Today we have one more project from guest designer Kelly Waterman.  We’ve enjoyed having her with us, and we hope you’ve loved her projects as much as we have!  Be sure to check out her blog  as well.  Here’s Kelly:

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Hi all! I’m back for another day as guest designer and I am thrilled to show you a mini album I created to capture Emily’s Eighth Birthday get-away. Instead of having a party, she decided she wanted to go to American Girl in Chicago (a short little jaunt from Louisville). She received gift cards from all the family to spend in the store, and she had a ball in “the big city”. I used the Basically Bare Oh So Mini album which is chock full of chipboard pages and 4 acrylic tabs and corrugated covers. So cute!!!

The first thing I did was take all the pages out of the binding so I could cover the pages I wanted covered – all the way to the edge. And, then, of course, I sanded the edges to finish off the pages. I completely covered the cover – in addition I used the Celestial Shapes and the Fanciful Frames sets. For the stars, I used alcohol ink to color them. I put a dot of Beacons 3-in-1 Glue (my go-to glue for minis) in the center – and then hit the glue with a crystal. For the title, I used the center of the chipboard Fanciful Frame, covered in paper, inked, painted, blinged up and doodled.

Here’s a side view – and I just love how all the different textures peek out and make you want to touch it!

On this first spread – you can see the backside of the frame from the cover, so before I adhered it, I covered the backside – so 8 would stick out throughout most of the album. I took one page, cut it in half and then hand stitched it into a pocket for my journaling.

On the second spread, I used a full-page picture of Emily with her cupcakes. I LOVE the cupcake set – it’s gotta be one of my favorites. This page took a bit of planning, using the acrylic tab. I only used one cupcake on the backside of the tab. I decorated both sides of the cupcake base and then decorated two cupcake tops – one for each side.

The first frosting you see has been misted with Tattered Angels mist using a chevron mask from Studio Calico. I stitched on some tiny beads to look like sprinkles. Added the ribbon to cover the glue – and viola – cupcake 1.

When you turn the tab, you see the second cupcake – and the frosting this time, I left “bare” with, again hand-stitching and a few crystal flowers. I really like how you can see Emily’s face peeking through the cupcakes as you read the story on the facing page.

 On the story page,  I used a large banner covered in patterned paper to set the title.

Spread four uses another full-page image of Em with her gifts from the hotel staff and another tab. This tab, I ran  through my Cuttlebug with the birthday impression. I inked it up a little bit, but wanted to keep most of the page clear.

When you turn the tab – there’s another full-page picture of Emily in the store. I took a piece of one of the AG boxes and cut it out and added it in here. My Zutter Bind-it-all is a pretty close match for the Basically Bare mini, so adding the extra “page” was a snap. I also used a small banner, some felt ribbon and felt stickers here as decoration. I used my Zig doodle pen to trace an E on the banner…and was very happy with how well the line worked on the felt – no bleeding, it’s dark and came out perfectly!

On the next page, I painted the chipboard background and doodled some flowers next to some Washi tape. Doodled, used rub-ons and paint.

On the seventh spread – I used the other half of the page I’d cut to make my pocked on page 3 – and covered both sides of it with pictures. I had tons of pictures from this trip – and I truly just loved the way the mini album let me pack so many in. I think this little size is perfect for turning a whole page (and a whole half-page!) into a full image.

Spread 8 – I used the celestial shapes again for the star in the center of my masked journal tag. The arrow on this spread is actually a house from the Happy Little Houses set – again, I used my Bind-it-all to cut the holes.

When you flip the house over, I added some extra journaling. This time, on the tab, I dripped some paint for a fun stripe effect – while not covering up too much of the tab. Again – I just love how you can see things peeking through the acrylic! So, so fun!!

Spread 9 – I think this might be my favorite layout!! On the left, I used the page bare, and just took a broad tip writer and doodled some words on there. I really like the contrast of the black handwriting on the chipboard. I then took half a fanciful frame, painted it and blinged it up to surround this image of Emily looking out the window. I love the imagery!

Page 10 needed extra journaling, so I made another pocket. This time, I used some modeling paste and a stencil to create texture. I went over some of the raised areas with a bit of acrylic paint, once the modeling paste dried.

For the acrylic tab, I stamped in Stayz-On the blue dots about half way up. It’s a pretty subtle texture – but it certainly adds interest!

On the last spread, again I covered the whole page in paper and added my picture and journaling. On the inside back cover, I painted the corrugated paper white and ripped up that top layer to expose that awesome texture.

A covered a bit of that in paint as well. I used my bind-it-all on the large banner and added some more felt ribbon, and hand-made tag and a Girls Paperie paper flower to complete the look.

I appreciate you sticking with this long post! I hope the pages I’ve shared inspires you to get your paints out, play a little and create something fun with you Basically Bare stash! Thanks to Beth and the whole Basically Bare team for inviting me to play – I’ve had a BLAST!!!

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Thanks again, Kelly!  We appreciate you sharing your talents with us!