Ciao Bella Sound of Summer Hanging Mini Album with Reneabouquets Beautiful Board and Eileen Hull Pocket Notebook Insert

Hello, Friends! Let’s start our day with a Ciao Bella Sound of Summer beach themed project! As you all know, I just adore the ocean and coastal colors. Since we haven’t been able to visit the NC shore yet this year, I just had to get my beach vibes from playing with paper. So I pulled out The Sounds of Summer paper collection, some beachy Reneabouquets Bouquets Beautiful board, flowers, beach embellishments and ribbon. Time to turn on the old thinking cap and imagine something unique and worthy of these paper pretties!

After some serious thinking and experimenting, I came up with the idea for a hanging mini album. This unusual design does triple duty: beach home decor, mini journal and photo folio all in one! How fun is that? The heavy cardstock hanging pocket measures 5 3/4″ x 7 3/4″ x 1″. It’s just big enough to hold this beach diary made with Eileen Hull’s Pocket Notebook Die. This was a pretty involved project, so there’s no tutorial, but we’ll take a closer look at each of the elements in this post.

Reneabouquets: Trinkets and Beautiful Board Seahorse and Starfish

The inspiration for this project came from Reneabouquets Beautiful Board and Trinkets. Beautiful Board is a unique surface. (Read more about it HERE.) It’s lovely straight out of the package. But it also takes to mixed media products like a duck takes to water. First, cover the Seahorse and Starfish with a nice layer of Versamark Embossing Ink. Then sprinkle on some Seth Apter Vintage Patina, Ancient Amber and Rust Baked Textures. Heat emboss from the underside to prevent the powders from blowing away. It’s like embossing alchemy to see the powders blend and create the baked on enamel finish.

TIP: You can add more embossing ink and more Baked Textures in layers to get just the look you want.

The Mermaid

The next step is to alter the Mermaid Trinkets from Renea’s shop.

First, paint the Baroque Metal Frame with Speckled Egg Distress Paint. Let it dry for a minute, then gently tap a black archival ink pad on the raised oval edge of the Baroque Metal Frame.
Next, stamp the metal frame onto a scrap of designer paper. Wipe the frame clean with a baby wipe to remove any excess ink.
Now cut around the inside of the stamped image. It should fit neatly inside the frame.
Then paint the Baroque Metal Frame with Speckled Egg Distress Paint. Let it dry for a minute, then gently wipe away with a damp paper towel or baby wipe to reveal the details. Repeat this process with the mermaid trinket.
Next, adhere the cut out oval inside the frame. Then adhere the mermaid inside the frame using a strong metal adhesive. The adhesive will likely ooze out the sides. This is not a problem as you can fill the bottom half of the frame with Minnie Pearls Prills to resemble bubbles in the water.

Now set everything aside to dry while you make the hanger pocket base.

Creating the Hanger Pocket Base

Score a 5 3/4″ x 12″ panel of cardstock on the long side at 7 3/4″ and 8 3/4″. This leaves you with a 3 1/4″ flap and 1″ spine on the bottom of the base.
Line the back of the hanger with a panel of designer paper.
Die cut the Amazing Paper Grace Snip It Grid from cream cardstock and adhere to resemble a window pane.
Die cut a burlap with the fishtail banner die from the same set. Cut in two pieces and adhere as seen in the photo.
Now score two 3″ x 3 1/8″ panels of scrap paper at 1″ and 2″ to form gussets for the pocket. Adhere to the sides of the pocket flap and the hanger card base. Decorate as seen in the photo.

Creating the Pocket Notebook

Die cut the Eileen Hull Notebook base from mat board or heavy chipboard. Then wrap it with designer paper. Fold to form the journal. Stitch canvas scraps and back with Scor-tape. Then wrap the spine to cover any cracks in the paper.

Wrap the spine with elastic and attach a dangle charm.

The cover of the journal is flat so that it will fit inside the hanger pocket. BV=ut I did add a little pocket and tag feature to liven it up.

Line the inside covers with designer paper. Then create 3 signatures to tuck underneath the elastic bands. Decorate the signatures with cut apart features from Ciao Bella Sound of Summer papers and more Reneabouquets Starfish. This is what the Beautiful Board looks like with absolutely nothing done to it. Pretty, right?

Each of the 4 signatures has five folded parchment folios inside the covers.

