Graphic 45 French Country Mini Album

Hello and happy Friday, Blogger peeps! I am going to share a jam-packed mini album with you today! This is another of my 2013 Winter CHA projects for the Graphic 45 booth. I was given one of the Graphic 45 8x8 Easel albums and asked to create a mini using the new French Country collection.

I created an 8x8 inch mini album with pockets for tags and photo mats for the photos. The album contains 16 decorated pages. I ended up decorating both the front and back of each page! The album got a bit "top heavy" but I was loving working on it so much that it was hard to stop!

This is the front cover. I layered the papers to create the perfect French Country mini in which to add photos of my trip to Paris. The design team did not get all of the new collection in time for CHA, but I did get the papers and stamps.

This is a close-up of the cover. I fussy cut the sunflower and then mounted it onto some of the Graphic 45 lace trim. I tucked a Key Hole Staples behind.

The chipboard word is from Imaginarium Designs. I inked it with blue ink and then stamped the French Country image over the top with Twinkle Watermark ink. It is hard to photograph the watermark ink, but you can see that it is sparkly!

 

Each page of the album contains photo mats and journaling tags. I decorated the front and back of each of the pages for a nice, chunky book! I confess that I have been WAITING for a French Country collection for a long time. I love the colors, but I really have a "thing" for roosters! Love!

 

Are you ready to see the inside?! I wanted to create lots of pockets and tags for this album, but I also wanted it to be easy to assemble and to use just the paper collection and minimal supplies. Let's see how I did

 

I trimmed one print to cover the album page, then another to make a band in the center. I also trimmed out a few images from the paper and added a photo mat. I used my postage-edge deco scissors to trim many of the images. I am so happy I kept those silly scissors all these years!

I created a pocket with a few strips of paper and a bit of ribbon. 

I trimmed out images from the paper to act as journaling tags and extra photo mats. I placed lined paper on the backs of some of the tags for extra journaling space.

I attached the photo mat with tape on only three sides in order to create a pocket for tags.

 

I mixed the paper images with stamped tags. I keep a large supply of shipping tags in all sizes.

 

For this page, I trimmed one of the postage stamp images in half to act as photo corners for the photo mat. I also created a pocket from the photo mat. The tabbed image slides out to reveal a space for journaling.

This is another pocket page. I mounted the printed paper onto black cardstock before attaching it to the page. The feather is a chipboard item from Imaginarium Designs which I sprayed with glimmer mist to match the rooster feathers in the paper.

I have a few pre-printed tags in my stash. I like having lines to keep my writing from sloping downhill!

Pocket pages are a great way to  use up paper strips. I combined two different prints to make this pocket.

The small Eiffel Tower chipboard is another ID chipboard. I inked it with Twinkle Watermark ink. It sparkles in the light, but it's hard to pick up in the photo.

I created some photo mats and journaling spots. I fussy cut one of the sunflowers to make a tab for the large photo mat.

This is a simple page, perfect for a large photo. The Graphic 45 Decades Bon Voyage ink pad is the PERFECT blue shade to ink up the chipboard photo corners! This is page is really the base of the album. I decided to decorate it to give you an extra album page!

Now flip the album around, and start from the other side!

Another pocket! I love the sunflowers and the Eiffel Tower! So pretty!

I found a few tab punches in my stash. Once again, I am happy I hoarded them as they came in very handy for this project!

 

I placed a blank piece of paper behind the chipboard frame to be used as a place to stamp the date or write a bit of journaling. The kraft button is the same shade as the album base pages, helping to tie it all together. (No pun intended!) 

 

Pockets galore!

I dangled one of the Ornate Metal Key Staples from the chipboard button with a bit of twine. 

A few of the tags are stamped images which I fussy cut. There is space for journaling or a small photo on the back.

I love this flower garden image! So pretty!  I added a circle shaped journaling spot, stamped with one of the French Country stamps. I also stamped over the ticket with a stamped image of grapes.

I made this pocket a bit wider than the others, then stuffed it full of tags!

Stunning colors and prints!

I had a larger version of the Eiffel Tower chipboard and decided to use it here. Once again, I inked it with Twinkle Watermark ink.

I fussy cut the postage stamp image from the paper, stamped the message onto cardstock, then used a circle die template to cut out the sunflower. To make the sunflower pop, I mounted it to one of the chipboard clocks from one of the the other Graphic 45 collections (A Ladies' Diary, I think!)

The border paper is a bit fussy, so to ground it to the page I added a punched border. (Sorry about some of the photos. We had been having some very gloomy weather here!)

 

More tags and journaling spots.

 



This page is the back of the album. I added the Ornate Door Plate Staple to give it some weight and keep it from falling off the shelf! I wanted to add the Black Policy Album envelope page to give an extra place to put journaling or photos.

 

And there you have it! My very first French Country album project! The first of many, I hope! Thanks for stopping by!

 



Graphic 45 Paper:
French Country: French Country, Sunflowers, Grandeur, Promenade, Rendezvous, Bon Appetit, Bonjour, Déjà Vu, Abundance, Provance, A La Carte, Montage

Graphic 45 Staples: Graphic 45 8x8 Easel Album, Ornate Metal Key Holes, Trims, Chipboard Buttons, Ornate Metal Keys, Ornate Metal Doorplate, Black Policy Envelope Album

Hampton Art Stamps:
Graphic 45: French Country

Clearsnap Ink:
Colorbox Chalk Blackbird
Colorbox Graphic 45 Decades Antiquing Photogenic, Bon Voyage
Top Boss Watermark Twinkle Star Dust

Cardstock: American Crafts Black; Neenah Natural White
Die cuts: Spellbinders Standard Circles Small, Back to Basics Tags
Punches: Stampin' Up tab punch; McGill tab punch; Fiskars border punch
Decorative scissors: Fiskars
Embellishments: Craftwork Cards (candi); Imaginarium Designs (chipboard); Really Reasonable Ribbon (trims); 7 Gypsies (ATC tag); Tim Holtz Idea-ology (adage tickets); Jenni Bowlin (round journaling spot)
Other: Office supply (tags, notepaper); Teacher store (library card); Tim Holtz Tiny Attatcher and long brads; pins, large paper clip
Adhesive: Scotch ATG; Scor-tape, Aleene's Tacky Glue; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L foam squares