Guest Project: Karen's Explosion Album

I am so excited to be featuring my friend Karen's project today.  Karen is an extremely talented Stampin' Up demonstrator.  Karen hosts a monthly scrapbooking class, as well as a monthly technique class for card-making.  Today, though, Karen is going to be showing us how to make a Photo Explosion Album. This album is simple to make, but looks really nice and holds a good number of pictures.  I'm so excited, so let's get started!

Supplies

2 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" pieces of chipboard (or cardboard)

2 6" x 6" pieces of decorative scrapbook paper or card stock (for the front and back covers)

3 10" x 10" sheets of cardstock (this will make the actual album)

1 18" length of ribbon

Metal Buckle

Cardstock cut to the same size and shape as the buckle

2 Brads

2 Velcro Dots

Glue Gun

Double Sided Tape

Cardstock, stamps, and embellishments for the cover and interior

**Supplies in italics are for a buckle embellishment on the cover.  You can also close the album using only ribbon.

The Cover

Place double sided tape around the edges of a piece of chipboard.  

Center the chipboard, tape side UP, on the wrong side of your cover.

Fold in the corners first, and then use a bone folder to fold in the sides between the corners.

This is how it should look when you're done.

Repeat for the back cover.

The Inside Pages

Fold the 10" x 10" cardstock in half.  

Open, and fold in half again the other direction.  Open.  (It should look like the photo below.)

Fold along one diagonal.  Open.  

Turn your cardstock over, and push the center of the cardstock down.

You now have four squares on your cardstock.  Two squares have a diagonal fold and two do not.  Fold the diagonal squares down, one side at a time, until you have a square.

Repeat on each sheet of 10" x 10" cardstock (three total).

Assemble the Album

Place one sheet so that the diagonals point up, the next sheet with the diagonals pointing down, and the third sheet with diagonals pointing up.

Take the center sheet and overlap each non-diagonal square with a non-diagonal square on the other sheet.  Use double sided tape to adhere them together.

Lay your back cover face down.  Tape your ribbon to the back of the right (as in right and left) side of your cover so that it will wrap across the front like this:

Lay your back cover face down.  Tape the remaining non-diagonal square of the third page to the wrong side of the back cover.

Tape the non-diagonal square of the first page to the wrong side of the front cover, checking that your cover is facing the proper direction.

To create the buckle-look on the front cover: Place brads through the holes on the buckle.  Use a glue gun to seal the back of the brad, then trim the brad to fit.

Wrap the ribbon around the album, leaving some extra slack (album with be thicker once filled with photos), to determine where the buckle will be placed.

Place the buckle in its correct position on the ribbon.  With the ribbon in the middle, use a glue gun to glue the buckle to its matching cardstock.

This step should be done AFTER you have filled the album with photos.  (You have to know how big the album will be to determine where the velcro should be placed.)

Affix a velcro dot to the front of the album, in the location that the buckle will sit.  Affix another glue dot to the back of the buckle.  This is how you'll latch your album closed.

Fantastic--Your album is assembled!

This is the fun part.  Add pictures, embellishments, and journaling to both the front and back side of the album.
You can use the following technique to trim and fit your photos:
Cut a 5" x 5" square, then fold it along the diagonal.  Cut into two triangles.  Use the triangles as a guide for determining where to cut photos.

Here are some finished photos of Karen's album:

Karen, thank you so much for sharing this amazing project!  I truly appreciate all of the time that you put into making it so wonderful.

If you are interested in learning more about Stampin' Up or would like to purchase supplies to make this project, you can contact Karen here.

My First Guest Blogger: Amy from Mod Podge Rocks!

I'm so happy to be blog swapping with Amy today!  Amy is the Mod Podge Queen--She hosts lots of Mod Podge giveaways, features some crazy stuff, and can do just about anything with Mod Podge.  Please stop by Mod Podge Rocks to see all of Amy's amazing work, and to check out my Father's Day Coaster Tutorial.

Well hallo! It's Amy from Mod Podge Rocks. Emily has so kindly invited me to do a Mod Podge project for you, so I'm here to show you the latest. I'm always Mod Podging something, but hardly ever on glass - I wanted to show you that Mod Podging on glass works well too! If you know me already, the the polka dots and color blue won't surprise you.
Not a bit.
These are decoupaged glass containers, recycled and given a new life. They can now hold anything really, but I like them sitting in the window. I took a pic for you outside so you can see how pretty they are when the light shines through the tissue paper. Aw yeah!
So how did I make them? I started with the glass jars above, which I got from a friend who wasn't using them. I washed them to make sure the oils were off of the surface. I also grabbed:
-tissue paper
-die cutter (or some other way to make circles/shapes)
-Mod Podge Gloss
-flat paintbrush
That's all you need!
First grab your tissue paper. I had an assortment of colors, and you can buy tissue in colored packs at craft stores. After that, you are going to want to make your shapes. I do have a Sizzix Big Shot, but I was crafting at a different location - so I pulled out this antique Sizzix machine and grabbed one of my circle dies. You don't have to cut circles, and you don't even need a Big Shot! You can cut random shapes freeform, use templates to trace and cut particular shapes or you can even tear the tissue. It's up to you.
See my circles? I love die cutters. I couldn't cut a circle correctly if my life depended on it. Cut enough shapes in enough colors and varying sizes that you have a lot to choose from. Set them to the side.
You are welcome to be organized about the entire process, but dear readers, you know me way better than that by now. I simply picked tissue paper circles in random shapes and sizes and stuck them on wherever. You don't need a ton of Mod Podge because the paper is so thin. My technique was to paint Mod Podge directly on the glass, place a circle down and then go over it lightly with Mod Podge.
Here's the blue one. Coat gently - you don't want to tear the tissue. Keep layering all the way around until you have covered the entire jar. Allow to dry for about 20 minutes.
Oh, the lids are up to you. On the blue one I left it plain, and on the purple one I put one circle in the middle.
After the first round is dry, give the outside a medium coat of Mod Podge all the way around. You can see that I had some little wrinkles in my tissue paper - don't worry at all! They are hardly visible when the project is dry, and it adds to the character. I've NEVER Mod Podge tissue without a few wrinkles.
Here's the finished product in the sun! Look at the pretty blue.
The purple is so awesome.
Thank you so much to Emily and to MS readers for having me. If you are a beginning Podger or just need some inspiration, head my way to Mod Podge Rocks. There are more projects than you can shake a stick at. We'd love to see you!

Thank you so much, Amy!