Friday 24 May 2013

Guider Smash Book

What to do with all those Girl Guide meeting plans, little notes, photos, craft ideas and such ?? SMASH* them of course!

Most of you have probably heard of "Smash books" by now right?  The concept is nothing new but the term smash became the new fad back in 2011 when a company called K & Company introduced their new line of SMASH* products.  They have Smash* books, Smash* pens, Smash* tabs, Smash* labels, to name a few!  Their products are available at Michaels and Walmart...and many other stores.  There are plenty of blogs and videos out there that show the many styles of Smash* booking.


Check out K & Company's fun Smash* video to see what Smash* booking is all about!


The neat part about Smash* booking is that you can make your book out of any old inexpensive scribbler, notebook, journal, or handmade book and put whatever you like in it.  Make it Your Own ! Release your Creativity!  The possibilities are endless!  You do not need to go out and purchase a $14.97 Smash* book or buy the Smash* products...use whatever you have available...or go to a yardsale and find a Smash* book for $1 like I did a few weeks ago! Score! {the pen was missing but that is ok since the pens can be purchased separately}.

K & Company SMASH* books come in a variety of colours

"A doodle of a Poodle" as seen in the SMASH* video


My Guiding memories and meeting plans have been kept in handmade scrapbooks, scribblers and boxes for several years...and as the years went by my scrapbooks and plan books eventually became more of a hodgepodge rather than a layout designed scrapbook or a general plan book.  Somewhere along the line they sort of merged...into what is now called a smash book.  Smash booking is much more fun than typical scrapbooking in my opinion...it is less structured and more messy!  I have so many things such as little papers and notes and tiny crafts and cards etc. that I would like to keep...and not have it all hid away in a box that is difficult to access.  I want to have it in one book along with my meeting plans and activities so that I can look back to see what we did at past meetings...keep track of things... and also add notes for whatever I need to run our current meetings.  This is where smash booking comes into play!

Flicker Image...This is the coil scribbler that I used 


This is my version of a Smash* book...
a Guider Smash Book!

My Guider Smash book is a coil scribbler that I had purchased from Staples...it has owls on it because I LOVE Owls...{and I was both Brown Owl and Guide Guider last year when I started this book}.  I added some trefoil logos and an owl colouring page...then some SMASH* tape...and then covered it with Mod Podge mixed with glitter just to add some durability.  


This is the result of two years of Girl Guide meeting plans, photos, keepsakes, craft samples and ideas, district reports, and whatever other tid bits came through my hands while Girl Guiding the past two years!  This is something that I would do on a weekly basis.  There are enough blank pages left in this book for next year too but it is too thick already...a little over four inches thick...so I will start a new book in September 2013.
The tabs are K & Company Smash* tabs...they are self adhesive and work great...and only $1.97 per package...but you could use any sort of tab...or none at all.
Inside cover and title page

Above ...I used words cut from magazines, GGC letterhead, GGC Clipart, SMASH* tape, washi tape, and my retro dymo label tape. The larger trefoil logo was cut from the GGC cookie box case.  {I also used those large trefoils from the cookie cases to make brooches}

I use my Guider Smash book to keep track of birthdays, our weekly prize draw, who got the squeeze that week , badge work, upcoming events, meeting plans, contact info for other leaders etc.  

I used regular glue sticks, a stapler, paperclips, binder clips, paper fasteners etc in my smash book.

Here are some of my pages...
If I ran out of space then I would insert a page such as this blue cardstock page. Washi tape works well to hold the added pages in place.  I usually use one page per meeting but some needed more pages to hold everything. Below is the flip side of this page.
I added little pages that open up to hold photos or notes such as these black and white papers. I  incorporated the layered minibook that I used for Lapbooking.  The layered minibooks hold quite a few photos... the one above was used for game instructions.
The above pages contain photos and artwork from our UK Pen Pals.  I ♥ the artwork!

My pages usually have lists, photos, clipart and this page has the post from the GGC facebook ... my Paper bag Scrapbook...so I wanted to include that in my book.  Thank you GGC Facebook for that post!
The page that is turned is Campfire songs from that night...I used washi tape to attach it.
This page ended up having an abundance of photos from our sleepover so I layered them into a flip book...and also included a sample of one of our crafts from that day.  

There are still some blank spots on the pages... I can go back and journal if needed.
On this page I included a fabric swatch from the hot/cold therapy bags that we made, photo flip book, game instructions, and notes.

These are notes that were left for me at our Brownie meetings last year...they were from one of my Guides...very cute! I want to remember things like this so I SMASHed them into my book!
I do not have my camera with me at all of the meetings ...sometimes I forget to bring it...so some pages have just writing and whatever is available.
The Guides' Program challenge badges are inserted into library pockets on the back cover.  Inside the pockets are notecards dated with the year in which we had completed the Challenges.

