Hi friends, it's Keren Baker (@craftstampink) with you for another With 3 Things post.
This feature on the PaperArtsy Blog is where 3 bloggers are sent 3 items in the post. We have no clue what PaperArtsy HQ is going to send us, there might be a slight variation (for example on this round we each were sent slightly different stencils) but generally 2 of the 3 things will be identical.
A recent/current blog topic is/was Nature, so if we can tie that to this 3 things post, then that adds another challenge into this project. To be honest, I'm really shoe-horning it in, where it's not really fitting, but the stamp set has a lovely nature vibe (particularly the trees) plus the 'natural' brown paper bag...(so I think I've just about managed it ;-) ).
Today I have made a December Daily album...let's take a closer look.
I'll show you all the inside later. For memory keeping, particularly seasonal-style daily recording, you really need to have the album done before December, so you can just slot in a quick photo or jot down what happened. The chances of it actually happening are far greater if it's already pre-made!
I did add 2 colours (well 3 if you add the 2 shades of green) to the Chalk and Pewter: Cherry Red, Lawn & Slimed. I had them left out from a previous project and well, they're Christmas in 3 bottles, right?
I first started by deconstructing the paper bag. It was too big for what I wanted, but knew I'd use it for the front cover plus the handles would be a great form of texture later on. But the paper bag gave me the inspiration for the whole project- a paper bag album!
I purchased some inexpensive paper bags, trimmed and punched a half circle in the open end of each bag using a circular punch.
Compiling the body of the album is easy. Firstly glue the bottom gusset part closed onto itself and once all the bags are done (I did 12), then you glue the rectangular gusset onto the next bag, keeping all bags in the same position (i.e. with the glued gusset facing upwards).
The idea was to slot the tags that PaperArtsy had sent me into the spaces between the glued down gussets and use the open bags to pop little bits of ephemera that I'd pick up along the way. I needed to decorate the tags so began using the JOFY PS439 stencil (check out our stockists for this stencil and the stamp set).
Once I'd stencilled the greens onto the stencil and over-stamped the trees, I used the Pewter with the stencil to create a moody looking sky. I wanted to create a raised window for the front of the album.
The little square images on the JOFY137 stamp set are in Jo Firth-Young's inimitably fun style. I wanted to have the snowman peeking through the window and coloured him in with alcohol markers.
Using another of the stamps in the set, I coloured and trimmed out hearts and stars, attaching green thread to the reverse and adhering them with foam pads. You can also see the framed acetate front that I was going to add over this window. I could have added more pads and created a fun shaker front with some sequins etc.!
This photo shows you what the internal structure looks like. The patterning on the bags gave a unintended pattern to the edges which I love.
I added this photo to show you just how much shine you'll get from the metallic Fresco Finish range. If you've never used them, they give a real extra boost to your projects.
I wanted to add some sort of closure. I'd got some natural linen thread that wouldn't detract from the look of the album so found some old circles that had a foam pad underneath, just perfect for this. You could make your own version very easily. The twine wraps around in a figure of eight and keeps the album closed.
The album 'engineering' is very simple. Once you've stuck all your bags together, you make holes in the glued/closed edge. If you're doing a lot of bags, you probably want to do this step before you glue them together. This method also lends itself beautifully to stitched bindings. Then you create a front, back and side, so you're making in essence a book cover and then you glue your inside bags to the outer 'cover'. I forgot to put some eyelets onto the back which would have made it look far neater!
For strength, I added extra eyelets on the top of the inner piece- this is the bit that hides the gusset of the top bag and can be as decorative as you like. Don't tie the ribbon too tight- you can see I've left some 'give' in the ribbon.
Now you just need to slot the tags in and add some twine to each tag to make them easier to pull out.
Here's a look at some of the tags. I had wanted some die-cut numbers but couldn't find any suitable ones, so created my own using my silhouette and cardstock matching the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic colours. The 'waste' from the cut out numbers came in really handy for decorating the tags.
Underneath the '24' on that tag, you can see some brown wrinkled paper. That is one of the handles completely unravelled and it left you with some wonderfully textured paper!
Here's a closer look. It's worth mentioning that the PaperArtsy stencils work wonderfully by themselves, but you can often pair them with stamp sets like here. Because the triangles don't match perfectly to the stamp set, they give added interest and also a good leeway for user error, so you don't have to worry about alignment!
Another useful tip is, if your stamping doesn't come out as perfectly as you'd like, add a layer of vellum, which softens the effect and no-one will be any the wiser !
There's so many design variations with these square images and they'd make just perfect mini tags.
I hope that you might have a go at doing your own December daily album. It's really easy and great for adding in all those little leftover bits and pieces that might be hanging around your crafting space. Jo's sets work perfectly for this idea- she has so many Christmas themed sets to explore. Any sized paper bags will do, as long as you have enough of the same size for the project! Hope you get a chance to explore mini-album creating.
See you again soon,
Keren x
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