inspiration Monday #4 - so many photos, so little time -

Hi my friends.

A late inspiration monday for you today....

I have been looking trough some of my pictures from 2009 - and yes, there are some....

I don't know how many thousands....

I also dug into my LOs from 2009 - and I found I made about 400 LOs and minialbums in 2009.

...and STILL there are photos (a lot of photos) not scrapped, and happenings not documented....

well, to be honest, the reason why I scrapbook is not so much for documenting the life of my kids and family....it's more about my creative process....

Anyhow, I like to document, and gather memories too.... I love to look at the LOs from years back and remember - get into the memories - smile at things long forgotten.

So after digging in to all my photos I realized it is just TOO many photos ..... and too little time to scrap them all....

I have discovered envelopes are on their way in to scrapbooking again - this makes me happy :)

I love envelopes. They are so useful, so versatile and add a new, hidden dimension to the scrapbooking LO :)

On this LO I have made an envelope of one of my favorite patterned papers, and today I want to share my envelope-idea with you.

Maybe you have too many photos too??

Here is my LO - pictures from summer 2009.

I love to make photo-collages, and I often use flickr-toys, mosaic-maker at Big Huge Labs. Works perfect if you want to make a mosaic like the one I have on this LO :)

Here is the sketch I made for the envelope.

The envelope is made out of a 12x12 inch patterned paper, so I just used my sketch as a guide when I folded the envelope.

For this project I used:

1 white bazzill cardstock

1 smaller piece of cardstock

Studio Calico, Home Front collection

glimmermist: (turqouse) my tattered angels

2 buttons

embroidery floss

butterfly punch

(rubons: Hambly and Autumn Leaves (stitches))

So, let's get started :)

Fold 3 inch in on both sides, 2 inch in on the top and 1 inch in on the bottom of the 12x12-paper you want to use for your envelope.

Use the sketch as a guide.

You can make the envelope in what size you prefer.

Cut away the corners of the 12x12 paper (see sketch)

The envelope is ready to be glued.

I prefer to use doublesided tape.

I glue the middle part and the bottom, leaving the top open. I want to put more photos and memorabilia inside my envelope :)

To close the top of my envelope I sew on two buttons. One button on the lid, and one on the envelope-front. I use a little piece of embroidery floss and tie a little bow between the two buttons. :)

The envelope is now ready.

As you know I used mine on my LO. You can use it in a minialbum, as a envelope (surprise! LOL), as a LO on it's own, or how ever you prefer.

I'll show you how I made the rest of my simpleLO :)

To add some color to my white cardstock, I added my favorite, turquoise glimmermist.

Let the cardstock dry.

Now I added my envelope, the pictures I preferred to use on my LO, some butterflies as embellishment and my title.

I put the "leftover" photos on a large tag, with room for more photos or journaling on the back.

This tag fit perfectly inside the envelope.

I have more photos in all sizes and other memorabilia I'll tuck in my envelope too. :)

Voila!

1 LO with all the photos and memories from our summer at the south coast of norway 2009 :)

Hope you enjoyed this little inspiration Monday.

Thanks for popping by!! :)

xo