Friday Focus - Graphic 45

Hello, it is Cec here and today I am presenting the Friday Focus on Graphic 45, one of the fabulous new products that Linda is carrying in The Funkie Junkie Boutique.

I have a lovely friend in Maryland that I met through crafting and she is about to become a Grandmother for the second time at the end of this month so I decided to take the Graphic 45 Precious Memories 8"x 8" paper pad and create a brag book for her. She already has a little Granddaughter and the new baby is going to be a boy so this paper is perfect. I have to admit that I have never made a real mini album before and while I had some oops along the way, I learned a lot and am happy with the outcome. I am sure she will be too.

I did do some research and found some pretty wonderful tutorials out there so I took my inspiration from one in particular - My Sisters Scrapper. I did follow some of her ideas from one set of tutorials and did not use her measurements but rather determined all my own measurements. I did use her binding system and I did make hinges as she showed to add to the sides of the pockets, which make it easier to get things in and out of the pockets. Here are a couple photos of both.

The album has five inside pocket pages from card stock, which means the base of the page itself is actually a large pocket and then I added flip-outs to three of them (the sections with the lace punched edge) with pockets inside and tag pockets on the back side of two and a double fold feature on the back side of the centre one. I added a pocket to the front of the other two and added flip-downs to the back side. This should all become clear as you follow the photos so let's get started - you can click on any photo to get a larger view.

Front Cover
I fussy cut a sentiment element from the pad and surrounded it with lots of flowers, some buttons, a couple of tickets from the pad that I coated with Clear Rock Candy Distress Paint, some pearls, a flourish, some lace hearts, a couple of butterflies made from crafter's clay, a charm and some loops of dyed seam binding.

Spine
I wrapped the lace around the front and back of the spine edges and then added an organza strip down the centre that was dyed with distress ink and then another lace strip.

Back Cover
I left the back side plain so that the album would sit flat on a table.

Inside Front Cover and First Page
The large journalling spot on left is one of the ephemera cards. The butterfly is a lace appliqué that I picked up in Virginia last year with gold pearl stickers added to the body. You can see the large photo mat sticking out of the base pocket on the right. It is two-sided and the edges were inked with Tea Dye Distress Ink as has every piece of paper and card stock in the album.

First Flip-Out
The flip-out has a pocket on each side with photo mats and stays closed with the use of magnets under the last layer of paper on each pocket. Here are two of my oops - I made the pocket on the left about 1/4" too narrow so that photo mat has no patterned paper. Also, I was trying to be frugal and just use one half of the magnets with a metal washer that I got from my husband's tool box. They do click shut but only allowed me to put a thin embellishment on each pocket or the magnets would not grab hold. Perhaps if I had used the other half of the magnet that came in the package, I could have used some shabbier embellishments. The little dresses are fussy cut from the paper and the flower is punched.

Back of First Page and Front of Second Page
I made some tag pockets with some lace appliqués. The tags have a journalling spot, ribbon toppers and little flower brads. On the right I used an element from the paper to make the pocket and included the Baby Shower element. which is also cut from the paper. The filigree corners were painted with some acrylic paint.

Back of Second Page and Front of Third Page
The flip-downs shown on the left have some paper flowers and buttons added on the outside and inside are a couple more journalling spots and places for photos. The element on the right is one of the ephemera cards and is trimmed with pleated ribbon.

Flip-Out on Third Page
The little girl was fussy cut from the paper and I just used a pair of fancy scissors to cut the decorative strip on the right. The lace down the side came from my stash.

Back of Third Page and Front of Fourth Page
On the left I made a little dual fold-out, which closes with a magnet and includes a couple of journalling spots. On the right I used another strip from the paper for a pocket and added some elements from the pad along with filigree corners that I painted.

Back of Fourth Page and Front of Fifth Page
On the left there are a couple more tag pockets with tab style toppers that I hand cut.  On the right I fussy cut another element from the paper, made a punched flower and added a pearl flourish

Last Flip-Out
The last flip-out is decorated pretty simply with an element cut from the paper adorning the left pocket and some card stock corners on the right pocket.

Back of Fifth Page and Inside Back Cover
The flip-downs are decorated with a fancy oval cut from card stock on my Cameo, cut in half and then topped with some buttons. The inside of the flip-downs hold more journalling spots. The image on the right is one of the ephemera cards.

As you can see this paper pad has a variety of different papers and elements that can be cut out. Since I used the whole pad before I made the photo mats, I did augment with some other papers that I either picked up at Michaels or printed myself.

I hope you like my project but if you don't want to take on a large project like an album, this Graphic 45 collection and all the other gorgeous collections can be used to make some pretty spectacular cards of other items. I will be picking up some more Graphic 45 products so look for more from me in the future. If you want to join me pop over to The Funkie Junkie Boutique and pick some up for yourself, especially since all Graphic 45 products will be discounted a further 15% for the next two weeks.