Heavenly Crafts

Well, now that the pressure of the tax filing deadline has passed, I have some free time in which to craft, finally!  I do miss the scissors and glue when all I have time to do is work, work and then even more work on top of that....

Anyhow I thought I would try something different this time around and it turned out the Adela Rossol was having a customer blog hop.  Now, if you have never seen any of Adela's templates, you are in for a real treat if you go check them out at creationsbyAR.com.  There are some amazing templates there, and they would all definitely keep me out of mischief for quite some time!  Not only that, but if you leave a comment on each blog or on the Creations by AR Facebook page, you are automatically entered into the draw to win an as yet unreleased template - brilliant!  

If you have found your way here from the blog hop, here are the other participants: 




You should have arrived here from Raissa's blog, and the next stop is Gina,  but first, please take a look at what I made......

I'm a great believer in getting the most out of templates, so whilst I decided to use the library pocket set......




......I wanted to make more than just a card.  I mean, we buy these templates, right?  But do we really need to restrict ourselves to just the one type of use?  Why not get as much use out of them as possible, adapt them, play with them, have fun with them?  Yes, this library pocket set makes a great card front, but if you don't cut the flaps for the pocket on one side, you can also make a mini album!!!

I actually used a digital kit for this album, one I have had for a while but due to pressure of work (as always :( ), hadn't actually used.  I fell in love with this kit as soon as I saw it, and it seemed perfect for a romantic Valentine's album:



Isn't that gorgeous?  This is a really beautiful kit, and I have plans to make much more use of it!  But back to the library pocket set....

I started with the template, printed it out on plain white cardstock and then cut it out (I don't have a cutting machine although that is now top of my wish list!).  However, I did extend one side in order to make the album as shown here: 



It's a case of not cutting the template out on one side and then that forms the extra space needed to bind the pockets into an album.

I cut out six pockets and six tags (on cardstock with the digital papers printed on), then cut two covers to fit, covering those with printed digital papers.  I put the album together using my Bind-it-All machine and added skeleton leaves and organza ribbon to finish it off.  Plus, since this is Valentine's Day and all, I added some hearts using a Stampin' Up! punch.  I distressed the edges of the hearts using Milled Lavender distress ink, and added extra hearts to the inside pages using distress ink and the negative from the punched hearts:







The flower is from my ever faithful Tim Holtz tattered florals (I really don't know how I ever managed without that die!):




I love that die and it really shows up the variation in pattern on the papers. 

Here are tags:




And the inside pages:









Love those papers from the kit.  Of course, you can use any papers and I am already part way through another album using Stampin' Up! papers.

I then decided to use another of Adela's templates that I have, Tray Chic:



Isn't that neat?  I again used the same digital kit, this time with added Cadbury's buttons!





The buttons add the perfect finishing touch, don't you think?!!!  Of course, they are not going to last long in this household!

Please do take a look at the other entries in the blog hop.  Adela has some gorgeous templates and they have done some amazing work with them. Your next stop on the blog hop is Gina.  

Please remember to leave a comment below (and on the other blogs) to be in with a chance of winning an as yet unreleased template from Creations by AR.  Comments will be accepted through midnight Eastern time on Sunday, February 10. The blog hop winner will be announced on Monday February 11 on the Creations by AR Facebook page as well as on my blog. 

Happy scrapping!