Gate Fold Album - All In Neutrals

 

I've been working on several albums of late, and am enjoying the projects. The one I'm showing you today was a bit of an experiment using only neutral colours in Basic Gray, Sarah Sand, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, and a black cover using a non-Stampin' Up! product called Kraft-Tex. Its a paper/fabric which doesn't tear or crack with use, as cardstock can. That's why I used this product. I did learn a few things in using this product, and will have to adjust thow I use it for an album cover or spine.

Any way, let's get to having a look at the album, shall we. As you can see I left the cover plain with no embellishment, just the ribbon closure.

When the album is opened, this is what you see.

You will notice the 'Botanical Builder' dies were used in the album. Everything was cut from Crumb Cake. I love how it looks! Who'd have thought that it would look great in Crumb Cake of all things! But then it is a fabulous die set.

When you lift the top flap you see this. Oh, I should mention that I used another couple non-Stampin' Up! products through out the album, some older Project Life (pre-Stampin' Up!) cards because they coordinated with the colours of the album. Some of these I cut down or punched. The others are some chipboard laser cuts that I had purchased a few years ago form the store where I used to teach classes at.

The square on the upper right corner I created with several different Stampin' Up! Project Life stamp sets.

Close up - see the subtle Versamark text stamping...

Close up of the stamped square (sorry it's not real clear).

Another gate fold section to the album.

When you open that up, there is a place on the left for a larger phtoto (left), a place for a 4 x 4 photo to slide into a frame, and a booklet that opens up when you untie the twine.

Close up

Close up

When you open this booklet you can either journal inside or place additional photos.

Back to the center, when you open up the larger booklet, there are pages with sections for journaling, and places to make up a mini layout of photos, or use one very large page sized photo.

Turn the page...

Turn the page again...

Then when you flip the page that the book is attached to, you find this. There's a place for a 5 x 7 photo. Oh, I guess I should have mentioned that all these Botanical Builder parts are attached so that the photo can slide in behind them, have a part of the floral arrangement over the corners of the photos.

Then when you flip that last flap in the album, there is room for another 5 x 7 or and arrangement of smaller photos within the designated areas.

Close up for detail.

Last close up.

I wish the photos showed more what the album really looks like, because it looks much better in real life. I hope that you enjoyed seeing this any way, and are inspired for the next album or scrapbook page you create.

All these albums I'm currently making will all be for sale at future classes, crops, and markets. 

If you are interested in buying this album before I get it out in the public, don't hesitate to contact me (sabradcreations@gmail.com).



Should you are interested in knowing more about Kraft-Tex, here is a video I found. It's great stuff with many applications and uses.

Thank you for stopping by today, and happy creating!

 

Something New!

It's Sabrina here, and I have an exciting announcement to make!

Due to increasing requests for my project measurements and tutorials, I have created a new space where some of my project instructions can be purchased:  Paper Architecture with Sabrina!

My first project instructions available for purchase is my Travel Log Flip Folio. Please visit Paper Architecture for more information. I will continue to add more project instructions as I can. If you subscribe by email there, you will be notified any time a new project is posted.

Thank you for your interest in creating some of my project designs!

Happy papercrafting!

Sold Before Getting Very Far In It's Creation!

This is not a class posting! You must get tired of seeing only my class projects being posted.

There are times when teaching some classes where I have a little time while class participants are busy working away without need of my help. So I decided to have something to work on for those quiet times while I teach. Recently, I decided to work on a double page Christmas layout and sell it. I had gotten to where I had completed the three layers for the background and framing, had die cut a whole lot of Spellbinders Layered Poinsettias and was brushing on a bit of white gesso here and there. One of the class participants sitting near me asked what I was doing. When I explained it to her, she said "Sold!" I hadn't even gotten the layout to the point of seeing anything in place! She was determined she wanted it sight unseen.

My only worry is that at times I have a tendency to over do the page embellishments, and this may just be one of those times. I mean the main focus is supposed to be the photos, and not the embellishments, right? Well I hope she likes it.

As you can see these are not traditional Christmas colours. The Bazzill cardstock I used were Walnut and Cinnabar. That Cinnabar is a beautiful colour.

Here are some closer looks.

 The tree is a Laser Cut chipboard tree that I dabbed white gesso onto and then scribbled on some Star Dust Stickles. Here's a little closer look at the tree.

You'll note that I also added the same Stickles to the punched out snowflakes. I love the winding and looping of the ribbon throughout the layout. Let's have a closer look at the right of the layout where the journaling strips are.

Next is the center bottom of the layout, where you ca see how I seamed the ribbon between the two pages.

And, you can see some of the doodle framing I did. I think my white gel pen is beginning to dry out. Lastly, you can see the Poinsettias a little closer.

