Seaside Memories Mini Album – July Crafty Secrets Challenge

Hello everyone!  Welcome back!  It’s Linky Challenge time at Crafty Secrets, and this month’s theme is “Time for Fun!” and the details are as follows:

It’s summertime! It’s the time of year kick back, relax and enjoy life. Maybe you pile in the car and take a trip to the beach, you might go for a hike in the mountains, go camping under the stars, play in the pool, or sit in the shade and sip lemonade. Your challenge this month is to celebrate summer in a layout, a mini album, a tag, a card or altered art project.

One of the first things that comes to mind when I think of Summertime is the beach!  Swimming in the ocean, laying in the sun, combing the sand for shells, sharks teeth, and other treasures – it doesn’t get much more relaxing than that!  I decided to go the beach route for my Linky project, so I used all sorts of Crafty Secrets goodies to make a mini album.  Take a look:

This little guy started as the plain kraft album here:

This little guy is just FULL of possibilities, and right now it’s on SALE for $1.50!  Hopefully you’ll be inspired by today’s post and go out and buy your own 🙂

Anyway, I started by covering the album with Blue Paisley Stripe, Rose Swirls, and Brown Paisley designer digital papers, available in the shop for only $0.99 per set.  Later in the post I’ll show you how I covered the front of the album, which can get a little tricky in a couple spots.

Here’s what the album looks like when you first open it up:

One of my favorite things about the album is the pockets – they’re PERFECT for tucking in tags, photos, notes, or other little goodies, and they’re really quite easy to work with.

The stickers I used are from the Seaside Memories set (on sale now for $0.99!!!) and they are so nice to work with because they’re a lot heavier than your typical everyday sticker.  

For the tag, I started with a plain manila tag, then printed on it using a digital paper from the Creating with Vintage Typography CD.  TIP: in Microsoft Word, create a document the same size as your tag, copy and paste your paper and size it to fit.  Then, print using your printer’s Borderless function.  Easy peezy!  I also used a LOT of images from the Travel Creative Scraps for this project, including the tag-on-the-tag, the First Class Traveler image, and the life saver in the picture above.  Below, you can see the album when you turn it around:

More stickers, Mermaid Waves digital paper, and stamps from the Seaside DAS set decorate these pages and 2 more tags!  This first tag was fun – I printed the stamps, embossed them, then got to work with all my Distress Inks 🙂

The next tag I kept pretty simple, using the same printing technique I told you about earlier to print the mermaid.  I added some Stickles to the waves and the mermaid’s tail for a bit of sparkle.  The fishing net on the pocket is actually a single layer of gauze that I spritzed with Cork Tattered Angels mist.  One of my favorite bits 🙂

I decided I wanted just one more pocket in this album, so I printed the lighthouse onto kraft cardstock, added a couple brads, and glued it in to make my own.  Then, I made a little booklet to tuck right inside!  The Notes from Paradise sticker came from my stash.

And there you have it! I had a blast making this little guy, and I hope you enjoyed seeing it!  Stick around for some tips on covering this mini album, but first it’s your turn!  Visit the rest of the Crafty Secrets Design Team for some great inspiration, then upload your project using Crafty Secrets product to the blog for your chance to win a special prize!  For prize details, deadline info, and other bits, head over to the Crafty Secrets Blog.

CRAFTY SECRETS DESIGN TEAM

* Kathy Clement, DT Leader * Darlene Pavlick, Dar’s Crafty Creations * Diane Hover, Nellie’s Nest * Elizabeth Lincoln, Paper Passtimes   * Ginny Nemchak, Polly’s Paper Studio *  Melody Clement, Paper Melody’s (you are here!) * Michele Kovack, Thoughts of a Cardmaking Scrapbooker * Shantaie Fowler, Inking Pink * Sheila Rumney, Sheila Rumney Design and Photography * Teresa Horner, Victorian Paper Queen *

How to Cover the Mini Album

Cut your paper to 5.25″ x 11″

Add glue, and smooth the paper over each surface.  When you get to the end, glue down the closure tab as well

About 1/2 an inch from the edge of the album, trim to the tab on either side.  Fold the flaps over and glue them down.  Trim around the rest of the tab.

Open the album and use a craft knife to cut out the half-circle for the closure tab to fit into

And you’re done!  Pretty simple!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a lovely day 🙂