Inspiration: Festive Friday #61 (flowers + pink + sweet sentiment)
Social distancing has been hard for everyeone, including kids, who are going a little stir-crazy being confined at home without their friends and usual structure. My niece's emotions have been all over the map, so I thought I would make a little something for her. She loves my projects and really takes time to look at and notice all of the little details I put in there (which is surprising from a kid). I knew I wanted to make a mini-album and use Doodlebug supplies, which she tends to always gravitate towards when she sees it (which is not surprising, considering the cuteness factor and colorful hues). I was trying to decide which collection to pick and then I remembered I had French Kiss, which is love-themed, and also includes a lot of pinks and aquas, which she loves.
It always blows my mind how much faster you can create a full project when you are working with a full collection of products, compared to when you pick and choose from various items in your stash. I was lucky that along with the paper pack, I had also purchased the Odds & Ends and the mini icon stickers, so I had a lot of embellishments on hand and the two sizes helped to fill in large spaces and tight ones as well.
It took me a while to find the right format of mini-album. I was looking through various YouTube tutorials and nothing was quite right, until I stumbled unto a video showing how to glue envelopes together to make a mini-album. I looked at a few tutorials and then I ended up basing my project on this one. I went through my color envelopes and picked colors that best suited the collection: Seafoam, Jupiter Metallic, Fairway Metallic, Nautical Blue Linen and Sapphire Metallic.
In the video, the crafter is showing how she is slipping cards in the envelope to make flaps. I did that with Melon Mambo cardstock in the first envelope, punching the edge with a Lace Trim Border punch, and while I love the look, I quickly realized this was making the whole thing a whole lot bulkier. It was a good thing that I realized that straightaway, as I limited the number of inserts I did and I made sure to use patterned paper instead of cardstock for the other ones. I was able to finish most of the album in one evening. Initially, it only had the envelopes. I could have decorated the front envelope, added ribbon and be done with it, but I do want this album to be something that my niece can keep for a while and that will remain nice even if it's handled repeatedly. I was thinking a chipboard cover would work better but at that point, I wasn't sure how to add the cover on the album, so I decided to leave the project aside and take time to mull it over.
In the end, I kept coming back to the idea of making a binder-style cover with chipboard and to use elastic cord binding to keep the envelope album inside. I learned from my last mini-album mistake and did NOT cover the chipboard with patterned paper this time around. It's simply too thick and does not have enough give to open and close the cover properly. I went to my wrapping papers and I picked a cute white-polka dot kraft paper. I cut three pieces of chipboard: two pieces that measure 4-1/4" x 6" and one piece that measures 6" x 1". I placed them on the backside of the wrapping paper with a little gap in between each, then I wrapped the paper over the edges and added more paper inside to hide the seam. Some people who do twine binding pierce through the whole binding, but I didn't want to see the cord on the spine, so instead, I did my piercing on a piece of red cardstock, placed my elastic cord where I wanted it between the envelope pages and then I threaded it through the red cardstock and I used double-sided tape to glue it in place in the cover. Inside each cover page, I added a piece of patterned paper and I remembered before gluing it in place that I could make little pockets on each so I could slip in something else. I had selected pictures of my niece and I together and I had a unused one left on my desk, so I cut if down, created a tag for it and slipped it inside the cover pocket.
I was initially trying to decide if I would handwrite my 10 reasons I love her or print it in colorful font. I ended up choosing to handwrite everything. It was faster, simpler and it gave me more control over where I wanted the text to appear. My niece is in first grade, but she can already read my handwriting, even when it is not something I wrote carefully with deliberate handwriting to help her out. I'm very impressed with that, and it made it that I didn't have to worry about using prints in order for her to know what the journaling meant.
For the cover, I wanted to make a shaker, which I know my niece will enjoy. I've also gone back to doing rosettes lately (which I hadn't done since Stampin' Up! first started selling the Simply Score tool years ago) so I made one and found a nice circle stickers in the paper collection that was the perfect size and colour for it. I wanted one more layer, so I used the bouquet, the envelope and the flower from the Odds & Ends. The flower was mainly to hide the "Happy Valentine's Day" a bit, since this is not a valentine project. On the back, I used one of the cut-aparts that happened to say "Je t'aime." This kit includes a few French words. Unfortunately, the other sentiment said "mon chéri", which is the masculine form and wouldn't have worked for my specific project.
Supplies
Patterned Papers, Odds & Ends and Mini Icon Stickers: French Kiss (Doodlebug Design)
Cardstock: Real Red, Melon Mambo, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); Holo Waves Mirror Card (Tonic)
Dies: Wonky Square Frames (Avery Elle); Postage Stamps (Hero Arts);
Dotted Scallop Rectangles (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Folk Hearts (Essentials by Ellen);
Tri Window Cover (Mama Elephant); Decor Decor, Banners (Stampin' Up!);
Stitched Scallop Rectangle Frames (Lawn Fawn)
Embossing Folders: Decor Decor (Stampin' Up!); Dotted Lattice (Taylored Expressions)
Envelopes: Sapphire Metallic, Fairway Metallic, Nautical Blue Linen, Jupiter Metallic,
Seafoam (envelopes.com)
Accessories: Night of Navy Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Metallic Enamel Shapes,
Mini Banner Punch, Mini Stapler, Simply Scored Tool, Window Sheets, Corner Rounder Punch,
Distressing Tool, Confetti Heart Border Punch, Glitter Enamel Dots, Jumbo Heart Eyelets,
Lace Trim Border and Corner Punches, Clear Faceted Gems, Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels,
Petal Pink Rhinestone Gems, Twinkle Adhesive-Backed Sequins, Heart Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Gems (Pretty Pink Posh, Studio Katia); Assorted Sequins (Simon Says Stamp, Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
White Ric Rac, Sparkly Ribbon, White and Green Trim (Unknown); Aqua Ric Rac (American Crafts);
Blue Alphabet Stickers (PinkFresh), Washi Tape, Candy Carnival, Winter Hugs and Hello Shape Sprinkles,
Bright Glitter Assortment, Winter Assortment and Birthday Girl Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design);
White and Sparkly Gel Pen (Gelly Roll); Striped Blue and White Sparkly Alphabet Thickers (American Crafts);
Pink Alphabet Stickers (Queen & Co); Border Punch (Martha Stewart);
Silver Alphabet Stickers, Swimming Pool Mini Doilies (Doodlebug Design)
Congratulations! Your project was selected as a Festive Fave over at the Festive Friday Challenge. As a reminder, you can hop over to the challenge to grab your winners badge for your blog. Thanks so much for joining us and I hope you will play along again really soon!
Posted by: Anne Marie Hile | June 24, 2020 at 14:42