Monday, June 28, 2010

Making the Most of a Mini...

Over spring break, I took my boys on a day trip to explore our state capital. We really enjoyed our trip, but I came home feeling a bit overwhelmed with what to do with the 64 photos I captured that day. The images were parked on my hard drive waiting for a plan until I realized how perfectly the Pink Paislee "Starlight" line would match.


The search was then on for the perfect mini album format to pull it all together. Kaisercrafts's Beyond the Page MDF Long Ticket Album was just the "ticket" since I knew I could easily expand the album to fit my needs.
The Kaisercraft's four 4-1/8"x9-1/8" MDF pages came without rings. I knew I'd be able to add pages as needed and use whatever size rings necessary to accomodate my project. This was an album without limits. To make sure I had enough supplies for this project, I ordered two of each double-sided paper in the line, a sheet of alphabet stickers (who different colors!), adn the element sticker sheet from Scrappin' {Sports} Stuff. The double-sided papers made an excellent option for adding pages into the album. My final project had 17 pages! (And I had plenty of supplies left over!)
To start this project, I edited my photos into 4x6 photo collages so I would have smaller photos in varying sizes to work with.
The first spread in my album includes a Maya Road envelope that holds the "driving itinerary" we printed out for our adventure. I also journaled about our plan and included the first photos from the day. I accented the pages with the Element Stickers, Alpha, and a random Scenic Route chipboard accent I had in a bowl on my desk.
One of my favorite stops that day was to the Rebecca Ruth candy factory. This stop is documented with a "flower" I made using the red liner from one of the bourbon balls I purchased that day. :)
The next stop included more photos and didn't allow much room for journaling. I added a journaling card (Studio Calico) from my stash in between the pages to include a story from this stop.
For the full-sized pages I added to the album, I trimmed them all to 4-1/8"x9-1/8". Then I traced the corners from one of the MDF pages. I could have cut out the corners, but instead lined up a 1" circle punch to punch out the section I had drawn in. For the extra insert cards, I also trimmed the corner.
The next photos didn't require much journaling. The banner stickers from the Elements Sticker Sheet provided just enough space.
The ledger pattern on the backside of one of the patterned papers was the perfect clean backdrop for these photos from a stop at one of the memorials.
Our next stop at a museum provided several stories I wanted to tell. To allow more space for journaling, I added an envelope from my stash (Making Memories). I used it as a mini page for a photo and journaling on each side.
The double alphas with this line made making titles simple.
For our lunch stop at at a little dive, this "menu" journaling card from Studio Calico was a perfect addition.Our next stop was one of the most fun and required some additional journaling space. For that, I used a scrap left over from cutting the 4-1/8" x 9-1/8" pieces of paper. The ledger side made great journaling space!
The back of my journaling card was perfect for adding a sticker strip and another photo. We had tickets from this stop, so I included another Maya Road album to hold them.
The backside of the envelope was great for another photo and story. I was even able to add a brochure from our stop. Having the brochure punched and in the album makes it easy to read all sides without having to remove it from the album. A white ink pen was great for journaling on the darker papers. When an additional journaling card (made from scraps!) was needed for another partial page, an Elements Sticker made a great accent along with a decorative border punch. Finally...the project is complete!

I debated adding ribbons to the rings, but really liked the simplicity of it without them.

I was able to complete this project in just a few hours, spread out over a few days.

Thanks Scrappin' {Sports} Stuff for providing me with the products to tackle this project and make it manageable!

4 comments:

Melanie said...

This is a fabulous album!! I love it--especially how well the paper line fits the theme of visiting KY's capitol. What a cool, cool album.

The added inserts are awesome and I LOVE the brochure fitting right there with everything else.

LOVE it!!

Lynette Jacobs said...

Wow Amy this is gorgeous...is there anything scrappy that you cannot do?

Thank you so much my friend for your encouragement and prayers...what would I do without you?

Deana said...

That mini is just DARLING! I always ♥ adding envelopes to minis, too, for extra memorabilia & photos!

And ps... never, never, never give up... ;-)

Unknown said...

Very cool mini album! I love the envelopes you added!