Victory Layouts

The Victory Paper Packet (X7150B) is a wonderful set for those outdoor and boy photos.

Besides the Victory Pack, I used Tough Tags (Z1692) and the Color Ready Cork Alphabet (Z1450). Along the edges of the pictures and paper, I used the Edge Distresser (Z1297). I love to add a lot of pictures on one page. I know the "in" thing is to have one picture and more open space or art. But I can't seem to do that. My albums are more about the pictures than the art. I like pictures, pictures and more pictures! So, I tend to print my pictures as wallet sizes.

Again I have a lot of pictures on one page. This time I added a little mini album. Basically, I cut a 12 by 12 piece of card stock in thirds. Then I folded it at 3 3/4 inch. You need a little extra left over at the end to use as an anchor for the next piece. Glue them together with strong adhesive to make the little booklet.

Mini Albums

Since I limit the main family album to no more than 1 page per day, I need some place for those extra pictures. Yes, I did write one page per day. Not one layout-- one page. Most pages represent several days with a single page to highlight one particular day of the week.

I have had a lot of fun with mini albums which help me with all those extra photos that I want to keep but not have in my main album, the 365 project album. I have made mini albums out of chip board, card stock, paper bags, and tags. There are so many different ways to make a mini album.  A friend of mine found an address book at the dollar store. She took out the address pages, added card stock, decorated the cover, and added pictures. It ended up a wonderful mini album of her daughter's birthday party.

This is a mini album I made of our trip to Tahoe in January. I actually made the album without pictures in November anticipating our snow trip. However, January came and there was no snow in the Sierras, something that never happens. When I added the pictures to the album I added "not so" to the "Snowy Days" title.

I like to add a lot of pictures on a page. I tend to use wallet size photos with the occasional 4 x 6. I do this in my 12 x 12 album as well. I know the style is to have one picture per page but that would never work for me. I like my albums to show my artistic side but the primary purpose of the albums is to document my family. One photo per page just doesn't cut it.

I used the My Creations All Sorts Mini Album (Z1224) as a base with the Winter Wonderland paper pack. You can use just about anything to create a mini album but Close To My Heart has a few templates to make it a little easier. I like easy.

Mini albums make great gifts too. For my daughter's first birthday, my sister in law made her an ABC mini album. Each letter represented a picture on the page. Q was a photo of Cait on her favorite quilt. It was a wonderful gift that I will cherish forever. Making a little album, decorated but without photos, is great for that friend who always admires your albums but is not interested in doing her own. She would just need to print a few pictures and have her own album.

Try out a mini album today!

It’s Stampaganza Time!

I'm so excited about the June special. Yes, we do have a great stamp of the month as usual. But, we are also offering buy 2 stamp sets, get 1 free! What a great deal!

Close To My Heart does insist that the lowest price stamp set is the free one. This is a good time to grab 3 alphabets to give you a savings of $29.95. The June stamp of the month, Life is Tweet, is a very cute stamp set, but is not part of the sale.

You can purchase it for just $5.00 with a $50 order or $17.95. It is just not part of the buy 2, get 1 free event.

So, now is the time to stock up on those stamp sets! I too will be shopping because after all can we ever have enough stamps, ink, and paper?