Making the Most of the Remaining Summer Days

When I go around to the shops, they are full of back-to-school and Halloween (already!) merchandise.  When I look at the calendar, I see that summer is almost over.  I'm not ready for this!  As a Minnesotan, I treasure the few warm months of the year, and I'm not ready to say good bye to them yet.  So, I decided to bask in what is left of summer and make three fun projects from my Echo Park "Summer Days" papers.  You saw the three projects (a layout, a card, and an altered mini-album cover) in the photos above.  Read on for the details of how I made these projects.

The first project I created is a layout called "Our Colorful Day of Fun" (below).  I noticed that a lot of the papers in "Summer Days" have polka dots, and I wanted to make a layout that played up these fun, dotty patterns. 

To make this page, you will need the following papers from Echo Park's "Summer Days" collection:

* 14012 Borders patterned paper

* 14003 Rainbow patterned paper

* 14009 Clouds patterned paper

You will also need: one 4x6" (portrait orientation) photo, one 4x4" photo, one 2.5x2.5" photo, a 12x12" sheet of white cardstock, a corner rounder, black ink, a black pen, dry adhesive, and foam adhesive.

Instructions:

1.  From the polka dotted B-side of the Rainbow paper, cut a 4x4" square and a 4x6" rectangle.

2.  Position the two pieces of polka dotted paper and the two larger photographs in a large rectangle, as shown in the layout photo above.  Round the outer corner of each element, then adhere everything to the cardstock.

3.  Trim the green polka dotted strip from the Borders paper.  Using your black pen, write your title on this strip, leaving spaces between the words.  Cut the words apart, ink the edges, and adhere the words to the layout, as shown in the above photo.

4.  Trim a polka dotted cloud from the Clouds paper.  Don't trim right along the edge of the cloud; instead, leave a thin border of the darker blue background.  Use your pen to write your journaling on the cloud.  (On my cloud I wrote: "playground in the morning, 1UP cupcakes in the afternoon"--see photo below).  Adhere the cloud in the lower, right-hand quadrant of the layout.

5.  Ink the edges of the 2.5x2.5" photo, and adhere the photo just below the cloud.

6.  Trim seven different colored circles from the Borders paper.  Ink each circle, then use foam adhesive to attach them to the layout.  Try to make them look like bouncy balls cascading down the page.  This is the last step--your layout is done!  Did you have fun?  I hope so!  Now let's move on to the second "Summer Days" project, which is a card (below).

To make this card, you will need the following papers from Echo Park's "Summer Days" collection:

* 14012 Borders patterned paper

* 14003 Rainbow patterned paper

* 14009 Clouds patterned paper

You will also need: a cream colored 4x 5.5" card base, black ink, a black pen, dry adhesive, and wet adhesive.

Instructions:

1.  Cut a 3x5.5" rectangle from the blue B-side of the Borders paper.  Ink the edges of this cut-out, and adhere it along the center of your card base.

2.  Fussy-cut one white cloud and two blue clouds from the Clouds paper.  Ink the edges of these clouds and set them aside.

3.  Cut a pink, orange, yellow, and green strip from the Rainbow paper.  Ink the edges of the strip, then adhere it diagonally across your card.  Trim off the part of the strip that extends off the card.

4.  Adhere the white cloud at the end of the rainbow.  Let it stick out just beyond the left-hand edge of the card.  Adhere the two blue clouds near the center of the card--let one slightly overlap the rainbow, and tuck the other slightly behind the rainbow.

5.  Trim three two-inch-long yellow strips from the Rainbow paper.  Ink their edges, then adhere them in an asterisk formation in the upper, left-hand corner of the card.  Wet adhesive works best for this.  Fussy-cut a sunburst from the Borders paper, ink its edges, and use dry adhesive to attach it to the center of the "asterisk" that you created.

6.  Use your pen to write your sentiment above and below the blue strip of paper.  My sentiment reads: "When life fills my skies with rain clouds...you are the rainbow that puts a smile back on my face."  Then use your pen to add whimsical bits of doodling to the images on your card (refer to the photo of the card, or use your own ideas).  Your card is done, and I hope you had fun creating it!  The final project is an altered mini-album cover.

I used the ever-popular 5x7" Kolo album for this project.  This is what it looked like before I altered it (below).

And this is what it looked like after I altered it (below)!

To make this album cover, you will need these two papers from Echo Park's "Summer Days" collection:

* 14012 Borders patterned paper

* 14009 Clouds patterned paper

You will also need: a black pen, a standard office hole punch, black ink, dry adhesive, wet adhesive, and pink embroidery floss (I used DMC color # 3806, but any bright shade of pink will work).

Instructions:

1.  Cut a 3.25x5.25" rectangle (landscape orientation) from the striped B-side of the "Clouds" paper.  Ink the edges, then add a whimsical doodled border, using your pen.  Adhere the rectangle to the front of your album.

2.  Cut a rectangle with three ice cream cones from the Borders paper.  Ink the edges of this rectangle.  Then, mat it with a slightly bigger rectangle, cut from the blue B-side of the Borders paper.  Ink the edges of this mat.

3.  Tie a piece of embroidery floss around the matted rectangle.  Use the hole punch to punch a small circle from any green area of the Borders paper.  Use liquid adhesive to attach the circle to the center of the bow.  Adhere the finished ice cream cone rectangle to the lower, right-hand corner of the striped rectangle on your album.

4.  Trim three "Summer Days" logos from the manufacturer identification strip at the bottom of any sheets of Summer Days paper.  Ink the edges of these rectangles, then use dry adhesive to attach a piece of embroidery floss along the back of these logos.  You have just made a banner!  Drape this banner over the upper, left-hand corner of your album, and stick it down with more dry adhesive.

5.  Form four little bows with small pieces of embroidery floss.  Use wet adhesive to attach these bows on either side of each "Summer Days" logo in the banner.  Use your punch to make four more green circles from the Borders paper, and glue one circle over the center of each bow.

6.  For the finishing touch, use your pen to write your title on the striped rectangle.  The lines in the striped pattern will help guide your handwriting.

Congratulations, you've just completed the cover of your mini-album!  Have these three "Summer Days" projects put you back in a summery mood?  I sure hope they did.  I know I feel much happier now.  I still have a few bits and pieces of my "Summer Days" kit left.  I figure that once the weather starts getting cold, I'll cheer myself up by placing summer photos in my mini album and using these bits and pieces to embellish the pages.

Thanks for stopping by my blog to check out these three Echo Park projects.  Enjoy the rest of your summer!