Mini Album. The first of many!!

Let me start by saying WELCOME! Thanks for checking out my blog. It is guaranteed to be random, sporadic and oh-most-definitely crafty! 

I am in no means a full time, professional or otherwise trained artist, but I love this stuff, and, in my option, that's half the battle.

So without further adieu... 

My first mini-album.

I've had this wooden house-shaped album out of the package, painted and ready to use for at least three years (meaning I have no idea what company designed it). It was originally a neutral wooden color, and I added two coats of brown craft paint to both the front and back. I searched for a paper collection that had the look that I was going for and fell in love with the Lotus collection by K&Company, designed by Amy Butler.

 

Using a collection is a great way to know that, although the pages don't necessarily match, they all 'go', and enough variation is added to make each page interesting and unique.

I trimmed out my favorite designs of the collection to be just smaller than my album pages.

One trick to this album is making sure the layering of elements will look good once the book is closed (mind the windows!!).

At this point, you'll want to take a look at the pictures (or other main focal points) you will want to add to the album. You don't necessarily need to adhere them yet (think layering), but you'll definitely need to know where to leave space for them.

The first element that I was thrilled to try out was grungeboard, by Tim Holtz. I'd heard about this product, but just thought it was a 'name brand' chipboard.

WRONG!!

My best description is that it almost has a leather quality, but you're still able to manipulate it like you would chipboard (ie: inking, distressing, etc.). Pieces are able to hang off of the edges of your work a bit without getting damaged because this material is so flexible and durable!

I used an ink dobber to ink my 'Z', making sure to ink the edges. For me, forgetting the edges is like finishing a final exam with 100% correct and forgetting to put your name on it!!

Finished product (after sanding the edges a bit and adding a few pearls from Stampin' Up!)

The brown grungeboard letters ('rare', 'things') were stained using walnut ink (LOVE), and the smaller letters of 'Beautiful' were inked in a grey. Note how using a contrasting color to ink the edges makes them POP!

You'll really want to be sure to use a great adhesive to tack down your elements to the pages, and I used Glue Dots (they work extremely well at holding down grungeboard!). There are no page protectors to save your book from little fingers here!! There is such dimension and texture to the lace pages, especially, that I wanted to be sure that nothings was going anywhere!

Once you have your main elements added to your book (in my case, I was using three pictures and a Bible verse that ran throughout the pages) it's all about the embellishments!!

I feel like mini albums give a little more freedom to be excessive! While my husband gets overwhelmed with the multiple elements, I love looking through the book and being able to notice a different feature each time. Here are a few of my favorite cram-them-every-free-space fancies:

Again, it's in the details...thread those buttons, folks!!
It's worth the extra time for a completely completed look.

Ribbon Rosette
You can easily make any ribbon into a rosette by simply putting down a circle of adhesive (or splurging on Glubers).
I added another pearl to the center (but debated a button...it would have been threaded, of course)

Let it all hang out!! Feel free to let your ribbon or other suitable embellishment hang off the edge of your album to act as a tab to turn the page.

...and perhaps my favorite little addition: the lace!!
I bought this doily at a garage sale for $0.25 -- paying any more for it would have made it hard to cut into shreds!!  I used it on two opposing pages to add some cohesiveness and used a lighter (and on one occasion, my husbands hand-held torch--EEK!) to singe the edges of the lace. I love the look this gave and it also served to prevent the cut edges from unraveling.

 There you go!! I hope you enjoyed the highlights of my first mini album.
I can't wait to bring you more ideas, techniques and random selections of my scrapbooks :)