Paper Issues Blog Hop

Welcome to the Paper Issues blog hop! You should have arrived from Melissa's blog- Paper Princess,

but don't forget to check out all the fabulous projects from the other girls participating in the blog hop:

Nina
Jennie
Susan

Kate

The newest theme is Abroad! I had a lot of fun working with the new Studio Calico Abroad collection to make my projects- a US map, paper suitcases, and a mini album.

                   

Don't you just love this collection! Paper Issues is giving away this fun kit full of Abroad papers and other goodies. Be sure to check out the blog for all the details on how to enter the giveaway! You can also find lots of fun goodies in the Paper Issues shop. Don't forget to use the code INSPIREME to get 20% off of your entire order!!

I am also giving away these fun stamps from Studio Calico's Abroad collection:

To enter all you need to do is follow my blog, like me on Facebook here, and comment to let me know you did! Easy peasy, right? You have until May 12th to enter and then I will pick one person to win all three stamp sets and announce it here on my blog.

At this point you could head over to Susan's blog and continue hopping or you can keep scrolling to find more photos and details of my projects. I have A LOT of photos to share. You have been warned, lol.

I made this map with the state die-cuts from Studio Calico. Since they are precut and ready to go, it took me almost no time to put it together.

I want to use this to keep track of all the states my family and I visit over the years. I thought it would be fun to show the states we have already visited by taking a second set of the die-cuts and some pop dots to create a 3D effect.

I am going to make a second map for my sister. Her husband is in the army and they move around quite a bit. This would be a fun way for her to document the places they have lived and could also serve as a home decor piece.

For my next project I made these cute paper suitcases. I am going to use them to store photos and memorabilia from our travels as well as this mini album. The cases were simple to make and the finished sizes are 3x5, 4x6, and 5x7. The handles came from an old jewelry box that I don't use anymore. They were the perfect size for these smaller cases.

In the top case I am going to keep smaller bits of memorabilia we picked up from different places- photo playing cards, ticket stubs, etc.

The second case holds 4x6 photos that didn't fit in the album or favorite photos that I want in a larger size than what is in the album.

The last case holds the mini album. The album fits nicely inside the case and I even have room to add more pages to the album as we visit new places.

For this mini album I used papers from the Studio Calico Abroad 12x12 collection pack and the 6x6 pad. I kept the album pretty simple and it went together quickly. I was inspired by one of the flair badges in the collection that says GO SEE DO. I thought it would make a great title and decided to use it for my album. The yellow and orange letter stickers are the Vera Thickers from American Crafts. The blue letter stickers are from the alpha sheet that came with the Abraod 12x12 collection pack.

I love the mini envelopes in this collection. They are the perfect size to hold the smaller polaroid shapes cut from the 6x6 paper pad and the wood cameras. These cameras are just too cute!

For the inside of my cover page I simply used my Silhouette to cut the word travel from the Continental paper and backed it with a bit of the the Bucket List paper.

To start off the pages about our trip to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado, I used my Slice and the Travel cartridge to cut the state of Colorado. I used pop dots to add it to the page for a bit of dimension. I also made this into a pocket page so I could keep a few more photos of our trip in the album.

For these pages I used strips of the Concierge paper to make pockets to hold my photos. I kept the embellishments simple and only added a few stars to the pages with my Fiskars punches.

In between the two pages I added an envelope I made out of more of the Concierge paper.

The envelope holds more photos and bits of memorabilia.

For the last of my Colorado pages I clipped a small card for journaling, another small photo, and a couple of tags to the page. For the journaling card I cut a piece of white cardstock to the size I needed and punched the top edge with an EK Success notebook edge punch. I also embellished the bottom of the page with more stars and a small banner strip.

On the opposite page starts our trip to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. For this page I also cut the state of New Mexico with my Slice and added it to the page with pop dots.

This page has flaps that open on the top and bottom to reveal more photos of our trip.

 On these pages I added tags and a couple of small embellishments to my photos.

To the middle of the pages I added a suitcase die-cut that I cut using my Slice and Travel cartridge.

I cut two of the suitcase die-cuts and adhered them together to form a pocket to hold a few smaller photos of our trip.

The beginning and end pages for each of the states are very similar through out the album. So for the last page of our cavern trip I clipped another card for journaling, a photo, and a few embellishments.

The state of Texas was also cut with my Slice machine and adhered to the page with pop dots.

A couple of close ups of the embellishments on left page:

The page on the right opens to reveal a few accordian style pages with photos from our trip to the El Paso Zoo in Texas.

I used my Silhouette to cut the word explore and clipped a couple of photos to the left page. On the opposite page I cut a strip of the locals paper from the 6x6 pad to create a band across the page to hold my photos. I also added a couple of stars and one of the wood veneer people.

I used my Slice and the Travel cartridge to cut an insert to go between the two pages.

On the back of the insert I added a photo. These animals didn't seem too happy to  have their pictures taken that day, lol.

On the last page of our Texas trip I clipped a card for journaling, a small photo, and a mini envelope with a polaroid shape cut from the 6x6 pad and one of the wood states. For the embellishment at the bottom I cut a strip from the 6x6 Locals paper and layered it with more stars and one of the people wood veneers.

A close up of the embellishments on the left page. I love that Studio calico also came out with wood veneer states.

The page on the right is another pocket page that holds photos from our trip to the St. Louis Arch and Zoo in Missouri. I cut the state of Missouri using my Slice and the Travel cartridge.

For the left page I used my Fiskars 1 inch circle punch to punch out the circles from the Destination paper in the 6x6 pad. I hand stitched them to the side of the page and used them to hold a couple of photos.

On the opposite page I used more of the  Destination paper as the background. I used my exacto knife to cut halfway around three of the circles to create pockets for a few small photos. At the bottom I added another wood camera and a small banner with the date. I used the Becky Higgins date stamp and Hero Arts Wet Cement ink to stamp the date.

A few close up photos:

Between these two pages I added another insert using my Slice machine to cut a postcard shape from the Travel cartridge.

After cutting two of the postcard shapes I adhered them together and used them as pockets to hold more photos of our trip.

A look at the last two pages of the book. For the last page of our St. Louis trip I clipped a card for journaling, a small photo, and a couple of tags. For the embellishment at the bottom of the page I cut a circle from a 12x12 sheet of the Destination paper, added some hand stitching, and a wood veneer car.

For the inside of the back cover I used my Silhouette and cut the word journey from the Continental paper and back it with a strip of the Bucket List paper.

If you have made it this far, thank you, and now it's time to hop on over to Susan's blog to take a look at her project. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!