Smash Books #2 with Cindy

Hi everyone,
It's Cindy and I am back again with my second part on using Smash Books. Today's post is using Smash Books with children. Now, my kids are 5 & 6 so they are mostly at the glue and stick stage. They can't quite use my Cricut and they haven't really caught on yet to scrapbooking or keeping memorabilia from a trip or journaling. So in this project they have to really be guided. Older children could do more - they could keep a journal on their trip, they could use a Smash book to scrapbook their summer vacation and so much more.

For this project, I cut out many elements on my Cricut before we even left for our trip. I went through each of their scrapbooks and any paper that I thought would be too difficult or "ugly" to work with I covered with paper from my stash. When we got back from our trip, I cut out any additional elements and printed out my pictures. I had the kids use the Smash glue sticks for this project.

 All but one of these pages is from my son's book. He just finished the first grade so I had him do some basic journaling. My thought is that we would have the next vacation maybe two in this book and it will be really fun to see how their scrapbooking and journaling changes.

 This is the page from Lily's book and she missed covering the wording on this page (by accident, I am sure) but it totally works.

You can see every page and hear me discuss my processes in the video.


Be sure to visit the Cutters Creek store to purchase the products that I used today:
Smash Books
Washi Tape
ATG Gun and Tape
Smash Date Stamp

Suggested Items:
Smash Pad - Blank
Smash Tape - Like This
Smash Tape - Swatch

Cindy

Smash Books #1 with Cindy

Hi everyone,
Cindy here, with a two part post on Smash Books. Maybe you have seen them or heard about them but how do you use them? This will hopefully be an ongoing series on the ways that I am using Smash books. Now, I had tried Project Life last year and last until about April. The problem for me with Project Life is first, I forget to take pictures and I certainly don't take pictures every day. The other was that I felt that my life wasn't that exciting and I kept having the same weekly or even monthly pages in my album because my life is very routine. So it was boring...I also felt like the scrapbooking itself was boring. Don't get me wrong Project Life is great for those who haven't done much scrapbooking. But it was not for me. I wanted something that I could document the every day when it suited me, I could journal in and I could make scrappy. So I turned to Smash Books.



In the video, I talk more about why I use a Smash Book instead of creating my own because in this, having a sturdy pre-made book does save me time!


Be sure to visit the Cutters Creek store to purchase the products that I used today:
Smash Books
Washi Tape
ATG Gun and Tape
Smash Date Stamp

Suggested Items:
Smash Pad - Blank
Smash Tape - Like This
Smash Tape - Swatch


Be sure to come back tomorrow where I will show you how I used Smash books with my kids!
Cindy

Tutorial Tuesday- Make A Custom Smash Book

Hi, it’s Mindy and it’s my turn to host Tutorial Tuesday.  Smash Books are extremely popular lately and Cutters Creek has a great selection of books and products.  The books are full of great designs, but sometimes they’re just not what you’re looking for.  I’m taking a vacation to Disney World in a couple of weeks and I thought a smash book would be perfect for keeping memories and memorabilia from the trip.  A Disney themed smash book does not exist (yet), so I decided to make my own.  All you need for this project is a binding machine like a cinch or bind it all, some chipboard for your covers, cardstock, some smash supplies and embellishments. 
The first thing I did is to cover the edges of my raw chipboard covers with sharpie.  This makes it look like I’m using black chipboard for the covers and hides any raw edges. 

My covers are 8 1/2 by 11.  After I had my edges inked up, I cut some paper for the cover.  I cut my paper at 8 3/8 by 10 7/8 so I could center it in the middle of the cover and not worry about it hanging over the edge. 
This is the outside of the front cover and this is the inside of the front cover
Next it was time to move on to my inside pages.  The smash book pages are made of really nice strong cardstock.  To recreate that feel, I covered some white cardstock with patterned paper. 
Some of the pages I covered completely with paper and some of them I layered with scraps leftover from another project.
  I had Kim special order me some awesome washi tape in different Disney patterns and I used a strip of that down the middle of this page. 
Next step was to start on my smash supplies.  Some of them will work as is, but some of them just don’t go with my color scheme.  I found some 6x8 mailing envelopes and turned them into smash pockets.  I took one of my smash pockets and laid it down on the envelope and traced the outline.
  Then I layered it with patterned paper and more great washi tape and cut along the diagonal.  Now I have a pocket that coordinates perfectly with my theme.
  It’s perfect for holding daily schedules of maps of the park.  The smash pads are perfect for jotting down notes and memories.  There is no need to recreate the wheel on this.  I dressed them up with some more washi tape and stickers to give them a Disney look.
      
I also gave the little smash calendar pocket a Disney feel with you guessed it- more washi tape and stickers. 

Just because a Smash Book doesn’t have the exact look and feel you need doesn’t mean you can’t make it your own.  I only have 2 weeks, so I need to get to work!

Get your Smash supplies at Cutters Creek

SMASH Book by Chris

K&Company Smash Book Tour With Kim B

Since a lot of the Design Team has shared their Smash Book with you by K&Company, I decided to do a video and share mine too!  I hope you enjoy my little tour and all these items can be purchased in the Cutters Creek online store.  Enjoy!  And please feel free to leave me a comment or ask any questions.

Smash Books

Hi and welcome to Tutorial Tuesday a day late. I'm sure all of you have heard people talking about Smash books. They are the latest thing in scrapbooking and allow you to have fun and not stress about your scrapbooks. The pages don't need to be perfect, just have fun. I have made this brief video to try and explain some of the smash products and hopefully inspire you to smash your memories into a journal.