I'm on the CASE

Greetings blog readers!

Do you remember Kay's blog post from last week? I was seriously in love with the look of her D-ring album...so much so, that I couldn't wait to CASE it. (CASE = Copy And Steal Everything)

So, over the weekend, I pulled out a post-bound album kit I had lying around. This one came with the papers already cut for me (in this case, I only used the binding papers and inside covers).

Anyhoo, the dimensions of our post-bound albums are a teensy bit different from the D-ring, and I'm so spoiled because our talented designers do all the measuring for me. For this project, though, I was kinda on my own. Unfortunately my mantra is "math is hard", too, so I had to get creative about how I was going to achieve Kay's nifty patchwork look.

I thunk on it, and thunk on it, staring at my work surface until it came to me. Guess what I was staring at? My handy-dandy desk blotter! Aha! I could use my desk blotter to measure out a template of the dimensions of the outside cover piece.

So I took the measurements from the instruction sheet...and sketched it out on my desk blotter.

Outside cover measurements straight
from instruction sheet.

If your kit came with paper, like mine, simply trace
the paper outline onto your desk blotter.

Next, I gathered some coordinating cardstock and started stamping away...using quote stamps from my stash along with some of my UM fonts (just like Kay!) As I laid the stamped pieces out on my template, I was able to arrange (and rearrange) until I was happy with the look. Then it was just a matter of gluing the pieces onto the book board; transferring the pieces, one by one, from the template to the cover (remembering to leave 3/4" past the edge of the book board for wrapping). Easy peasy!

From there, just follow the instructions included in the kit. You can use the patchwork method for the back cover and inside covers, too, if you don't want to use the papers included in your kit (or if you purchased a nekkid version). Here's the finished product again...ain't she a beaut?

Just so you don't think I'm a TOTAL hack, I feel the need to tell you that I HAVE done this patchwork thing before, but I used much larger pieces. So I thought I'd share that, too, just in case you were interested.

This time I used a nekkid post-bound album kit...nekkid means it comes without pre-cut papers. Don't have the oversized papers the instructions call for? No problem!

The first step, again, is to sketch out the measurements of the cover piece. (This time my desk blotter wasn't big enough on it's own, so I taped 2 pieces together, using the back sides.)

Next, I selected a 12x12 print to use as my "focal" piece. (Starting with the largest piece is easiest.) Because of the design on this print, I placed the 12x12 in the upper right corner...I wanted to sacrifice as little of that large poppy as possible in the wrapping process. Depending on the print you choose, you could just as easily go with the upper left...it's really up to you.

I chose 2 coordinating colors from the Bold Blooms collection for the remaining pieces, and trimmed them to fit the measurements of remaining open areas. A quick "dry fit" on my sketched template confirmed I had cut the pieces correctly.

From there, I followed the rest of the steps included on the instruction sheet until the album was complete.

Here's the finished album cover...isn't it pretty?

This is a great way to really customize any special album. I've done this exact same technique for baby albums, wedding albums...I even color coordinated my Disney albums to match the individual parks! (Yes, I have FOUR albums from my Disney trip...one each for Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios!)

I hope you'll give this method a try. It sounds like a big job, but these handmade albums are much easier than they look to make...especially with the written instructions AND free video tutorial. To enable encourage you, we're offering a special discount exclusively for Club Scrap Creates blog readers, good for 60% off our selection of 12x12 handmade albums!!! This includes the post-bound albums used above, as well as the D-ring Album Kay used in her post last Friday. When shopping online, enter promo code CASE60 during the checkout process to receive your discount (expires January 23, 2013).

Creatively yours,
Karen