect collection for those road trips or cherished vacation memories, especially because Summer is coming up! I decided to make a neat, simple, and truly vintage album using the Basically Bare Krafty Keepsakes Vintage Album. First off, I had never used a Basically Bare album in the past, and I must admit, I AM IN LOVE! These albums are so versatile, sturdy, and can handle tons of embellies, I love loading them on, so I was so happy to see how versatile these albums are. Let me share it with you:

The cover has to be my favorite, I used the pattern behind the main cover page for the collection kit. I think woodgrain patterns are so amazing don’t you? I then added a variety of embellishments, some lace, some twine. It came together very well.

This page is the inside, continuing on with the woodgrain, lot’s of distressing went on, and I even had some left over paper to make some tags and tuck them in the twine. I used some of the Basically Bare canvas banners under the flowers for added texture. They are always perfect for texture.

The next page has a cute little embellishment from the embellie page from one of the sheets, that hot air balloon is so perfect. I doodled some hearts with a ZIG Millennium Pen.

For this page, those Basically Bare canvas leaves saved the day again! Beautiful addition to those flowers, and perfect for distressing or on their own.

Isn’t that film chippie piece the best? Love those Basically Bare embellies all over, and oh, those sweet cameras were perfect on this page, which is actually an envelope! Talk about original and oh so useful! perfect for storing your souvenirs, tickets and even photos!

I leave you with an awesome quote from the Indiana Jones Adventure Ride at Disneyland California, ” True Rewards Come To Those Who Choose Wisely “.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Frank

xo

Basically Bare Products Used:

BK002A Krafty Keepsakes Vintage Album

BB009VR2 Bare Basics Pennants – Large

BB009VR1 Bare Basics Pennants – Small

BB011VR Bare Basics Blossoms & Leaves

Basically Embellies Camera Filmstrip and Camera

Nikki Sivils Products Used:

Exit Here Collection

Traveling (side A to My Tent)

Arrival Gate (side B to Don’t Forget Cut-Ups)

Don’t Forget Cut-Ups (side A to Arrival Gate)

Exit Here Punch-Outs in Punch-Outs

ZIG Products Used:

Zig Millenium Pen 005

Go on over and check out the Nikki Sivils Blog!

Hi everyone, it’s Erin here.  Today I’m sharing a scrapbook layout I did using Niki Sivills “Message” line and some great Basically Bare products!

I used some of the chipboard Basically Embellies Bare Large Basics Pennants and ran them through my embossing machine.  Then I just ran an ink pad over the top of them to highlight the embossing.  And then I put a bit of Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam on each of them.

I also took one of the corrugated cardboard Basically Embellies Bare Basics Hearts from Set #1 and stripped off the top layer and then brushed on some more of the Glimmer Glam onto it.  I also added a Basically Embellies Bare Basics Retro Arrow to it too.

I also created a little embellishment cluster in the upper corner.  I love that typewriter!

Be sure to visit the Nikki Sivils Blog and check out all the great goodies their team has today and tomorrow for our hop!

Hey papercraftin peeps! Sarah’s in the houuuse!! How are all of you on this beautiful day?! I have a layout I would like to share with you, and it’s actually about me can you believe it?! Woohoo! It is SO important that we artists document ourselves, even if it’s about something silly like what my layout is. Dreaming. What do you dream about? I am ALWAYS dreaming about something, whether it’s creating or redecorating or gardening or whatever!  But usually, for me, it’s about traveling to far off places, distant lands far far away. I love to travel and there are sooo many places I would like to visit. Someday… So here’s my layout;

I love the Basically Bare Banners! They are so stinkin cute! I took some patterned paper, roughed and inked up the edges, then covered my chipboard banner pieces with them. I love to mix up the shapes together, it gives it more of an eclectic feel. Add some string and voila!

Super cute and different way to create a word, yes?! Another way of juicin up your chipboard is to cover it with glitter, like this Basically Bare Fanciful Frame here;

Here’s a little tip, you should paint the surface of the chipboard first, that way you don’t see any brown coming through and your color is solid and crisp. Kurtake generously provided some of their Zig Painty FX markers for us to play with, and I used the black on this frame which worked really awesome! Made it look super fancy schmancy! (technical term)

Those fancy frames add just the right amount of pizazz, even if you’re not “framing” anything, don’t you think?

So thank you so much for hangin out, remember to keep dreaming cuz you just never know!  Have an amazing day!

Love, Sarah