"Project Summer" with Davinie Fiero!

Hello friends!  You may have noticed an absence of my monthly Project 12 post.  While I still document monthly in my scrapbooks, for the blog we wanted to share something a little different this summer that I hope you will consider.  It’s called:

"Project Summer - a mini album to remember"

My girls LOVE mini albums.  They love going through and laughing at old photos of themselves.  But they are still young.  Half the time Payton has some sort of cheese residue on her hands.  So my books get torn up.  The get looked at.  Because of that, I don’t make a ton of mini albums.  While I love that they enjoy looking at them, part of me cringes at the damage to the amount of work I put into them, especially the cover.  One of my most coveted albums is one I made when Payton was a baby.  It’s called “From the belly to a laugh; Payton’s first 6 months”.  Clever, huh?  I adore this album because of the journaling alone, but I really worked the scissors and the DMC floss on the cover, and it’s getting beat up to the point that I don’t want anyone to open it anymore, and that’s just sad.

With both my family and durability in mind, I decided to go for it this summer anyway.  As you may recall, for the Summer 2011 issue of SCT I created a summer mini album utilizing Fancy Pants products.  I love that album and it was such a great way to capture our life, so I decided to document our adventures with another album this year.

"Project Summer" is the same idea as Project 12.  Document your life.  Whether it’s a staycation with a BBQ in your backyard, a trip to the library, or a day at the lake, document it and add it to your album.  You don’t have to have children in order to make a fun mini album about your world either.  Share your garden or your dog, your adventures at the mall, at a restaurant, or a self-portrait.  Everyone has a life to share.

I started with the 8x10 journal from Studio Calico.   I chose this album for a few reasons.  First, I wanted to use jump rings so I could make it as thick as I wanted.  Second, I liked the chipboard cover and the embossed Chevron.  I also liked that there were 40 journal pages!  The journal pages are the thickness of notebook paper, bound together with that binding glue you often see.  I simply punched holes in the whole thing with my Cropadile and added it to my album.

To create the cover, I simply slipped the chipboard pieces in an 8.5 x 11 photo protector after spray painting them white.  I punched out a lot of confetti, some with two different sized hole punches, as well as a butterfly punch, added a title and a doily, and sewed the whole thing shut.  I then stitched in a grid pattern so that the confetti would continue to scatter on the front of my album.

This is a mini album to document our summer as a family.  I want my kids to participate too, and I thought an album like this would be perfect to take along with us on camping trips, etc.  I simply tear out a journal page and let each kid document our adventures.  To reinforce the edges, I used washi tape and fabrips on the inside of the punched holes. 

Another reason I created this album was because my family will be going on a fun adventure without me this summer.  I have a class I can’t miss, and it conflicts with a family reunion.  In advance I created a couple of pages for them, made space for Instagram photos, and will be sending the album along so that my hubby can keep track of their fun.  I can’t wait to see if this idea actually pans out.  Ha!

I am looking forward to this album and I hope you will play along with me!  I have a filter set up in the Studio Calico gallery that you can use to search for more summer mini album ideas.  Just choose Project Summer under the Challenge button here! 

I will be back this time next month with my progress so far, as well as other ideas for documenting your summer in a mini album.  And when the summer is over, Project 12 will resume and we will continue on that journey.  Of course we would LOVE to see your Project Summer mini album too.  Please either send us your pages at [email protected] and we'll put them in a gallery on the SCT website or link us to your Project Summer album in the comments below!

Have a GREAT summer.  Davinie

Comments

[Kathy P]

lOVE this album! Great ideas you have given us!

[NinaN]

Love this album and Project Summer is a great idea. But.......

I'm going to miss Project 12....

I'll just have to play along by myself. I hope the colour suite will still be posted!

[Brenda B]

Project Summer is such a fun idea...thanks for sharing your lovely album.

[Dorina D]

I love how you did the cover and protected it from greasy fingers. WOW! Have to ask, how easy was it sew through the the chipboard and other papers and what type of needle did you use. Thanks for sharing such a fun mini

[Lynn shaffer]

Oh what an awesome idea