Bringing the mini back

Bringing the Mini Back…. I bet you started to hum the tune to that Justin Timberlake song ‘bringing sexy back’. 

I'm going to start my blog post off with a bit of a story… hopefully it won’t take too long.

A long long time ago A2Z Scraplets created these amazing chipboard mini albums that were put together as words.  Do you remember the ones – they had titles like baby, smile, beach & family to name just a few. These mini albums were a great way to show off a few photos and also have some coffee table art in your home.

I remember my very first one – the beach album… I was lucky enough to have it published in a couple of magazines, it was even featured in a mini album mag. I was so impressed by these little albums that I knew then that I wanted to be a part of the A2Z Scraplets team and that my friends is where my love of chipboard products began.

These fantastic albums have not been around for a while and so after acquiring one (because I know this great lady who makes all this fabbo chipboard stuff) I got to work and created my very first chipboard mini album for 2013 and I know its not going to be the last one for this year either.

My first step was to prime all my pages with gesso. I have then given them a thin coat of aqua paint and have let that dried.

I then started to add more color layers to the pages before I added my photos and embellishments. Here I have used the Masklet Chevron 2. After spraying the mask I have used the remainder that was left on the mask and pressed it onto other pages to give a more grungy look. 

Next I chose my photos and the accents I wanted to use. I find that you do not need to add too much to the album as your photo or photos will take up a lot of the page. I try to keep embellishments minimal. Washi tape is great for this and small stickers and small metals. I also like to use twine or wire and beads on my pages as they do not overwhelm the photos.

 

Also think about using your masks and texture paste after you have added your pictures. Here i have used Stencil Flourish 2 to add a little more interest and tie together the photo and the page.

Above I have masked off part of the album and used a small part of the Flourish 2 stencil. This is also a great way to add interest without making your pages become to 'chunky' 

My final step before putting the rings in to hold it all together was to ink the edges and then add some stamping. I have also outlined all of the pages with a black pen which helps define them.\

So here are a few of the finished pages....

 

 I hope this has inspired you to create a mini album of your own... I am hoping to do a few for Christmas gifts.

tracey

xx