Olde Curiosity Shoppe Mini Album

Hi Everyone!  Thought I'd give you an update on the Mini I'm working on.  It's made with Graphic 45's Olde Curiosity Shoppe papers and I'm using the binding system as explained in my last post.  So far it is working well but I did have to change it slightly because I didn't like how it looked. My original idea was to use a couple of small hinges to create the cavity for attaching the pages to the spine  of the book, but I didn't like the fact that in some instances the hinge was actually visible.  So I decided to attach a strip of cardboard over the hinges before adding the paper. 

    Like this.

And here is the result. As you can see on the right hand page, the hinge is visible but on the left hand side I've used the new version and it does, to me, look better.

  The book is not finished yet but here are a few pages that are complete.

As is my usual practice, this mini will have lots of tags. 

And I've done a bit of fussy cutting.

As I said, the book is not quite finished but I'll show the rest when it's done.

These photos were taken with a new camera I'm trying for the fist time.  It actually belongs to my youngest son who is allowing me to have the use of it.  I love it. It is so much easier to get close-ups and I didn't have to delete half the photos I took.  Thanks Rod, you're the best.

That's it for now. Thank you for visiting.  Take care and God Bless.

Binding for Mini Album

Hello everyone!  I am in the process of making another Mini Album.  Surprise! Surprise!  I think I may be addicted.  Anyway, I am using a combination of Kathy Orta's Hidden Hinge Binding (you can find it HERE) and Annespapercreations page construction from her Ladies Diary Yearbook Journal (you can find that HERE).  I love Kathy Orta's Mini Albums, she is a very talented lady, but because I like to use cardstock instead of envelopes or paper bags, I find I go through a lot of cardstock and the pages come out really thick.  Then I stumbled upon Annespapercreations (also a very talented lady)  and loved the way she constructs her pockets with hinges instead of folding over the cardstock, so I came up with my own interpretation.  Someone may have come up with this method before but I myself haven't seen it anywhere.

This is the hidden hinge system from Kathy Orta which I am using as the base for my Album.

 

 This is just a closer view.

 Here is the base card for one of the pages. You can see I've created two little hinges on the edge that goes on the inside of the Album.

When you glue the paper down on the side with the hinge you have to make sure you leave it open for the depth of that hinge but you do need to glue the paper to the actual hinge.  On the other side you can glue the paper down completely. So you will have a page with a cavity of about half an inch down one side.

 

 This page has the hinge side of the cardstock so for about half an inch on the left hand side the paper was left unglued.  The pocket was constructed out of cardstock following Anne's hinge method and then of course covered  with paper as well.

 This is the other side of the page and I was able to glue the paper down completely.  This pocket  was also constructed using Anne's method and just the hinges attaching it to the page are of cardstock. 

  And here is the page attached to the binding.  You simply remove the score tape from both sides of the long hinge and slip the cavity over the top and make sure you push it all the way to the base to stick it down.  Exactly the same as Kathy explains it in her tutorial. (If you trim a small triangular piece from the each end of each mountain fold you will find it easier to slide the cavity onto it.)

 

This is the other side of the page attached to the binding.

I hope these instructions make sense and that someone finds them useful. I 'm finding it better for myself because it uses a lot less cardstock and I think it will be strong enough because it really isn't all that different.  You couldn't use just normal paper but designer papers are generally quite heavy anyway so I believe this will work quite well.  I'll show the album when I'm finished and by then I should have some idea if it is going to be durable or not.

Thank you for visiting. Take care and God Bless.  xx Margy

Mini Pocket Page

I wanted to show you the mini pocket page booklet I made using a tutorial by Kathy Orta. If you would like to take a look you can find it  HERE. It is really simple to make and it is really cute.  You could make it any size that you want and it could be a little brag book for your purse as well.

 This is the first half of the booklet. It has a pocket with a tag as shown below.

 

  This tag could actually be a folded one so you would have more photo space.

