Everyday Expressions

Hi Everyone! I am so sorry that I have taken an extended break from the blog, but I have been busy behind the scenes. Today I am sharing my very first album along with my first video!

So, what does a crafter do when she develops a serious obsession with beautiful papers? She watches tons of instructional videos, stockpiles copious amounts of black cardstock, and begins the overwhelming journey into creating mini albums!

I created this gatefold album for my good friend’s daughter who is graduating from high school this year, and I thought this would make a perfect gift for organizing all of her photos and memorabilia from the last four years. She is graduating from Mason High School, and the school colors are black, green, white, and (I’m not sure it’s official, but it’s often added onto sportswear) gray. So I collected lots of open stock cardstock in those colors, and added DCWV The Midnight Chic Stack, Le Noir Stack, and The Silver Lining Stack to supplement and add interest.

I wanted the pages to be 8″ x 8″, and so designed the cover and spines to be 8.5″ x 3.25″. My thinking is that with bigger album covers it helps to hide tabs and anything else that may peek beyond the edges of the pages. The most informative videos and mentors I watched were Corene from Corenescreations and Tmika from Scrapdaworld. I highly recommend watching these ladies if you’re new to creating albums. I watched and rewatched Corene’s video on gatefold albums to create mine.

I’m not going in-depth for how I created this album so if you have questions, please feel free to comment, and I will respond. Please remember that this is my very first album, and I am, by no means, an expert! It is not perfect, and I learned a lot while making this album. I know that each new album will be much better than the last! However, I do plan to leave detailed notes or instructional videos for future albums.

Thank you so much for sharing this fun and exciting moment with me! I had a lot of fun creating this album and video. Love and crafty hugs!

Erin