The Design Teams of Basically Bare and May Arts Ribbon join forces to bring you lots of fun and inspirational projects.

It’s almost back to school time here so I decided to make a themed photo journal to capture those first few weeks of school when the kids are all excited about meeting new friends and new teachers, reading new books and learning what addition and subtraction are all about.

My project features a Basically Bare mini album called Tilly’s Tabs inspired by our very own May Arts Prima Ribbonista Candy Rosenberg.  This fun mini has corrugated pages, a fabric page, a brown envelope, clear acrylic page and extra pages for adding lots of fun embellishments.  Basically Bare’s Celestial Shapes Embellishments add some whimsical fun to my pages.

I chose the vintage and wonderful Graphic 45 An ABC Primer Collection and chipboard die cuts as my inspiration; pulled out some wonderful May Arts Ribbons, a few embellishments from my stash and the album practically created itself.

The cover and binding feature May Arts AKB10 7/8” black and ivory check tied onto the binding and May Arts 419-27 Mini Pom-poms trim the cover.  A lock from Dear Lizzy and a real vintage key from my stash add both fun and tell our little learner that education will “unlock” their future.

I created a shadow effect with my letters by layering them just slightly over one another.

Inside, the first page has ample room for that important first day of school photo.

I used the brown envelope to store little notes for recording all those books we’re going to read.  I “antiqued” some May Arts KB14 Solid Check,  DD14 5/8” Grosgrain Dots, and AKN14 – 3/8” Solid Check with Sepia ink.  A G45 chipboard tag was tied and twisted with SP10 – Natural Burlap Cord.

The book list is tied off with May Arts 408-05-10 ½” Woven Burlap and 361-58-10 – 5/8” Crochet.

A slide in frame for our little learners individual class photo  is embellished with one of the clear acrylic stars from Basically Bare’s Celestial Shapes and a bit of May Arts SY10 Black Satin Cord  I traced the star and glued some matching designer paper under it for extra pop.

I love this fabric page!  I added some zig-zag stitching, G45 designer paper cut outs and a flower cut from May Arts 398-25-02 – 2 ½” Wired Burlap and XL-16 – Suede Leaves.  I cut the flowers with a Tim Holtz Shabby Flower die.

On the flip side, I cut out more images from the Designer paper, added some stitching, another chipboard elements and a strip of May Arts Woven Burlap tied on the ends with SP10 – Black Twine.

Isn’t this fun?  I cut a portion of the acrylic page off and embossed one piece with a Cuttlebug numbers folder.

A Celestial Shapes Cloud and chipboard Star announce that first A+ in Math.  😉

More room for pictures and journaling is all tied up with more May Arts Woven Burlap ribbon.

A star embossed vellum envelope holds lots of numbers for practicing math problems.  We can count those buttons that trim May Arts  AKB10 Black Ivory Check Ribbon, too!

This cool vintage measuring tape was found on Etsy. I left the chipboard page natural.   Another Basically Bare Acrylic Star and a May Arts bow finish off this fun page.

A page for some journaling and the class picture.  The extra bit of the acrylic page is embossed with a star pattern and inserted just for fun.

And finally, don’t forget to practice your ABC’s!

Thanks so much for joining us for our week with Basically Bare!  We love to read your comments!

Blog post by: Charlene Driggs