You open it up and there are 2 photo mats inside.

 

Flip it over to the back it looks like a small envelope.  Open it and you'll find more photo mats.
 

 

 This is how it looks on the edge.

And here is the other half of the pocket page.  I actually cut it into two because it was too thick to fit into the pockets of my mini album.  

 This is the front,

 the back

 and the inside.

This really is an ingenious design.  It only uses one sheet of cardstock and is not large (about 31/2" x 4") but it has quite a lot of places for photos and you could make it really pretty with embellishments, etc.
I'll have to make my next Mini a little larger because I want to make more of these and I'd like to keep them in one piece.
 A great big Thank You to Kathy Orta for designing and sharing her wonderful creations with the rest of us.
That's all for now. Thank you for visiting my blog. Take care and God Bless.
xx Margy

Completed Mini Album

Yayy!! My mini album is finished!  I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out and, more importantly, so was my dear friend.  She was delighted with it.  Made my day.

 I fussy cut a few flowers from the paper to make a pocket for a tag on the inside cover.

This mini pocket page is one I made from a tutorial, again by Kathy Orta.  The original one turned out too thick for my mini so I split it up and ended up with two nice little booklets.

 

This is the other half of the booklet I mentioned before. 

 

Punched out a Magnolia dragonfly and fussy cut some more flowers for the inside back cover.

I put in quite a lot of different tags but not much in the way of embellishments because I felt the paper was pretty enough to stand on its own.  I only added the odd flower or ribbon to some of the journalling tags.

That's all for now.  Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and, if you feel inclined, please leave a comment and let me know what you think. I would love to get some feed back. Take care and God bless.

xx Margy

Mini Album Cover

Just a short post - I finally finished my Mini Album cover.  It didn't quite turn out how I first imagined it but I think I'm happy with it.

 

 The lace flower is one I constructed myself as are the charms.

I used my tattered clock again although you can't see too much of it because I layered a postcard tag over the top of it.  I sprayed the clock with Sugar Plum Fairy Glimmer Mist which is a really pretty colour.

The large flower is one I made myself , the beige rose  is from Prima and the rest are all Kaisercraft.

I added some small gem sprays and some gold spirals.

I love this butterfly, it is so delicate. I couldn't remember where the die came from but the lovely Sandie Edwards from Delightfully Crazy left me a beautiful comment and told me it is a Memory Box die.  Thank you Sandie - you're the greatest.

Here is a closeup of the charm strands. I think I made it  a little too long so the next one will be shorter.  It should look better that way I think.

The album itself still isn't quite finished, I still have a couple of photo mats to make.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by.  Take care and God Bless.

xx Margy

'Rondelle' Mini Album

Hi everyone! Wanted to show you a few pages  of a mini album I'm working on.  It's for a close friend of mine.  We don't  'do'  birthday presents so I'm giving this to her instead of a card.  She is the most amazing person.  She had polio as a child and now has to wear a caliper but she doesn't let that slow her down.  She is always busy  helping others (she bakes cakes for me) and never thinking of herself.  I love her to bits.  

The base album is made from cardstock along the lines of   Kathy Orta's  envelope album but with a couple of my own ideas incorporated into it.

 

    

The papers I've used are mostly from the Prima Rondelle Collection  (love these papers, they are really beautiful)  but the black spotted one is from Graphic 45's Olde Curiosity Shoppe and the orange spot is from their Nutcracker Suite  papers. I needed a couple of contrasts and felt these fitted in really well. All papers are distressed with Kaisercraft Bark Stamp Pad.

 

The small journalling tags I'm using are from various sources.  Some are Kaisercraft, some are free printables from the net and some are from my stash.

The charms are ones I put together myself.

It's not quite finished, I'm having problems working out how to decorate the front and what embellishments to use  inside.  Doesn't help when you're not feeling well but I'm sure it will all come together eventually.  I'll show the rest when it's all finished.

Thanks for visiting. Take care and God Bless.
xx Margy