Trifold for Bailey - A Fabulous Find

My niece, Bailey, is a sweetie.  Over the summer while I visited with my sister, Bailey offered to give my toes a much needed French Manicure.  As I had been outside in flip flops I told her my feet needed cleaned up first -- she said she would do it, IF...I would make her something with my Cricut.  So my 11 year old niece cleaned up my feet and painted my toe nails...and a lovely job she did too.  

So for my part of the bargain, I decided on a Trifold Mini-Album cut from the Fabulous Finds cartridge (pg 122, trialbm2 & the coordinating blackout).  The cardstock, by My Mind's Eye, has a lovely combination of colors .... like summer easing into fall. 

For the ribbons, I colored white seam binding to match:  working on a non-stick craft sheet I laid out my ribbon one at a time and swiped my ink pad over the ribbon--just one swipe is plenty, even if it's not totally covered.  Then mist the ribbon with water and scrunch it together for total coverage.  You can either let it air dry, or if you're impatient like me--dry it carefully with a heat gun.  I trimmed the bottom of the trifold with the same technique, except I dabbed on the three colors together sparingly before spritzing with water & drying.  Distress Inks: Fired Brick, Wild Honey, & Dried Marigold

NOTE:  Keep in mind that the colors are more intense while wet, after drying the colors will fade somewhat.



I stamped the front cover sentiment using black Archival ink, then stamped the flourishes (both stamps by Tim Holtz) using a combination of the two paint dabbers before adding two mats & adhering to the cover.  I used a red spiral clip to hold the trifold together.  Paint Dabbers: Red Pepper & Mountain Rose



For cover page 2 of the trifold I used CTMH stamps.  I stamped the sentiment in black Archival first, then stamped the heart with the Red Pepper paint -- outlining it with a fine-tip sharpie.  The 'b' was then stamped in Versamark before adding clear embossing powder, then heat set.  I hand-wrote the rest of Bailey's name w/the sane sharpie, then mounted on two mats before adhering to page.

I stamped the inside sentiment & butterflies w/CTMH stamps and adhered pictures behind each of the doors/windows. Flower fleurettes were added w/rhinestone centers, and additional rhinestone added to the center windows.

For the photo pages I added stickers w/ hand-written journaling, and vellum quotes adhered with vellum tape.  In the photo the camera shows the tape pretty well, but in person the tape is barely noticeable.  Finally, I used my Copic marker (Garnet R39) to enhance the notches for the photo doors, though you can't see it in the photos.

Bailey called the other day to thank me and let me know she really liked it.  And that's the best feeling -- to know something that you put time & effort into was appreciated. 

Here's a bit of trivia about LoveLee Notes for ya:  When my husband and I were dating he started calling me Lee -- I loved that he had a nickname for me because I'd never really had one based on my name.  When I started making cards I wanted to add a trademark name to the backs of each handmade card.  It came to me one day when I was signing a card to my hubby -- I wrote "Love, Lee".  I decided to call them LoveLee Notes and have done so ever since.  To everyone else I'm Lisa, but when my sister got married, her husband's sister was also named Lisa.  As their kids got older they began calling me Aunt Lee to differentiate the two of us.  Most of my nieces/nephews know me as Aunt Lisa, but to my sister's kids...my husband and I are Uncle C & Aunt Lee!  And I happen to think that's pretty cool!  =)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful day.  Lisa