Jen Brannon: Mini album for Mom

Who has an amazing mom? I do! I do! Ever feel as an adult, that there is absolutely nothing that you could do to repay your mother for all the mess she put up with when you were young? I was the type of kid that makes mothers snap and kill their children and then themselves. No, I'm serious. In kindergarten, my mom got called to the principals office because I told the teacher my name was Damnit Jennifer. This is not a line from Bill Cosby's stand up. "These are the facts of the case, and they are undisputed." These cases of homicide/suicide are not unrealistic to me. In fact, I'm surprised I'm not one of those statistics. BUT, I'm not....BECAUSE my mother is one of the strongest, caring, most patient, caring and beautiful women (did I mention caring?) I have ever known. Pacing in front of the bay window waiting for her children to come home safely. Remember, those were the days before cell phones. I can still hear her calling me by my full name..."Jennifer Lyn".

That being said, I thought I would make my mother a mini album for her birthday. A drop in the bucket of IOUs, I know. But, I remember her words as a kid....."I would rather have a hand made gift from you than ANYTHING at the store." I think she just said that cause all I could afford was a blow pop. And she didn't want to have to come get me from Kmart for stealing AGAIN!!!

Seeing as she turns 60 this year..... What the wocka??!!??!! I thought I would do a little handbag/beach bag hybrid album. As handbags and cruises are what makes my mom giddy. So, I found this tutorial from Kathy Orta at paper phenomenon and it is amazing!!!! check out her website here http://paperphenomenon.blogspot.com/ for tutorials and inspiration GALORE!!!! I used Graphic 45 Botanical 12x12 paper pack and some random embellishments from my local craft store.

This is the album lying flat. I added the handles with some twill ribbon I found in the sewing section of hobby lobby. The handles are functional, and you can carry the album by them.

This is a close up of the front cover. I hung some fish that I got in the jewel section of hobby lobby from the handles. I fussy cut the fish from the paper and covered it in stickles.

All of the inserts fit a standard 4x6 photo and I have cut photo corners in the tags for easy insertion for my mom.

Most of the images are just tags that came with the 12x12 paper pack. Some are just pieces of the whole 12x12 sheet that I have fussy cut and adhered directly to the pages.

The border on the left page was created using an EK success border punch. The lace is some trim I found at hobby lobby as well.

I created a pocket by fussy cutting one of the images from the paper and adhering just the left and bottom of it with scor tape so it would hold the photo mat.

These are 3 of the tags from the 12x12 tag page from the pack. I just adhered them with my ATG gun and then added pearls to the top and bottom of each of them.

This adorable little starfish is hanging from a large green brad. I got these from the jewel section of Hobby Lobby as well.

This is a close up of the straps. I used a craft knife to create a slit in the cover and threaded the trim through the slot. I used a hot glue gun to adhere the strips together. Then I added 2 silver brads to the front. It is more for decoration than functionality.