Hello! I just came back from convention and want to share some unique scrapbooking ideas. At convention I took a workshop where we made a photo album out of flip flops. The instructor had made the first one for her daughter, and put in vacation photos from their tropical honeymoon. She mass produced the idea for us. To buy the flip flop kit, it's made by Quick Quotes. If you can't find it at their site, or want me to offer their kit so you can pay for it with paypal or combine shipping with my other items, let me know. I don't know if she does worldwide shipping. I don't think so. But I do!

I was walking around Target today and thought up a similar idea using baby's first shoes and baby pictures. You just need an accordion style album in between and sturdy craft glue. I'm going to look into selling a great craft glue I found for this purpose. If you have thick glue dots, that might work. This new product is a wet glue especially formulated for scrapbooking on unique surfaces.

I also thought the baby shoe idea would work with baby's first bib (just wash off the drool first =-) ). Bibs are made of cloth, and cloth is very flexible, so the bib could be reinforced with a board or wood. Look at Michaels and see if any circular or rounded balsam wood pieces will work. Then glue it to the bib then covered the exposed board in pretty paper or sew a covering of fabric to the bib and insert the board. Measure twice, cut once! If you're going to use a paper backing with distressing, glue the bib on after distressing the paper side. Youtube has some great instructional videos on distressing done by APieceOfCraft, and they also have done some really cute mini albums. If you don't like how used the bib looks, pick one that's not as worn, or buy a new one that's kinda similar, or totally different if you want. Noone says you have to use a permanently stained bib if you don't want to. Or try a bleach pen made by Tide, then toss it in the wash again. If you want me to offer the bib or shoes as a kit, let me know. I live right by a Michael's and don't mind looking for you.

Kiss and Tell scrapbooking has made a Youtube video on making an album out of beer cartons. Check it out, at least! It gave me a chuckle.  

APieceofCraft also has a video on wet embossing and glittering over chipboard letters. A great idea! And a good point. She bought cheapies from Big Lots or somewhere for a buck or two, then changed the bright color to shiny black, with glitter. She shows you how in her video. Totally cool. I'm going to try it!

At convention we made an album out of CD envelopes. I didn't like the paper she used so when I get a minute I'll redo it and offer it as my own kit. I'm looking for color suggestions, else I'll use my favorite summer colors of orange, green, blue, yellow, in softer, denim like shades, maybe some coral or warm pinks, too. The album is designed great; the way it's bound with ribbon you can add pages later and make it thicker.

I also think a CD mini album would look smart in black and white, with pearl. I mean, c'mon, am I the only one who has a CD of pictures from a family wedding? I think it would look smart for CD storage and show off some favorite wedding photos, too.

Scenic Route was at convention. I like their easy style. They have these lightly patterned background papers with lines or tiles that make it easy to line up photos and lettering. Smart! They have a limited range of these papers, though. I'll have to look for some more that would apply.

Well, I'm off to see if I can turn the shoes I wore at my sister's wedding into an album. I'll meet you at my craft table! ;-) Later!

xoxo

Sherri, Owner, Scrap Force