paper: Minibook Marvel Tutorial :: part two | pretty paper. true stories. {and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes.}

So on we go with part two of this little workshop! (Here’s part one if you missed it yesterday.) In this class we really focused on using very basic supplies like small pieces of cardstock while we tried to get the most from a few tools — punches in this case. So all of the pages in this book follow that idea – different designs you can make with just a few scraps of cardstock and some punches. If you have plenty of supplies to hand, feel free to add things and dress these pages up! But if you’re just starting or you want to make something – possibly a gift – that is a bit less supply heavy then you can leave things as they are.

The book has sixteen pages but I essentially have eight page designs, and each one appears twice in the book. So here are four to get started!

The page above starts the album. Use a 4×6 photograph and 2×6 strip of cardstock. Add a fancy edge with a border punch in any style you like. Layer three punches: a circle, a flower and a butterfly. I tend to just glue one wing of the butterfly so you can fold the shape in half and give it a bit of dimension. With this set of three stacked up and glued together, attach it so it goes off the page just a bit and cut off the excess. Then add a title with stamps or journal with a pen on the rest of the cardstock border for a simple start to the minibook.

The next page design is for a 3×5 landscape photo, but you can adapt it to suit a photo smaller or larger by moving the border placement.

Start with two circular punches, like a plain circle and a small flower or some other combination. This one uses two punches I think have been discontinued (sorry!) — a Martha Stewart circle with pinked edges and a really ancient EK Success sunshine from the time of Punchkins (and if you remember that product line, you have my respect). But you can do this with any shapes that are vaguely round and will layer to show both circles. Glue the smaller circle in the middle of the larger circle then cut the set in half. Start from the inside and add your half-circles in a row to the outside, then cut off any extra that hangs off the edge of the page. Add something straight to cover the imperfection of the top line – I used ribbon here but you could use paper, gems or a border sticker easily. Adhere your photo so it overlaps the ribbon slightly.

I used the 3-in-1 butterfly punch, so I had small and large butterflies in the same shape. Glue the small butterfly to the large butterfly so they have the same spine, basically. Then add a pearl or a gem to the centre. No, butterflies don’t actually look like this but they also don’t look like a silhouette punched from paper. It looks pretty, so I’m cool with it. If you’re not, I understand.

Place a small pop dot (foam square, whatever you like to call them) where each pair of half-circles meet on your border. Place a set of butterflies on each pop dot. Add journaling below the border to finish.

For 2×3 photos, I like to add a few more pieces to the page even if we’re staying very simple. Start with another punched border but run it off the page so it’s just short of the full 6 inch width. Add a shipping tag below that, stamped with polka dots and just a small scrap of brown cardstock at the left. Place the photo on top of those.

Add another layered butterfly to the left and a short border punch piece just below the picture. Staple that straight to the page (you can cover up the back when you get to that page, so use this on a right hand page if you’re working in order!) and add a few gems. Journal above all of this and leave quite a bit of empty space at the top. This helps with the pace as you flip through the book and see photos in different sizes.

Something that still uses punches but in a different way — here I used three punched flowers at the top right corner as masks. Adhere them with repositionable adhesive and then add colour over the top using ink pads or sprays (I used Glimmer Mist in Cherub Pink) and when it’s dry, take away the punches and rub away any extra adhesive. Then add a 4×6 landscape photo, another border punched strip of cardstock, a scrap of ribbon and a paper flower with a pearl brad in the middle. Write your journaling above the border, then add some punched butterflies (seriously, what did I ever do before I owned this punch? My table is a butterfly explosion these days.) to the masked flowers we created earlier.

Right: that’s half the page designs done then! Four more to show you Friday evening, then they pretty much repeat to form the full sixteen pages. If you have a friend who you think should really be a scrapbooker, maybe this is a project you could try together to get her hooked!

ETA: We had a bit of a change to our plans this weekend — I’ll be home on Sunday to post part 3. Thanks for your patience! :) Hope your weekend is lovely!

xlovesx

Read more about:

25 March 2010

Next post: Minibook Marvel Tutorial :: part three
Previous post: Minibook Marvel Tutorial :: part one