#Trash to Treasure ~ Vintage Photo Album

Hi everybody! I have a 'vintage' photo album for you today, made with the Eileen Hull Passport Book Die. This project is inspired by an old photo album I bought a while ago, from a fabulous local antique shop called 'The Dog House'. It looks pretty unassuming from the outside, but on opening it up, I discovered a real hoard of 'found ancestors' here's a sample.......

If you have seen some of my past projects, you may know that I'm a big fan of using recycled materials, with tomato paste tubes being perhaps my most favourite. I've got quite a stash of them now, so I thought I'd better get down to using some of them ! Once an empty tube has been cut open, washed and flattened out, it is the perfect size to die cut a single cover, using the Passport Die. You therefore, need two tubes to make a front and back cover. They also emboss superbly!

The next step, was to give the covers a vintage look, by using Finnabair's rust paint kit.......

It really sticks well to the metal surface. Once the paint was dry, I sanded it back slightly and scraped a few parts so that the metal showed through. I then gave the  covers a coat of Decoart Quinacridone Gold. This imparts a real warmth to the colours and also adds a slight sheen. In order to make the covers firm enough, I adhered each of the embossed  and rusted panels to a corresponding mount board die cut.

I then used a die to cut out a rectangle, in the front cover.......

It was now time to start on the inside. The book has three 'signatures' composed of Kraft card. I die cut six sets of pages, and adhered patterned paper to one side. I also die cut each set of pages with a rectangle on one side and an oval on the other........

Each signature requires two of these placed back to back, so that the photographs are sandwiched between them. Before putting the photographs in.........

 I also adhered a piece of velvet to some Kraft card, allowed it to dry and then die cut the 'spine' of the Passport Book. this makes the album look quite luxurious and provides a nice contrast to the rusty metal covers........

 I was lucky enough to have a mini photo printer for my birthday. Its made by Fuji. and works wirelessly from a phone or ipad. It prints mini sized pictures, which happen fit perfectly behind the rectangles and oval die cuts on my pages. This was a real bonus as it meant that I didn't have to mess around cutting the pictures to fit. I used my phone to photograph some of my favourite old family photos and printed them out. In order to pay homage to my original inspiration I also photographed one of the photos from the album and used her on my front cover. Before adhering the photos, I glued a piece of mica behind each of the 'windows' This adds a real 'vintage' glow to my modern reprints.

Then each page was glued back to back to another page, so that a photo is visible on each side. I used bulldog clips to ensure that all of of the edges were properly adhered. I pierced a hole in the back cover, near to the side edge and threaded a loop of elastic through. I tied a knot to secure it. I also secured a vintage button to the front cover, in a similar way but used linen thread instead of elastic. I then covered the inside with patterned paper. I attached each signature, with narrow gold ribbon.......

To finish off, I added a die cut envelope inside the front cover, and blended a little Brushed Corduroy Distress ink around the edges of the pages. The book is wonderfully tactile, using the metal tubes means that it is quite cool to the touch and nice to hold. Apart from the one on the front cover, the photos I've used are of my grandparents, great grandparents and my mum and dad. It's really nice to get them all together in this little family album. x

I am sharing this project with Frilly and Funkie's Cutting Edge challenge as well as Sandee and Amelie's Steampunk Challenge blog, 'Anything Goes'.

Technique School ~ Stamps and Stencils ~ New Challenge

Hi everybody ! It's that time again, the first Thursday of the month means there's a new challenge starting over on the Stamps and Stencils blog. Our talented host this month is Autumn, and she has come up with a fun idea. Autumn is sending us back to 'Technique School'. This is what she has to say..........

This month we want you to play teacher and share a favorite process or new experiment.  Document your findings with at least one process photo.  We can't wait to see your technique tutorials and new ideas! Remember to use stamps or stencils or both! 

If you're anything like me the only difficulty you will have, will be in choosing a technique ! there are so many that I love, it was hard to narrow it down to just one. I've chosen 'Water Colour Stamping' and made this little vintage style  pocket. This is how I did it.....
I started off with two pieces of watercolour paper, measuring 5 x 6 inches. One for the back and one for the front. I chose one of the flower stamps, from Tim Holtz's 'Flower Garden' set and stamped it several times with archival ink onto some low tack paper. I then cut these out and used them as 'masks' for my stamping. I think copy paper sprayed with re-positional adhesive would also work. 

I stamped the flowers onto the water colour paper, with Antique Linen Distress Ink, using one of the f masks, so that the flowers look as if they are overlapping each other. I stamped three flowers and then started to 'watercolour' them.

I chose three shades of pink Distress Ink, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet and Picked Raspberry. I started by tapping the lightest colour, Spun Sugar onto my craft mat, spritzed it with water and then used a fine water brush to paint loosely inside the petals, leaving some white spaces.

I built up the depth of colour, by repeating the painting with each of the colours. I painted the stamens with Fossilized Amber and Carved Pumpkin DI. It's important to dry each layer before changing colour,  so that the colours remain light and transparent. I then continued to stamp the next three flowers, using the same masking technique

 I painted them in the same way, adding more depth to the areas where they overlap, with deeper colour and  touches of Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

After completing the flowers, I selected a leaf stamp, from a different range of stamps. I followed the same procedure I used with the flowers, to make two separate leaf masks. I then stamped some leaves around the group of flowers, masking the flowers and leaves where necessary.

In this picture you can see two of the flower masks and one leaf mask. This is how it looked when I'd finished stamping all of the leaves......

I then painted the leaves, with Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint Distress Ink, once again tapping the ink pads onto my craft mat and spritzing with water, before applying with a water brush.

Once all of the painting was done, I used a heat gun to enure that the paint was completely dry. I then used a blending tool, with Antique Linen Distress ink, and lightly, blended the ink over the the whole surface, deepening on the edges of the paper. I then used one of my favourite 'rust spot' stamps, from Tim Holtz's 'Bitty Grunge' set with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, to add a few random splots here and there. This is quite possibly my most inked stamp. When used with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, it adds an instant vintage look.

I then constructed the pocket, by firstly adhering a strip of lace around the edge, on the back of the painting. I punched a half circle thumb notch, in the middle of the top edge, before stitching the front to the plain back piece of watercolour paper. I then blended Antique linen DI over the surface of the back of the pocket  and added a few rust spots and Voila! my vintage watercoloured packet was finished.

I think this would be great to use as a journal pocket, a letter holder or maybe to use as an envelope for a card. If you've got a technique you'd like to share with us, we'd love to see it. It can be an old school favourite such as this, or something completely new. Hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog, where you'll find Autumn's wonderful project as well as some fantastic inspiration from the rest of the design Team. See you there! x

I'm also playing along  with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, where the theme is 'Splatter it'.