Free Summer Travel Suitcase Mini Scrapbook Album with Step By Step Tutorial for International Scrapbooking Day

Welcome to The Cherry On Top and a super happy International Scrapbooking Day to you.

I had to rush through this project so it would be ready for you, but I just know you are going to love it. I might have to go back and take my time with another trip. This project can be whipped up in no time. Go hybrid or traditional. I went hybrid for mine.

This project has been on my short list for years. I finally got around to designing a fun layered template which you can grab in my shop, Kreative Design Studio. What better collection to use than my very own, Roam If You Want To. The colors are very fresh, fun and ideal for summery images.

Isn't it so cute?

Grab the download and add pictures, elements and more to the mini pages. Here's a close up of my pages. I did it all in PhotoShop Elements using my, Roam If You Want To Collection. The pages with the large photos weren't really all that ideal when folded with the other page on top.

Here are a few pages from the freebie including the super fun cover. Below are the printable pages.

Once you've designed and scrapped your pages, print them out and cut to perfection. I'd recommend a standard to light weight paper for the insert. Especially if you are going to have a lot of pages. You might want to consider picture placement and how your pages will look once folded and in the book.

Score down the middle of the suitcase template as shown. This will create a sweet little spot for your fill in pages. I scored mine with a ruler and a bit of pressure. You'll get a close up of that further down.

I scored all of my pages after adhering them back to back. This will make the fold or binding so much nicer and easier.

Using the regular printer paper didn't give my cover much support. You can either print your cover on more rigid paper or do what I did which was trace the template on to some lovely, rigid card stock that matched the colors from the collection.

There we go. All set! Note how I put the template at the bottom of the paper. No need to waste such lovely card stock, right?

OK, I'll admit. I started scrapbooking 30 years ago and I still go old school. Besides, I still don't own a cutting machine. I'm one of those people that do things by hand, slowly, carefully, quietly. I don't like using appliance and noisy machines. Of course, I'm on a tight budget, being a stay at home mom with little action in the shop. So, I often fussy cut and trace.

Below is how ya get to the center to make a cut out. These fussy cutters are awesome. The tips are very, very sharp. It was easy to pierce a hole through the middle of the triangle. Make a cross and work your way around. It's not difficult at all. Even with arthritic hands.

There's my scoring tool. Keep it simple, people. Line up the ruler where ya want to fold and gently press against the ruler for a score. Do it twice as shown.

Now you've got a perfect binding area.

Use double sided tape down the middle and add your first page, carefully. You can choose where you want to line it up so you get the perfect fit. I used the ends of the suitcase then the widest part, along the top for the perfect alignment.

Our first page is in and now we are ready for the second page. Y'all! All three rolls of my double sided tape were useless! I left them in the brutal attic heat to die. Hehehe...This tiny double sided tape was the only one still sticking. That's why there are two lines of double sided tape. If you love your scrap stuff, do not put it in the attic!!! Hehehe...

See how nice it all matches? Many beginners do no realize how important color is. Keep the same colors throughout your project for a better look. Since we used the rigid paper for the cover, our project stands up perfectly on its own. Whoo hoo! 

Because we glued our pages back to back they were very rigid.

Use our printables as is or use it as a template and design your own suitcase. The printable is nearly what you see here, below. I added the design in the middle. Your printable is the full flower pattern.

I hope you liked today's tutorial, project and fun free printables. If so, leave me a comment. I'd love to see your project. Share it here with a link or pop over to the group and share it there.

Happy scrapping!

 

Free Digital Scrapbooking Template, Free Scrapbooking Kit and Full Instructions on How to Digital Scrapbook

 A very warm welcome, crafters and page artists.

Click the image or above link to get to the awesome blog and download this free digital collection of papers, elements and sticker sheet.

Blogger has deleted nearly all of my images. My apologies. The link with the video is at the bottom. There you can see it all happen.

Step 1) Open the free template and clip in any other paper you might want to use over layer 1 and 2 by right clicking and choosing, clipping mask.

Step 2) Go to the layers panel, click on the background layer and right click/duplicate layer. Size the new layer that you'll use for your picture by selecting the move tool. It look like a cross with arrows.

Step 3) Duplicate your new photo spot if you'd like another spot and size and place them how you like on the background paper.

Step 4) Slide in your photos from the gallery over your photo spot and right click, clipping mask.

Step 5) Go to the effects panel and add some shadows if you like. These are installed shadows with a lot more options than the ones from the software.

Step 6) Start sliding in your elements and moving them around the page with your mouse and the left click.

Step 7) When you've got your elements where you want them, consider adding shadows.  It really gives your page dimension and looks totally awesome.  It's a great way to add lift and contrast, too. Check the bottom, right of the tool bar and selects "effects" or "styles" depending on your version of the software.

Step 8) Move your design exactly where you want.  (Mine was a little too low. The easiest way was to "Select All Layers” at the top toolbar, deselect the paper layers by left clicking on the them, as shown in the layers bar in the below image and then left click and move the entire grouping to your desired location.)