This gives you 10 double sided pages inside each signature. That’s plenty of room to journal, add photos or sketch.

This would also make a wonderful guest book for a beach house! When the pages are filled up, simply slip them out from under the elastic bands and slip new pages in. Easy peasy!

On the Flip Side

Folks, you know me…I hate to let a good surface go to waste. So I created a simple photo folio on the back side of the hanger. Simply score a 12″ x 7 1/2″ piece of designer paper at 1″ and 5 1/2″. Then fold to form a folio with a spine on the right. Adhere a length of burlap string to the back side, then adhere to the hanger pocket base. Create a pocket for the right hand side and tuck in some 4″ x 6″ journal cards. Add gussets to the 1″ flap on the left and fold to form a side pocket for more journal cards. This is a great place to add family photos and memories of a beach trip.

Now decorate the pocket with your prepared flowers and embellishments. Finally, I suspended the whole rig from a Melissa Frances vintage hanger and adhered the Mermaid Trinket.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this hanging mini album creation. I think it could be a great conversation piece, a functional guest book, and a fun way to document beach memories.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy

SUPPLY LIST

Ciao Bella Sound of Summer
Reneabouquets
Eileen Hull Sizzix Notebook Die
Amazing Paper Grace Snip It Grid/June Die of the Month
Burlap Paper
Seth Apter Baked Texture: Patina Oxide, Ancient Amber, Rust
Speckled Egg Distress Paint
Minnie Pearls Prills
Little Birdie Natalie Moonlight Flowers
Capri Blue Delicate Stitched Satin Ribbon
Tim Holtz Mini Binder Clips
Shells and beach charms from my stash

Make Your Own Memo Pad with Crafty Secrets Vintage Typography CD

Hello Friends!

As promised, I’m back today to share a quick tutorial that will show you how to make your own memo pad with Crafty Secrets Vintage Typography CD and a couple simple supplies. This is a quick make, so it’s the perfect item to make up and have on hand for last minute gifts…and if you are like me, you will want to keep one of these in your purse, on your desk and beside the phone at all times! Here’s a peeky:

I began by printing out an 8″ square of the butterfly collage paper found in the Crafty Secrets Creating with Vintage Typography CD. I used canvas paper to print on for a couple of reasons. One, I love the texture…it looks like a canvas, which is very cool! Secondly, I love the durability of this paper…it is tough stuff…but easy to work with. And three, it prints out beautifully! You can find this in a pad at most craft stores in the fine arts section. It’s great for mixed media, too.

Once I had printed my paper, I rounded the corners with a 1/2″ corner chomper. Then I spritzed and spattered the papers with Tattered Angels Crushed Shells Glimmer Mist to increase the distressed look. Next, I scored the paper at 4″ and creased it. to form my cover. Then, I stitched around the cover on my sewing machine…just a simple straight stitch.

After this, I took 12 sheets of plain printer paper and trimmed them to 7 3/4″ square. I found the center by folding in half, and then scored each sheet and rounded the corners.

Once this was done, I stacked all the papers on top of one another, making sure the crease was lined up perfectly. Then I centered them inside the printed cover, and used alligator clips to hold them in place. I stitched straight up the center crease…slooooowly, so my needle wouldn’t break…..from top to bottom. I used my guillotine to trim off any overhang…and the hard part of the job was finished!

I lined the inside covers with more papers from the Vintage Typography CD. If you look closely here, you can see the stitching. That’s why you want to use canvas paper for the cover…it holds up to the sewing, but is a little bit porous, too, so it lets the needle through.

To decorate the cover, I ran three strips of 1/2″ Scor-Tape from the front edge all the way around to the edge of the back cover. I cut a 14″ length of Brown Burlap Center Stitch Ribbon through the center, to act as a closure for the book. Then I just added a strip of Birds on a Vine Natural Cotton/Linen ribbon above and below this. A big wooden button was sewed on top to keep with the natural, botanical feel. Then I cut the tag from our Adventure and Travel Cuts sheet, distressed and inked the edges . I topped this with a pretty butterfly print from our Birds and Botanical Booklet. I treated this with UTEE wrapped it with jute string and added a little charm. Easy peasy!

Honestly, it took me longer to write this post than it took to make this little notebook! I hope you’ll make your own memo pad with Crafty Secrets Vintage Typography! It’s loads of fun!

Thanks for stopping by!