Mini-Album Ready for the Learn Something New Every Day Class

Yesterday, I created a mini-album to use for Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day class. We will be recording something that we learn each day during the month of September. The decision about how to record what we learn was left up to each individual - mini-album, blog post, journal, etc. I chose to create a 6x6 mini-album.

First, I decided to use 6x6 sheets of Core'dinations cardstock from the recent prize I won. I had two packages of cardstock and both packages contained varying shades of green cardstock. When I pulled all the greens out, there were exactly 30 sheets! Thus, my decision to create my album in varying shades of green.

Next, I prepared the pages. The cardstock can be sanded to give it a distressed look, so I spent some time sanding each sheet - and making quite a mess in the process. In the photo below you can see the top row of papers which have not been sanded and the bottom row which has been sanded for the distressed look.

I chose a green embossed cardstock for the covers of my album. I sanded a 12x12 sheet embossed with the alphabet and numbers which I thought would work great for an album about learning. I cut the sheet into four 6x6 squares.

I cut two 6x6 chipboard pieces and adhered the embossed sheets to the front and back of each piece to create the front and back covers of my mini-album. I also adhered my pages together so that I actually have 15 double-thick pages in the album. I then punched two holes through the covers and pages and added rings to create the blank album.

To add the date to each page, I cut little strips with the day and date from an old mini-calendar I purchased at a flea market a few months back. I had to find two months that started on a Wednesday since the original calendar used the front and back of the pages. I love the way these old calendar strips add another dimension to the distressed look of the cardstrock. [And I have to admit that I goofed on two of the calendar strips and adhered them with the wrong side showing so I had two wrong dates. I simply flipped through the old calendar again and cut out a strip with the correct day and filled in the correct date number with a black pen. For a perfectionist like me, that was a pretty good fix and I can live with those two being a little different.]

Then I used a border punch on a third of the pages. I had planned to use a decorative corner punch on another third of the pages, however the punch I chose would not cut through two layers of cardstock. I found this out when I tried it on the first page, so of course then I had a botched corner! [I ended up using my scalloped circle punch and cutting a "chomp" out of the top corner of a third of the pages - another fix that turned out ok!] I left the edge of the last third of the pages straight.

Next, I created a title block for the front of the album using a scalloped journal block, stickers, alphabet stamps, Scrabble tiles and the word "September" cut from the old calendar. And just because those "chomped" pieces were on my craft table, I created a little corner embellishment for the front cover as well.

Last, I added ribbon to the rings, and the album is all ready for the start of class on September 1st.