Mini in a Month: July edition

A few weeks ago, I share my wild enthusiasm for Stephanie Bryan's mini a month project. Today, I'm sharing some pics of my progress and some thoughts on the process.  You can see the first set of pages in this album in this blog post.

So, picking up where I left off, here is the finished polka dot duck feeding page. I added some Thickers from my stash, an Amy Tangerine diecut and some ink splatters.

Some more Amy Tangerine diecuts and some ephemera from a trip to a local mini-golf course.

I added photos of the boys playing golf on the inside and punched holes through the whole thing.

The next page is made of two 3x4 photos adhered back to back. The first picture is of some pocket treasures.

The back side is a picture of my work-desk.

This will be a journaling page. Journaling is definitely something I want and need to add to this album. I may journal on a tag and attach it or type up some journaling and stick that down.

 To make the page, I simply layered vellum over a sheet of watercolor paper. I didn't adhere the vellum to the paper because I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it or not. It's good to have options, right?

I love this pic of Ben eating cookie batter. I'm going to add journaling and leave it pretty simple.

Here's the other side. Sadly, this pic doesn't require much journaling because our July has been pretty sad weather-wise. It's been so cold and rainy that we've all been calling it Julember. *sigh*

I added some polka dot vellum for a bit of variety and a 2x2 divided page protector.

We live in the woods and we see lots of local wildlife this time of the year. We had a visit from a baby bunny one day in July. It was pretty exciting because Ben is crazy about rabbits. He loves them and it made his day to see this little guy.

Here's the b-side. I have to figure out how to use my Fuse Tool so I can seal in those wood veneers. The wood veneers are left over from a package of Cosmo Cricket wood veneers.

And here's what the whole thing looks like.

So far, I'm happy with how this album is coming together. I spend time editing photos each week and then I put it together on the weekend.  My mini-book process is to add all the photos and then go back and add the journaling and embellishing.

I do like the size of the 4x4 album. The small pages are just big enough for some embellishing but not so big that I spend a lot of time fiddling with design. I confess, I sometimes like to move things around and around to see what's going to look "best". I can't really do that with this album size because there are that many places I can put things.

Even though July has been a crazy month, it has been easier than I thought to get my pictures in the album.  But it won't be finished until I have all the pics taken, printed and put in there. That's ok. That's part of my process.

I still have one last post with this album. I'll finish up July and share the pics next week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cathie

Inspired by Stephanie Bryan.

Last week, I shared my overwhelming enthusiasm for Stephanie Bryan's Mini Book a Month Challenge and decided to give it a try for July. Each week throughout July, I'll share my pages and my thoughts on the process.

First, I love this and I am having so. much. fun. I printed my pics last weekend and have been putting the pages together during the week. (Side note: I'm working part-time contract right now so my creative time is limited. Batch printing at home is key to this working for me.)

I love how bits and pieces are peeping through the pages. It makes me want to turn the page.

In one of her videos, Stephanie mentioned that she alternates picture pages with decorative pages or journaling pages. This has been a great tip for keeping lots of white space in the small 4x4 We R Memory Keepers album that I am using for this project. 

I love that I am getting to use my embellishments but I need to add in some mixed media elements. This page is a blank canvas. My plan is to add some ink splats - at the very least. For pages like this, I'm using watercolor paper. That way, if I "ruin" it I can easily replace it and start again.

I like the idea of having the Thickers on the inside cover just not those Thickers. They don't go with any of the paper I have picked out so far.

There isn't any journaling in place yet but I have plans - like journaling on the white diagonal  lines.

I'm also breaking into my stash of vellum - finally and thank goodness! I love how vellum lets bits and pieces peek through but it also adds visual interest and a different texture.

I adhered another same-size photo to the back of the vellum to hide the adhesive.

And here's where I have stopped. This page is half done. I like the photo on the green paper but  that dot paper has to go somewhere else.

My thoughts after one week of this challenge can be summed up in one word - AWESOME! It feels so doable and I feel like I have accomplished something. The 4x4" size is perfect for getting things finished quickly. 

Although this album is roughly chronological, it is really following the stories of our daily life. Some days have multiple pages - like Canada Day - and other days don't have any pages at all. I like that I haven't had to choose which pages are pocket-worthy. If have pictures, I just add in pages.

So far, this is working for me. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thank for stopping by!

Cathie