I didn't get as much time as I wanted to start my new albums yesterday but I did get the covers started. I did take pictures in hopes that it might help someone who has never tackled one of these type of fun albums.
Remember, these are the albums I am working with.
So I decided to start in on Harper's album - the flower. I picked my paper and then got started.
The first thing to do is to open the binding a bit so you can slip some pages off to decorate. Just carefully pull to open. (If you don't want to do this you can just decorate around the binding.)
They opened easy enough so I slipped off the cover and got ready to cover it in paper. There are two ways to cover the chipboard.
First way - just adhere down the cover to the paper. Do not cut it out first.
You then use your fingertip craft knife and "draw" around the edges and get a perfect cut. This is what I would normally do since I love this little knife so much but I left my knife in my boxes for the GASC and they are somewhere between Chantilly, VA and Grand Rapids, MI right now, lol. I was trying to be efficent and make sure I wasn't bringing so many supplies back and forth! ugg!
No big deal though 'cause there are more than one way to do things!
So I traced out the design onto the back of my paper including the markings for the binding holes.
I then cut out the design making sure to cut just inside the lines. (When you trace something it gets a little bigger so you want to cut it a little smaller than the lines so that it fits.) I don't worry about perfection - you will see why later.
Now the holes for the binding are square and I do not have a tiny square punch to fit. Of course I could have run out and tried to find such a punch but instead I work with what I have on hand.
I used a small circular punch and punched along all the marked squares. I will later make these into squares but for right now they offer the perfect starting spot.
Now it is time to adhere the paper. I always get asked what type of adhesive I use for this...
Yup. The humble glue stick. The adhesive we start with and quickly leave behind as we get more "experience". Well, it is time to revisit this great adhesive.
There are two reasons I love it for covering chipboard surfaces. One - it is cheap & holds well - got to love that!. Two - really important -I can get really good edge to edge coverage. This is what I really love about it. I can just rub away not worrying about using too much cause it is expensive and I can get every little bit of the surface covered in adhesive. With mini albums that are to be handled without protective covers it is important to make sure all the edges are secure so they don't start to lift and eventually tear.
I always apply it directly to the chipboard cause it is stiff & sturdy and I don't have to worry about accidently bending or tearing my paper. (have fun!! LOL)
So slap that paper down and rub with your fingers (or a brayer if you have one - I don't) to make sure the paper gets adhered everywhere. Now you may find this has happened...
Remember how I said don't worry about being super precise when cutting? Well, unless you spend forever cutting (and who wants to do that???? LOL) you will get some "wobbles". It's ok. This is why sand paper was invented! (and ink too) It is the miracle tool for hiding wobbles!
You can use a regular piece of sand paper, a sanding block (found at the hardware store), a nail file (check out the dollar store) or if you really want luxury (at a decent price, lol) go for the Basic Grey Precision file set. Love, love, love this tool. BUT of course my set is in the same box as my Finger Tip Craft knife (see above!) so of course a new plan was needed. If I had my file set I would use it to get in an around all the edges of the shape as well as all the little binding holes (this is what makes this tool so great - you can get into small, tight places).
You want to sand the edges to remove any paper that overhangs as well as tidy up any uneven "wobbles".
No special tecnique involved - just sand the edges! You will get a white edge as the printed part is sanded off. You can leave this as is or if you want to disquise your "wobbles" even more you can ink or paint the edges. This will hid everything!
But I don't have my BG tool and I am feeling a bit lazy so I grab this...
Yup - found this in my hubby's tools. Attached the sanding bit and went to town (have used it for this before so I knew it works). Talk about getting the job done quickly! Just a tip - use the LO setting so you have better control. The downside? You can't get into tight places like the "V" of the flower petals or the small binding holes. So in about 2 minutes I had all the major areas sanded and then I had to stop scrapping as life needed me :). So today I need to figure out how I am going to sand the small holes and then get to decorating the cover.
Have a great day everyone. :)
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