Mini Album & Card - August 2022 Cards, Tags, & More Kit
Hey, y’all! The project I have for you this week is a mini album I created using items from my stash and this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit – along with a card to go along with the album using the card blank from the kit!
This album is sized just right to be able to use the Craft Consortium Belle Fleur papers in the kit without having to piece any together – in other words, the circles are slightly under six inches!
Make sure to check out my video to see how I put this album together and what I did to create my card!
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| Front and back cover piece measurements. | Inside pages measurements. |
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For my cover, I added a little batting to the underside of some stretch (faux) suede and then wrapped it around pieces of heavy chipboard for the back and front covers and carefully stitched about 1/4” from the edge (the spine is also heavy chipboard, but it doesn’t have batting or the fabric). I wanted to add a little something extra to break up the solid brown of the fabric, so I added some interfacing to the back of a piece of the Finnabair Decorative Paper that was in the July Mixed Media Kit, and some iron-on vinyl to the front to turn that paper into something that would be sturdy enough to be used on the front side of an album!
After all my fabric and paper were in place, I added some of the Belle Fleur rub-ons where the two materials met. I wasn’t sure how well they would stick to the fabric, but it was easy! I had to rub a little harder to get to the solid surface (the chipboard/my desk!) because of the batting, but it wasn’t a difficult process at all. To give the rub-ons a little extra protection I sprayed the cover with some ScotchGard and dabbed on some matte gel to help hold them down (do this very gently, because they liked to stick to my fingertip).
With the matte gel dry, I added my macramé cord along the edge of the decorative paper and the seam side of my cover circles – using the cord to finish the circle. Then I popped on the wicker hearts, some of the Prima flowers, the enamel dots, and my bit of ribbon. To harden the ribbon so it would hold the wave, I soaked it in some (water-thinned) Glossy Accents, placed it on the cover, and shaped it, then brushed on a layer of the Glossy Accents to really get it to hold its shape.
My spine is (about) 1-5/8” (41mm) wide and 4” (102mm) tall. The inside of the chipboard is covered with some of the same decorative paper used on the outside with some iron-on adhesive on the back to act as a “moisture barrier” so the glue doesn’t soak through and without vinyl. I did however use some of the vinyl-coated decorative paper to cover and reinforce the rectangle sections of the pages and to create the hinges. There is approximately 1/8” (32mm) space between the pages and from the edges of the spine to the first and last pages.
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| Photo page ring measurements. | Photo mat measurements. |
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For the inside, the Craft Consortium patterned paper on the front and back covers and the pages are 5-7/8” (149mm) circles. I distressed the edges of the circles with my scissors, added some of the chalk ink from the kit, and added some vintage-style crochet lace to create pockets on the inside front and back covers then started adding my photo windows.
The acetate and rings are not flush with the surface of the page, I left a little space to allow some room for a photo to be added to the photo mat and still have space to slide in and out. The windows are layered as follows (top to bottom):
- Patterned paper ring
- Cardstock ring
- Acetate
- Craft foam ring
- Cardstock ring
Just remember to only glue half of the ring onto the page – starting at the widest point – or your opening will be too small for the photo mat! The photo mat is a 5” (127mm) circle of cardstock, and I added a little piece of the Belle Fleur trim to use as a pull tab, with some stitching and glossy accents to reinforce it.
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My card is really a lot simpler than it may first appear! I used the chalk ink from the kit along all of the edges of the card, then added my patterned papers to the back and flaps. It was at this point that I took everything over to my sewing machine and added a line of stitching – sewing the outside papers to the card base, adding stitches to the papers that would be going on the inside, and adding stitches to the two circle halves.
I grabbed up my “Royal Purple” StazOn and created a ring of stamping around the card front and attached the two circle halves with some double-sided foam to give it a little lift. The doily is cut using a Dress My Craft die from a previous kit and the heart is a Sizzix die that came with my Big Shot Plus. To get that doily and the flowers to really pop from the background, I added some “Villainous Potion” Distress Ink along the outside edges. The heart is coated in a mix of the Distress Ink and the "Pale Brown" chalk ink.
There is a stretch of trim across the front of the card, cut slightly over the halfway mark for the opening, and the flowers run along that trim. The closure for the card is a couple of tiny magnets placed behind the (right) edge of the heart and one of the petals of the flowers, so now it stays closed and looks like it is all one piece but is very easy to open!
The final details of the card are rub-on flowers that I added a layer of Glossy Accents to, some of the enamel dots, and a rub-on sentiment on the heart – also with a layer of Glossy Accents.
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The inside of my card has the patterned papers glued in and it’s ready for personalization – which I would probably do by printing the message on some coordinating vellum and gluing it in place.
To make my envelope match the card, I blended on some of the Villainous Potion and stamped on a couple of flowers using my Royal Purple StazOn topped with Pumice Stone Distress Oxide. I used the Pumice Stone because by this point, I had used every last drop of the chalk ink between last week’s project and the album! Plus, the Pumice Stone is a perfect match for the colors on the card! Then, to finish it up, I blended some of the Pumice Stone onto the envelope.
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Thank you for joining us here on the Tres Jolie blog! I hope you enjoyed this mini-album and card, and they gave you some ideas of what you can make using the papers and the card blank in this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit!
Stay Crafty, Friends
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In addition to this month’s Cards, Tags, & More Kit (*from previous Tres Jolie Kits), I used:
*Finnabair “Romantica” Decorative Paper , Finnabair 3D Matte Gel , *Dress My Craft “Crochet Doily” Die , StazOn “Royal Purple” , Distress Ink “Villainous Potion” , Distress Oxide “Pumice Stone” , Ranger Glossy Accents , Recollections 6inx6in Clear Acetate Sheets , Celebrate It® Cotton (Crochet) Ribbon , DCWV “Magnolia” Cardstock Stack , “Indian Summer” Cardstock Stack , & “Brights” Cardstock Stack , heavy chipboard , batting , craft foam , iron-on interfacing , Heat-n-Bond Iron-On Vinyl , Bead Landing Macramé Cord , faux suede fabric , Silhouette Cameo 3 , Nicapa Mat , Aleene’s Tacky Glue , Fabri-Tac , UHU Stic , 1/8” double-sided tape , LineCo PVA , JudiKins Diamond Glaze , ScotchGard Fabric Protector , Liquitex Matte Gel , BookGuard 3” Black Book Binding Tape , double sided foam squares , Sizzix Big Shot Plus & heart die , blending brushes , Tim Holtz Stamp Platform , Sakura Moonlight Gel Pen