It's finally finished - Dad's childhood album

Incredible... I can't believe Mick's childhood album is finally finished. Completely. I've scanned the 20 pages in and ordered little 8" by 8" softcover photobooks of the final results to give as gifts to family members.

It's the first album I started and the third I've actually finished. It includes an eclectic range of techniques as I've been learning along the way. I've tried to stick to a colour theme of vintage brown, green and blue and kept patterened paper to a minimum. But I think it showcases how great stamping is in scrapbook albums.

I read a great tip in Scrapbooking Memories magazine which is - when you finish a scrapbook project, keep the leftovers for cards. A great idea as everything sort of matches and you could make several while it's still all fresh in your mind.

Layered ink technique on recycled card

My favourite thing is to use recycled cardboard for cards which I use from boxes and packaging around the house. The paper trimmer cuts a nice line and I do the rest with a craft knife. The kraft colour is great - it dominates everything I make at the moment.

I wanted to try out a new technique of layering colours using only inks. I stamped with my handwriting stamp first in a light colour, then used a stamped image of leaves (which I'd cut out of paper but had leftover from another project) so I used it as a mask to ink over with the red. I'll need to go easy next time - it's pretty heavy when you're using coloured card. Then I stamped with my angel image.

I had already stamped the flourish (Fancy Pants designs) on top of some acetate leftover from the last project so I cut it out and stuck it on top of the card using mounted foam squares (coloured in black with a pen). The fun of this is you can run the design off the page but I decided to be more conservative this time and keep it within the edges.

See-through acetate CD gift card

I made this card to hold the CD I compiled as a gift for my sister. As the CD pen seems to have run out of ink, I experimented with other kinds. In the end I used the pens that are designed to write on non-porous services (white boards and overhead transparencies). These items are virtually obselete by now I guess.

I used the Staz On black ink to stamp the flourish on the card itself and it seems to have dried ok. I folded the card three times using a wooden ruler, so as not to scratch the transparency. The top is tied together with string, through a little hole made with a hole punch.

Looking forward to experimenting more with transparencies.

Tim Holtz distress inks

Tim Holtz demonstrates using the distress ink around the edges and note the way he sprays the ink with water for a watermarked effect. Haven't tried that yet.

How to make your own rub-ons with 'Ask Erin

This is an exciting new discovery... making your own rubs ons. Who can afford a thousand rubber stamps? Great for others like me, who like 'hybrid' scrapbooking and use the computer for lots of journalling and imagery. Haven't tried it yet but have some transparency that I can use.

Happy Birthday Dave

This unusual looking piece of card I found at the 'SA Stamping and Scrapbooking Fair' yesterday contains textured stripe on one side and black on the other. I thought it would be fun to have black on the inside of the folded card instead of the usual white. I used my white Signo gel pen to write the inscription and used white chalky ink on my foam stamps for the "h" and 'b". I gently sponged Tim Holtz distress ink on the front cover to bring out the stripes and rubber stamped the main image onto recyled cardboard packaging. It was attached with foam mounting squares to give the 3-D effect. The other images, the text and flower, were stamped last with the same white chalky ink used earlier. I like the result but need to practise the new technique. I learnt it from the teachers at "Seriously Scrapbooking" yesterday. This is going to revolutionise scrapbooking for me as I'm interested in making my own papers and papers for layouts and cards.