I think next time I'll try to keep the white gesso down a bit too. I applied it to each piece before assembling them, so If I do it after the entire page it together it might look better. Another thing I might do differently is to have the tree on the left up with the Poinsettias below it rather than on top of it, and have the journaling strips lower.

So there you have it. Thank you for stopping to have a look. I hope to have more classes and more projects like this to post soon.

Happy crafting, and Happy Thanksgiving to all our U.S. friends!

Tools & Supplies

Spellbinders - Romantic Rectangles & Layered Poinsettia

Martha Stewart Punches - Alpine & Arctic Snowflakes

Stickles - Star Dust & Ruby Slipper

Paper - Bazzill Walnut & Cinnabar, Upsy Daisy's Hot Chocolate - Dash Away

Ribbon - Offay 1/4" Fern Microcheck

Stamp - unknown

VersaMark

A Little Something For the Men

In preparing stock for the Calgary Market Card Sale we had, I realized that I mustn't forget to make a few cards that could easily be given to men. So this posting will feature the designs for masculine cards created.

This first set of four cards are based on the same paper and 6" square sized card with variations. I made a total of eight of these.

The cut out and popped up flourish you see in the next four cards is from  s.e.i's Bridgeport clear stamps. The first two I prefer over the last two you see here. After making a couple cards by popping the flourish up, I just felt that the flourish wasn't quite right. I then took my favorite VersaFine Vintage Sepia ink and ink distressed it. I'm much happier with the look of the flourish now, and you see it here on the first two cards. It reminds me of some of the hand carved flourishes found on antique handcrafted furniture, and very befitting a man - don't you think?

I hand cut 10 of these flourishes. It took a little time, but to me it was worth it; especially once I ink distressed them.


This next set of masculine cards is also all the same sized card, A2s, and using the same paper on each, all with variations in layout and two sentiments.

This next A7 card is made with scraps, and purchased embellishments that have been sitting in my bins for quite a while.You will note there is also a handcrafted envelope (Which I have done for most of the cards made for the Craft Fair Sale). It is a good way to use up all the paper from non-cardstock paper from the large pads of paper one buys.

This next card I thought could be either a masculine or feminine card, but opted to go with masculine. I created it using scraps left over from a class I taught at Scrapbookers Paradise. I used a gold gel pen to create a sophisticated look with a border around the edge of the card. With gold Liquid Pearls I embellished the corners on the green cardstock.

These next two cards are again made using scraps leftover from a class I taught. And, since the flourish stamp is new, and I like it, I used it again. I may have gone a little overboard with the brads, but I wanted to create a masculine feel to the cards.

So these are some of the masculine cards I made for the Calgary Market Fair.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I feel badly that I haven't posted for a while. It's not that I haven't created anything to post, because that's all I've been doing since the end of July. We are participating in one of Calgary's Market Fairs (look for "GlimmerCraft") this Saturday to sell as many of our newly created cards as we can. I have so many photos to post, I'll be busy posting them for you for quite a while as I have made about 250 cards for this event! And that not including the cards that Dana and Stef have crafted as well.

For those readers that live in or near Calgary, the market is taking place Saturday, August 29th at the Willow Ridge Community Centre - 680 Acadia Dr. SE - from 10:00AM to 4:00PM. We'd love to see you there! We will even be taking orders for scrapbook pages or cards - especially for those soon needed Christmas cards.

Here is a couple of cards to tease you with.

Well that's it for now. Some of these I'll come back to at a future date in order to give you a few details. But, in the mean time, I would like for you to choose a favorite one of the cards in this post and tell me why it is your favorite. Once Saturday is done, we've chosen the Glimmer Challenge 2 Winner, and I've rested up for a day or two, I'll begin posting some of those many, many cards I made. I'll also include the cards that I have planned to use in my Scrapbooker's Paradise classes coming up very soon. My first class will be September, 8th, and you can check out the classes coming up in the next couple of months. Just look for my name, Sabrina, for the classes that I will be teaching.

Happy creating everyone!

Card Frenzy V

And my card frenzy continues.(see here for details). Just adding to my stockpile and sharing the results with you all. I completed 9 more cards today with some card kits I had made a while ago out of scraps. They included thumbnail sketches of the layout I had cut them to, for later assembly. All I had to do today was cut the card base, put it all together, and figure out what stamps, inks, and embellishments to use. Wow! was I ever glad I had made all these kits. These kits are very simple card designs.However, I will make some more cards that are a little more intricate in design. I have several more kits, and it sure makes things go a lot faster. When I've completed creating my stockpile for the sale, I'm going to go back to my collecting pile of scraps and make some card kits for emergencies and bulk card making.

Well, here are the cards -

Well these are it for today. I'd love to hear your comments. Have fun designing your creations!