Inspiration: Crate Paper Tutorial + Little Red Wagon #573 (Halloween)
So this project started out as a short tutorial I caught on the Crate Paper channel on YouTube. Seemed small and simple and I let myself believe that this could be something I could create quickly. Yeah... Not so much. First of all, the Crate Paper videos tend to be more process videos than actual tutorials and even though there's a few measurements on the blog post (in cm, which is not a big deal because I've been raised on those in school, but I do tend to favour using inches to measure when I craft), you really have to read a lot between the lines.
I used the cut-apart sheets from the Halloween Town collection (not a new one, something pulled from my stash from a couple of years ago) and had twelve 3" x 4" images that I wanted to use as the inside pages. Which meant I had to figure out new dimensions. The accordeon is what really threw me for a loop. It took three and a half versions of it before it finally worked. The first one was made of patterned paper and the accordeon was too narrow, so the accordeon was simply refusing to fold on itself when the album was closing. So I tried glueing some of the accordeon together to help. It didn't. First fail. I tried a more traditional binding where I spaced the folds more and glued the inside together. I did it from memory and I don't think it was right. Right in the bin it went. The last accordeon, made out of cardstock and with scoring lines spaced ½ apart, worked much, much better and it was the winner. It should be noted in the video, the crafter shows that she glues each end of the cardstock cover. I would advise against that, because if your accordeon is even slightly off when folded, the covers of the album will not line up properly when closed. (This was one of the many problems I experienced with my first accordeon.) It took a lot of struggling, but I pushed the two accordeons down in place and closed the top cover in place lining the front and back together before burnishing the adhesive in place. You need to use strong adhesive to make sure the binding does not come apart.
I didn't have any Halloween pictures on hand to put right away in the album, but I focused on embellishing the covers and inside pages. It went pretty quickly as I used up a lot of stickers from the element sticker sheet, and I added a few homemade die-cuts here and there, a border punch, sequins and pearls and sparkly pens and markers. This turned out pretty cute.
Supplies
Cardstock: Blackberry Bliss, Soft Suede, Shimmery White
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Halloween Town (Echo Park)
Glitter Paper: Champagne (Unknown); Black (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Cute Cobweb, Build-a-House Halloween Add-On (Lawn Fawn);
Stitched Ric Rac (My Favorite Things); Stitched So Sweetly, Black Stampin' Write Marker (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Chevron Ribbon, Pinking Heart Border Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Shimmery Gelly Roll Pen (Sakura); Assorted Moonstone Sequins (Simon Says Stamp);
Metallic Rose Gold and Marigold Gems, Wildflower Sequins Mix (Pretty Pink Fresh);
Ripe Persimmon Pearls (Studio Katia); Crystal Stars (Buttons Galore & More);
Black Shimmery Washi Tape (Unknown); Blush Rosette Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo);
Awesome mini album. Thanks for joining us at Little Red Wagon this week.
Posted by: Doni High | November 01, 2020 at 17:24