Tara Chaussee's Blog Posts

01.15.19

Ok so we're in the cold, seemingly endless, days of Winter. What better way to cheer yourself up than to get into your craft room and make a bright and fun season inspired project!

The 'Freezin' Season' paper collection by Simple Stories will definitely give you chills but in the best way! Adorable characters and wintery images in pretty pastel colors are just the cure for a snow day! This sweet zig zag mini scrapbook is just waiting to be filled with playful pictures and mementos of a winter wonderland!

I made this album using two sheets of 8.5"x11' card stock and then covered each page with the delightful and charming patterned papers of the collection. I also used lots of the paper along with journaling cards to create oodles of pockets, flaps, tags and inserts that have been decorated and embellished with the darling and colorful stickers, chipboard and Bits & Pieces!

All in all, there were nine pages to fill with this entertainingly snowy collection and I had 'snow' much fun adorning each page! Here is a closer look at the front sides of the pages:

And a closer look at the equally adorable back side pages!

Don't let Winter get you down! Grab this collection to show the coldest season just how much fun it can be!! There is a short tutorial on my YouTube channel if you want to make one of these zig zag minis of your own!

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12.31.18

Hi everyone! Tara here with Secretbees Studio. I know Christmas has just passed and I'm sure you are ready for a break from all of the crazienss! And it's never a bad thing to be prepared for the next holiday! I'm here to give you some gorgeous inspiration for the holiday of love- Valentine's Day!

Since Valentine's Day is all about love I was inspired to create a sweet love letter mini scrapbook that can be filled with pictures, letters, mementos and sweet messages to your sweetheart. It's a pretty standard mini album on the outside- chipboard covers and spiral bound- but there are lots of adorable surprises on the inside!

Between the two chipboard covers is an accordion flap that holds eight envelopes and includes a couple of pockets and the beautiful and romantically themed 'Kissing Booth' collection is the perfect way to show off love and devotion! There are gorgeous patterns with traditional pinks and reds along with other bright colors and the sentiments will definitely put a smile on your face!

I made a variety of envelope sizes and pockets as well as an interactive pull-out made with a strip of the 3x4 journal cards. There are plenty of pages for photos and the envelopes can be filled with mementos or love letters.

Now you can create your own special love letter mini album for that special person in your life or even as a gift for that special couple! Visit my YouTube channel for an in-depth video of this mini and to get more inspiration! Happy New Year and Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

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12.02.18

Hi everyone! It’s Tara from Secretbees Studio! Now that Thanksgiving is over the Christmas countdown has begun! For little children (and probably most adults) the season is full of magic and excitement and a Christmas Countdown Calendar is a fun and easy way to way to build suspense and anticipation until the big day!

The Simple Stories 'Merry & Bright' paper collection is full of bright traditional reds and greens along with the most adorably festive holiday icons and beautiful floral images! People young and old alike will love flipping the sections of this cheerful and jolly Christmas Countdown Calendar!

The idea for this countdown calendar was inspired by the 'Number Pocket Pieces' that are a part of this collection! They are in coordinating colors and designs and in varying sizes so they add a lot of interesting dimension to the pages! The other designs are the charming 3x4 and 4x6 journaling cards along with patterned papers cut to 1/4 inch larger. 

I wanted to really showcase all of the gorgeous papers, so I used two of each for the numbered pages and then one pattern for all of the journal cards. Decorating and embellishing was so easy with the huge selection of festive stickers and chipboard along with a few pearls, gems and glitter! Once I had all of my sections complete, I attached them to the base with metal rings 1/2 inch from the top so there would be plenty of room to flip.

This calendar was made with a base of chipboard that I cut to 11 3/4 inches by 7 inches. This left plenty of room for all of the journaling cards that I used as the pages of the calendar, plus it worked well with the 12x12 sheets of lovely patterned paper. I attached two triangular 'legs' to the back to hold it up and give it good stability. 

The first section has two journal card pages and then numbers from one to three. You could add more if you want to start your countdown super early! The second section also has two decorative journal card pages and numbers from zero to nine so there are tons of number combinations to be made! I included the decorative pages for when the days are in the single digits. My very talented daughter wrote 'days until' on a strip of the woodgrain paper that is part of the collection as well!

Pull out those beautiful Christmas paper collections and make a countdown calendar of your own! There is still plenty of time to get in on the holiday spirit! Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas! For a closer look at this wonderful calendar, be sure and check out my video on YouTube!

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