April First Creation

Today is the official start of our Spring break from work.  And I'm enjoying it.  No, we're not going anywhere, but that's ok.  My goal this week is to do a lot of cleaning and organizing around the house, including my planet. In fact, my planet's been neat lately and all I need to do is update the labels of my drawers.  Then I'm ready to take photos.

 

Also, I wanted to start my Spring break with some creativity.  I don't know why, but I'm so into "clear" lately.  I have created some clear projects before like a clear card and some mini ones.  And just this weekend, a clear album was brewing in my mind.  So what I did was take out all my leftover packaging.  I've been hiding them and it was time to make some space (since I'm Spring cleaning!).  

I browsed through my Sizzix and Big Shot dies and found 2 dies to play with:  Sizzix Pocket Die (RAKed by Claire) and Stampin' Up Bigz Top Note Die (manufactured by Sizzix).  After cutting 10 pieces from each die, I was really happy.  There's a clear mini album in the making!  As you can see on the first mini album below, I inverted the pages and bound them together using the Bind-It-All.  It is best to bind your pages before you actually add all the embellishments to make sure that each page has holes in the exact same position.

 
Today, I concentrated on my clear inverted-pocket mini album.  This album will be about friends, near and far, who are dear to me.   It took a while for me to figure out what elements to use  because of the clear pages.  On a test page, I tried Copic markers, and they worked fine.  I also tried Staz-On ink pad, and it worked too.  But I knew that if I use Copics and Staz-On, it will take forever to do each page. 

So I searched for something that will make my project easier to make.  Then I saw a book of clear flower stickers RAKed to me by Claire (again).  I knew those would be perfect.  Then to place my photos, I cut black cardstock with Nestabilities Labels 4.  Then for some words, I used word sticker strips by 7Gypsies.  I arranged the flower stickers in such a way that they looked like they are layered as you go through each page (see photo on the left).  Then I attached the word sticker strips on the bottom left on the page front, and did the same procedure on the opposite page, this time on the lower right, so that it covers the back of the sticker that's attached in the front.  After that, I folded each black cardstock in half, then ran it through my Xyron sticker machine.  I adhered the black cardstock where the first half is in front right edge of the page, and the other half is in the left edge of the opposite page.  As you can see on the photo in this paragraph, I positioned each word strip and black cardstock in such a way that they are right behind each other when the entire album is closed.

For the front, I just adhered a sticker on the left, then a layered flower on the right.  The big red flower is by Bazzil, the clear flower is by Making Memories, and the smaller flower is by Prima.  I added a gem stone for the final touch.  In the opposite side, I just adhered a small flower My Moments Creative Co-Op. In this album, even the opposite pages are being used.  In total, there are 17 pages, not counting the cover page and the back page.  All this album needs now are the photos.  
 
To see the album in detail, please click here.