New Class: Journal The Everyday & Mini-Book Kit

Journal the Everyday: A Self-Paced Mini-Book Kit & Online Class

I'm so happy to announce a new project I've been working on. After teaching classes in person, as well as guest teaching online for the past few years, I'll be putting my very own kit and class on sale later this month!

Journal the Everyday is a self-paced course designed to guide you through creating an entire 30 page mini-book with an emphasis on documenting the day-to-day moments in our lives. This kit works perfectly with the 30 Days of List challenge, I'll be working with this kit for my #30Lists book this March.

Included will be a .pdf showing you the steps I took to create each page of my book. There will be tips and techniques that will easily translate to project life and scrapbooking layouts too.

Everything you need to make your very own mini-book (besides adhesive and a pen) are included in this kit.

• Brand new paper from Elle's Studio, 
• Freckled Fawn washi & wood chips
• Basically Bare tiny tabs mini book
• a Lawn Fawn stamp set
• a 30 page step-by-step .pdf 
• & lots more

Subscribe to my newsletter & be the first to know when kits go on sale!

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5 Tips to Pre-Make a Holiday Minibook!

The holidays can be a crazy time, so I'm always looking for ways to make things easier for myself. This year I prepped a Christmas mini-book in advance, so that right after the holiday I can add pictures and journaling and finish it up!

5 Tips for Quickly Prepping a Holiday (or anytime) Minibook:

1. Start Small: A smaller book will take less time to decorate and fill. Because you aren't trying to document every single thing that happened, a smaller book will be much more manageable. 

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Make This Mini Book Right Now!

Today I'm sharing a quick way to create a super small album to document all your current favorites! Books, movies, tv shows, and any other 'right now' memories, the sky is the limit.

This is a no-photo mini album made entirely out of Basically Bare heart embellishment pieces. I used both the chipboard/cardboard hearts as well as one of the felt hearts.



To make this quick mini album: cover both sides of each of your heart pieces with patterned paper. Then punch a hole in the upper right (or left) hand corner of each heart. Decorate your hearts with alphabet stickers, journaling, & little embellishments. When you are finished, put a binder ring through the punched holes and your album is complete!

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Keep Your Holiday Notes in Here!

Today I'm sharing a Basically Bare mini-book that I transformed into a book to keep all my holiday notes & memorabilia in.

Throughout the holiday season I like to keep a notebook with me so that I can jot down gift ideas, keep receipts  gift cards, etc. I use a book with envelopes inside so that I can keep things a little secretive; I don't just want to leave my gift list out in the open.

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Grab 10 Random Pictures & Make a Minibook!

Sometimes I have a bunch of snapshots left over from other completed projects. I don't want to get rid of them so I throw them all in a box and leave them for another time. For this mini-book, I went into that box and picked out a bunch of pictures that have to do with 'home' and made a home-themed mini.

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Prepping a Holiday Mini with Basically Bare

Today I'm sharing a fun mini-book over at the Basically Bare blog. We're swapping with Bella Blvd and have some great inspirational holiday projects!

I pre-made this mini-book so that I could just fill it up with Christmas pictures and journaling. With all the holiday craziness, I wanted to create a book that would be easy to fill so that I could make sure to capture all those special moments that make each Christmas unique. I took the Casually Covered Wrap-Around album apart and rearranged the pages to better suit my project.  These books are super easy to take apart and put back together, don't be afraid to try it out!

You can see the entire post here: http://basicallybareonline.com/wordpress/?p=6717
I will also have a post here next week with some of my favorite tricks for pre-making a holiday minibook.

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Super Quick Mini-Album 'My Current Favorites'

Today I'm sharing a hand-made mini-book over on the Basically Bare blog. I love making these 'right now' books; its a quick way to create a super small mini album to document all your current favorite books, movies, tv shows, and any other 'right now' memories.



You can check out the entire project on the Basically Bare blog.

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Tips for Layering Acrylic Pages on Minibooks

Hi Everyone, today I'm sharing one of my favorite ways to decorate a mini-book over at the Basically Bare blog. There are also a couple of tips on layering with acrylic pages.  

I like making mini-books because they are self-contained and super easy to display. I have mini-books on display throughout my house. Because these books are set out for everyone to look at; one of my favorite ways to decorate a mini is to throw everything you can at the cover. Make the cover the star of your book.

