Inspiration: Crate Paper Tutorial Video + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)
With the current Great HIbernation, I've been visiting YouTube quite regularly and thanks to the suggestions YouTube makes based on what we've previously watched, I found a really cool mini-album tutorial from Crate Paper. I tend to save tutorials for later when I find something I like but this one seemed so simple and yet very unique, it sparked the desire to try and make one right away.
I pulled the Sparkle City collection because I have a big pile of patterned papers and many embellishments to go with it, so I knew it'd be easier to embellish a mini-album with a full collection. You know how I said the project seemed simple? Well... It's not overly complicated, but I did run into a few caveats along the way. My first mistake was deciding to be fancy and use two different patterned papers for the top and bottom. Not a big change, but I was using a paper with words printed on it. I was really proud that I had anticipated that detail and thought about which direction the words should be facing when doing my scoring. Here's where it went wrong. I assumed the lady in the video was making the bottom of the box first and the top second, which is how I would have gone about it. I assumed wrong. Which means that despite my best efforts, my words still ended up upside down. I had also assumed the first part was the bottom because it was so darn long. It didn't seem right so I went back to the beginning of the video to double-check the measurements. They are handwritten and I finally realized that the size was 4" and not 6" as I had initially read. (If you intend on trying this out, remember that the top paper needs to be 4" x 9-1/4".) So I went back and made another top that was the correct size. After having already wasted paper, I decided I could live with the wording upside down and kept what I had.
The second part that gave me grief was securing the ribbon in the box. I didn't pay close enough attention to the video and missed the part where they staple the ribbon in place, so I ended up adding mine once the box was glued together, with double-sided tape at the bottom best I could. Here's my advice: the length of the ribbon and where you add your pages on it is VERY important. Too long and it will tople over - not long enough and it doesn't fan out enough to stay open and falls right back into the box. I had to tug on the ribbon and take it off the tape and place it again a couple of times until I found the correct mix. So the album was working for a while until I started decorating it and it was not fanning out properly again... which is when I realized that the added weight of the embellishments was making the ribbon come undone! So I basically covered a strip of cardstock with double-sided tape, folded one end up so I would have something to hold it with and using tweezers, I place it over the ribbon so it wouldn't pull up again. (The strip with the fold was the second attempt - the first one was placed in the wrong spot, made my ribbon too short again and after coming really close to swearing, I went about trying a way to correct the length again.)
So preparing the album and putting it together is fairly easy. The ribbon length and assembly is the part where you have to work slowly and deliberately. If you get that part right, the rest is just regular scrapbooking. Because of the little folds we're making at the bottom of each page, the pictures you add in will have to be 3" x 3" or smaller. The little folds are great to add little elements that will pop up, though, like in a 3D card. My favorite is the one with the pigeon. I love that Shimelle added adorable pigeons to this line and it was just the right size for the fold.
I added a box on the top of the box and on the front, I stamped the definition of the word Family (from Stampin' Up!'s Praiseworthy Prose stamp set), embossed in navy powder. The die-cut I was using had some balloons on it, but I wanted the word family to be standing out, so I turned the die-cut around to get the balloons out the way. This unfortunately made them upside down, so I use other stickers (the little stars and the camera) to hide it. I added a black gem on the camera lense, for shimmer and dimension.
I am really happy with how this one turned out, considering it was done in an evening. I would estimate in less than four hours. If you take away the fiddling I did, it's pretty quick for a mini-album. I just have to decide if I'm giving this one away or keeping it. At this rate, I'll probably have time to make a few more anyway!
Supplies
Stamps: Prose louable (Praiseworthy Prose - Stampin' Up!); Photo Bomb (Mama Elephant)
Patterned Papers, Stickers, Chipboard: Sparkle City (Shimelle for American Crafts)
Mirror Card: Holo Waves (Tonic)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Navy Embossing Powder (Top Boxx); Bow Punch, Purple Grosgrain Ribbon,
Rounded Tab punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Pinking Heart Border Punch,
Candy Dots, Jumbo Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Lace Border Punch, Silver Thread,
Paper Argyle and Molds (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic);
Baker's Twine (Lawn Fawn); Midnight Black Gems (Pretty Pink Posh);
Heart Shaker Gift Tag Dies (Lawn Fawn)
Comments