This Way That Way - a journal with Breeze of Dreams

The papers I have selected come from a very small Polish company that arrived on the craft market last year. I have to say they are truly beautiful and are a very well thought through set  with backgrounds, focals and elements to cut all in one place makign it super easy to create a cohesive look.

I have created a this way that way album which opens vertically. To do this I covered 6" squares of greyboard with paper cut slighly bigger than the board before adding a long strip of card to the undovered sides of these . I created the long strip by joining 3 x 51/2" square card blanks with strips of paper 5 1/2" tall by 2" wide scored at 1". When adhering the smaller joining strips in place I made sure that I had alternating valley and mountain fold orientation so that the cards folded nicely on top of each other. This format gives 4 pages on one side of the book and 6 on the other and you do need to think about the orientation of the cover decoration to ensure that they make sense when the book is opened out as a long stip (how do I know this - well mine doesnot but I think it probably does not matter as its hihgly unlikely you will pull it all out as its too long to sit comfortably on your lap if you do this.).

Below are the 4 panels from one side of the book. I covered the card blank with paepr from the collection and then added another panel cut to 5" square. On top of the panels I then layered either bottles, ink wells, books from the Harry Potter selection on the website or floral elements from the kreatyana pracowina brand on the website. I love these chipboards because of the laser etched details on the surface making them so pretty and truly defining what they are without making the pieces very thin. As I layered my pieces I also tucked in some ecru lace

I treated the opposite side of the album in the same way. The sentiments on each page come from the cut off part of the papers - such a sensible use of this part of the paper pad that normally just houses the name of the collection.

The deocrative elements on the front and back cover follow a similar approach - I sandwiched pieces of green shabby ribbon to each side of thes front and back covers so the book is secured on both sides by tying them together. I then layered elements from the paper collection with chipboards, faux greenery and then beautiful faux flowers -the new tea rose bud flowers would work well for both of the floral elemetns I used as the ivory ones from my stash are no longer available. The blue grey flowers are dusty blue magnolia blossoms and tehre are tons more varieties you can choose from if you look in the flowers cataagory. I also added a bow made out of shabby ribbon 08 to the front and back panel so it is difficult to know which is the front of the album hence the title this way that way.

I hope you like this tutorial and wish you have a happy crafty time.

Our Memories album

I know that at the April retreat some of the ladies saw this album and also bought the base on which it is constructed and so I thought a brief tutorial would work as a helping hand for everyone. The base is by Fabrika Decoru and comes in several different sizes and also with different numbers of pages - the one I have used is 20 by 20cm and has 10 pages making 22 sides to decorate and the cover so I am not kidding when I say my version is a mamoth one and uses lots of paer. However the 6 page albums and also the smaller  versions mean that you can make smaller projects.

Inside the pack is a long cover piece - to give the album a luxury feel I glued quilters wadding to the side of the piece with the white strips across the side. Once this had secured in place I then chose to work with one of the unique cover "papers are designed to fit across the entire album base with spare to turn over and also have a plasticzed feel so will withstand handling over the years. The size of these means you do not need to paper piece your covering for the cover and can do it in one go. I chose Cover 15 Rusty Deninm for my make but there are definitely lots of options to choose from. I placed my wadding covered album onto the back of the cover sheet and then folded over the edges, mitreing the corners and securing with a fast setting strong glue.

The next step is to secure the pages - these come already put together so all you need to do is centralise them on the spine area and glue in place - this covers neatly the area where the decorative paper has been secured in place. Finally and also in the pack are two plain pieces of card which go on the inside front and back cover to conceal the rest of the paper edges and give a really professional finish.

After that its really up to you how you want to decorate your project. I have used:

Ocean Deep extras, 12 x 12, 6 x 6, the journal extras set (currently not in stock but you can make your own pockets easily enough) and the chipboard die cuts. If you are using the 10 page album you will need at least three sets of the 12 x 12 papers. If you are using different papers and the shop has lots to tempt you then I suggest you purchase 2 of the 12 x 12, one 8 x 8 and one  6 x6 pack to ensure you have enought to complete your project.

 Pieces from tracing papers vintage, universal and ocean deep.

Sea Treasures tropical fish large, Sea Treasures shells large and thuja twigs chipboards 

and finally some grey cotton lace.

Like most of my makes there are repeating styles of pages through the album and there are lots of tuck spots and flaps increasing the number of photographs and amount of memorabillia that can be stored safely for posterity. Before adding the extra flaps I covered each page with paper cut to size. Through out my album my embellishment clusters consist of a piece of decorative tracing paper with a torn edge, paper elements from the packs, a small piece of lace and a chipboard. 

The inside front cover has a pocket with pull out folded card and a 15cm piece of smooth white card with added punched circle and twine to make it easier to pull out. 

Page 1: I have used flaps through out the album - here I have tucked a panel of paper around the edge of my white photomat and then added the cluster on top.

Pages 3 and 4 are the reverse of each other. To create a pocket inside and add an extra flap I took a 71/2"" square of paper and scored at 23/4 from one side adhering the smaller part on three sides to the edge of the page.