See the entire post here: http://basicallybareonline.com/wordpress/?p=5878

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Hand-Cut & Color: A Vibrant & Quirky Layout

This layout was recently featured in Scrap365 Magazine out of the UK. I submitted it as part of a 'wallet sized photo' call. I'm lucky enough to now be on their design team & writing articles for the magazine. 

I highly recommend submitting to Scrap365. They have a fresh & trendy look and take projects that fit the same bill. So if you aren't having luck with the traditional US magazines, give Scrap365 a shot.

Layout Features

• 8.5x11 Grid Background with a hand doodled border
• Hand-cut squares backed with different patterned paper
• Marker-shaded flower
• Misting and handwritten journaling

InLinkz.com

Questions For You: 

• Have you made a layout about a person who inspires you? 
• Layout Bases: Cardstock or Patterned Paper? 

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Nifty Notebook Handmade by Me!

Today I'm sharing a handmade notebook made entirely of Basically Bare & Authentique products.

I'm a sucker for notebooks. I love writing myself notes, to-do lists, little stories, anything at all. I'm always buying myself new little notebooks to carry around in my purse, or to keep on my desk. Lately, I've gotten into making my own notebooks and today I'm going to share my newest creation.

To create your own notebook:

1. Take the chipboard, cardboard, and acrylic sheets from two 'Oh So Mini' packages (use any of the pages that have a flat top and bottom).
2. Trim all pages to 5" wide (trim off the right side -- leave the ring holes on the left hand side).
3. On the other 4 sheets use masking/washi tape to tape off cascading tabs (each tab should be .5" wide & 1.5" high) and trim the area above and below the taped 'tab' area.
4. Cover the pages with your favorite patterned paper and set aside
5. Trim a few sheets of your favorite patterned papers to 6"x4", and several sheets of graph paper (lined paper/index cards can be used too).
6. Punch holes through all pages and insert binder rings and arrange them so the paper is evenly distributed throughout the tabbed areas.
7. Decorate and enjoy!

InLinkz.com

Other: Washi Tape: Target; Flower: Curtsey Boutique;  Ink: Hero Arts

Remember to check out 30 Days of Lists for a great daily journaling challenge. It's great for anyone who likes to make lists, does project life, or just wants to make an effort to write a little more each day. You can win a spot in 30 Days of Lists by going here:

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#30 Lists Registration is Open!

I'm excited to announce that 30 Days of Lists registration is open!!

30 Days of Lists is a month-long project with daily list prompts, awesome inspiration, and a great community. I've been gearing up and I'm excited to start making lists and sharing them with everyone. 

The first 100 people who register are entered into a drawing for a Freckled Fawn embellishment kit -- and everyone who registers in the first two weeks will get a chance at some great Kerri Smith books.

Last night I finished up my listing journal -- a 3 ring book where I'll keep my lists (unless I put them in project life), I like using binding rings for any book that I'm going to continually add content to.


The book measures 4.5'x6'. It's made from a Basically Bare 'Oh So Mini'. Originally a 6'x'6 mini album, I trimmed the side down for a more traditional rectangular book.

The top layer is acrylic, covering a sheet of patterned paper that I ran through my Silhouette cameo. Then a hard chipboard sheet and one more cardboard sheet underneath.


I'd like to share this cut with everyone, so here is a link to download the 'lists september 2012' silhouette cut. It measures 4.5x6 inches, but you can manipulate it to the size you need -- and you can also easily eliminate the letters and run this cut for each page in your album! 
Please feel free to share this cut as you'd like, please link back to my blog:)
Can't wait to start sharing my lists with everyone. I'll be posting on instagram/twitter every day. Check out my landing page and sign up today!

http://30daysoflists.com/listers/rukristin/

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Misting and Whimsy

Hi Hi Everyone! 

Today I'm sharing this awesome layout I made last week for Basically Bare, and a step-by-step tutorial to go along with it. 

Because my style is generally colorful and graphic -- I tend to be sparse with my bigger/bulkier embellishments; but when I first saw the new faniciful frames, I knew they would make perfect masks to mist with.

 Today I'm going to show you step-by-step how to use basically bare chipboard and/or acrylic to make your own masks for misting.  This technique can be used with any of the chipboard or acrylic embellishments and is a great way to get a bunch of uses out of your product before gluing it down on a final project!

**Warning: VERY photo heavy** 

Post Continues After the Jump

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