Pumpkin Mini Album! - October 2022 Cards, Tags, & More Kit
Hey, y’all! Did you see the October Kits yet? Aren’t they all just fabulous?
I must admit, I love pumpkins! As decoration. I won’t eat or drink them, but I love pumpkins and gourds as décor; so I was super excited to see this adorable Tres Jolie Chipboard Pumpkin Mini Album in the October Cards, Tags, & More Kit!
I used the amazing “Autumn Moods” papers from Craft o’ Clock found in the kit, and some beads and mediums from my stash to add some highlights.
Check out my video to see how easy this album comes together! All you really need are the papers and chipboard found in the kit – and a trusty pair of scissors – the mediums and embellishments are in my “use ‘em if you got ‘em” category! You can easily leave the chipboard plain – which in itself gives a rustic appearance! (Note: If you do use unfinished chipboard, wipe it down with a damp cloth/paper towel, or a baby wipe! The chipboard is laser cut, so there is often some sooty residue!)
There honestly isn’t a lot to describe for this mini album. The first thing I did was get all the cut apart pieces, cut apart. If you have an electronic cutting machine and a scanner (or camera), you may be able to speed up the “fussy cutting” process. (The most common one’s I’m aware of is the Silhouette PixScan mats, the Brother Scan-n-Cut, and I don’t know about Cricut, but I would think they would have something.)
The same can be done with the pumpkin shape – you can scan one of the chipboard pieces, double-check the size, and then just cut them out. Or, as I showed in my video, it’s easy enough to trace the shape lightly onto the patterned paper and cut it out.
To prepare my chipboard, I grabbed up my jar of TCW’s “Marigold” Stencil Butter and brushed it all along the edges of all of the pages and the front of the cover piece.
In addition to the Stencil Butter, I used some Halloween & Holiday Distress Crayons (2021 & 2022 releases) to add a little more shine, color, and highlights to the outside of the cover pieces. For the front cover, before adding the patterned paper, using my water brush, I added “Crooked Broomstick,” “Decayed,” “Tree Lot,” and “Bubbling Cauldron” to color the leaves and vines, then a little “Burning Ember,” and “Jack-O-Lantern” to add a little shading on top of the Stencil Butter.
With the Crayons added to the front cover, I started the process of gluing all of the patterned paper down to the chipboard – adding my flip outs and eyelets as I went along. On the front cover, I used some Diamond Glaze – making sure all of the swirls and curls were glued down – because it dries very clear and I knew I’d be coming back later to add a bit more decoration to the front. For every other page, I just used some Art Glitter Glue.
When I added the eyelet to the front cover, it was a little off center, which left an edge sticking out. I trimmed off that edge, but I also wanted to cover the sharp metal, so I just dabbed on some 3D Matte Gel. Even though it wasn’t in the original plan, I think adding that little extra bit of texture worked out well, especially after I added some of the Distress Crayons to it!
I also did distress the edges of every page, only the patterned paper on the two cover pieces and the tops of the little pockets from the cut apart sheets.
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On a few pages, I wanted to add some little flip outs, so I traced the shaped of the album onto the patterned paper, but left off the leaves and vines – just hand drawing the rest of the pumpkin top – and cut a tab at the edge that would be the hinge. I cut the tab to tuck into a slot I had cut using my craft knife before gluing the patterned paper down to the chipboard.
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As I was working, I decided I wanted to add a little extra reinforcement to the hinging edges of the flip-outs to help keep the paper from weakening and potentially tearing with use. I didn’t use any type of special tape, just regular gift wrapping tape that I aged with some alcohol inks.
For this tape, I used Ranger “Sunshine” and “Eggplant” alcohol inks so go with the autumn colors of the patterned paper, but I have used Ranger’s “Caramel” and “Ginger” to create the more “traditional” aged tape pieces.
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For the little pockets, I just used my Art Glitter Glue to hold them down, but for my tuck-in spots I used my hot glue gun so I would be able to give them a little extra lift off the surface of the page.
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You can use some of the longer tags, or cut out some stripes to create one or more belly bands for your album if you would like! For the page above, I just tucked the top and bottom of one of the longer tags under and glued them down to the page.
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I added some of my faux vintage tape to the bends and edges of the envelopes since I decided not to glue their edges closed.
For the tag on the envelope above, I created some faux brad heads using a few small beads and Diamond Glaze.
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With so many cut apart pieces to choose from, it’s super easy to create layers in your clusters for some added dimension!
I used the “Decayed” Distress Crayon on the edges of all the cut apart pieces (fussy cuts) to soften the white of the edges.
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Now the only thing that is left is adding any photos or ephemera to this adorable pumpkin album!
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And that was all there was to putting the inside of this little pumpkin together!
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Before I added everything to the book ring I was using, I added the final details to the cover pieces. On the front cover, I used a small paint brush to add some Micro Glaze to the patterned paper to give it a layer of protection so the two purple Distress Crayon’s (“Hocus Pocus” and “Fortune Teller”) I used wouldn’t just soak in and leave “stains.” After the paper was protected, I added my purple, spread it around some with my water brush, and let it dry. After that had dried, I added a couple different glass beads inside a few areas of the cover using my Diamond Glaze, and after that was set up, I brushed on some more Diamond Glaze and sprinkled on a few microbeads.
For the back cover, I gave the patterned paper a coating of the Micro Glaze, watered down and mixed together the purple Crayons on my mat, and just set the back cover on that mix letting the color go where ever it wanted!
When everything had dried, I added my pages to a book ring and used the same fine jute twine on the tags to tie one of the leaf charms to the ring.
Thank you for joining us here at Tres Jolie! If you haven’t had a chance to start playing with your kit(s) this month, I hope this project will give you some ideas of what you can do with your October Cards, Tags, & More Kit!
Stay Crafty, Friends
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*TCW “Marigold” Stencil Butter , Finnabair 3D Matte Gel , Distress Crayon “Jack-O-Lantern” , Distress Crayon “Crooked Broomstick” , Distress Crayon “Decayed” , Distress Crayon “Tree Lot” , Distress Crayon “Bubbling Cauldron” , Distress Crayon “Burning Ember” , Distress Crayon “Fortune Teller” , Distress Crayon “Hocus Pocus” , Tim Holtz “Eggplant” Alcohol Ink , *Tim Holtz “Sunshine” Alcohol Ink , *Prima Water Brush , ReneaBouquets “Dark Purple” Glass Beautiful Beads , ReneaBouquets “Dark Purple” Glass No Hole Microbeads , Ranger Alcohol Ink Applicator Felt , Ranger Blending Tool , Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher , We R Memory Keepers Crop-A-Dile , We R Memory Keepers Craft Knife , JudiKins Diamond Glaze , JudiKins MicroGlaze , Art Glitter Glue , hot glue gun , Gorilla Mini Hot Glue Sticks , 3/16” eyelets , jute twine , dark purple no hole seed beads , transparent tape (AKA Scotch® Tape)