Crafty Sentiments Christmas release

 We are starting to show you sneak peeks of the July Crafty Sentiments release - are you feeling Christmasy?  I hope so as we have 12 simply gorgeous, cute Christmas stamps for you.

Do pop over to the inspiration blog as there are details on how you can win an early Christmas present!
I have made a paper bag album to give to my niece this year. Her parents will be able to add photos of her Christmas and do some journalling as well.

I used Hohoho for the front of the album and coloured the image in using my pens.  I added stickles and pearl pen to create a frosty look.  The design paper is Basic Grey and I added some ribbon and a tag, and a chipboard sliegh and snowflake painted in silver glitter paint.

 Inside I used Oh Tree, again coloured using my pens.  I used the flap that would be the bottom of the paper bag to crete a pocket and put a kraft diecut into it to add a photo to.  I added the tag so the photo could be annotated.
 And here is a close up of that adorable image.

For the centre pages I used Time for Presents, again coloured with my pens.

 

I created a pocket again and this time put a covered tag in it.  I popped the image onto the flap so it would rest over the tag.  I added a die cut square for a photo of her opening her presents.   Here is a photo showing the tag.

 And a close up of the image - how cute is that?!!

For the final page I used Christmas story, again coloured with my pens.

 There is no flap on this page so I simply decorated the pages, and added a space for photographs.  I loeft the tops of the bgs open so I can add some tags for them to add extra photos and journalling.  I am also putting some more embellishments in so my niece can add her own touch to each page - that is why they are a little bare at the moment!!

Its really simple to make the album - it is simply brown paper bags stitched together!!  For this one i used 2 bags, but you can use as many as you want.

 I lined them up, folded them in half and stitched them up the centre.   You can punch holes in them if you want and fasten with rings or ribbon - this works better for albums with more pages.

I put both my flaps on the left hand side of the album this time, but often I muddle them up to create a variety of pages.  To create the pocket, I simply add thin double sided tape to the back of the flap at the top and bottom and then stick it down.

 

If you don't want to use the insides of the bags for tags or little extras, simply stick them down.

 Challenges: