Hello! It is FINALLY the day I have teased you about for months. I made a First Year Mini Album for my niece and her husband. I could not show you any photos until she received it. Well, that happened last Saturday at their baby shower. So, all this week, I have been gathering info and photos so I can show you what I made. I have a lot of info to give you but first, here is a photo showing the front cover. Enjoy!
Let's start with first with a little background. I purchased a 6 x 6 chipboard album from The Crafty Scrapper from Prima. It had 8 heavy chipboard pages and the cover was a gate fold. I went to pinterest and you tube and looked at several videos to get ideas. As I do always, I took a little idea from one, added a little idea from another and came up with a page idea that I wanted to do for all 12 months. I knew my niece likes purples and pinks so I found online a collection that had those colors and I thought she would like. It is called Bella Blvd. Sweet Baby Girl. (click the link to see the whole collection). I also ordered matching chipboard icons, die cuts, and washi tape. Adding some cardstock, I was off and running, so I cut papers and created a multi fold that would be for each of the 12 months. Then .... I thought, oh, I should put it in the book and see how it is going to be .... AND the book would NOT CLOSE! So, I was going to be wasting papers already cut or I could go to PLAN B! I went back to You Tube and found out how to create my own book FROM SCRATCH. The binding came from Kathy Orta King and it is called Hidden Hinge Plus Binding System, check out the you tube link here. I went with the 8 pages since this is the amount I had already planned on when I was adding to the purchased book. I made my gussets 3/8". Here are a couple of photos showing the binding ...
One note, I first did it with white cardstock, but I decided the colored cardstock would be easier to bend and it would look better in the middle of my book. The next photo shows the back side of the binding after I added Tyvek for strength. (Tyvek is what the material that priority mail envelopes are made of).
For my covers, I cut chipboard for the front, sides and back of my book. I watched a couple more you tube videos but I found this one here that I thought was super helpful in giving me instruction on how to put the cover together, cover the covers, and add the binding system to the cover. The photo below is my cover together but before any cardstock or binding was added. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the other side so you could see the Tyvek holding the each section together, but they are there.
I want to tell you about a couple of things that happened to me and maybe if you are making a album, they could help. you. First, I had added magnets on each of the 12 month section of folded papers and as time went on, the magnets were creating issues in that they were pulling my binding away from the cover and so, I used UNDO (love this product!) to lift every paper that had a magnet under it, and remove the magnets. Also, when this was happening, I reached out to a friend who works at The Crafty Scrapper and she told me that Scor-tape and Tyvek don't work well together, that the albums she has made where she used Tyvek, she had to use a glue from 3M called Quick Dry Glue. So, after the magnets were removed (except for two small ones I used in the beginning of the book), I did squeeze some of this glue into the binding. It seem to help.
Before I gave the book away I took a bunch (like 60) photos of the book. But I also did a video. Now WARNING on my video ...the sunlight is very bright coming in the window where I was filming the video. So, overlook this, please. And there is no sound. Only my hands in "Vanna White" style. But, it is a great way for you to see all my book without scrolling thru tons of photos. Without further ado, go here for MY mini album on You Tube!
I showed this book to lots of friends before the shower. My friend, Darlene, from church had a good idea. She suggested I give it to her in a box and then if it falls apart (which I am afraid of, as it is homemade!), it would have a place to "be". Plus, I also thought she could have a place to store stuff until she gets it in the book and it would help in wrapping. After looking at several places, I decided on a photo box. Perfect, not too big, not too little. The box I bought was white and my thinking was I was going to cover it, but then realized I didn't have enough of the designer papers left, so I decorated instead. Here is the box ...
And the view from the side...
Okay, one last bit of info I should share and that is about fonts and products used in the making of this album. I downloaded the fonts. Check them out on the links. First, Jenna Sue. The coolest thing about this font is the heart was created every time I hit the ^. Next, for the months, I knew I wanted an open design, so I could color in with my copics, that one is Sloppy Hollow. And last but definitely not least, is the baby icon one MTF Itty Bitty Baby. Every letter represent a different baby "symbol". The coolest thing I have ever seen! The scallop borders were dies from My Favorite Things, the Heart square frame on the front is Spellbinders. The punched out dot circle around the number months is from a circle die set from Little B. The sentiment in the shaker card originally came from a stamp from Stampendous, but the rubber stamp was too big so I retyped it in word using the same font as the rest of the album. Only one stamp and that is on the front of the book from Penny Black.
I just added a little music to the first part of the video, better than static. So, if you go there before it gets on there, well, happy static!
I also want to share my card I made for her, but another day. See you tomorrow for the Saturday sketch share!
Happy Stamping!
Tina
