Saturday Showcase - Envelope Journal Using Ciao Bella - Sicilia Papers

Hi everyone, it's Sara Emily here for today's Saturday Showcase! Today, I'm sharing an Envelope Flip Journal featuring the some of the new beautiful papers from Ciao Bella that Linda carries in The Funkie Junkie Boutique. I've used the 6x6 Sicilia paper pack, which will be back in stock shortly. The A4 size of the same design is currently available, along with many other designer paper collections by Ciao Bella. I've listed links to the products I've used below, as well as links to the entire Ciao Bella line and the A4 pad. Always check back at the shop, and don't be shy about using the 'e-mail me when back in stock' button, as Linda replenishes her offerings quite frequently.

***Click on any photo to enlarge***

Journal opened with left flap opened.

Journal with both left and right flap opened.

After shuffling through the generous pack of 24 double sided papers with designs reminiscent of the Island of Sicily and viewing Kathy Clement's You Tube videos Envelope Flip Book Tutorial and Shaker Folio Tutorial, I was inspired to step out of my mixed media comfort zone and create this 4.25 x 5.75 inch album for my daughter complete with a shaker on the cover and lots of pockets and such inside. The bunny image is what stole my heart when I first saw this collection, since Lauren is a proud pet-Mom of a lop eared rabbit named Nugget. Having visited Italy last semester, I thought this little journal would be a great place for her to record the events and photos of her trip.

I want to send out a big thank you to Kathy, who so graciously gave me permission to use her design for my journal.

Let's get started!

The base: 

1. Make base for the album following Kathy's steps. My envelope measures 4.25 x 5.75 inches, and I trimmed a panel of Bristol board measuring 11.5 x 5.75 inches to form my album's base. After inserting the Bristol board into the envelope and gluing the envelope flap down, I scored at 4.25, 4.75, 9 and 9.5 inches, leaving me with an inch flap at the end. I demonstrated on a scrap of waste paper in the photo below.

2. Crease on score lines, burnish and blend all edges that will show with Frayed Burlap Distress ink.

3. Blend spines with  Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide and adhere Design Tape with Collage Medium.  (My tape is pretty old, and I wanted to be sure it stayed down.) Allow to dry.

The pages, pockets and inserts:

 It's easier to decorate the inside first so the decorations on the cover don't get messed up while you are working. Here are the steps I took:

***Notes: All papers were blended with Frayed Burlap Distress ink before adhering. Please excuse my phone's shadow photo bombing in almost every process photo.

1. Like Kathy, I used an oval die to cut the oval from double sided two toned blue card stock (stash) and this gorgeous Ranunculus design from the pack to make the pocket out of the opening of the envelope.

2. Line interior portion of pocket that shows with a scrap from the collection.

3. Trim the pack's cover page to make a little journaling wallet to tuck in the pocket. I used a corner rounder to trim the corners.

View of outside of wallet when opened.

4. Dip opposite side  of the trimmed cover page and a sheet of thin drawing paper (stash) into green Distress Oxide sprays thinned with water and dry. I believe this is Shabby Shutters or Crushed Olive, or maybe both -- I use my over sprayed Oxide palette sheets, (see my tips for using Oxide sprays) and I don't know what exactly colors are on them.

5. Accordion fold the colored drawing paper and adhere to front inside of wallet.

6. Cover this adhered flap with a scrap and one of the cut aparts included in the pack. Lauren loves doing calligraphy and bullet journaling, and this pull out feature offers her lots of space to do that front and back.

7. I used the oval portion from the pocket matting and some scraps to make the pull for the accordion folded pages.

8. To make the thumb tab for the cover, cut a scrap using a small oval die as shown below.

9. Having completed the first page (left flap), I moved onto the central panel. I lined it with one of the more subdued papers from the collection and made a horizontal band from a scrap to hold a removable flap page.

10. On the front, a tiny blue/white scrap hides the join line of the two panels used to make the elongated page.

11. Now I move onto the remaining right side 1 inch flap.  Adhere one of the designer papers trimmed to just under 4.25 inches wide x 5.75 inches long to the 1 inch flap to make an additional page that will fit when the album is closed. In hindsight, I should have made this panel no more than 4 inches wide. The fit is a little more snug than I would have liked. Just like my jeans.

12. Score both narrow ends of a dainty floral and script scrap from the collection and adhere a tiny scrap to either end making tabs at the bottom and top. Adhere just the tabs to the right page; this allows room under the strip to slip in a couple of journal cards made from the papers. I hope the side angle close up shot below better explains this.

13. On the opposite side of the last page, I made another pocket similar to the one on the left , adhering this cute bunny image to the page on just three sides.  The lemon paper you see peeking out is the reverse side of the paper used on the previous page.

14. I made a pull tab using three remaining oval scraps layered together and sandwiched it between two tags.

The following photos show the front and back view of the completed tag removed from the pocket.

The cover:

1. Measure out a length of seam binding ribbon that will wrap around the closed book and allow for a fluffy bow to keep the book securely closed when not in use.

2. Dye the ribbon with Oxide sprays as shown.  Dry.

3. Mark down half way on spine, front and back covers, and lay a strip of super sticky double sided tape around the back, spine and front of the album using these guidelines. Adhere ribbon.

4. Trim and adhere this gorgeous lemon design paper to the back cover over the ribbon.

5. Trim and tear a panel to adhere to the front. At first I fussy cut the flowers from the lower left, but later decided to take a different route, so it may look a little funny. It will be covered later, so no need to worry about this goof.

6. I made a shaker following Kathy's video, but chose to use adhesive weather stripping to line my frame and hold the shaker contents in place. I just picked up the yellow sequins at an estate sale this weekend -- they are a perfect match and work nicely with some micro beads from my stash!

7. In addition to flowers and gauze bandages from my stash, and die cuts from Tim Holtz Funky Foliage, Wildflowers and Wildflowers #2 Thinlits die sets, I used a Tim Holtz Transparent Wings butterfly to decorate the Lace Baseboard frame. I tapped the back of the wings with Picket Fence paint and heated the wings with my heat tool to shape them.

And guess what? I still have all this paper and then some left over to play with! The weight of this paper lends itself perfectly to a project like this -- not too heavy, but not at all flimsy. Now I can't wait to make some cards!

So that wraps up this week's Saturday Showcase! I hope you've found some inspiration from my play with these stunning Ciao Bella papers! There's still time to play along in our Aquamarine challenge, and you can link up your project HERE. Thanks for stopping by! Sara Emily


These products were used and can be purchased at The Funkie Junkie Boutique:
Ciao Bella Paper
Ciao Bella - Sicilia A4 Paper Pad
Ciao Bella - Sicilia 6x6 Paper Pad
Sizzix Thinlits Funky Foliage by Tim Holtz
Sizzix Thinlits Wildflowers by Tim Holtz
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Transparent Wings - Clear & Color
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Baseboard Frames Lace
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Pad - Squeezed Lemonade
Distress Oxide Sprays -  Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive, Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Picket Fence
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium Matte
Seam Binding Ribbon
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Design Ruler Clear 12 Inch