Prima's Tales of You and Me + the 8x8 Album

Saturday I taught my class on the 8x8 album made from an 8x8 paper pad at Flossie Scrapper (scrapbook store).  It was a great class with everyone finishing their album (with patterned papers on it) and even doing a bit of decorating on the front!  This a different type of album than what I usually design and teach.  But it is perfect for those just starting to dabble in paper crafting and it is totally awesome as a gift because you can make it so quickly and use so much less product!  This album shown here is not the one that I have on display at the store but the one that I made the night before the class to show how quickly you can make it.

When I decided to make it, I grabbed the leftover A4 paper pad I had of Prima's gorgeous Tales of You and Me collection. (Yes, I had to cut my papers to 8x8 as an A4 is bigger.)  This collection has been SO popular.  It's a Frank Garcia design and everyone wanted it and it's so beautiful!  I'm not biased because of the pinks at all---wait, yes I am. Ha, ha. But as I was getting along with the the album I suddenly realized I didn't have enough of the paper.  Oh well, I just went to my stash of papers and found some that had colors and generic prints like stripes, dots and such to finish it.  I added in a few scraps from the Tales of You and Me collection to those papers and Voila! I love it! That's one of the prints below that are not from the collection, so I added a belly band made with paper from the collection and it worked together beautifully!

I took a photo of almost every page in the book so you can see the details of this gorgeous paper.

For the class on Saturday, each attendee was to choose an 8x8 paper pad from the store as part of their class kit.  And without seeing this album first, most of them picked this same paper! And then they bought the flowers, chipboard stickers etc.  Needless to say, the store is now depleted of this collection.  Anyway, if you are looking for a quick yet beautiful album to make as a gift for one or more people, this might be the one!  It's made out of two black 12x12 pieces of chipboard for the cover and one 12x12 black cardstock for the hidden hinge (you can find the instructions on how to make a hidden hinge on YouTube by Kathy Orta of Paper Phenomenon.)  The chipboard is cut down to two 8x8  sizes and one 2.5 x 8 piece.  You attach these three pieces together with black Gaffer's tape or black Gorilla tape (1" size).  Add in your hidden hinge and then create your sleeve pocket pages out of 8x8 papers!  So simple!!  And what's great about this design is that you can change the sizes and use a 6x6 paper pad instead for an even cuter little album!  If I get a chance, I'll do a tutorial video on this the next time I put one together.

We've had LOTS of rain this week! Here's hoping we have a few days now to dry out!  Oh yes! If you are still looking for a place to celebrate National Scrapbook Day, make sure you check out the event planned by Flossie Scrapper!  Vicky has a new crop room and is hosting a special crop for Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7.  It's $50 each day and you can go to one or both (as long as it hasn't filled up yet!).  I'm going both Friday AND Saturday! Whoo Hoo! I'd love to see you there if you are local or in the North Texas area.  Call the store for more details and to sign up:   (817) 295-7100  The store and crop room is located at: 3509 S.W. Wilshire Blvd (Hwy 174), Joshua, Texas.  (Between Burleson and Joshua)

Happy Crafting!