Travel Book with Susan

Hi folks!  It's Susan, here to share the beginning of an ongoing project.  I used to make albums often, but got away from it for a while.  At some point I decided to use mini albums blanks as board books that tell a story - like the kid's books from years gone by.  (I have a very detailed Halloween one in the works!)

Today I want to share the beginnings of a travel mini album / board book, using the GSL Cuts staggered bracket edge mini album and elements from a couple different sets.

Here's the album.  See how pages 4 and 5 are set with brackets on top and bottom?  I accidentally put bot bracelets on the bottom (see above).  No worries, though - it still works!

The first thing I did was to choose the paper for each page.  I used IOD "Gallivant" since it has a vintage travel theme.  Number the pages 1, 2, 3, etc and note which side is the front to make sure you don't accidentally flip a page while gluing the paper (like me).

I outlined the album pages onto the paper design and cut by hand.

The papers were attached using Mod Podge, and I set a heavy object on them the keep them flat while drying.

Fine and extra-fine sandpaper cleaned up the edges.

Ink and a brown pen gave the edges a vintage look.

I was recently talking with another education team member about embossing powders.  I figured this would be a good project to use them again.  First I prepped the laser cuts I wanted to use.  This travel word is from the small Chevron Words travel set. Other words in the set are journey, adventure, and destination.  I'll end up using all of them in this book.

Since I only wanted the word, I snipped off the chevron parts.  Travel was eventually embossed with browns and landed on the album front.

Next I wanted to add a little color without painting.  I used blue Prismacolor pencil and layered a little brown on top.  This was a total experiment!

Embossing ink and clear powder added, and voilà, it worked!  I added more ink and powder to the cut-out Steampunk Frame balloon basket to fill in.

This banner strip got the same blue pencil/embossing powder treatment as the balloon.  Here I'm gluing it to the front page.  From here I continued embellishing the front and first two pages.  I'll continue the project in the next few weeks!

Here is a view of the embossed balloon, compass rose, and medium size tudor rose.

Thanks for your visit today!

Cheers,
Susan

GSL Cuts Used
Bracket Edge Mini Album #D100BE
Banner Border Strips D34D
Chevron Words Travel Small C71
Steampunk Frame D20C
Compass Rose D61B
Tudor Rose Singles D6Q

Other Supplies Used
Iron Orchid Designs "Galivant"
Brown ink
Brown marker
Embossing ink
Embossing powder  - clear, fine clear, brown blend
Prismacolor pencils - Copenhagen Blue, Sepia
Mod Podge
Vintage tatting
Cheese cloth