Grad *Mini Book Monday*

Hi, hello and welcome to this week's installment of *Mini Book Monday! I'm really very excited to share this mini with you all. It's been a little labor of love as I've created the thing entirely from scratch.

May being Graduation month and all, I figured now was a good enough time to scrap some of my own graduation memories, even though I graduated nearly a year and a half ago. As it goes in scrapbook, it's never too late to scrap those memories!

I created this custom mini to look like a graduation cap, using black fabric, a fabric brad and a Jolee's tassle. Super simple and super easy to put together! The binding on the other hand, not so easy to put together. I used the coptic binding method and this video to help me along the way.

As you can see, the insides aren't put together yet, but I'll post an update with them, later on this week. For now they're blank little canvases, just waiting to be filled! I used the new Basic Grey 6x6 White Basics pad for all of the inside pages. They're a great alternative to just plain white cardstock.

Don't forget to check back later this week to see the finished project. Oh, and also don't forget that one lucky commenter of one of the 4 *Mini Book Monday* posts, will win a fun *Mini* RAK! Comment away :)

xxbesos

j.leija

Cardstock Confessions

So I learned something new about my scrapping today. It's today's cardstock confession. Here it is... Idon'tthinkI'magoodcardmaker. There! I said it!

I struggled so long with my mom's mother's day card today. Literally hours! And it was just one little card. I don't know if it's the small space, or not having a photo, or what? But I realized that I'm hardly ever satisfied with the cards that I make. So I went hunting around for inspiration and some basic elements I could apply to my card making.

Now around the interweb, when one thinks of making cards, Kristina Werner instantly comes to mind. She's a graphic designer, a 2Ps Garden Girl and the host of the weekly Finally Friday & Make a Card Monday video series. Every Monday & Friday she makes a card to share via a neat little video on her blog. What better place for inspiration than Kristina, right?

So I came across some older cards she made using the Basic Grey June Bug line. She created three cards highlighting some truly great product. But what appealed to me the most, were the basic feel to the cards. These are my scraplifted versions of her beautiful cards.

I too wanted to highlight some of my own favorite products so here's my plug for them :) Beyond the basic cardstock card, I really only used 3 products and some scraps. A gorgeous sheet of double sided printed cardstock by The Girls' Paperie, it's called Travel Skirt (btw, how adorable is that?!) Seriously, this is the single greatest piece of paper that I've come across recently. Not only does it have a multi colored circle/diamond pattern on the one side, it has a fun red polka dot on the other. It had me at red polka dot!

I also wanted to showcase some of those letter stickers I'm addicted to! The first set, is a black printed chipboard Thicker by American Crafts. You really don't want to know how many sets of Thickers I have!! [......51 bah!! I don't even want to think of how much $$ that is retail!] But I use them ALL of the time. Just checked, I've tagged Thickers 41 times on this blog. I'm pretty sure it's the most used "product" in my repertoire. It's a super quick way to add dimension to your page or project.

The second set, is a smaller sticker in a really great font, the yellow Origins Micro Mono letters by Basic Grey. Now I know yellow letter stickers can seem very themey, but I've already used these so many times on so many projects; a few pages about Urijah (one with a lot of journaling), a travel page, and also these cards. And I'm only just now beginning to run out of certain letters. If you're looking for a good alpha in a versatile font that's small enough for journaling and large enough (if you need it to be) for title work, than the micro letters by Basic Grey are the way to go. I now own these in white, manilla, black and red!

So after poking around Kristina's site for awhile, and then scraplifting her cards, I wanted to share just a few of the basic elements she used to create them and essentially what I learned about her style of making cards. Now this is just from my observation, I haven't asked her about this or anything. And this also isn't by any means a comprehensive list! Just a few things I've noted.

1. Layering: the girl loves layering and boy is she good at it! It adds real dimension to her cards, especially when she "pop dots" between the layers. And because she layered her latest MACM card, she was able to thread a ribbon in and around. How cute is that?!
2. Rounded corners: if all else fails, round the corner. I think it adds a nice touch to projects and gives them a more finished look. Seems like Kristina agrees with me :)
3. Pens: faux stitching is everywhere on her cards. I love the look and homemade feeling it conjures up! And it's done simply with a white pen. Not only does she "stitch" a fair amount she also peppers in her handwriting for writing sentiments or adding a filler word here and there. If you haven't already, invest in a white pen.

So that is what I learned about cards, this day that I've admitted to not being good at card making, And now that I've gone all Julie and Julia on her, I think I might drop Kristina an e-mail. You know, now that we're on a first name basis after all ;)

Oh and I feel the need to mention this from time to time, but anything bolded and in a different color (usually red) is a link. So please click through to visit Kristina's site, the cards that I scraplifted or to purchase the awesome supplies I just mentioned.

The easy parts done. I made the cards and typed up the blog post. Now to figure what's getting sent to whom...

xxbesos

j.leija

3M *Mini Book Monday*

Hi, hello, and welcome to this first [late] edition of Mini Book Monday! This is my creation for the week, a mini of a weekend trip I took to Morocco, the summer of 2008. My travel partners that go around were Kori, my perpetual travel mate, and our friend Mark. We also, along the way, acquired "new" Marc, a cutie from Cally who we adored!

