National Stamping Month

Since National Stamping Month is almost over, I thought this last week was the perfect time to tell everyone about the Close To My Heart special! Ok, I forgot until now. Fire me. 

The special is that if you spend $35 on anything from Close To My Heart you can get this exclusive DOUBLE stamp set for $5!!!

The "It's Your Day" stamp set! It's super cute and super versatile and I love it! Here are a few things I've made with this awesome stamp set:

This is a cute little 3x3 card using only cardstock. All the patterns were stamped using the stamp set!

This whole layout is made from white cardstock (with a bit of Kraft for photo mats) rainbow stamped with the stamp set. I have seen this rainbow-type look everywhere and decided to create it for less than $1! You should be able to click on the photo to make it bigger...

This is my attempt to keep paper where I need it. At any given moment I have at least 5 pen magnets on the fridge, but my post-its seem to wander off. All by themselves I'm sure. So with a bit of chipboard and the new stamp set, I made a home for some paper! 

Obviously I am on an outline/doodle-in-black-pen kick, sorry. 

You have less than a week to get this fun stamp set! Hurry hurry!

How To Fix Your My Creations Bookmark Album

Close To My Heart has a really cute mixed-page mini-album called the My Creations Bookmark Album. I LOVED the magnetic flip-over clasp; but the whole thing was so skinny! I doubted if I could even layer a photo and patterned paper on each page and still close the book (you can, but barely). 

So I fixed it.

Step one: 

Remove the flimsy tiny jump rings that it comes with. Usually I have no complaints about a Close To My Heart product, but these are really bad quality! Go buy some sturdy ones from an office store as large as you like to fit your book. 

Step two:

Lay out just the last page with the magnetic flap. Chop out the little rectangle between the creases where the flap closes, like this:

Step three: 

Cut yourself a wider one! Mine is cut from 2 pieces glued together of that thin chipboard that comes with a pad of paper. You could use normal chipboard, cardboard, even a few cereal box pieces would be great. Cut your new piece as tall as the old one and as wide as you need for your book to be thicker. Mine is only about 1/4 an inch wider, but it made a world of difference!

Step four: 

Get your Duck Tape. Yes, we are being manly and fixing our girly scrapbook album with Duck Tape. It is ok to borrow your husbands if you do not currently own your own roll :) I used silver, because that's what we had and I am impatient. White would probably have blended in better in this case... Measure and cut 2 pieces the same length as your book (it's about 4 inches). 

Step five:

Line up your album back, your new rectangle, and the magnetic flap onto one of the Duct Tape strips. MAKE SURE YOUR MAGNETIC FLAP IS CLOSING THE RIGHT WAY!!! We don't want to go to all this work and have the flap not connect! Leave a little bit of room between all the pieces so they are still flexible. Once lined up straight, press down hard! (Obviously try to line up really good before the pressing... or your chipboard will look like mine when you rip it off for a second try...)

Step six:

Flip your book over. Line up the other Duct Tape strip and press onto this side. Really press hard and seal the tape together in the creases.  Both sides should now have a lovely strip of duct tape connecting your new rectangle to your mini-book. 

Step seven:

For the love of all things holy, DECORATE THE DUCT TAPE! Unless, of course, this is an album for a teenage boy or something... that would look awesome! And the silver really isn't bad. You hardly see it, see? 

Ta-da! Finished album! Only now it is thick enough to not only hold paper AND photos, but embellishments as well! And it still closes magnetically!

Wow, that was quite the post! Let me know if you have questions!