Happy December! This week we are having a blog hop with Xyron, and
so I got to use an assortment of their products for this project, and I
have to say I am in L♥VE! Their glue stick is the best one EVER … it
glides on so smooth and holds so well. Not to mention it’s shape makes
it perfect for going into corners! Here is my project for this hop …
As you probably know … doing the ‘December Daily’ journals is a huge
thing these days, but I have never done one, simply because I know I
would never finish one, but I love the idea of this diary styled mini
album! I am huge into making myself aware of ‘little gifts’ … you
know, little intangible things that happen to brighten your day. They
can be as simple as seeing a cardinal on your feeder, the first snow of
winter, your child getting a great grade at school, finding $10 in your
coat pocket that you had forgotten about, or chatting with a friend from
far away. Just anything that brings a smile to your face and warms
your heart.
For this diary I used the Basically Bare ‘Tiny Tabs’ mini album and
Lily Bee Designs ‘Christmas Cheer’ collection of papers and stickers.
For the front cover, I used a ruler and kraft knife and cut a line just
through the top layer of kraft paper from the corrugated cover, then
sprayed it with a mist of water and waited for a couple of minutes.
Then I easily pulled the top layer off, revealing the corrugated
cardboard. I did leave about 1/2 inch of the top layer where the
binding holes are for extra security. Next up I cut a few triangles
from the paper for a pennant, and a couple of bits of coordinating
cardstock that I applied letter stickers to and ran them through the
Xyron 1.5″ Create A Sticker tool. I really love this thing for adding
adhesive to chipboard, stickers that have lost their tackiness, and
small bits of paper! Then I simply applied the new stickers to the
front cover.
I cut rectangles of patterned paper just smaller than each page. The
pages (not counting the binding) are approximately 3″ x 5 1/4″, so I
cut the patterned paper to 2 3/4″ x 5″. Then I adhered them to the
pages and inked all the edges with brown ink. To adhere the patterned
paper to the pages, I used the Xyron Mega Runner, and I can honestly say
I now have a very favorite new tape runner! This one’s refills hold
100 feet of tape, and each refill has a little cover that is hinged and
pops up to cover the end of the tip so you don’t mess up the adhesive.
And the adhesive holds great!
Then for each page I cut a piece of white card stock (Bazzill ‘Card
Shoppe’) to 4 1/2″ x 2 1/4″ then trimmed the top and bottom using a
decorative border punch. I adhered these to the pages using the Xyron
Glue Stick, added number stickers from the Lily Bee Design collection
for 25 days. Next I simply cut small lengths of Tim Holtz’ Idea-ology
Tinsel Twine – Winter and tied it to the spiral binding. I also punched
3 holes into the tabs on the clear acrylic sheets in the album and ran
more of the Tinsel Twine through the holes and tied it on. This added
lots of color and texture to the album.
The Tiny Tabs mini is perfect for this, as it has 13 pages plus the
two covers, and leaves you with enough pages for the 25 days plus a
couple of pages for notes. And if you have a few small photos that you
want to add, you can do that, too!
Thank you so much for visiting today, and to Xyron for joining us in
the fun blog hop! Please check out all of the Xyron and Basically Bare
Design Teams pages for lots of more crafty goodness!
Blessings,
