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Hi! I’m Kristine from Close To My Heart.
And today we are gonna go “eclectic.” We’re gonna
use paper from lots of different paper packets
to create your own gorgeous mini album. This
project is so stinkin’ cute you’re definitely
gonna wanna make one of your own.
Now a mini album is the perfect way to use up
your remaining papers, or scraps for a completely
unique design. Isn’t this a cute way to customize
your own pages? Let me show you how.
Today we’re gonna be focusing on the My
Happy Life mini album. This is such a cute mini
album and it’s made entirely from shapes cut
from our Cricut® Artiste cartridge. Now in the Idea
Book shown on page 86 you get to see this cute
album, but only the outside. Let’s take a little
tour through the inside so you can see it for
yourself. Now, first thing you’re gonna notice is that
it’s got all kinds of random eclectic fun shapes
and colors that are completely a mish-mash of all
kinds of different kit papers and cardstocks. So
look at some of these fun things I’ve got. Tags,
I’ve got brackets, some of these are not even
folded evenly so they’re a little bit asymmetrical.
Larger pieces coupled with smaller pieces, you
can see right in the center I’ve even got an
envelope stitched in and then of course the back
half of the album is just the other side of those
pieces I showed you at the beginning.
Now, in order to make this, it looks pretty challenging,
it is so simple. First what you’re going to
do is, and I should mention that the finished size
of this particular album, if you want to make it
at home is 8” x 5”. So you’ll want to start with a
great shape that you like of your choice. From
the Cricut® Artiste collection, just look through
that booklet and kind of decide on about six to
eight shapes that you really like.
Now, let’s see... I’ll put this aside over here and
let me show you the guts of the album. First, I
just cut, like I said six — seven shapes in a variety
of different sizes. Don’t make them the same
size and also, don’t layer large to small. What’s
fun about this is that the shapes are coming and
going and that you’re seeing some bigger pieces
and some smaller pieces and that’s what makes
it fun. You’ll want to score each piece, and I’ve
done that before the show so that we could save
a little bit of time here, for TV land, but I’ve
scored each one of these pieces right down the
middle. Or if I want a little bit of variety, look at
this tag. It’s been scored almost close to the end
and that’ll give it a little bit of variety, that
asymmetry is what’s gonna make this album so
unique and so fun. And then, once you’ve scored
everything, you’re gonna have a natural fold line.
You see that? So and notice that some of these pieces
they don’t all have to be perfectly centered either.
Some are going to be up high, some are going to
be down low, they’re all going to be all over the
place. Again, that’s what’s gonna make it really fun
to dress up. So once I’ve got all my pieces cut,
score them, align them, fold them, and set them
aside for just a second.
Because let me show you the next neat trick of
this mini album. You can see that my fun cover
has this great piece of our beautiful Glitter Paper
inside. Glitter Paper isn’t just a great look it’s
also doing something that’s very important,
serving a really important purpose. And that is
holding down my ribbon closure.
So the very first thing you’ll want to do when
you’re putting together the book is you’ll want to
take your ribbon, and you can choose any ribbon
you like. Today I’m working with our black
and white striped grosgrain and I’ve cut it in
half, just because I want a little bit narrower strip.
You can use any width or length of ribbon as long
as it’s sturdy enough to hold your complete
mini album closed when you’re done. Now, I'll
place it right along the center of the book and
make sure that I’ve got about half and half.
So I can just quickly line that up and then get my
center point right here, there we go. Next I’m
going to use some Liquid Glass. Liquid Glass
really is my preferred adhesive when working
with fabric just because it dries so quickly and it is
so permanent. And it’s a great fabric adhesive.
So I’ve got that right along my middle and then
I’m just gonna take my ribbon and adhere it
down super fast. And then what I’m going to do,
now that’s down, now I want to cover that
ribbon because I don’t want to look at the ribbon.
It serves an important purpose but it isn’t
beautiful to look at. So again, in a slightly smaller
just 1/2" smaller size, I’ve cut the exact same
shape but in Glitter Paper using my Cricut® Artiste shape,
I’ve added a couple of fun shapes just to give
it a little bit of variety. And then I’m going to
adhere that down as well, also with Liquid
Glass just to make it super, super strong.
And you know the great thing about this is that
Liquid Glass, you don’t even need a lot of it
because it is such a strong bond. And it works
great with the Glitter Paper too, which although
it’s not a fabric, it is a very heavy, heavy weight
cardstock. I also like that about this for the
book, because it’s going to give it a really,
really strong binding.
Now, there you go and there is the inside of my
book. Now this one is still a little bit wet, so I’m
going to set it aside, but you can see that that’s
how to get that great looking closure that gives a
really finished polished professional edge to
something and also allows it to close. So let’s set
that aside and then I’m going to be working with
this one that’s actually dried so it will give me a
little bit more permanence here.
Now, once I’ve got all my great shapes cut, look
at this, this is a great little envelope cut from
some of that Later Sk8r Background & Texture
paper. Isn’t that so fun. Then look at this great
orange, this is taken from the Buzz and Bumble kit.
Also a wonderful Background & Texture paper
and then I’ve got some of this great pinks and orange
chevron taken from the Claire kit. Mixy-matchy,
that’s what makes it interesting. Just like my outfit
today. You can combine colors and textures to
make a really hip trendy design that’s all your own.
Now what I’m going to do is I’m going to align
those all on the score line so that they bend
easily together as a unit. And again, I just want
to align them as I want them and I put it all
together. Now that is gonna make a really thick
book which is great because it’s going to be a
beautiful sturdy item when it’s done. Now you’re
wondering, “Kristine, how am I going to get
this all to stick together?” Well, even if you’re
not a seamstress, breathe deeply because I’m
gonna be working with some of our beautiful
Baker’s Twine. We’ve gone some of this fun grey
Baker’s Twine and it really is easy to do. I’ve got
my Paper Piercer, also called “the pokey tool”
and it really works well if you use both the
VersaMat® and the foam pad from your Paper
Piercer because you’ve got a lot of um,
paper to poke through.
Now what you’ll want to do is just about a little
under 1/2", between 1/4" and 1/2" poke holes
through the paper. Now what I like to do and this
is a great tip. What you’ll probably want to do
is start with the hole, just punch that right through;
hold the entire book as a unit. It helps to have
your needle pre-threaded. I do not separate the
strands of the Bakers’ Twine, you’ll want the
entire thing all together, and then you’ll just pull
it right through that hole that you’ve punched.
Okay. Make sure that you’ve got plenty of length
so that you can do this entire project without
running out of twine. Now, notice that I only punched
one hole instead of punching all the holes
along my seam. That’s because the pages will shift
slightly with each stitch you make. So what I
would recommend doing is stitch and then put
it back down and punch. And then, stitch again.
And it just makes sure that you keep all those pages
lined up otherwise it can be a little bit
challenging to realign those pages if they get
off at all during the stitching process. And see, now
I’m starting to get into some of my chunky pages
and it really does go through very, very easily.
Surprisingly easily. And it’s fun. It’s something
you can do while you watch TV or while you
just hang out. I like to use a great big thick needle
with a wide eye just so that I don’t want to
scream while I’m threading my needle. And you
can see how very easily that comes together and
literally in about 15 minutes I have a hand-sewn
sturdy binding. Just make sure you tie a nice
thick knot in your Baker’s Twine to complete
the project. And then of course, no project is
completely finished until you’ve added your
own embellishments, your own titling, your
stamping, and of course pictures of the people
that you love to make it uniquely your own.
If you’d like to make this or great and easy projects
from Close To My Heart, simply contact
your Independent Consultant to learn more.