Chipboard Mini Album Using Tim Holtz Wallflower Paper by Jenny Potter

Hi everyone! For those of you who do not know yet, I have been one of 10 lucky crafters who were chosen to be on the FIRST Scrapadabadoo Design Team!

I have received my first "box of goodies" from Scrapadabadoo, and I must say I am very happy with what I received! Carol & Barrie must know me pretty well is all I've got to say LOL. Yes, I have a few projects to follow this one, and I could have used more of the products that were sent, but hey, why not make more! Anyway, let's just get started on this chipboard mini album first!

The chipboard mini album I received was similar to the Natural End Bracket Album W/Holes, but mine didn't have holes and the piece of acetate I received was the scalloped edge. My first train of thought when starting to put this mini album together was how best to use the die-cut sheet of acetate. I was going to cut it into thirds (the album has 4 chipboard pages and one sheet of acetate 8 1/2" x 5 1/2") to put between each page inside the album, then I thought, nope - I will ink it up! And that's exactly what I did, as well as adding torn paper and a fussy-cut bird - yes, I fussy-cut an image!

I colored the back side of the acetate sheet with Clover, Lettuce, Aqua, Pool, Latte, Butterscotch & Caramel alcohol inks. I tore a piece of paper at an angle, edged it with Frayed Burlap distress ink and adhered to the front of the acetate sheet with Glossy Accents. I tried, unsuccessfully, to stamp onto the acetate sheet (very slippery) so I had to cover the mess up with paper on the back of the entire piece of acetate.

I used three of the wooden banners for the sentiment on the front of the album. I inked all edges with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, then glued them together using Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive. I took of thin tissue paper, stamped the sentiment using StazOn  Jet Black ink and attached it to the banners using Matte Medium. I then adhered it to the front of the album using Glossy Accents.

To cover the shaped chipboard pages I cut pieces of the Wallflower paper slightly larger than the size of each chipboard page, adhered the paper to the chipboard using Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, left to dry, then cut around the edges using a craft knife. I then sanded all edges of each piece, inked all edges using both Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain distress inks.

It was too hard to cover all the gorgeous papers so I decided to add extra half-page pockets between each chipboard page. I made a pocket using just the paper, then using the Caged Bird die by Tim Holtz I die-cut the cage from acetate, inked it up with Latte, Sail Boat Blue and Black alcohol inks, as well as the gold and copper alcohol ink mixatives. I then added some black matte rhinestones to the base of the cage. As an afterthought I decided to punch a hole in the pocket to attach the cage with a black brad. In doing this I then had to cover the brad prongs with paper on the inside of the pocket to ensure they didn't rip anything pushed into the pocket.

The second half-page pocket I made using acetate, paper and another fussy-cut image - this time a flower. I adhered the acetate piece to the paper using Glossy Accents. I added some gorgeous Webster's Pages Green Petals trim and three of the wooden banners. The wooden banners (Studio Calico Flags Wood Shapes) are an awesome embellishment to use for titles on pages! I tied a piece of string through the hole in each piece. The Twisted Natural Burlap String at Scrapadabadoo would be perfect for this!

The next "extra" pocket I used a piece of acetate cut to 8" x 5 3/4", scored at 1/2" along both long sides and 3/4" along the bottom short edge. I applied Scor-tape to all edges of the scored sections in the folded position, then adhered a  piece of cardstock cut to 7 1/4" x 4 3/4". The "NESTS AND EGGS" info sheet fit perfectly in this, however it is not adhered to the acetate so you could slip a photo in there quite nicely!

For the last section of tags I die-cut 3 tags using the Tag & Bookplate die by Sizzix using white cardstock. You could use three of the Ranger #8 Shipping Tags instead of die-cutting them. I stamped various images over it in Archival Coffee ink and Memento Gray Flannel ink on both sides of the tags, just to give some texture to the tags. I then sponged the entire tag using Antique Linen Distress Ink, then added some Old Paper Distress Ink around all edges, then finished it off with a thin layer of Frayed Burlap Distress Ink around the edges. To ensure the tags had a similar color to the pages I sprayed some Vanilla Breeze Glimmer Mist over all tags. I then ripped some of the paper, inked the edges and attached it to one side of each of the three tags and finally cut some natural string and tied a knot through the hole in each tag. You can use any string or twine, click here to see a similar twine I used.

To ensure I lined up all the holes correctly using my Bind-it-All, I first made a template from cardstock. I measured the center point and ruled a line right along the length of the cardstock. I then placed this piece of cardstock into my Bind-it-All and punched my holes - one page at a time (I only used 6 holes so only one punch action was necessary). Once all pages and tag sections had been punched I used the 3/4" wires and bound it using the Bind-it-All, however you could use the Cinch or even just binder rings!

Lastly I took some gorgeous green grosgrain brown picot edged ribbon and attached them by tying bows onto the binding rings.