 When you open the flap there is a 15cm by 15cm piece of white card adhered on three sides only - this creates a pocket accessible from the front of the page.

Pages 4 and 5 are pocket pages using the journal extras set - these are simple enought to make if you take a 15cm piece of card and cut digaonally in half - then score 1cm in along both of the short edges to create flap for adhering to your page. Before you adhere them in place please cut off the littel ears created by folding the flaps under.

Pages 6 and 7 were created by adding a 6" card blank to the page to creat two areas for photographs .

Pages 8 and 9 are constructed in the same way as pages 2 and 3.

 Pages 10 and 11 are pocket pages.

Pages 12 and 13 are card pages.

Pages 14 and 15 are flap pages.

 Pages 16 and 17 are corner pocket pages.

 Pages 18 and 19 are card pages

Page 20 and inside back cover are made in the same way as the inside front cover and page 1.

To complete my album I tied Shabby Ribbons 57, 44 and  61 from ocean deep collection with shabby ribbons set around the ablum and added shabby knots tied around the ribbon on the spine. 

For the front cover I layered torn strips of paper, chipboards, lace and fussy cut elements before adding some chunky blue and brown glitter.

I do hope you like this project and it helps in making the albums that I know many of you bought at the retreat or already have in your crafty stash.

Beautiful Moments canvas album

Making albums for weddings is not my normal habit but weddings are one of the occassions when lots of photographs are taken and they really should be printed out instead of being only in the cloud. Whilst I think this album would be suitable for a wedding careful use of the word die cuts means that it would also work for other celebrations - engagement, baby shower, christening ........

I chose to work with a 6 page vertical album for the base of my project and used  12 x 12, 8 x 8, journal extras and sheet of extras from the Force of Gentleness collection. This paper collection has such a gentle colour pallette that I absolutely love. I also added some of the clocks II sheet of extras.

I always start my makes by decorating the inside pages of my album as its easier to work on it before adding dimensional elements to the front cover.  I used the 12 x 12 papers and some of the 8 x 8 papers to create the first layer of each page.  Having selected the base piece for each page cut them to 2mm smaller in both dimensions than the page itself and then distressed the edges with a pair of scissors. Having distressed the base pieces I then did the same to all of the additional paper elements so the album is cohesive. I have also used a corner rounder through out the album.

Inside front cover and page 1:

The inside cover has two pockets created by cutting sone of the pieces left after I had cut all of the pages. I cut this to the height of the page and then cut it in a curilinear shape to create two pieces whice were layered on top of each other to create the two pockets. I slipped a 6 x 4" piece of watercolour card into the pocket and then added paper elements from the journal extras pack. 

Each page is decorated with an embellishment cluster; instead of using chipboard elements I die cut a selection of leaves from white cardstock (whilst the set I used is not available a selection of these die sets would work just as well - tarragon, young and green leaves, yellow leaves and forest leaves. I layered paper pieces from the pad, with die cut leaves, fussy cut flowers a die cut inscription,  a piece of grey lace and small paper flowers in white and grey.

There are several flap pages in this album which are created in the same way: again utilising the pieces left from cutting the base I cut 16cm strips and scored to create a hinge at 4cm from the edge that the flap was going to open from. The smaller piece of this was then adhered to the back of the base paper before adhering this to the album page. 

Page 2 and 3:

The pocket pages in the album have all been created in a very similar way. For page 2 I used a corner pocket from the journal extras pack and then layered one of the other pockets on top of it thereby creating two tuck spots for photographs etc.

 

For page 3 I tore a corner of paper and ahered it in place before adding the white watercolour photomount. I then added elements to the right side being careful to only partially ahere them so that a photo can be slipped under the ticket.

Page 4 and 5:

 This duo of pages has two flaps  created in the same way as page 1. The envelop on page page 5 is cut from the junk journal extras page and is closed with natural hemp cord meaning it can be opened to tuck special ephemera into for safe keeping.

 Pages 6 and 7 are created in the same way as 2 and 3.

Pages 8 and 9 are created the same way as page 1.

Pages 10 and 11 are the made the same way as pages 2 and 3.

Page 12 and inside back cover use the same techniques as inside front cover and page 1.

Having finished my pages (you can add xtra inserts as the pages in the album are all pockets) I then decorated the front cover. To do this I created some embellishments with extra light clay using a leaf and a circular mould - there are plenty of options in the shop to choose from. I also used a chipboard rosette - again the shop has plenty to choose from.

Before adding any of my decorative elements to the cover I secured in place some yellow ribbon from the Force of Gentleness set attatching it just to the edge of the front and back cover. The back of the album then had papers secured over the ribbon attatchment. 

 

For the front cover I layered left over scaps of paper, the chipboard rosette and clay frame before adding a little shredded gauze. I then tucked in the clay leaves before adding both silk peony and paper flowers. I then added a shabby ribbon before splattering with some Sepia with gold magic paint by Fabrika Decoru. Finally I tied more ribbons around the spine.