Surprisingly, I don't have many good photos from this trip, back then I was on a scrapbooking hiatus and thus not thinking in scrapbook mode. I was just going with the flow and was more worried about living in the moment, than having photos to remember the moments by! C'est la vie! But that's also one good reason for making a mini: not enough photos to make a whole 12x12 album and too many photos for more than a few layouts.

I'm calling this the 3M update because it's a Mini about Marrakech, Morocco using lots of Maya Road and Maya Mist! [I suppose technically it could be the 6M post but we'll keep it simple.]

The album itself is the Maya Road Canvas Pocket Binder Book. This is the first time I've ever used canvas in my scrapbooking and I have to say I now LOVE it! It's so versatile! You can paint it, draw on it, mist it. You name it :)

I didn't really have a solid plan of how I was going to decorate the cover so I just went to town with some gold and orange mist, turquoise acrylic paint, some decorative chipboard, and Thickers. I love the color from the mist and the paint. And I love the dimension from the chipboard and the Thickers!

For the inside pages, I used the Basic Grey Marrakech collection. How appropriate ;) I have to add that this is line is by far and away my most favorite of all of the Basic Grey lines! And that's saying something! I love the great blues and oranges, the fun patterns, the great shapes. Now having been to Marrakech, it just seems Morocco to me! But I also think it's a versatile enough line so don't shy away from the "theme" of it. You can make it work for just about anything.

I wanted to include a lot of journaling, so that I'd be able to tell the story and my perspective of the few photos I did end up taking. Oh!! And I have to add that I used a few of my friend Marc's (a Moroccan acquisition) photos in this book, too supplement my paltry group of photos. He had some really amazing shots! I'll point them out along the way.

The basic formula for this book was 4x5 in photo coupled with a 4x5 in rectangle of that amazing BG patterned paper. I printed a title for most of the pages using the AL Modern Type font and added my handwritten journaling plus whatever sticker or chipboard embellishments I felt would enhance it. This was a total BG production and I think that's just fine.

I wanted the photos for this mini to be as large as possible, because there are so many things going on in them. Morocco was a virtual schmorgesbord of activity, color, scent, etc. Believe me, the photos do not do it justice.

It seems that light was a reoccurring theme in these photos. I'm so happy I was able to capture a beam of sunlight streaming in through the slats in the "roof" of the Souks. It really shows you how piecemeal this massive market truly is!

This was one corner of the Souks that Mark and I came across. It was ramshackle and dilapidated. Almost as if a bomb had gone off. There was graffiti and rubble everywhere. But it also wasn't for sale. A point made in spray paint on the wall. Very interesting for an area completely bent on haggling and selling. As I was taking this photo, Mark was about 20 ft behind me hassling over the price of a jewelry box.

And of course, I had to include a photo of the Djemaa el Fna, the large square in the medina and the center of it all, quite literally, in Marrakech. If this photo looks blurry and disorienting, then it did the actual scene slight justice. Words cannot even describe all that was going. People were putting on magic tricks, playing with cobras, offering photos with monkeys, drumming on bongos, selling food, begging, milling about and a million other things. It was so hard to take it all in!

Which is why we decided to get out of the city for a bit. The next day we did a day trip out to the foothills of the Atlas Mountains and into the Ourika Valley.

In such sharp contrast to the "bustle" (if you can call it that) of Marrakech, was the quiet restfulness of the countryside.

Also on the agenda for the day, a hike to a waterfall. Lets just say we weren't exactly prepared for hiking that day, at least Kori and I weren't. These are the shoes we showed up in. We thought it would be fine considering our guide was wearing those plastic gelly sandals. Boy were we wrong! He ended up being a little mountain goat in those things! K-train and I did our best to keep up.

The falls were definitely worth it! A virtual oasis in the middle of the hot Moroccan mountains! Marc captured the footpath we had to walk across to get them and a few people luxuriating in the welcoming cold water. Being the non-outdoorsy type, I was just happy to not be hiking anymore!

These last few photos are my favorites (the above is one of Marc's). They're of real Moroccan women going about their day to day lives. And that's what I love so much about traveling. Getting to see how other cultures live and learning about their customs and traditions is truly thrilling to me. Even the mundane aspects of their lives take on new meaning for an outsider looking in.

The final page is a wrap up of our trip. I'd be lying if I said Morocco was the most fantastic place I'd ever visited. It's dirty and hot and often times disorienting. But while it wasn't my favorite, it still was an adventure and a new place to explore. I'll always have those memories and now, I have a fun mini as well.

Thanks for stopping by this inaugural Mini Monday! Leave me a comment to tell me what you think. What kind of mini books you like to make. What themes and places and events? I'd love to hear from you. And don't forget, one lucky comment-or, from one of the four planned Mini Monday posts will win a special Mini themed RAK! Can't wait to hear from you all :) Happy scrapping!

xxbesos

j.leija