Graphic 45 Ephemera Albums Tutorial

This is a tutorial I made for an album to use the Graphic 45 Ephemera Packs. This one uses the smaller images from the pack. I haven't decorated it yet, because I have the two newest releases on the way, and they should be here on Tuesday. I'll update this post when I get the album decorated. Update: I posted some photos of some of the finished albums above.

I am adding the measurements for the larger albums that take the bigger ephemera cards. If you want to make the larger albums, use the sizes typed in (bold)

While I'm waiting for them to get here, I'm making two small albums and two larger albums, so they will be already for the fun part!

To make the albums for the larger cards in the ephemera collections, I make the pages 5x7 rather than 4x5, and the album covers 5 1/4 x 7 1/4, and adjust all the measurements below for that size.

Cut four pieces of plain card stock to 4x5 (5x7). (I only show the first two in this photo).

Next, cut 2 pieces to 4x6 (5x8), and score on the short sides at 1/2" and 5 1/2" (1/2" and 7 1/2").

Fold on the score line, and apply adhesive to the outsides of the folds.

Mount these to both sides of two of the 4x5 (5x7) pieces to make tunnels.

This photo shows the tunnels.

Cut 12 pieces of card stock to 5" x 4 1/2" (7" x 5 1/2"), and score and fold them all at the 4" (5") mark on the long side.

Mitre the folds so that they will slide into the tunnels more easily, and apply adhesive to the insides of the folds.

Take the two pieces of 4x5 (5 x 7) that you did not make into tunnels, and adhere the two pieces of 4 1/2 x 5 (5 1/2" x 7"), one to each side of to make them look like this. These will be on the insides of the album covers.

For the pages, take the tunnels, and slide the folded parts inside the tunnels, so there is one on each side.

Turn them over, and do the same things inside the backs of each tunnel. You should end up with two pieces that look like this.

To make the spine, cut a piece of card stock to 5 x 5 1/2 (7 x 5 1/2). With the 5" (7") side facing the top, score at 1", 1 1/2", 2", 2 1/2", 3", 3 1/2", 4" and 4 1/2".

Valley fold at 1" and 1 1/2", Mountain fold at 2", Valley fold at 2 1/2" and 3", Mountain fold at 3 1/2", and Valley fold at 4" and 4 1/2".

Apply adhesive to the back sides of both of the mountain folds and stick them together so your spine looks like this.

To make your covers, cut two pieces of chipboard to 5 1/4 x 4/14 (7 1/4" x 5 1/4"), and one piece to 5 1/4" x 1 1/2" (7 1/4" x 1 1/2").

This is how I covered mine.

Another shot with the edges folded and glued.

Glue your spine into your cover, making sure that it is straight, and centering it so there is a 1/8" margin at the top and bottom.

Glue two more 4 x 5 (5x7) pieces inside the covers to hide the chipboard.

Mitre the corners of the two spines.

Mount the two sections that are not tunnels to the front and back covers. You will want the flaps facing in the same direction as in the photo, so they will stay closed when the album is opened.

Apply adhesive to both sides of one hinge, and slide the hinge into one of the tunnels. Make sure that the hinge is inside the tunnel, and both outside flaps face downward.

Now do the same thing with the other hinge and tunnel.

You will still have a spot in both tunnels, toward the outside of the album, to insert more photo mats. When I made the Garden Goddess album I showed on the Graphic 45 facebook page, I had forgotten that I had started putting a folder into the tunnel, rather than just a photo mat. To make this, I cut two pieces of card stock to 4 3/4 x 7 1/2 (6 3/4" x 9 1/2"), and scored and folded them at 3" 3/4" (4 3/4"). This makes them just the right size to insert them into the tunnels and gives you space for four more photo mats on each one.

I hope you will try these albums, they are really easy, and very sturdy. The sizes can easily be adjusted to make larger albums, and albums with more pages. They are just right for showing off your collections of G45 ephemera!

Princess Collection Cell Phone Box

I finished the next albums in a phone box. This is addicting, but I'm running out of boxes! This is the last one I saved the inserts for, so on the next one, I'm going to have to make my own inserts.

This was a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 box. It had a slip cover, but it was such a tight fit that I wouldn't be able to decorate the box if I used the slip cover.

I could only get the 8x8 pad and some of the stickers and diecuts for this one. It is the G45 Princess Collection.

Some of the inserts in this box weren't good for album making, so I saved what could be used, and cut away the rest.

Hopefully these albums will give you ideas for using your own boxes!

This is the box.

The box has a wrap around front and sides with a tab that tucks into the box bottom. In the big compartment, is a shallow box with a flap on it.

Under the shallow box is a plastic tray that held the phone, so I made an album for that. (Sorry, I put it in upside down when I took the photo)

This shows the shallow box with the flap. I put mats in each side of the flap for journaling or photos. Next to it is the accordion album that sat in the plastic tray, and the paper I put under it in the try.

This shows the sewn binding album I put into the shallow box, the accordion album, and the big box.

Underneath the phone tray was a small covered box, and originally it had inserts for USB plugs and things. Since those weren't really usable for the albums, I cut those out and taped the little covered box back into the top. There is an album below the box, and one inside the box.

The two albums below are the ones that were inside the box and below it. I don't really like the one on the bottom left. I was trying to use a chipbpard die cut for decoration, but it would have looked better with fancy paper, so I will probably change it.

Bird Song Albums in a Cell Phone Box

I finished another set of albums in a cell phone box. This box was set up much differently from the last one. I'm glad I kept all the inserts that were in this box. At first I wasn't sure how to use them, but then I figured out how to use them as secret compartments for the mini albums.

