Saturday Step X Step - Mini Sewing Album

It is Cec here and I am back to show you the pages in the mini album that I teased you with on Wednesday for the current challenge.  The album is my nod to a sewing shop and the ideas they can present to a customer.

First I made the album itself and used 5 pieces of medium weight chipboard that I have had sitting around in my craft room for eons.  Each piece was cut to 4" x 5 7/8".  Since I was covering the chipboard with patterned paper, I used it as it was but if you want to do some different techniques on it and skip the paper, you should cover both sides and all the edges with Gesso.

The next step was to join the chipboard together.  I used a paper hinge method, which was super easy and works well but I did discover after I was finished that the depth of some of my embellishments didn't allow it to fold flatter.  The next time I will work on a fastening system or a better binding system and if I get something that I like, I will show you in another tutorial.

To make the hinges, I cut four pieces of heavy card stock 2" x 3 1/2" and scored each piece at the 1" mark on the long side and folded them.  Next I opened them up again and lay them on my work surface with the inside of the fold facing down.  Then I added double sided tape along the complete length 1/8" in from fold line and right up against each outer edge.

The next step was to add each side of each hinge to a piece of chipboard.  To do this I centred the hinge along the right hand 4" edge of the first piece of chipboard with the fold hanging over the edge by 1/8", which means that that tape was now right up against the edge of the chipboard.  Once one side of the hinge was fastened, I fastened the left hand 4" edge of the next piece of chipboard to the other side of the hinge as shown.  Then I folded that second piece of chipboard over and added one side of the next hinge to it in the same manner as I had done the first one making sure that everything was lined up.  I continued added the hinges until all five pieces of chipboard were held together with all four hinges.

You can change your hinge length to suit the size of your chipboard but I would recommend that the folded width be kept at 1".  I would also suggest that if you use as many dimensional embellishments as I did that you don't make your album any bigger or it will be difficult to keep it closed.

Once my chipboard and hinges were all put together the next step was to ink the folds of the hinges and all the edges of the chipboard with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The next step was to add all the patterned paper but I did not add the spine paper until after I embellished the inside in case the spine edge expanded.  Each piece of patterned paper was cut to 4" x 6" and the edges inked with VP Distress Ink before they were adhered making sure I aligned them against the fold of the hinge.  The front and back cover paper is something I created myself in Photoshop using vintage sewing ads from The Old Design Shop and The Graphic Fairy.  The inside papers and the spine were all papers from Pion Designs.

Next I embellished each of the inside pages and did all the left pages starting from the back and then all the right pages starting from the front - that meant every time I turned the page I working on a flat surface.  Once all the inside pages were embellished I added the spine and then embellished the back cover.

Finally I embellished the front cover and since I already told you about the front cover in my post for the current challenge I won't repeat it but you can check it out here.  Now I am going to show you each page as it appears in the book with a brief description.

Using a Dylusions stencil and Vintage Photo Distress Ink, I added the dots first.  Then I used a scrap of paper to cut the corner, cut the long edge with a fancy pair of Fiskars scissors, embossed it with a Tim Holtz French Script embossing folder and highlighted it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Next I added the vintage fashion ads and finally the metal flower with a button that has been covered in Treasure Gold Classic.

First I used Jet Black Archival Ink and stamped the image from the Flapper Fashions stamp set from Artistic Outpost on an oval and inked the edges with Scattered Straw Distress Ink.  The fabric scraps are from my sewing room and the pin from the dollar store.  Then I added the gold mesh and a little floral applique.

Using Stormy Sky Distress Ink I stenciled the harlequin design.  Next came a Wilton doily and another vintage fashion ad.  The flower is just strips of the Pion paper and the button centre came from my bag of buttons.  Finally I added a few pearl flourishes from the dollar store.

I stamped the next image from the same set and inked the edges with Stormy Sky Distress Ink.  Next I added more fabric scraps from my sewing room and another dollar store pin.  The "belt" was made with some of the white fabric and a rhinestone belt buckle.

I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink and a new stencil from Crafter's Workshop to create the upper corner.  Then I added another vintage fashion ad and a couple pieces of elastic from my sewing room with a brad from the dollar store.  The crinkled seam binding came with one of my orders from The Funkie Junkie Boutique and the little collage was another gift and I added the buttons.

Again, I stamped another image from the stamp set and inked the edges with Tattered Rose Distress Ink.  The fabric swatches came from my sewing room and the pin from the dollar store.  I inked a piece of Venise lace with more Tattered Rose Distress Ink and added a string of pearls.

The stenciling was done with Bundled Sage Distress Ink.  I placed the stencil down a second time to get more dots.  Next I added a vintage fashion ad and a sign I made on the computer with some pearl stickers on the side.  The safety pins came from my sewing room and are fastened to a piece of crinoline.  I also inked a little section cut from a piece of Venise lace and inked it with the Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The final inside page has another vintage fashion ad along with a button card containing some carved coconut shell buttons.  A little metal hanger from my stash completes this page.

The back cover gives you a better idea of the paper I created and the only embellishment here is some Venise lace inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The following items used in the creation of this project can be found at The Funkie Junkie Boutique.