Hi everybody! It’s Andrea and today I want to share with you a mini album I made using the April Hip kits. I’m calling it my “faux Easter” mini because,  I didn’t exactly celebrate Easter on Easter this year. To be honest, because of my condition (CRPS), I can’t always celebrate holidays on the actual holiday. It’s kinda become a running joke between me and my hubby about how we will just pick a day and suddenly, “tada”, it’s the 4th of July on the 8th of July!

This year it wasn’t so much my CRPS that delayed things but bronchitis and a cold that I passed to my poor hubby. Luckily Easter wasn’t pushed back too far, we just celebrated the next day.

So I thought I would make an album about our awesome little celebration we had together just the two of us! We dyed eggs and ate yummy food and watched movies and had a cool photoshoot! We got together later with family too in a few days time…but that one day together making bunny ears and being goofballs was the best!

To document this super special Easter (which may be my favorite ever). I wanted to do something that was really cute and highlighted all the awesome pics we took that day as well as some sweet ephemera from our Easter celebrating. I wanted to definitely include the Easter cards Ryan and I made for each other (we make cards on photoshop for each other for every holiday). I asked Ryan to reprint mine on vellum for a cool look atop one of the exclusive project life cards in the kit.

I love the card Ryan made for me this year and the pic I put across from it which shows how debonair and cute he is! I think the”you give me butterflies” wooden embellishment from the kit is perfect because he totally does!

I also wanted to include some of the goodies I got from my sister-in-law Jen. She likes vintage things like me and gave me some cute retro Easter ephemera like tiny cards and a little plastic bunny on a stick (a cupcake topper I think).

I put that in a 4×6 pocket page and filled it with some of the pink paper grass that came with what she gave me and some sequins that I have and then I sewed the top with my sewing machine to create a fun “Easter basket” kind of pocket.  I love the “oh yeah” exclusive flair button from the kit on there  – it totally expresses how I feel about my Easter presents from my basket! And the Shimelle Starshine tag and “well done” sticker I used here too from the kit, they just bring everything together!

For some of the pics in the album I just slipped the pics in pocket pages, but for others I created “mini” layouts. For those pages, I just cut down the beautiful pattern paper that came in the kit and then added some fun embellishments such as the Pinkfresh stickers from the kit, some fussy cut butterflies from the Crate Paper paper, some of the Pinkfresh acetate diecut words, the exclusive cut-apart sheet, the Amy Tangerine washi tape, etc.

I used my sewing machine to adhere down embellishments like the acetate words and the exclusive cut-aparts, for a lovely and delicate decorative element. On one vintage butterfly ephemera paper I sewed down the Pinkfresh acetate word “best” and added some cute pieces of Pinkfresh washi tape from the kit with hearts on it and words like “oh happy day” across from a fun pic of me and Ryan dyeing Easter eggs because it was the best most happy day!

Some of the exclusive cut-aparts from the kit, like this butterfly, I simply attached with paperclips.

I did this here and there throughout the album for a cohesive look.

For one of the mini layouts, I added a little bunny I cut out from some of the Elle’s Studio Little Moments paper which I covered halfway in glitter and layered with a butterfly from the Crate Paper paper and a “life” wood piece from Simple Stories. You will notice that I also made my own little paperclips using the wood pieces from My Minds Eye and Simple Stories. I interspersed the project life cards from the project life kit in between the pics and the mini layouts.

I love the graphic look of the project life cards from the project life add on kit in the album mixed with all the softer more spring and vintage ephemera from my Easter celebration – it creates a nice vintage meets modern vibe.

You will notice that there are tabs here and there in the album with things written on them like “springtime”. This helps to create an “office-y” vibe in the album which I enjoy too because it makes you want to flip through things more and really interact with the album.

The album has other interactive elements in it too like the kraft envelopes that you can open and close to find more “secret” goodies inside. On one envelope I added a vintage ephemera pic of a butterfly with a wooden butterfly from Simple Stories, a Heidi Swapp paperclip and a Pinkfresh “love” acetate sewn across a Shimelle Starshine diecut from her ephemera pack, all cute pieces from the April kit that just make this album scream Springtime!

For the cover I spray painted the yelllow alphas that came in the main kit gold. I spelled out Easter and then added some fishtail banners and a fabric heart that I cut out and a fussy cut butterfly…all of which I sewed together for a nice finishing touch to the cover. I think it all worked out great and I love the overall look of the album. I really hope you do too and that I have inspired you to print out your pics from this last Easter celebration and make your own Easter mini!

(Note: all vintage ephemera used in this project came from my Easter baskets and Easter gifts and cards and is not included in the kits).