I’ve worked many moons on this project, but I’m very proud to (finally!) present: my latest mini album!
This is a hefty girl, with 10 multi interactive page assemblies plus interactive inside covers. I needed four(!) 12×12” + one 8×8” design paper collections, OMG.
So this is a real stash eater, for all of you out there who’ve been hoarding collecting their design papers for quite some time…🤡
All of the gorgeous papers I worked with were by Stamperia. I used the following collections: Lady Vagabond, Sir Vagabond (8×8″), Time is an Illusion (2 packs), and Clockwise.
Anyway, here are the video and some pictures, feel free to leave a comment or ask any questions!
So I finally made it to the end of this new mini album design project I set out to do several weeks ago. If you want to skip straight to the video, scroll down to the end of this post.
I’ve felt significantly less creative energy since the lockdown(s) started, so I’m having trouble crunching out new album designs every month, like I used to. But, I got this one done, and it’s definitely NEW!
I designed what I’m calling a faux paperbag mini album, and because it also sports four fold-out and/or popping elements, I added ‘pop-up’ to the title as well. But there are more themes than it just being faux paperbag and having pop-ups. It is also rich in belly bands, plus it offers several micro envelopes. So if I wanted to be precise about it, my design would be called a Faux Paperbag Pop-up Belly Band and Micro Envelope Mini Album. Phew, that would be a mouthful…
If you’re wondering why the “faux”, well, I didn’t use actual paperbags. Instead, I created my own, while still employing the techniques that are typical for a paperbag mini, like the binding style, as well as the many flaps and the way they are styled.
If I managed to charm you into wanting to create one yourself, then head on over to my shop. There are lots of customers who left reviews, so I recommend rummaging through those if you want to check what other crafters think before you make a purchase.
The papers I used were from AliExpress this time, so I guess you could also consider this another AliExpress product test. I have to say I loved this Paper Designer or perhaps Enogreeting pad (I’m still not sure what the brand is actually called), with its beautiful graphic designs in vintage colors. Moreover, it measured 18×18 cm (7×7″), which I believe is quite unique in the papercraft community.
I suspect it may be a dupe for an older Kaisercraft collection, but if it is, I’m not aware of it. If you do recognize it, please leave a comment below!
I also did some mixed media techniques this time. Not only on the napkin fold element in the back of the album, but also on the spine, for which I altered a piece of pitch black book muslin and turned it into a nice muted slate gray pattern on an antique bronze base.
As for the cute little pop-up I added to one of the page layouts, I used a pop-up die for that. And I did a video tutorialon how to use it, a couple of blog posts ago.
I also did a video tutorial for the Twist & Pop element in the album, you can find that here.
And last but not least, the video tutorial for the Napkin Fold element at the end of the album, is only one click awaytoo.
So, finally, here’s the end of my blabbing along endlessly. On to the video! 🙂
No tutorial for this one yet, let me know if you’d be interested in one
A couple of years ago I designed and created a very sturdy folio mini album, with the nature-themed Time to Flourish collection by Graphic 45. My mother now owns it, and she asked me to fill it up with some of the awesome closeup pictures my father took, mostly of flowers, insects and birds in their own garden.
And since it’s always nice to see a handcrafted mini album filled up with pictures, I thought I’d share it with you one more time 🙂 .
In the video I’ll be sharing some general tips for filling your mini albums with pictures:
Don’t be afraid to rigorously crop your pictures when your page design or paper pattern requires it;
Die-cut your pictures into shapes, like circles, rectangles, squares, labels;
Apply glitter glue or liquid pearl all around the edges of some of your pictures;
Fussy cut the main subject from your pictures if the background or the rest of the picture is boring or irrelevant;
Trim your pictures down to miniature size to fit them onto smaller tags – simply find a picture with a small main subject;
If two pictures don’t fit onto one page, use washi tape as a hinge for one of them and stack them;
And last but not least, my favorite: color-coordinate between your pictures and your design paper as much as you can!
If you want to create this yourself, check out my tutorial. I also did a second iteration with a masculine paper collection, you can find that one here.
