What A Beautiful Mess: Tres Jolie January Guest Designer/Folio

I am back again with my next project as January Guest Designer. Using the beautiful January kit with papers from 3 Quarter Designs, I created this 8.5x5 inch Waterfall Folio. I used the folio design created by Ginger Ropp (My sisters Scrapper). Ginger lost her life to Covid, but her beautiful designs live on. This design is one of my faves. I think scrapbook kits are perfect for these kinds of projects, because all you need is paper and some embellishments. The only thing I added from my stash was the chipboard to create the base of the folio, a little lace for the spine, and 2 sheets of solid cardstock for the base of the waterfall feature and the tags. So even though the kits come with plenty to do a few projects with, it is always good to add a bit from your own stash, to make it your own!! You don't need much.

This is the cover of the folio. I used 1 sheet of paper from the kit to cover my folio. Once the cover and inside was done, I used 1 strip of lace to cover the spine. This gives it some stability, just in case the paper on the spine cracks. It also adds some beauty. I used the Prima flowers and cut outs from the paper collection to adorn the cover. Just layer your elements until you are happy with the design. I fool around a bit until I get the look I like. Once I like it, it gets nailed down!! Well, a little glue is all you need!

For the back cover, I used one of the tear away strips from the paper, as it had a sentiment written across. I cut the paper sentiment apart, and I also used a cutout snowflake that I cut in half. I laid the sentiment on the back cover and tucked one half of the snowflake on the top, and one on the bottom of the last strip. I then adhered them using glue.

This is what the Folio looks like open from the back. The design lets you open the Folio all of the way so that it could lay flat on a surface.

This is the inside of the folio. On the right side is the waterfall feature. There are 7 flaps. You could adhere a photo to each of the front and back flaps. That gives you plenty of room for lots of photos. I used a decorative corner punch on each of the flaps. I used a piece of navy blue cardstock from my own stash to create the base of the waterfall feature, then used paper from the kit to cover it. I used the half strips that came in the kit. They are perfect for piecing. On the left side of the folio is a corner flap that holds the tags I created. I cut the base of the tags from the navy blue cardstock from my own stash, and decorated the fronts of the tags with paper from the kit. On the [pocket, I adhered a cut out tree, and on the bottom, adhered a sentiment strip. As you can see the base of the inside of the folio, is the bonus paper design that came in the back of the cover photo for the kit. I thought it was perfect for a lining.

Here is a closeup of the tags. I did 4 tags in 2 different sizes. Each of the tags have a pocket that you could tuck photos into. You could also use the back for journaling.

Here is a close up of the floral cluster on the front cover. I had a lot of fun creating this folio. I plan on gifting it to someone filled with a bunch of their Christmas Memories. Folios make awesome gifts. And when it is made from the heart, it is even sweeter!!