Google image

Here is a photo of Washi tape...I this stuff!...washi tape is a thin, semi transparent tape that is less tacky than regular tape.  Some kinds are called tissue tape or craft tape.  It is great for holding photos and notes in place since it can be removed without tearing whatever it is holding.  I have used it to edge the pages in my smashbook.  As you can see it comes in a variety of widths, colours, and patterns.  It is available at Michaels and other craft stores...I have not yet seen it at Walmart. 

This project can be time consuming if you let it...but so much fun!  I enjoy doing projects like this and hope that it inspires you to create your own Guider Smashbook!  

Have a SMASHing day!

  

Friday 3 May 2013

Paper Bag Scrapbook

Hey there Blogland! Last night was our last Guide meeting until September.  I will truly miss my girls until the Fall.  The past couple of years have been really good in terms of having nice, well behaved kids.  I know, they are only kids, but I'm sure you Guiders know what I am talking about.  We were blessed with a great group of girls..no bullies...no whiners...no hypers... and they all got along well together {knock on wood for the Fall lol}.  We had a few extremely quiet girls...one extremely outgoing girl...and the rest in between...and I noticed on several occassions over the past year how some of the girls went "out of their way" to encourage the quiet girls.  Moments like that is what truly motivates me to return to Guiding each year. Anyhoo, we had a Pizza and Scrapbooking night to end our season which was really fun!  

Here is a sample of our Scrapbook...
 We made the scrapbook out of these...paper Lunch Bags! 



 Three bags...arranged by alternating open and flap ends.
 
The flap on right side of the bag labelled '1' gets glued down.  This will be the inside of the back cover.  The flap on the left side of the second bag gets cut.    The third bag has the flap on the right, which gets cut off.  {It really doesn't matter how you place the bags..this is just how I did ours...[update added* and you do not necessarily need to cut the flaps...they can all be glued down but then you will have less pockets]}.  Then place all three bags on top of each other and carefully fold them so that the ends line up..then give a good crease in the center...bag 1 on the bottom...bag 2 in the middle...bag 3 on top.

Then staple together...


You can see here how the pockets are created to hold photo cards.


The inspirational scrapbook was found on Pinterest.  I, of course, changed the look of the scrapbook.  I used tabs attached to cardstock squares instead of the ribbon used in the original version {I found it difficult to staple the ribbon to the card..it just didn't work for me}However, I did not have enough tabs for all 15 girls so I ended up precutting cards to look like this...

Photos were glued to these cardstock cards...they can easily be pulled out of the pockets for viewing.  They are not attached to the scrapbook.  All of this cardstock was in my "scrap" basket...the only thing I had to purchase for this project was paper lunch bags. {Hubby printed out the photos at work. You could use real photo prints but I think they would be a little heavy}.
I used the Girl Guides of Canada Clipart images and created  these sheets in Microsoft Word...I ♥ this artwork.  I do not know the name of the artist...do you?
The GGC clipart is so cute!  I also added some doodles with a white paint marker {but I did not do the doodles until after our night was over since I did not have enough paint markers for everyone...they are a bit pricey! so the girls used regular markers and coloured pencils}.
...and added google eyes...the girls loved the google eyes...
these are peel and stick from Walmart years ago.

This clipart image was laminated using packing tape..then I added 3D pop dots.  {I did not do this step with the girls since I did not have enough 3D pop dots to go around}.  I also added craft tape with washi tape on top...and more glitter/gem stickers from Dollarama {the name on the package is Glitter but they are little round gem stickers}
More google eyes to add some fun!  These look so funky!  I again added craft tape and glitter stickers...I did not have enough craft tape and glitter/gem stickers for the girls so this part was done after the meeting.
Yes, I went a little "crazy" with the glitter/gem stickers and craft tape! 
...more craft tape
Top view showing the pockets.
Craft tape adds flair doesn't it! 
{you can see I have some thin teal 
Washi tape here but I later removed it}.
The craft tape also adds support to the spine.

The Guides had a blast making 
these easy, inexpensive super fun Scrapbooks. 
They all turned out unique in their own way!   


Our meeting location is now under major renovations and will not be ready until September.  As a result, the Sparks, Brownies, and Guides had to remove ALL belongings from the hall...3 cupboards and all it's contents.  Fire Owl found a location to store all the Brownies stuff and my hubby's friend is allowing us to use his barn to store the Guides' cupboards...all the contents of the Guides' cupboard and all the Sparks stuff is now in my living room.  I know...remember one of my posts from last summer ...Craft Room Chaos Part 1...well my craft room is 90% done but once again I am bombarded with Girl Guide stuff! LOL...It's a never ending story my friends.