work in progress kits | guest designer

The kits at Work in Progress are always on trend, full of color, packed with goodies and ready for you to create when you open your box. You can find monthly kits and answers to your questions right on the blog. Let me share with you how I created a not so mini mini book with the September kit...oh, and I just happen to be the guest designer for Work in Progress kits this month, too!

The chipboard word dream was the inspiration piece for this mini book. I knew as soon as I peeked into my goody box that I was finally going to make a project just for me, a place for me to document what I'm thinking, feeling and dreaming of. Now, I'm not a person to remember her dreams, but I have plenty of dreams in my waking hours, believe me! I embossed the circles and then misted the chipboard to really allow it to take center stage. 

Now for the good part...all the pages in a variety of sizes, shapes and formats. You'll see that I envision filling this book with lots of goodness and therefore used 1.25" o-wires to house what will become a chunky bit of what I'm thinking about. I'll be able to add on to this book over the next month, few months, years, however long it takes me to fill it up with my stories. And I'll be posting some of my pages whether you want to see them or not.

This is the fold out page you see above {the one with the cute and colorful hexagons}.

I like to add unexpected places to tell more private stories and that's what I'll do with this fold out page here. Oh, and see that camera page peeking out from beneath the fold out page? I decided that I really wanted to add it after I had already bound my mini book. Let me show you how I made it a part the design and no one will ever know. Right? Right!

I backed the word art with paper to give it some stability and then punched it with my Bind-it-All. At this point, you'll need to cut slits into the holes you've punched and slip your new page into your mini book. Awwwww-some! Yep, pretty nifty little trick. Okay, you probably already were doing that, but still...kinda cool.

I used the border strip on the cardstock and incorporated it into my design. And on the back side, I added a border strip that comes with so many papers now. The red chevron strip has been adhered to the back side of this paper to cover up the manufacturer's info, allowing me to still use the patterned strip on the front! I'm full of little tricks today aren't I?

What's not to love about this page...it's already designed for us. Add a story and a photo and call us ahead of the game.

I circle punched and then pop dotted those circles to the cardstock and used that bright red cardstock included in the kit as the next page to peek out, which adds even more interest. Nothing wrong with a little fun.

I like different sized pages and layering, but you already knew that. And you may have already guessed...I use up scraps. The chevron strip below the word art is a border strip that I fussy cut and the banner strip adhered with the washi tape was trimmed into the v and fussy cut around the circles. If you have it, use it, I always think. Why let those bits and pieces get lost and eventually thrown away?

Machine stitching with my Mom's vintage Singer sewing machine is also a neat way to add interest and texture. Here, I've made a little pocket folder for one of the journaling cards and the long narrow page has also been stitched adding in a border strip scrap. The flap will be a nice way to add yet another layer when the time comes.

On the page below, you'll see that I've used the paper names, punched, as journaling prompts for this page. Nifty, eh?

I used some raw chipboard for the back cover, giving a bit more stability. Using the negative of a die cut shaped scrap and some other scraps, the last page makes a good impression as well.

Find all the same goodies I used for this not so mini mini album at Work In Progress Kits and like them on Facebook, too. You'll be glad you did.