Flore’s Mini Photo You

Materials

• 2 pieces of cardboard, 2mm thickness, measuring 21.5 x 9.5cm

• 4 pieces of Kraft paper of the same size

• Additional Kraft paper for cut-outs

• 6 sheets of white graph paper or watercolor paper, 17 x 20.5cm. Fold these in half to bring together the two LONGEST sides.

• 4 sheets of white graph paper or watercolor paper, 20 x 7.5cm

• Additional white graph paper or watercolor paper for cut-outs

• Black paper for cut-outs

• 8 photos (Size 20 x 7.5cm) either portrait or landscape, with a white edge, printed on normal white paper - not on photo paper

• 1 piece of Kesi'art ‘Lovely Canvas’ or similar printed material (This can be leather or cloth quite stiff and thick) 7 x 21.5cm

• 4 metal corners (Ephemeria)

• Badge (Scrapbuttons)

• Die cutting dies (Lime Citron, Kesi'art)

• Stamps (L’encre et L’image, Lime Citron, Kesi'art, Scrapbuttons, Custom and Craft, Aladine, Tim Holtz)

• Liquid inks (Studio Calico, Colorex, India ink…)

• Ink Pads (Tim Holtz Distress, Versafine, Aladine, Versamark)

• Embossing Powder (Aladine)

• Gesso, Sewing thread, brads (paper fasteners), stapler, sticky foam pads, sewing machine, water mister, paintbrushes

• Masking tape to mark the edges of all pages.

Instructions

For this mini album project you will need to put masking tape around the edges of each of your pages, including on the cover, in order to create a blank border reminiscent of the white borders used on printed photos. All of the pages will be done like this, even double pages, where you will use elements to bridge the borders in the centre of a double page spread. This style will be used throughout your other pages, whether they are in portrait or landscape format.

For the cover

Take two sheets of Kraft paper and place masking tape around the edges to form a border. One of these will be the front cover and the other will be the back. Coat the front cover with a thin layer of gesso, but on the back cover only add an area of gesso on the bottom left of the page. Add some blotches of ink to the areas where you have put the gesso by mixing a small quantity of ink with some water on a sheet of acetate and pressing this onto your pages. Add each colour of ink one after another, allowing the page to dry in between colours. Blot with paper towels as you go.

Once the ink is dry add some ink stamps to the background of the page, including words and shapes, in colours which harmonise with the background. After this you can gently peel off the masking tape.

Now use your sewing machine to sew your cover together, sewing each half to your piece of ‘Lovely Canvas’. Next add some decorative elements, such as a badge and some leaf-shaped cut outs, attaching them with staples and sticky foam pads. You can also add some adhesive dots and some paper fastening brads. Don’t forget some dots for the back cover.

Next glue you two pieces of thick cardboard inside the covers and then glue two more pieces of Kraft paper on the inside of the cardboard panels to create the interior of the cover. You can now put your cover aside for the moment.

Get ready plenty of decorations for the next stages; stamps, cut outs, using Kraft paper or white paper. You can make some embossed designs and get ready some embellishments such as paper fastening brads etc.

For the double pages

Choose your photo. Take a piece of white paper of the same size and put inks and stamps onto it in the same way that you did with your covers. Then take your decorations, for example, I used a large leaf cut-out, which was stamped and embossed and stapled on some smaller leaves, a word and a twist of sewing thread. The word and the thread can be used to spill over across the border slightly and link up the two pages. (i.e. the decorated white paper and the photo.)

Stick everything down using sticky pads and staple down the pieces that are spilling out over your borders. Add any other elements that you want.

Add some ink to an area of the photo in the same style as the ink on the white page, to give another thematic link between the two halves of your double page spread.

When these are complete, glue them onto one of your sheets of folded white paper and this gives you one of your double pages. Finish the page off with a few splashes of white Colorex (or if you don’t have it, some gesso mixed with a little water) and some splashes of India ink.

To make these splashes take the end of the handle of a fine-tipped paintbrush, soak the tip in your bottle of ink and put it on your page right where you want it.

This helps to prevent any ink spots where you don’t want them. It’s a good little trick for anyone who wants to get a good result with splash techniques or “patouille” style.

Make all of your double pages in the same way. Some of your double pages can be just one large photo cut into two with some decoration added to parts of the photo.

Stick the backs on just fractionally closer to the edges of the pages, rather than slap bang in the middle, as this will help to prevent the pages from sticking together when you open the mini album.

Assembling Your Album

Take your mini album cover and stick in all of the double pages that you’ve made. You can add more double pages if you want to; it will just make it even more beautiful and the pages will be easier to turn.

Lastly attach the metal corners to the corners of your covers and your mini album is finished!