There are of course hundreds (probably thousands even) of different design paper collections on the market. Still, sometimes you feel you’re in need of another sheet of a particular color scheme to really perfect your project. You could of course purchase (or shop your stash) for a sheet from another collection but: you did you realize you can also create your own? And I don’t mean by becoming a graphic designer yourself and printing some cool computer-generated design you came up with.
No, I mean by applying some very easy mixed media techniques. Here’s how.
Ink, paint or spray a piece of white paper that is suitable for mixed media (so no printer or copy paper please; you can use actual mixed media paper, or paper meant for water painting). Spread several colors randomly; make sure the colors coordinate with the design paper collection you’re using for your project. A stencil can add some fun patterns to the mix.
2. If you want, you can even print an image – or in my case a graffiti-style initial – on your colored paper. Wait until everything is dry though, before you run it through your printer.
3. Add some stamping. You can choose actual images, or just some random patterns. Use an oil-based ink like Archival ink, to make sure your stamping ink does not react to the other mediums you’ve used so far.
4. Add some texture with texture paste. I used Tim Holtz’s Distress Grit paste because that is translucent (so the inking underneath will show through) plus it’s heat-stable so you can emboss it. Which is exactly what I did after I added the paste: I sprinkled it with different colors of Embossing Glaze (which is a translucent embossing powder), let the texture paste dry, and then embossed it.
5. I (of course) forgot that I needed more than one mat, so I had to repeat steps 1-4 to create a second mat. It would have been easier had I just taken a larger piece of paper, did the mixed media techniques, and only then cut it to size. Oh well.
6. Mat your mini album page! As you can see in the pictures below I made sure to choose colors that would coordinate with the rest of the design paper I used.
Same page, with left-page flap opened. The smaller mixed media strip has turned into a mat for the top pocket.
Want to see the entire album? Check the video in this blog post!
With the current year nearing its close – and what a bizarre year that has been – I’m considering some new ideas for my blog and Youtube channel. Counting the fact that we haven’t been able to go out shopping and hunting for new craft collections on the one hand, and given the fact that many of us may have lost (part of) our incomes, I figured next year might be a No Buy Year for me, as far as craft supplies are concerned. Or, to be more realistic, at least a Buy Less Year.
Shopping my stash would be a great way to go about that, being that by now my stash probably rivals the inventories of many a small “Craft Shoppe” (sorry, not sorry).
So to give that a try before dedicating an entire year to it, I shopped my stash for my latest mini album. What I found was an almost forgotten treasure: TheSweetest Thing – Lavender collection by My Mind’s Eye. I only had ten design paper sheets, a couple of brads and a journalling card, but I decided to make do and use them all. I also borrowed a chipboard piece from a different collection and threw in an bunch of flowers and some feathers for good measure.
And here’s what I created: a sweet little two-page album in landscape mode! Tutorial available for all of you stash-shoppers with probably many a ten-sheet paper collection 🙂
And should you find mostly 12-sheet collections in your own stashes, that’s no problem at all: either add an extra album page, or simply add more photo mats/tags/booklets.
Enjoy! And please leave a comment: will you be shopping your stash more the coming weeks/months?
If you look at Papermania’s Nature’s Gallery collection you may think ‘spring’ or ‘summer’, but it definitely also gives me ‘muted fall colors’ vibes.
So when a group of colleagues asked me to create a ‘nature-themed album’ for a colleague who is retiring this month, I immediately suggested this collection.
They wanted a brag book for about 10-20 pictures and with 15 tags – one for each colleague to write a ‘waving goodbye’ message. So I created a 2-page mini album of about 7×10 inches, which looks elegant and sophisticated – yet is quite thin.
If you want to see it in different colors, check out my earlier version in bold autumn colors here.
There’s an easy to follow tutorial waiting for you in my Etsy shop, should you want to make some yourself! (They’d make great Thanksgiving or Christmas gifts 🙂 )
Enjoy the video and feel free to leave a comment in the comment section, either here or on Youtube!
Here’s my latest mini album, Graffiti-themed this time! Meant for a young man turning 16 soon, his mother (my friend) asked me to create a paperbag mini for her son. It has been a while since I made these; I did a romantic shabby chic version and a Christmas version several years ago, and this Graffiti version has been the first one since.
This time I used some of the mixed media techniques I recently started adding to my papercraft repertoire – which added a whole new dimension of fun to working with design papers!
Recently my mother asked me to fill the Treasured Memories Mini Album DeLuxe I designed for her when my father passed away, with their wedding pictures from 1968. The black & white pictures truly look amazing in this album!
This album design is very luxurious and offers room for many pictures, large and small. You can play with any possible album theme of course, especially if you have many pictures you want to keep in it. Just choose papers suitable to your taste and the occasion you have in mind.
To give you an example of how this album would look with different papers, check out my Joyful Reminiscing version. There’s also a tutorial available so you can create your own beautiful tome! 🙂
If you’re in the mood for a larger project, I’ve got just the thing for you! 🙂 For here’s my latest design, a gatefold mini album with a small box pocket and a bonus project, a mini folio!
If you’re going to work many hours you should choose the loveliest papers you can find, for you’ll be looking at them for quite some time 😉 My choice this time was the Dear Diary collection by Mintay Papers. Very lovely indeed.
So, enjoy the show & tell video, and of course some pictures below. Tutorial available!
Tadaaa, it’s finally here: my Summer Album Box Set! I started working on this somewhere in March, presented the first of the two minis in April, and shortly after that fell into the Abyss of Crafter’s Block. But now I’ve re-surfaced and I’m proud to present to you the finished project!
For the accompanying 4-tutorial set, check out Tutorial #45 in my webshop. You get a lot of bang for your buck, for you get 170 pages and almost 400 (!) very clear pictures guiding you through the steps, for all of you visual learners. Of course a supply list is provided as well, plus links to my video tutorials showing you techniques you can use while creating this album set yourself.
Perhaps you’ve noticed by now that I haven’t posted weekly videos for a little while anymore. I’m still trying to post something on the blog, but there isn’t always video footage to accompany it. The reason is that for the last 8-9 months my focus has been elsewhere: my health. I’ve worked hard at getting healthy and as a result also lost 31 kilos (68.3 lbs) of weight! I may do a vlog episode on how and why I did that, if anyone is interested.
Anyway, that meant a new obsession, and as a result less time and energy to spend on papercrafting. Be that as it may, I’m still working on designing new projects, albeit slower and less frequently.
Like the one I’m sharing this week: it’s a special design of mini album, with a deep box pocket and only ONE hinge for the three pages. It’s part of a larger design, an actual 2-album box set, but I haven’t finished that yet.
For this first of the two albums I used Studiolight’s Celebrate Spring paper collection, including their usual accompanying punch-outs and die-cuts, which are great decorations. I also used leftovers from several other paper collections, since the dimensions of the album (12 x 14.5 x 6.5 cm / 4 3/4 x 5 3/4 x 2 1/2″) allowed me to make good use of the relatively small scraps of those other papers.
Enjoy the video and pictures, and do leave a comment below this post if you feel so inclined! 🙂
This week I’m sharing a reprisal of my Folio Album III design, originally called Mimosa. It was commissioned by Nora, the German lady for whom I also created the Remember Mebox pocket album. Nora loves many things, among which cats, hot air balloons, old books and the color purple. For this new, elaborately decorated version of my Folio Album III therefore, I used Bo Bunny’s gorgeous 2016 collection Beautiful Dreamer, with themes of hot air balloons, bicycles, birds, books and old clocks, in nostalgic warm purples, greens and golden browns.
This folio album has a very flexible spine, sports many photo flaps and mini wallets and will hold about 65-70 pictures. Its main feature however is that you can entirely separate the book from its cover! 🙂
Check out my (written) tutorial if you want to create one yourself. It has very clear instructions and is illustrated by 255 pictures of the step-by-step process for all of you visual learners. It also comes with an bonus materials list for this Beautiful Dreamer version!
Enjoy the video of my project share and feel free to leave a comment or question below!
