Friday Focus - Lace Mini Album

It is Cec here and today I am presenting the Friday Focus on Venise Laces and I am going to show you this lace mini album.  For the next two weeks all the Venise Laces at The Funkie Junkie Boutique will be further discounted by 15% so this will be a perfect time to stock up.

So let's get started.

We have a thrift store nearby and I had never been inside until a few weeks ago and I found this small album for just 99 cents - what a deal and a perfect base for an album.  The first thing I did was to rip out the plastic photo holders on the inside.

I won't be providing measurements because each album is unique and I had to figure out every measurement based on this particular album but I will show you the process I went through.  The first thing was to cut a piece of batting to cover the album. 

Next I covered both the inside and outside with a layer of woven fabric making sure that I cut it at least 3/4 of an inch larger than the album.  I did not use hot glue because it isn't smooth but in the end, the lace may have covered any bumps if I had used it.

I put the inside cover on first and then ran a narrow strip of double sided tape on the fabric right next to the album edge so that when I added the top cover, I could adhere the two covers together and then the edge would not show.  Once the covers were attached I cut the edges down to about 1/2" using pinking shears.

I would have preferred to cut the edges with regular scissors and fray the edges but this was cheap fabric and it would not fray straight.  Usually you can pull a thread each direction to find the straight of the grain of the fabric but this would not let me so I went with the pinking shears - and got a vacuum cleaner out to pick up all the little fabric bits on my workspace :)

Next I started to make pockets for the inside of the album.  I didn't have any double-sided card stock that was large enough so I just found some digital prints in my computer files that I thought would look good together (these are from Far Far Hill) and printed them double-sided on white card stock on my laser printer.

Here is a pocket all glued together.  The fold-over flaps and seam at the back are glued down and there is a small strip of double-sided tape on the inside bottom, which makes this a pocket.

After I got all the pockets made I realized that I had wanted to add some inking with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink on all the edges so to make that happen on the fold-over flaps since they were already glued down, I just put a piece of paper up against the edge and got it done - where there is a will, there is a way.  I made a total of six pockets

Next I made a binding system and attached it to the inside of the spine using a strong liquid glue.  There is a fair bit of space between so that lots of things can be stuffed into each pocket.  Each of the upright strips will have a pocket on each side.  The other two pockets will be fastened to the inside of the front and back.

The next step was to adhere all the pockets.  I started with the pockets attached directly to the covers and then added the pockets to the binding system making sure that they were back to back.  After I finished I added an extra top loading pocket to each of the pockets on the insides of the covers but forgot to take a photo of this.

Next I made a stacked flower to go on the front.  It is just a Prima flower, with a gathered piece of organza and a section cut from a piece of lace I had in my sewing room.  I also crocheted a "flower" or medallion to use on the back but didn't take a separate photo of that but you will see it on the album.

The next step was to pull a bunch of different Venise laces to work with.  The best thing about this project is that you can use little leftover strips and nothing has to match.  I took some lace hem binding and attached that to the sides of the front and back so that the album can be tied together when it is full.

Then I started covering the front and back with lace.  At first I tried laying it out to create a pattern and then realized that it looked better if I just dove in and started adding it.  Make sure that your lace overlaps onto the spine by a tiny bit.

Once all the lace was added I added a pre-made fancy tulle strip to cover the spine because something vertical looked better than a strip of lace.  Then I added the embellishments - the crochet "flower" to the back, a vintage image framed in lace to the front, the stacked flower, a bunch of glittery Prima flowers that had been in a spray but I took them apart and pink pearls here and there.  I also made a couple of bead charms and attached them to the spine with a tiny pink bow.

You can use any of the Venise laces (and the Venise lace appliques) that are available from The Funkie Junkie Boutique but these are the ones that I have used: