Since shop is closed I feel like I miss something. Especially when I have to make exploding box like this and I know that in the shop I can find perfect Harry Potter chipboards. But this time I had to make this box with stuff I had at home. Maybe it's good idea cause I used old papers and I made some space for the new ones when the shop will be finally open.
I added a layer of wadding to the outside of the album base before covering it with a custom cover piece from Craft'Oclcok - the one I used is no longer in stock but given that I have covered most of the front and back with a sheet of paper from the paper collection there are alternatives you can choose from such as Faded Memories Laminated Sheet. I love these sheets as they are so big it means you do not need to piece paper strips together and the addition of wadding gives a very luxurious feel to the finished album. I then secured the page inserts across the spine of the album before adding the extra pieces of kraft card that come in the pack to hide the cover turn over and page insert areas. This gives a very professional finish to your album.
The size of the pages means that to fully cover the pages you will need several packs of paper as you will only get one page from a 12 x 12 sheet or you will use lots of your double sided 8 x 8 papers. So I have employed a niffty trick to economise (I had only picked up one 12 x 12 and one 8 x 8 pack when at the retreat). The choice is of course yours. I cut my 12 x 12 papers at 71/2inches tall and 6 inches wide meaning I was able to use a single sheet for two pages and also had a very usable 31/2 by 12" strip for using to add flaps and pockets to the pages as I decorated them. All papers were distressed with scissors and vintage photo distess oxide ink.
I created photomats from 4 x 6" pieces of kraft card adding details with a stamp from the codex leonardo set. I did not want full images just some added interest and so I held the stamp in my hand slightly curling it for inking with vintage photo distress ink and adding the partial stamped image around the cards.
Once all of the preparation was done I then set about decorating the inside of the album
Inside cover:
To make the pockets through out the album I took one of the 31/2 by 12" strips and cut it to 71/2 inches long before cutting in lengthways in a curivlinear fashion to give me two pieces which are then laid on top of each other to create two pockets. An embellishment clustter was then created with element scut from the papers and some chunky brown glitter.
Page 1 has been laid out as shown below:
Placing the photomat over the edge of the patterned paper is the trick for using partially covered pages. Behind the photomat is a piece from the cards pack. The text is in a Coptic font and so through out the album I have tucked it behind the focal elements so that any text adds a layer of interest but the whole is not visible so it does not matter what it actually says - obviously if you can read the text you can use them in a more prominent position.The chipboard piece comes from botanical diary but you could just as easily choose pieces from the new Harry Potter section of the website particularly where I have used birds chipboards later on in the ablum. The cluster has been created with paper image, chipboard and then more chunky glitter.
Pages 2 and 3:
Pages 4 and 5:
Pages 6 and 7:
Pages 8 and 9
Pages 10 and 11:
Pages 12 and 13:
Pages 14 and 15:
Pages 16 and 17:
Pages 18 and 19:
Pages 20 and inside back cover:
For the front cover I secured a piece of Navy shabby ribbon around the whole of the cover using papers cut to 19cm tall and 18.5cm wide- making sure that I did not add any glue/tape to the spine part as I did this. I then wraped some more of the shabby ribbon round the central pages along with two pieces of twine securing them in place by knotting around the ribbon that goes around the whole album.
For the front of the album I layered scraps of paper, fussy cut elements and a card from the paper pack with an assortment of chipboards that have been in my stash for I don't know how long - again there are lots to choose from in the shop. The spiders web comes from elixir web set. My sentiment was made by triming the I see magic in your eyes chipboard piece. The zodiac signs panel is no longer in stock but there are lots of mandala shapes that would work or maybe the Hogwarts Castle engraved chipboard would be a great alternative.
I hope you like the album which I have deliberately kept to a fairly simple page format as it is so large already. Do tag me in any make that is inspired by this post so I can see what you have been making.
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