I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

mini book

26 in 26 Mini Book- Progress #1

My 25 in 25 list fell flat on it’s face last year. I debated doing a 26 in 26 list this year because of how rough it had started. Thankfully I decided that it would be fun and I would enjoy the challenge in getting all those things done, as well as documenting those accomplishments/milestones.

I decided that a mini book would be best for this process. When I did my 25 in 25 I documented my items all on a 2page LO in my yearly scrapbook. It is great to look at that page to see my goals, but I didn’t have anything to go along with checking them off and documenting meeting my goals. So my mini book idea was born.

The concept behind the book was to have my list of 26 items so I could track my progress, as well as a place to put the photos documenting the things I accomplished. But how oh how would I do this in the book? A list in the very beginning and then the rest of the pages would get filled in? No, that did not seem right. It made the list seem disconnected from the items, as well as repeative since I would clearly need to rewrite my thing with the photo.

So my book was developed to have each item to have a L page and a R page. The goal would be listed at the top of the L page. This would leave the remaining portion of that page for my journaling and the whole R page for photos. I understand that there will be times I will want to change things up if I have more journaling/photos but it’s working for now.

I’m hoping that I really make a better go at accomplishing this list of 26 items than last years 25 things. I will periodically post about my progress of the list, as well as how my book is coming together.

Unlock Your Story- Scrapbooking Class

I just completed an online scrapbooking class taught by Elizabeth Kartchner. She is one of my favorite scrapbookers and bloggers. This is the second class I have taken from her and I have enjoyed it jsut as much as the first one.

The class was called ” Unlock Your Story” which was focused on scrapbooking about yourself or even a close relationship and REALLY journaling about it. I was drawn to this class because I often find myself scrapbooking about things, and not myself. Additionally, my journaling is basic by just touching on what is happening at that moment and I really wanted to force myself to open up and develop my story, whatever that may be.

I signed up for the class and got the kit (Thanks Mom!) because I love getting to use what the teacher is using as well, maybe not the same way but I love having the same materials. That being said I used the class instructions as a starting point. I always stray from the agenda but always get something that I love in the end. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I didn’t like what Liz was teaching, but I always have that lesson to refer to so I might as well experiment a little bit and see what I come up with. If I don’t like it I can go back to the exact lesson plan, since that was what was really intended.

The thing I loved the most was getting to make paper flowers (shown on the first envelope). I know I will be using this technique in my own future pages. They are so lovely and add a lot of dimension to the page.

I have not done my journaling for the class yet since that was the main focus and I really could not focus on it these past 2 weeks. Plus, I knew that some of the things I would write would be reflective and rather private so I did not want it posted up on the blog. So my next step to wrap this up is to do the rest of the journaling.

If you have the chance to take a class that Liz is offering, jump at it. They are so much fun!

Mini Book: Weekend Escape

I recently took an online workshop about mini books from Amy Tangerine. I was so glad that she offered this class because I was so interested in her style of scrapbooking. Most of her scrapbooks are these minis that she creates, often by sewing the book together. While the class taught how to make these books, I decided to get the class kit anyway. The kit included a sewn mini book and embellishments for it.  Sweet!

During the class I made another book, well 2 that I combined. I’m using that as a gift later on, so more on that when the time comes. I used the provided kit, with some additional embellishments, for this past weekend Price and I spent in upstate NY. We went to visit family and going to wineries- this was the perfect opportunity to use this book because of the size. Additionally, Amy taught about her process in packing and preparing for scrapbooking on the go. She makes herself a kit that allows her to scrap, even on planes!

The most exciting thing about this is that I am done with my mini book. That is really record timing for me. Very impressive considering I only worked on it for a a bit over the weekend and at random points during the week. Pretty cool considering how hectic my week was with staying late, going in early, creating my Halloween costume, and a crocheting class. I do look forward to the point when I get it done even fast. Still very excited it’s done within a week since I still have not finished my DC book from our June trip. I’d say that this trip mini book experience has been a great success. 🙂

It was the first time that I scrapbooked on the go as well. My kit was much, much larger than Amy’s example but it’s a start. On Saturday night I sat down and started to map out and journal some pages. I’m a big planner so I realized that my future kits will need post it’s in it to block out picture locations, until I have them printing.

Aside from the ‘scrapbooking-on-the-go’, I enjoyed this class because it made me try new things. Typically, I don’t include souvenirs or write so much, but this class featured that scrapbooking style. I felt ‘safe’ doing those things in a mini book since it is a bit more whimsical compared to my 12×12 pages. This approach was really nice because I was able to toss in bits and pieces from the different wineries we went to. Even the sticker from the bakery I went to went into the book.

Overall I enjoyed the techniques I learned during this class. One of the big things is that I will sew text and embellishments into layouts and books in the future. I love the look and the process of it. I can also hand sew some mini books in the future.  Time to experiment and do some more scrapbooking!!!