Everything’s Coming Up Roses Paper Bag Mini Album with Polly’s Paper Studio

Hello, Friends!

I have such a treat in store for you today!  I just received my Everything’s Coming Up Roses Creativity Kit from Polly’s Paper Etsy.  Oooh la la!  This kit is gorgeous.  I could not wait to get my craft on!  I created this fun paper bag mini album to share with you here today.  I think you are going to swoon when you see it, so you’d better sit down.

I told you so!  Honestly, Polly’s Paper outdid herself with this amazing kit!  You could use it for cards, banners, wall hangings…anything your creative mind can imagine.  But I had a stack of paper bags on my desk…and a cake box that I’d saved when making Sophie’s birthday cake….so I made a shabbylicious paper bag mini album with a hidden hinge binding to share with you today.  I also have a short (2 minutes!) video you can watch at the end of this post.  I think it helps you get a better idea of the flow of the album.  But I know my paper peeps love to study still photos, too, and trust me, I have plenty of those!  You might want to grab a cuppa and a snack before we get started!

Yes, friends, it all started with a Duncan Hines cake box (butter recipe yellow…my fave!) that I cut down to measure 5.25″ x 6.25″ x 2″.  I just cut of the top and bottom flaps, flatten the box, and then carefully slice off one of the sides, just enough to open my box up.  Then I trim it to size, leaving one of the sides completely intact to act as the spine for my book.

After sanding the print side of the box pretty thoroughly,I sprayed it with a light layer of Ranger Adirondack “Espresso” Color Wash.  After that dried, I did another layer and so on until i had achieved the desired depth of color.  Then, I ran it through my die cutting machine with an embossing folder from Anna Griffin called “Poppy.”  I randomly painted Vintage Photo Distress Crackle Paint onto the cover, let it dry and do its thing.  Then, I tapped the entire outer cover with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder.  The result?  A cover that feels and looks like aged leather…and is water resistant and super sturdy.  Yes, it takes a little time, but it’s so much fun, and the finished product is definitely worth the effort put forth.

I cut a strip of white burlap and glued it to the spine, wrapping around the front cover.  I love the added texture and “cloth binding” effect this gives to a mini album. Once I’d added my hidden hinge binding to the interior, I used a power punch to add a hole to the top of the album and strung pretty ribbons and fibers through it.

Ok, back to the cover.  Naturally, I fell in love with this romantic vintage image from the Everything’s Coming Up Roses Creativity Kit.  I layered it with papers and tags from the kit.  I dug into my own stash for the clocks, roses, buttons, photo mounts and doilies.

When you receive a creativity kit from Polly’s Paper, it’s just like getting a birthday present in the mail.  Everything is wrapped up in tissue paper and tied with a ribbon.  Sigh….so lovely!  And then the kit is tucked into a darling paper bag like the one you see on the left hand side of this album.  This one was such a perfect color match for the kit, that I folded it up and used it to create a tag pocket.  I used my own paper stash for the end papers and photo mounts in the book, but all the other images and papers come with the kit.  It even has pre-tied bows!

I folded up my paper bags so that each page would be a double pocket page.  The base of the bag is where my focal images are displayed.  Then there’s a pocket behind that for tags or photo mounts, and the bigger pocket that is actually the top opening of the bag.  Someday, if you ask me real sweet  (LOL) I’ll do a tutorial for making the bag base.  It’s not at all difficult, and makes a great base for a page.

Here’s another gorgeous lady from the kit, one of the pre-tied bows and beautiful, already fussy cut for you, roses.  Swoon…..

I love the way everything in the kit coordinates.  All the papers and images go together beautifully!  Here is a photo of one of the tags I tucked into the pocket.

Glorious roses!  Be still my heart! I do ink all my edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink to make them look properly aged.  And I sometimes crumple the ephemera, like I’ve done here to give it a worn, shabby appearance.

Another of the pre-tied bows that comes in the kit.  The sentiment banners comes in the kit, too.

Here’s the last page.  One last pocket for tucking in treasures.  You can never have too many pockets!

I just had to show you a closeup of this beautiful vintage bicycle image.

This album is a super chunky monkey, so I had to tie it shut.  Before I layered on my cover images, I added a strip of antique gold plaid ribbon to the center of the cover, leaving about 8″ of ribbon hanging over each side.  These ends tie together into a pouftacular bow!

As promised, here is a very short…just 2 minute….video for you to enjoy.

 

Thanks so much for joining me today!  I hope everything’s coming up roses for you and yours….

Cheerio,

kathy

P.S.  If you’re interested in purchasing this mini album, you can find it in my Etsy Shop.