First Mini Album Part 1

So in my last post was the Altered Cigar Box, this one is all about the matching Mini Album I made for it. I have never made a mini before and I choose to make with chipboard. The nice thing about chipboard is its very sturdy and you can get different shapes. I picked 2 up at Michael's in their $1.50 bins. Also I belong to an "Envie of the Month" swap and this last month the theme was Spring which was perfect because I needed a ton of embellishments for this album. I asked my pal which stack she would want me to use, giving her a choose between DCWV Spring Fling or Coral Couture. She chose Coral Couture. Once the stacks arrived I started by pulling one sheet of every pattern from the stack. Then chose the one for the top of the box and inside lid, I then picked out a shimmer sheet from the matching solids stack to do the sides in. Next I put in order the cs on for the pages of the album. Through out the mini I tried to use the same materials from the box as well as stay consistent from the front to the back. I have tried to keep the packages of the different products that I used, I am sorry if I leave some out. I will also be breaking this up into several posts as it is a huge post. Now on to the creative side of things :)

My biggest challenge was to decorate the pages with out taking away from the beautiful prints. Some of the pages were patterns so had no trouble with those, but as you can see here with the cover the paper itself was perfect. I added the lace to the other side of the cover so it became part of pg 1. Punched 2 holes for rings and added silver grommets using my Crop-a-dile. Added the butterfly from my stash and the rhinestone brad is by Prima. This will become the "latch" for the album. The CS sticker reads "And Spring arose on the garden fair, Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere; And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast rose from the dreams of its wintry rest." - Percy Bysshe Shelley "The Sensitive Plant"

Pg 1 - The CS is a creamy colour with gold foil flowers. Here you can see the lace, I used Scor-tape to attach it to the CS. Lace is from Wal-mart. The journal square is from on of the pages in the Coral Couture stack. There was a page of journal boxes, tags and titles, I tried to use them or include them all in the mini. Covering the back of the brad is a flower centre by Prima, a orange bow from my stash and you can just make it out, in the corner of the journal box I made pearl beads using Liquid Pearls White Opal. I also added Stickles Crystal to the leaves and flower centre on the journal box.

Pg 2 - I should mention that almost all the CS from this stack has either glitter or foil on the page. The background CS is striped and has a gold foil strip as well. From the matching stack I chose this light teal green, using my Spellbinders Label 5 I cut a pocket then using my cuttlebug folder Roses I embossed the pocket. Once I added it to the front of the page I ran Stickles Crystal around the edges applied Liquid Pearls White Opal to the centre of each rose. Next I added a 3D butterfly sticker and a paper flower from iamroses.com. To the paper flower I added Stickles Crystal to the edge of the petals. I love doing that it adds a bit of sparkle I like on flowers. Also along the scalloped side I added some crochet lace and cool looking mixed glitter. Most glitter I use is fine this one has longer pieces in it so it has a really neat look to it.

Here you can see the 2 tags I included in the pocket. These came in a package of tags, unfortunately I threw out the packaging. I changed the rope to the eyelash fibre to tie in again with the cigar box.

Pg 3 - Now here is a page I had fun with. I am in a stamping club to learn more about how to stamps and different techniques with stamps or ink. Well I have not learned to much yet but then its only been 4 classes so far. Ok so the tag was the part of a tag card that I tore in 2. Using 3 different colours, a orangy yellow and light teal green from Studio G and Coral by Colorcubes I first did the edges then because the tag was sooo white I took the pads, they are small, and made circles on the tag. The picture does not do it justice but believe me it look neat. The brad I made with my i-Top and a piece of fabric from the bottom of the cigar box. Ribbon for the tag is a yellow iridescent one that I picked up at the local Dollar Giant. The Happiness tag is again from the stack.

Pg 4 - By this point I am starting to have some fun and the pages are just coming together quickly. I could not make this bird fit on a page because I had cut the CS wrong so figured it would make a great pocket for a small tag like album. Cut it out to fit then tore the edge of and inked it using the same ink as listed above. The bird is foil on the page and that is why there is that bright spot sorry. Boardered the edges in the varigated eyelash fibre then made the tag album.

Using shimmering CS from the matching solids stack I tri-folded then cut it using again Spellbinders Labels Five. Note to self and others reading this. DCWV CS is thick and very hard to run a tri-fold through the Grand Calibur. It does not cut all the way so need to run it a couple of times. On the front of the little album I added Stickles and 2 large rhinestone rectangles to the top and bottom. When you open the album you will see another brad I made and also the little card. Using the brad I attached this sweet stripped ribbon. The colours are so in line with this album and stack that I am sure I will use 1 complete roll, I have 2 LOL.
OK 2 more pages then I will start Part 2.

Pg 5 - Using Spellbinders Blossom Four I cut from shimmering CS a frame. I pop doted the frame up to give it some dimension and to make it easier to put something in it. I left the top open to slide a picture or other memento into it. Next added the different sizes of paper flowers and the stickles to the petals to add more sparkle. You can never have too much sparkle.

Pg 6 - Unfortunately the picture I took with the cute foil bird tag is blurry so I will not use it. The pocket I covered with the same shimmer CS as the frame. The pocket is a Slash Pocket by Li'l Davis Designs. I added cream scalloped lace and then fussy cut the "cute" tag from the stack. Next I had to add some bling as bling is sadly missing in this album. It is from Prima Say It In Crystals line I believe.

So this is part 1 stay tuned for the next couple of parts to finish this album, including a page that I don't like because it did not turn out the way I wanted it to and see no way how to fix it. God Bless you all.