Chic Tags and my first try at a smash book!

My daughter bought a smash book for her pics at college and she asked me if I could make a small version for her to put her pics she takes of our two rescue dogs. I was hesitant at first because I usually make cards, but had purchased a Zutter Bind-it-All a couple years ago and had used it to make small note books and photo albums, so why not try a smash book!

A few weeks ago I entered a facebook giveaway being held by Chic Tags http://chictags.com/ and was shocked when I was selected the winner of 3 collection sets of absolutely wonderful tags!! When the package arrived, I was like a kid on Christmas morning! Packs of Tags, labels, journaling tags, and the quality is top grade! The tags are sturdy and finished beautifully. The sets I received were, Birthday Cake, Everyday Life II and Road Trip Collections. Each pack had several items inside and on the back of the package showed the variety inside. So quick and easy for selecting shapes, colors and labels for the pages!

So started my try at making a Dog Smash Book. I really enjoyed picking papers, placing some tags and using all items I already had in my craft stash (yes, I had a lot of dog papers), I created this little smash book. I only took a few pictures of the book, but you will get the idea of what I put together. Hope the smash book police don't mind my interpretation of this smash book.

The front cover items came from a 3-D sticker set that I've had for eons but never used. Since our last name is Good, the Good Dog sticker was perfect for the cover.

My binding skills are a bit rusty, but for this little book, it wasn't a big deal to us. Why waste the cute paper just to make another hole at the bottom or redo the book, so please excuse the bad binding, but the book opens and closes beautifully, so the boo-boo it more aesthetic and doesn't effect the functionality.  Since the finished book was quite full, I punched a hole in the covers and made a plastic ring reinforcement for the ribbon and attached it to both covers with an eyelet and tied it into a bow. I then added a gem brad into the eyelet to give it a finished look.

I didn't make any of the papers, or alter them in any way, other than adding some tags and stickers, but now that I feel a little more comfortable with it, I may try my hand at another and make a mixed media style journal. I am saving up to get some glaze and gesso and mediums on my wish list and am looking forward to being a bit messy..LOL

Here are some inside pages of the book. I placed a bone shaped paper clip on most of the pages, and when I ran out I had some heart shaped clips to use. They make the perfect tabs to turn the pages. All tags inside are from Chic Tags! http://chictags.com/

This is the inside cover and the first page in the book. The little paws are felt stickers from my stash.

These are some inside pages.  I really love the Chic Tags and how cute they are!! I highly recommend them and will be buying from them in the future. 

Hope you like what I created. I really did have a blast creating it!! If you haven't figured it out by now, we LOVE our dogs and there will be plenty of pictures and journaling to fill this book up quickly. Here is a recent pic of our pups. 

Have a wonderful crafty day!

*Hugs*

~Andrea