Step 9) Go to the left toolbar and click on the color picker and choose a color from your layout that will work for your title. I went with the bluish color.

Step 10) Also in the left tool bar is a big green "T". There you will pick a font that matches the style of your page.

We definitely have a kind of whimsical style going on for our page. So a whimsical font, will be perfect. 

Now, you could stop there, but if you want to keep working, follow along and learn a few more cool tricks.

Step 11) Slide a paper over your font layer and left click, clipping mask to clip it to your font. This will give texture and it'll match your page perfectly as well.

We're going to take another step further.

Step 12) Add a stroke to your title by going to the Effects menu and choosing "strokes". Left click on the one you like best.

By default, you'll get a black stroke, but that can be changed easily. The black really does not go well with our soft pastels. If there were more black introduced it might.

Step 13). Go over to the layers bar and quickly double click the tiny fx symbol on the layer you wish to add a stroke, which would be the font layer. This extra menu will pop up. Left click on the black box.

Yet another box will pop up. I hope I've not lost you so far! Now is your chance to color pick the exact color you want for your outline or stroke.

Step 14) Choose your stroke color and click ok. Make sure the stroke is the size you like.  You can still change it by sliding left or right. Hit ok when it's perfect.

Step 15) Consider adding a shadow under your text. You can click right in the same menu box as the stroke. It's closer to the top. You can also see how you can easily make adjustments by sliding left and right on all three shadow options, which are size, distance and opacity. We'll be talking a lot about shadows in future blogs.

You could finish there. I went and added a big layer of paint over my background and clipped in the coordinating pink paper so it all matches. I love using anchoring elements like confetti, scatter, splatter, stamps and paints to anchor my elements and photos to the page.  

It's a great way to add more interest, color and or contrast to your pages.

So, how did you do? Easy, right? If you found it difficult, don't give up. It may take a few go's until the process gets smoother. I did change out just a few elements and added a few more awesome ones. You’ll love the changes!

I've got a lengthy video where I hold your hand and we digital scrapbook together. There's even another free kit and template for you! Our YouTube channel is full of all kinds of digital scrapbooking tutorials.

Here's my cute page with the free goodies. Spaghetti face doggo!  Hehehe...

I hope you've found this scrapbooking tutorial helpful and that you'll come back for more awesome free digital scrapbook stuff, tutorials and craft inspiration.

Happy scrapping!

A Free Template for a Mini Paper Purse Scrapbook An Easy Fun Project for Kids and Adults

Welcome to The Cherry On Top.

Today, I've got a mini with some blingy. Hehehe... Read and see how easy it is to put this baby together. It's such a fun project. Teachers, stay at home moms and crafters can all have at it.

(I'm going through all of my old blogs and doing some minor updating and deleting. I can't believe I didn't have a template for you and it is so easy. I tried finding the one I used, but no luck. Pinterest is an awesome source for templates and creative inspiration. Check out all of the fabulous designs there. I'm going to give ya a template that I just whipped up, but I haven't tried it out yet. If it doesn't work, let me know. I did find anther purse template I designed for Design Bundles when I worked there. Keep scrolling for that template and get another link with a little tutorial on how to assemble that one as well as a look at a really pretty Parisian kit.)

Howdy partners in craft crime! This here little doozy of a project will have the whole town up in arms. OK, maybe not the entire town. Hehehe...I'm not sure if girly scrapping gets much more fun than this book. It might take ya a little longer than an afternoon to put it together. It's not that the difficulty level is so high, just that there are a lot of elements involved. I would encourage scrappers and crafters of any level to give it a try.

You start off with this white, template.  (I can scan it for you and send it via e-mail or Facebook and then you have to enlarge it.) or you can just free draw it.  There are three patterns.  The hour glass shape, the page and the flap.  All three are here in white.  Trace over them in the colors you like.  I kept my book fairly rigid and made it with good card stock, but I used cheaper paper for the inserts and adhered them back to back.






The bright, green card stock is the basis of the book.  I chose a matching, bright, girly patterned paper for the inserts and to decorate the outside of the purse. I used both double sided tape and glue.  Typically, I use double sided tape around the outside and then glue in the middle if I'm using stronger paper such as card stock.

No worries if your pages are not perfect, but I do line them all up and snip a little here and there to see that they are approximately the same size.

Use a hole punch to make three small holes in the crease outlined by the black dotted line on the pattern. You can use eyelets or in this case, brads.

I used three large brads. It gave a little more freedom when it came to the depth I needed for my inserts. This picture is an excellent illustration of where you need to score your inside pages.

My first page is one heck of an opener! I just love it. Many of these papers used in the book are from a 6x6 book I bought at a discount store and because the inserts are so small it gave quite some left overs and that was a big part of my embellishing technique.

