By Nicole Harper, Guest Designer
Hello again October Afternoon fans...I'm back to share a mini album I
made with the Midway line this week!! As soon as I saw the 'smile' die
cut chipboard cover that is included in the album, I knew just what I
wanted to make this about. This turned out to be a perfect place to
document those random photos that may not be 'page-worthy', but still
have a fun story for my family. :)
I started by painting the chipboard with an off white acrylic paint. I
knew that I wanted to use the Polaroid camera image from the Chip 'n
Stick package, so I kept the cover pretty simple to let it stand out. I
removed the chipboard 'smile' letters and set them aside for use inside
the book...and just backed the negative space with my favorite yellow
graph paper from the Boarding Pass line.
I cut one of the Midway labels in half, using part of it just above the
'smile' cut out, and the other half at the top of the album. The blue
seam binding in the Midway Miscellany was tied between 2 of the open
holes along the side to add a bit more color.
I always use the inside cover of any mini album I do to kind of explain
what it's about. I used some random strips of leftover paper on my desk:
tilted them at different angles and adding more labels cut in half +
banners from the Sew Fun Banner sheet under the top edge. (great way to
stretch the value of those label stickers...I do this all the time!) I
used one of the die cut Here & Now Chapter pages as part of the
first page as well.
After I stuck down the papers inside the cover, I just added some of the
Word Bubble Washi Tape, a brad and a button to finish it off.
Speaking of random photos...my 13-year old daughter texts me every now
and then when I'm away from home to share her outfit for the day. It's a
fun way to see what she's thinking, and I love that she connects with
me with stuff like this. Here I printed out one of the photos from my
phone and let it take center stage on the left page. On the right, I
used the 'photo log' page that comes with the Here & Now book.
You'll see in the following images that to keep my mini album
simplified/easy to put together, I followed the same format for each of
these pages that were used: piece of patterned paper with the corners
rounded, and something to hide the border/edge of that paper along the
words that are printed.
See how the pages are starting to add up? Easy peasy when you follow a
format where an element is repeated! This time I used more of the seam
binding from the Miscellany pack, and a photo on the right page.
I used another one of the pages from the Here & Now Chapter pack for
the right page...I liked the sturdiness of the cardstock, but the image
didn't quite fit with my album theme. So I grabbed another piece of
paper from my desk and covered it up :) Here you can see the chipboard
'smile' letters from the cover...I just dabbed them onto my
watermark/embossing ink pad , sprinkled some gold glitter embossing
powder on them and heat set it. You can see the edge of the 'happy day'
sticker from the 12x12 sticker sheet at the top of my photo...I just
trimmed 'day' off and used it as a banner/flag.
Page 4 takes us back to the repeated element...right side of the page is
the photo log paper, but this time I used a small photo with patterned
paper. On the left page, I die cut the numbers with my Silhouette Cameo
and backed the circles with more scraps from my desk. The journal card
was perfect for a quote I had saved on Pinterest recently ;)
The right side of this page is one of the tabbed pieces from the Here
& Now Chapters, and I chose the '3' to represent the number of
people in our family. I made my own border with pieces from the Sew Fun
Banner sheet, Doo Dads and Labels. On the left page, I used buttons as
my border to change things up.
Hopefully this album will give you some ideas on what to do with those
random photos you have building up...please check back next week for
another project!!
Love this project!
Posted by: Kimberly B | November 10, 2012 at 06:09 PM
Hi there, I check your blogs regularly. Your writing style is awesome, keep doing what you're doing!
Posted by: Halley | November 03, 2012 at 10:26 PM
Love this! Fabulous!
Posted by: MichelleGB | October 27, 2012 at 08:54 AM
Nic you are amazing...this is just gorgeous...thanks for sharing your talent..hugs
Posted by: Joy Taylor | October 25, 2012 at 04:40 AM
Great idea for random photos. Love your mini layouts.
Posted by: JillT | October 21, 2012 at 11:21 AM
WOW Nicole this is AMAZING i love to work with minis so i love to see different ones to be inspired and you have inspired me girl :)
Posted by: caz hancock | October 20, 2012 at 04:09 PM
niiiiiiiiice!
Posted by: Célia | October 20, 2012 at 03:54 PM
Great mini album!
Posted by: Tamika | October 20, 2012 at 10:15 AM
Great idea!! TFS :-)
Posted by: VENUS FORTUNA | October 20, 2012 at 10:04 AM
This mini is so stinkin' cute!! Gorgeous job.. <3
Posted by: Lisa | October 19, 2012 at 10:27 AM
Loooove!! Gorgeous!!
Posted by: Gabriella | October 19, 2012 at 09:03 AM
Nic-this is an awesome project!
Posted by: Dawn Tavela | October 19, 2012 at 07:22 AM