Making Project Life and Smashbooking Your Own

I promise I'll quit obsessing with scrapbooking, smashbooking, art journaling and now Project Life soon. In the meantime I wanted to share my latest creation - a custom book. With an arsenal of Aleene's products, a spiral bound book and a hole punch all things are possible.

I can't hardly resist vintage books with cute graphics, big surprise I know. Through my years of hoarding, I mean collecting, I have amassed a few that are binder style with rings that open and close. I see some version of these books almost every time I am the thrift store so they should not be hard to find.

I opted for a 50's Better Homes and Gardens decorating book for my first attempt at journal making. I loved the graphics inside and out. You could always start with a plain ring binder and use Collage Pauge to adhere your own cover graphic.

The first thing I did was remove all the pages and make and add my own. Things like vintage paint by number canvases, pages from board books and even packages of panty hose work great. If you have trouble using a hole punch try a crop-a-dile. I also kept several of the original pages from the book.

Just like a Smashbook I love working with the original graphics in my book. I let the images and colors be my guide for the theme. You can see here where I started dabbling in Project Life. I used some pockets from Sn@pshots and used my hole punch to make them fit in my binder.

The thing I love about this form of scrapbooking is you are encouraged to not make your layouts flat. I have started to dip into my vintage buttons, cabochons and findings. Using a stronger glue like Aleene's Fast Grab is better than your typical glue stick.

My whole journal is pretty free-form. There is no reason why all your pages need to be the same shape or size.

Add wrapping paper, wall paper, scrapbook paper and more to pages using Collage Pauge.

What do you use to keep your pictures in? Scrap book, Smashbook, photo album, phone or computer? Might I suggest making your own. They are a lot more fun to sit through than a slide show of your last vacation.

Be sure to check out more of my posts for I Love to Create here. Also, stop by my blog Naughty Secretary Club and say hello sometime.

Art Journaling With I Love to Create

I recently read that Smashbooks are like the anti-scrapbook. I kinda agree and I kinda think that is why I love them. Traditional scrpabooking, though lovely, seems very rigid at times. I like the idea of a book that is part art journal part scrapbook and a pinch of Project Life. If I want to iron on a flocked Crafty Chica sugar skull applique to the pages I can and it fits right in.

When I was done with the iron-on there was still residual flocking that I painted hot pink and used as a stamp. I eventually mounted the sheet and added it to my Smashbook too. I never realized how many items from my I Love to Create arsenal could applied to my journaling.

Speaking of Crafty Chica, Kathy's paint makes appearances in my journal. I did an ombre effect using purple and white on some foam letter stickers. A technique I leaned from Dear Lizzy. I used the background to frame out a mural my sister and I painted for I Love to Create.

An acid free glue stick like Aleene's is this crafty ladies best friend. I use it to stick pictures, postcards even hamburger bags to my journal.

Tulip Glam It Up Crystals are found all over my Smashbook. I use them as earrings, badges and tiara accents on photos. Anything that comes already sticky is a friend of mine.

I've used Tulip Fashion Glitter Shimmer Transfer Sheets on robot onesies & Christmas decorations, but I think I may love using them as sparkly background paper in my journal most of all.

Why would anyone use plain decoupage medium with something as fun as Sparkle Collage Pauge exists. Glitter makes everything better including leftover Valentine's Day napkins from Target. A coat of Collage Pauge sticking them to sheet music and my own funky paper was born.

All the Aleene's Dry Adhesives are perfect for Smashbooking. I have been running through Tacky Dots, Tacky Sheets and Tacky Line Runners like they are water. That reminds me I need to get some more! They are great for doing things like turning pieces of fabric into quick appliques.

So there you have it. A sneak peak into my latest crafty obsession. How do you use I Love to Create projects in your paper crafts? Wanna see more of my Smashbooks? Check out my week long series of sneak peaks into typography, paper making and using fabric.

Graffiti Journal Pages using Tulip® Paint Cannons Part 1!

Our friend Pam Carriker has been making amazing journal pages using our new Tulip® Fashion Graffiti™ products!As Pam says, "If you have 20 minutes? Then you have enough time to create a journal page!" Thanks Pam for these wonderful tutorials!!