A Thankful Heart Mini Album

In September, I decided I wanted to make a Thanksgiving album that my whole family would contribute to at Thanksgiving dinner. I worked up a few ideas and ended up teaching a class at our annual Holiday Extravaganza on this album.

I cut out 6 4 inch tags for each person and had a bunch of embellishments on the table. Everyone had a great time putting it together and creating the base of the album in a way they liked. I loved how it came out!

Now, to try this on a larger scale!

I decided that I wanted a picture on each tag as well as my family writing. I thought about using the printer but decided that would be too time consuming.  A dear friend has an instant camera so I decided to try that out.

 I always loved the old Polaroids even though the quality was so poor. Sometimes they were great for quick projects. This new instant camera by Fuji worked great. Again, the quality is not as good as a digital camera. But it was quick and easy (and a bit pricey- don't waste these shots!).

My craft room was cleared out to make a large dining area so I had to set up a crafting area in my bedroom. My daughter and I set up the tags (cut from the Art Philosophy cricut cartridge at 6 inches), paper, ink, and embellishments on my dresser ready to go. As people arrived, one of us would take a quick picture then go into the bedroom and put it on the tag.  We embellished the tag quickly, leaving a space at the bottom to write. Just before we served dinner, Cait and I handed out the tags and asked each person to write what they are thankful for.

My daughter, Elyse, writing her tag

My daughter, Cait, handing out the tags.

I was surprised that I only had a few grumbles (from my brothers, of course!) but everyone wrote on their tag. My big mistake was not having enough quality pens. I didn't think about gathering them up beforehand. I found 2 archival quality black pens right when we started the writing portion of the project. I must have a dozen in various bags and places around the house. I should have grabbed them before guests came.

I put each card on a binder clip and ended up with a completed album before our celebration was over. 23 tags in all.

I will switch my binder clip to a larger size and add some ribbon on the clip. But other than that, it is perfect!

Items used:

Thankful Heart stamp set

Pathfinding Paper Pack

Gold Sequins

Gold Shimmer Trim

Chocolate Ink

Art Philosophy Cricut Collection

Pinterest Inspiration

I think Glacier is my newest favorite color in our color palette.  That light blue is just gorgeous. I saw a pin on Pinterest this morning with glacier colored flowers and knew that I had to make it! The pin sent me back to Alyson Mayo's blog where I found so many lovely, glacier flowers. I was in heaven. So, I made one. Here is my result (with which I am quite happy!).

And the inside:

I used the Cricut Artiste Cartridge to cut the flowers and the leaves. The paper used is Pathfinding, chocolate, glacier, and daisy white. The stamp set is Your Own Kind of Wonderful. I used the gold dots from the Yuletide Carol Assortment for the flower centers. But the flower inside the card has a different center. I want the card to close flat. So, I punched a circle from the gold shimmer trim to make the center of that flower.

You can find everything to create this card on your own on my website. Enjoy!