Take some time to remember those who have fallen while serving this country. There are so many that never made it home..
{photo from simply marvelous files at wordpress. com}
Sunday, we had our family picnic. It was nice to have family over, for a change. Here are group photos of the cousins.. it's amazing how big they are all getting (and stubborn.. you have NO idea how hard it was to get this close to having everyone smiling in the photo!)
Almost made it again, but the littlest one had to stick out his tongue... Ah well, that sparked even more fun photos..
This photo of my niece is by far one of my favorites this weekend.
Hope you all were able to spend some time with family.
Please keep the troops in your thoughts. Whatever you think about the war, the men who are serving deserve our support. After all, WE are the reason they are fighting.
Check out this new doiley laser cut paper!!!!!!
This is really a mini mini-album, which made it a project that was done in just a few hours, including drying time. 
Most of the painted pieces for this album were chipboard. Some pieces were covered with cardstock, which is another thing I like to do ahead of time. I use Zip Dry to attach the patterned paper to the chipboard. Once dry, I use a technique I learned at a Basic Grey make and take - use a file to sand the paper at the edges of the chipboard - it eliminates the need to cut with a craft knife or scissors, and gives the sanding effect I love at the same time - which means I don't have to do the edges twice.
One of my favorite techniques to use on the acrylic is to emboss it with a cuttlebug folder, paint it, then wipe off the excess paint. I love how the paint stays in the embossed areas of the acrylic. This technique cannot be done on all acrylics though - the acrylic has to be soft enough to be embossed (acrylic from a home improvement store generally will not work for this). 
Once the pages were all prepped, painted, sanded, and dry, I clipped them together and used the Bind It All to punch the binding holes. It was thick enough I had to do it in two sets. A lot of the mini albums I do come pre-punched for rings, but one of the nice things about the Clear N Chips is that you can make them any way you want to. 
Once the albums was bound together, I added the embellishments. The key things to remember when making acrylic albums arethe Peek A Boo Effect, and hide the adhesive. The Peek A Boo Effect means that you can see bits of the next page through it. I don't believe in covering every inch of an acrylic page - if you are going to do that, get a chipboard album. Covering up the acrylic defeats the purpose (and that's one of the reasons I like to mix chipboard and acrylic pages). 
The next few pages were fun to do, and one of the things I like to do a lot of with my acrylics. It looks like the black frame is on the right hand photo.. but it isn't. There is an acrylic page between the two photos - and the rub on frame is on the acrylic page. That way, when the page is turned, it frames the photo on the other side. Sometimes this takes a bit of planning, and sometimes it is pretty easy (like with these two photos). 
On the last page I used Thickers again, and left the back cover blank other than the paint. I always add the ribbon last, as I think thebindings look too plain without them. (And, for the ringed albums, I usually make all the pages before I bind them, so it's become a habit.)
Bears a striking resemblence to Jones, dunnit? 
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