This March, we will be five years old, already! Can you believe it? We are so excited to be turning 5 that we thought we should celebrate all month long!

Check back on March 1st to see some very fun surprises – like a free gift with every order and some new items, too! Lots of sneak peeks in the photo above 🙂

Also, every Saturday in March will be something extra special, so make sure you tune in for all 5 Saturdays… and I can’t leave without giving you a little hint about the first Saturday… It usually only happens once a year, but we’ve decided to do it again just for you guys! And, it has something to do with shipping 😉

We can’t thank you enough for all your support during these years! We look forward to spending many more with you 🙂

Last July I got to meet and hang out with Cindy at CHA in Chicago and she is one of the sweetest ladies! And, to top it off, she is also an amazing scrapbooker – After seeing her layouts in person at CHA I was dying to see her guest design for us! So, you can image the happy dance I did when she said yes!

Here’s just a tiny peek at two of her amazing layouts – you can check out the rest of her layouts in the Inspiration Gallery!

Name : Cindy Liebel
Location : Virginia
Blog : http://tctliebel.typepad.com
Twitter : ct2designs

What are three products you can’t live without?  
Cardstock, punches & brads/pearls

Where do you scrapbook?
I use our dining room as my scrapbook studio. it’s right off the kitchen & the family room, which is perfect because i can cook dinner and still interact with the family while they are watching a movie.

What do you listen to/watch while scrapbooking? 
XM Radio, channel 51 BPM…love dance music

What is your favorite color combination? 
I LOVE tone-on-tone look


What/who inspires you?
My children inspire me ALWAYS

What are three facts about you that others might not now? 
I’m a slow reader, I can do 27 regular pushups in one minute & I chew gum really loud


Alright, now it’s time to give away Cindy’s favorite Elle’s Studio items!

Just leave a comment to be entered to win: Layered Number Cut Outs, One and Only Strips, and Pink Pennants! One comment per person, please. We’ll draw the winner this Wednesday, February 29th, 2012.

Hi everyone! Meghann here with a simple tutorial on how to create your own book-bound mini album, like the “You Are My Number 1” mini that I made for the January Inspiration Gallery. It really is so simple and fun! I could see giving this as a gift, of just keeping in your purse as a tiny brag book!

Supplies needed: Cardstock, chipboard, trimmer, liquid glue, bone folder or scoring mat, patterned paper and/or Elle’s Studio tags, sewing machine, wide Washi tape (I used a 3/4″ wide tape)

Step 1: Cut two pieces of chipboard to 2-5/8″ x 3.75″ for your cover. Cut 3 pieces of cardstock to 5″ x 3.5″ for your pages. Cut one more piece of cardstock to 2″x 3.5″. This will be what attaches your cover to your pages.

Step 2: Fold the 5″x3.5″ sheets in half width-wise using a bone folder or a scoring mat. Fold the smaller cardstock piece in half lengthwise.

Step 3: Cover both sides of your chipboard covers with patterned paper of your choice. I find that a liquid glue used sparingly is the best method.

Step 4: Put your three folded cardstock pages together and squeeze as if you were closing your book. The middle two pages stick out further than the outer page. This may be just a pet-peeve of mine, but I usually trim them at this stage so that the pages are even when the book is closed.

Step 5: Start adhering patterned paper and/or tags to the inside of your pages. For this album, I used the Handmade Layers Note Tags and scrap patterned paper. One good tip: Don’t adhere your paper or tags all the way to to the crease of your page- it will fold closed better if there is a small gap between the crease and the start of the paper, as you can see below.

Remember to lay out your pages as your book will go together, so that you can have the patterned paper designs that look nice together on pages next to each other.

Step 6: Put your pages together as they will go in the book and place the small strip of cardstock on the outside, lining up the creases. While holding together with the inside of the book facing you, use your sewing machine and sew along the crease of the pages.

The backside will look like this once you’re finished with this step. (Don’t worry, we will cover up that unfinished edge.)

The inside should look like this- a nice stitched line.

Step 7: Generously glue both sides of the small cardstock piece with liquid glue. This is what will attach your pages to your cover.

Press the pages in between the inside of the front and back covers, with the sewn pages pushed in about 1/16″ from the outside edge of your covers. Make sure that you have your covers turned the correct way before you squeeze! 

Now this is the part where you have to be patient. Put something heavy on the book and wait until the glue dries before moving on to the next step.

Step 8: Once dried, run a thin line of glue along the edge of your front and back covers along the spine of your book. This will ensure that your washi stays in place.

Attach a piece of wide washi tape to cover your unfinished sewn binding.

Step 9: You’re finished creating the album! Now you can add photos & embellishments as you see fit. Just remember, with this mini, you might want to stay away from dimensional embellishments on the pages, as it will be very difficult to close.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and you can see that creating your own bound mini really is fairly simple! This can easily be switched up to any size that you choose. Happy creating!

Our February Inspiration Gallery is here and it is awesome! When I saw these projects being turned in I could not wait for you to see what the ladies on our Design Team have done – There are some great projects in there to get you inspired!

Also, come check out who our special guest is this month! We will be highlighting her in a couple days 🙂 She did some amazing projects, too!

Inspiration just in time for the weekend! Love it!!

Lisa Dickinson is a graphic designer living in Colorado with her husband, Mike, and two children, Hayden and Riely. She currently designs for Jenni Bowlin Studio, Lily Bee Design and Creative Memories and recently authored the book Design Workshop from Ella Publishing. Her simple but eclectic style has been featured on the pages of Scrapbooks Etc, Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbook & Cards Today, and Scrapbook Trends.  You can see more of her work at Gettin’ By, where she blogs about scrapbooking, motherhood, running, and her deep-seated hatred for the font Comic Sans.

While I love using Elle’s Studio tags for journaling, I also think they can make perfect homes for photos as well!  On this page, I strung a variety of Elle’s tags across my page pennant-style, using several of them as frames for my photos.

Here’s how this layout came together:
1.  Spray a dark gray cardstock with white mist. I used Mister Huey in Calico White by Studio Calico.

2.  Select an assortment of tags to create a banner.  Use some for journaling, and decorate others with a variety of letter stickers:

3.  Use a few of the larger tags to hold your photos. Measure the interior of the tags that will be holding your photos and print your photos according to your measurements.  I used foam squares to adhere my photos to the tags for a bit of dimension:

4.  Arrange your tags in two rows across the page, arcing them slightly to look as if they are hanging from a line.  Adhere them to your cardstock.

5.  Glue a long piece of twine across the top edge of each row of tags.  Embellish with buttons to complete your banner.

This month’s challenge is to embellish your embellishments. For my layout, I dress up my Elle’s Studio tags 🙂

ES products used: One And Only Large Journaling Tags, Pennants – True Love

You can interpret this challenge in many different ways… cut it, sew it, pop-dot it, add some glitter, sequins, twine or floss…you get the idea. Here’s another example from my September gallery where I added some floss over the zig zags on the tag: