a French Garden Mini Album

Hi everyone, Patti here, sharing my newest mini album using the stunning new collection, The French Garden, designed exclusively for Meg's Garden

I created this book using chipboard for the covers and spine, covered with white cardstock (which I mod-podged several times for stability) and covered with decorative papers from the collection.  I added a selection of flowers and elements from the store for the front cover. There are six pages each with an outer pocket on the right side.  The outside measures 8" square with a 3" spine and the pages are slightly smaller. 

I used my decorative scallop corner chomper on all the pages. After fussy cutting around the chair above & backing it with some solid pink cardstock I adhered it to the inside front cover forming a nice tuck in pocket to accommodate this oversized mat and several smaller ones. The opposite page has a horizontal belly band with a decorative half circle stopper on the bottom.  The stoppers are nice to use with the bands to stop the mats from slipping out of the book.

Incorporating the decorative lace frame from my stash creates the perfect spot for a special photo.  The pink back acts as a place-card for the photo and helps the owner determine the best sized photo to slip inside.  The acetate butterfly is attached with a thin strip cut from the sheet, glued to the back of the butterfly and tucked behind the flower. When the page is opened the butterfly flutters about and closes without harm as the page is turned or the book shut.

More fussy cutting on both pages, this collection just lends itself to trimming to show off all the gorgeous flowers and elements.  Here I've stretched the buds of the flowers from the one page to the other to tie the two together.  The frame on the right has acetate (from a recycled embellishment folder) to slip the photo behind.

This page pops by using black mats to contrast with the pink.  The ornate frame has been colored with Silk Acrylic Glaze in Grapefruit thinned with Matte Medium.  On the right I've again fussy cut the flowers and tucked the mats behind.

As a crafter you know the album is made to house photos and memories and as a lover of gorgeous decorative papers you sometimes find it hard to cover everything up! Here I accomplished both by creating a waterfall of twelve pages housing 24 photos up to 3" x 5" and left the gorgeous paper speak for itself on the right.  There's lots of room below the birdhouse to add a special photo and tuck a note behind.

I found a Kaisercraft wooden birdhouse in my stash and painted it with that same Grapefruit Silk glaze, added some pearls for the hanger and decoration and tucked my mats behind.  It's hard for you to see here but the video will give a much better perspective of the corners on the page on the right.  After I had matted my cardstock I cut out the corner with the same paper and placed it over top to create a tuck in pocket and added a flower on the bottom edge to create the adjacent lower pocket.  

The last page and back cover share these luscious greens from the collection.  Again fussy cutting around the bird bath to create a pocket and placing a doily behind a die cut to form a frame.  Adding a couple more of these acrylic butterflies just finishes the pages.

So there's my mini album.  I hope you'll join me on the video I have lots more photos to show you and I'd love a chance to tell you how and why I did certain things.  Be sure and check out the supply links below and get some of this yummy French Garden paper to play with yourself

Thanks so much for joining my mini album tour,

Patti

You can visit me on my blog - A Soul's Heartbeat - YouTube - Facebook

Supplies from Meg's Garden

The French Garden Collection

single sheets and book form

Temptations in Pink and Green

Paper Doily and Strip

White Lace - L2902

Laser cut Frame - FR005

Carabella Rose Posy - Fairy Pink

Paper Lillies

Pink/Cream open Paper Roses

Organza lace flower - Mocha

Scalloped borders in iridescent white and gold