When creating a gift album, sometimes so much thought goes into the creating of the album pages that designing the cover can be overlooked. It is important to do something fun and inviting on the cover as a teaser to get the viewer excited about opening the album. I just spent some time creating the cover for the “friends” album that my daughter is going to give to her friend this weekend for her birthday.
I would like to share what I did to create it and I would love to hear about album cover ideas from you!
Materials Used:
Bazzill Basics: Zippered Album and flower brads
Making Memories: Paper from the Kate Kids Line, Philadelphia Foam Stamps and Paint
Heidi Swapp: Ghost Shapes Flowers and Letter A
Green Sparkle Fiber (source unknown)
1. The first thing I did was mix the white and a light pink Making Memories paint on a paint tray to create a paint color that coordinated with the patterned paper that was going to be used on the cover. Then I used the paint to lightly coat each letter stamp and stamped directly onto the album cover. I set all of the stamps in front of me in the correct order to minimize any mistakes in spelling. I started with the last letter of the word and finished with the first so that I would not run out of room while stamping the letters. I also stamped the letters at slightly different heights to give a playful feeling and also so that I did not have to worry about lining the letter up exactly.
2. After stamping, I used a xacto knife to poke tiny holes into the center of each of the ghost flower shapes and then stuck the brads through the holes.
3. Next I cut the two strips of paper (green solid and pink flowers) into strips and mounted the pink on top of the green. I poked two tiny holes in the paper where the brads that are holding the flowers where going to go. I then ran this through the Xyron machine with permanent adhesive. Since the cover will get a lot of use, I want to make sure everything is firmly attached.
4. After running the paper strip through the Xyron, I attached the brads through the holes in the paper and then rubbed the paper down onto the album cover.
5. To attach the green fiber, I used mini Glue Dots and pulled on them to make a thin line and put them along the seams of the two papers. I then put the fiber onto the page. I cut the fiber slightly longer than the album and wrapped the ends around behind the cover and attached them with glue dots as well.
6. For a final touch, I used the first initial from the two friend’s names (Ashley and Audrey) to finish off the cover. I rubbed a little paint behind each letter and then ran it through the Xyron and attached it to the page.
7. At the very end, I ran a brown inkpad along the album edges since the inside pages all have that effect and I want the project to have a unified feeing.
This project took only 30 minutes and I hope that it will be a fun introduction to the album!