Keep in mind as you are designing your book that some pages are going to be upside down when in the book. It took me a bit to figure that one out. This top page with the pink ribbon and flowers was supposed to be the bottom of the page (in my deranged mind), but after applying it properly, it turned out on the top. I thought it still looked great. So, I didn't make any changes. Go with the flow.

Gems and ribbons are just screaming, "GIRL!" I did use a lot of them throughout this book. When coordinating how I was going to set up the pages, I kept in mind, the next page. So that when the pages are back to back and the book is opened, the book coordinates. Like you see to the left. A little strip of the top page paper is on the bottom page. Each page is softened by ribbon.
                                 

Another little strip from the two previous pages is applied here. A little injection of that bright green is sporadically used throughout the book to continue the coherence. The flowers on the top page were from one of those confetti sets and I just used my smallest hole punch for the centers. Some flowers were doubled up and some were doubled up with paper punch flowers.

The fabric flowers on the bottom page adds more warmth and texture which contradicts the cooler silver frame giving a little obvious contrast. Soft and warm with fabric and cool and hard with metal or metallic.

My latest craze are pearls. They just add that perfect touch of elegance. I received these pearl strands at a workshop. It was a small container full! I hope I will be able to find them somewhere when I run out. There's that touch of green again. This time coupled up with some cute buttons in coordinating colors and a lace look that brings a bit of old to a more modern style.

This little frame was a synch to make. The 6x6 pattered paper was just this grid of cuteness. I cut a square out of the middle that fit on my page. Some sequins here and there for more glitz, a cute little butterfly and a big, blingy flower makes a serious statement.

This is the last page. However, I would suggest not decorating the last page and adhering it to the basis of the book. Oopsy...there are some upside down hearts here. I thought the page was really cool and had some very interesting aspects, but the book would be much better if you glue down this last page.

You may have to cut your flap a little bit smaller to fit like this on your cut out.

Here is how I chose to close my book.  If you use a bit heavier embellishments it may automatically hold down your flap. You could use magnets, velcro, a clasp, ribbon, a tiny Glue Dot...there are many options for you to choose.

I don't know about you, but embellishing is my favorite part of scrapbooking. This cover was really fun. Here is what I used: A large circle, a large flower, then a smaller one, then a brad and then a tiny hole punch from super, blingy, glitter paper. Which is just what those tiny, pink, circles are with even tinier silver dots layered up. My trusty Elmer's Craft Glue pen and some Glue Dots to adhere. 

TIP:  I use the bottom end of this handy pen, which is a wide tip, to fill in larger spaces and the top tip is super tiny which makes gluing minuscule bits a snap.

For the back cover of the book, use a strip of paper to cover over your brads, eyelets or whatever you used to fasten your pages in the book.
Of course, you could use a larger piece of paper to cover the back as well.  I thought the green was really great and eye catching.  So, I left most of it exposed.

Ah!  It's really coming into shape, but what's missing? The handle or strap can be made in many ways. You could use a small, light, chain, ribbon, wire...The possibilities are endless.  That's one of the great things about this book. There are just so many options. Styles, textures, colors, themes, they are are all limitless with this project.

Here is an inside look at the brads as well as how I fastened the ribbon of the handle to the inside of the book. A simple knot is all it took. Keep in mind of the limited amount of space in this crease to not only fasten your pages, but your strap as well.

I was a bit surprised how fast the strap came along. Thread one end of the ribbon through a small hole in the top of the purse (and eyelet if you choose) then tie a small knot. Then go up a couple of inches, tie another knot and then begin adding your beads. I made a fixed pattern because I'm a kind of symmetric freak. When you have the amount of beads you want, tie another knot. Thread the other end of the ribbon through the hole in the top of the purse, tie the last knot and voila! I used enough beads to measure the width of a typical, feminine hand.

Here is how I covered up the brad pins from the big flower embellishment on the flap. I could have used a flower, but I felt like I used enough of those already and chose another shape that was repeated in the project. TIP:  Where it's appropriate, I put a flower over the back of the brad pins and if the pins are colored then you turn the brad and fix the flowers so the the two pins look like petals from the flower.

Here are some more supplies used in this crafty endeavor.  More up-cycling with cards to make tags.  Check out that awesome glitter paper!  Cut in an oval, decked out with a blingy brad, some ribbon, dimensional butterfly and the word, "Fun" I snipped from an old birthday card. Check out all of the useful fonts on that card.  I'll be using that again. A little glitter glue is applied in dots in the word, "Fun" to pump it up another level.

Below is the back of the "Fun" tag. More fun!  A little ribbon is used to cover the brad pins and the embellishments were backed on to black paper to make for more pop.

  

Add some metal elements and charms for even more excitement.

Here's my newer template with the Paris Collection. Click on the image to get the little tutorial. You can see the purse, the pages and then look for the papers and elements in the Paris Collection.

You can buy the digital papers and elements if you like them. 

Click here to download the two purse templates!!!

This really is a great project and an eye popper. So many people love this when I give it as a present. Give it a try and post your end results.

Happy crafting!