Mini album Envelope book

 One of the facebook groups I am in was holding a fun little challenge.  Two of us in the group were to make mini albums including items sent to us by 8 other ladies.  This is the book that I created to fulfill this challenge.  We have both finished our books so we put the names of the 8 contributors in a drawing and two won the albums.  I was very pleased to see my niece won mine!  She seemed very excited when I called to let her know who the two winners were.  I do apologize for such a long post but wanted to get all the photos in for you to see.

This project is also way out of my comfort zone!  I love the antique looking projects but have never felt I could do justice to one. I am sure I have a long way to go and a lot to learn but this was fun. I used so many things that I purchased years ago and just was not brave enough to use.  I tried new things as the hinged binding as well as other techniques. This album was a new experience in so many ways but I do like the outcome for my first attempt at something like this.   All edges in this album have been inked in brown Chalk from ColorBox and a lot have been sewn around.  I had a lot of fun using everyone's items.  It was a great challenge!

This is the front cover.  The beaded spray, large white flower and some of the brown leaves were sent in by one of the ladies.  I used MS butterfly punch for the little critters.  They are punched out of the same paper as the cover.  I then inked them in brown and gave them a coating of Glossy Accents.  When they were dry I inked them again in copper.  The lacy edge is from a Magnolia border die.  I really like the pattern it is.

 This is the first pages.  One lady sent two large flowers and I could not decide just what to do with them until  my friend, Lyn, told me to just use them as a page.  This album is created from envelopes so I  glued a plastic scalloped circle to the flaps and then added the two large flowers.  The stamped images are from another wonderful lady that sent us a set of CTMY stamps. 

 

This shows the drop down album and the tag lifts out of the pocket.

 

 This is the flower page 2.

 I added a tiny circle album as the center of the flower.  It is held on with magnets.  The other side of the circle album has two flowered with a green center.

 On this page I used some mesh, papers, beads and a small clipboard that was sent in.  These pages are made form cards so they also unfold from the center.

 This is the small mini album that sits under the heart.

 Back of mini album.

 This page consists of some papers one of the ladies sent as well as the circle paper clip.  The lacy jute ribbon was sent in by another lady.

 

There are two pull out tags as shown here.  The smaller one is obvious but the larger one hides itself well on the page.

 

 I was running out of ideas by the time I got to this page so it is fairly plain Jane.

 The flaps do lift to expose pull out tags.  They are held shut with magnets.

 This page contains another mini clipboard from the lady that sent the other one!

 This photo shows the tag album opened.  Again you can see the stamped images from the set of stamps I received.

 

 This shows the pull out album from the second page.

 Reverse side of pull out tag.

 Here is the little pull out album from the clear pocket.

 Coming to the end is this set of pages.  The rose paper and butterfly ribbon were sent to me to use.  The key and lock are some from my old old old stash.  The frame on the bottom of the green half page is a Spellbinder die that I cut out of brown cardstock and inked the edges in black.  I then applied a layer of glossy accents.  When it had dried completely, I inked it in copper.

 On the top of the green half page is a sticker I received.  The two frames are from Spellbinders dies. 

 Mini album out of the pocket.

 I used Kathy Orta's hinge binding tutorial for this book.  Since it turned out quite thick I wasn't sure how to decorate the spine.  I played with some twine and finally ended with this.  The twine also seems to hold the hinges tighter against the spine so pages are not sneaking their noses out the front.  lol  I used quite a few charms and a MS butterfly punch..

 On the front of the album are three charms hooked on to the pull out tab.  I love the tiny purse one  and knew I needed to use it somehow on this book.  It measures 3/4 inch by 1/2 inch.

 Yes, I just had to make a tiny book to make it's home in this purse charm!

 Just another photo showing the spine charms a little better but the coloring is off.

Thank you all so much for stopping by.  May God be with you all!

Challenges:

Card Crafters Circle-die cuts

Hot Shots-anything but a card

Jelly Park- it's about a book.....am hoping a book will qualify

Raise the Bar- door/key/lock

Simply Create Too-old stash.  Almost everything is from my old stash other than what the ladies sent in to use. 

Chalk N Stock- use chalk....the inks I use are Chalk inks from ColorBox.  Not sure if they count but thought I would try!  lol

Charisma Cardz- tags.....this book has a few!

Cute Card Thursday- Butterflies