This set uses the G45 Bird Song Collection.

To see all the cell phone boxes, and get ideas for using other types of cell phone boxes, click on the label below this post.

This is the box closed. The box was a very old HTC HD2 box.

This is the box opened. It has a tray that originally held the cellphone. I decided to decorate the tray, then put a little mini album in the hole that held the phone.

This is the mini album that I made to go into the hole, and the paper I used under the album.

It isn't obvious that the tray can be removed easily, so this is the secret compartment. Under the hole for the phone, on the left, there was a box that had a lot of room left to make another mini album, so I put one inside there. Then there was still plenty of room in the box itself for another album.

These are the two mini albums. The small one was in the box that was under the tray, and the one on the right was in the big box.

The first album is an accordion album, the second one is a sewn binding album, and the third one, has pages that flip alternately in both directions. These are basically the same types of albums I put in the first box I decorated.

I hope these will inspire you to decorate your own boxes!

Albums and Journals in Fancy Boxes Bloom Collection Box

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a really long time, but I not only have cancer, but have been really busy lately.

I wanted to share this one with you before Christmas gets here, in case you, or someone in your family gets a cell phone for Christmas, and the phone comes in a really nice box. I didn't save the inserts in the first boxes I got, but later on started saving those as well, because a lot of them have really neat cubby holes to put albums in. I wish I had saved them all!

The boxes cell phones come in, (and other electronics as well), are sometimes really nice. I have always saved the really nice ones because I had planned on decorating them at some point. I had a few tiny ones from small electronics that I decorated and put tiny mini albums into a few years ago. Unfortunately, I never took pictures of those.

I just finished this larger one, and am really happy with it. I may add ribbons and other embellishments later.

This year, for my birthday, and more coming for Christmas, I got a lot of Graphic 45 papers and embellishments, and I am drooling over them! The papers I used on this one are the G45 Bloom Collection, and they are gorgeous! The most interesting box I had was one that an LG V20 came in quite a few years ago. It has a slipcase that is large enough to slide on over the box even when the box is decorated.

When you open the box, it is a trifold, with one substantial uncovered box on the left, a small narrow upright substantial uncovered box in the bottom middle, and on the right, another less substantial covered box at the top.

This is the slip cover with the box inside. I will probably add a few embellishments later.

The box and slip cover together.

When you open the trifold box, you will see these. I made an accordion album to go into the long box on the left. I will put either a ribbon, or a belly band to go around it.
The lower box in the middle, has a three inch flip flap type album in it.
The one at the top right has a three inch album with a sewn binding in it. Each album has a lot of pages, because they are each approximately one inch thick.

The albums taken out of the boxes.

To decorate the boxes, look at them, and the inserts, and try to imagine what would work to hold little mini albums inside. I will post more, from different types of cellphones in later posts, to give you ideas. Look at the Labels below this post and click on cell phone boxes to see them all.

Once you have decided which parts you will use, measure them and make mats 1/4" smaller than the part of the box you will be decorating. Then make up some mini albums the same size as the mats to go into each compartment. Next, mat each page in the mini albums, 1/4" smaller than the page.

I hope you will like these, and will try some of your own. They are really addicting!

Fixing the Grand Calibur

I'm sorry I haven't updated this blog in a very long time. I'm still making cards and albums, but I have stage four cancer. Between not feeling well at times, and long hospital stays, I haven't posted on here. Anyway, I wanted to post this, for those of you who have a Spellbinders Grand Calibur, which may not be working.

This is not a complaint about the quality of the older raspberry colored Grand Calibur, rather, it shows you just how well made this workhorse really is. I bought mine when they very first came out. It was so long ago, that I have no idea of how many years I have used it, but it has had a real workout from me.

A number of years ago, I heard something fall inside my GC, and it rattled. I was devastated. I couldn't afford a new one, and I couldn't imagine making cards without it, so I decided to take it apart and see if I could fix it. It was really easy, but unfortunately, I didn't take photos, so I couldn't post a tutorial, and I never got around to taking it apart again until tonight.

A few days ago, I heard the dreaded clunk again, and something was rattling around in there again. This time, I wasn't as devastated, since I had high hopes of it being the same problem, and it was. It was a couple of screws which had worked themselves loose over time. Years of use on thousands of cards take their toll.

Here is how to fix it if yours suffered from the same problem. You will need a phillips head screwdriver, and a set of allen wrenches.

Begin by taking out the four rubber plugs near the top of your GC. You can see where mine were by the holes in the photo. Next, unscrew the screws inside the holes.

Turn your GC over, and remove the four screws you will see on the bottom. Place these into a separate container from the top ones, they are a tiny bit smaller.

Now you will be able to separate the two halves of the GC. Do this carefully, because if you are lucky, you may have one or more black allen wrench screws rattling around inside. You don't want to lose those.

Turn your GC over again, and lift up the edges of the suction thing on the bottom, and you will see four more screws. You can remove those without taking off the rubber thing. I kept those separate from the other screws as well, in case there was a difference in size. Those screws hold the roller mechanism in, so be careful not to drop it on your foot!

You will now see the roller mechanism as in the above photo. Now would be a great time to clean any crud that has accumulated on your rollers!

This photo shows the end of the mechanism near where the handle attaches. See the four holes there on the flat black part? That's where the screws came from.

Use a flashlight to see which holes the screws fell out of, and put them back in with the allen wrench. Tighten the others as well. Mine were all loose.

Now just reassemble your GC. It's a bit difficult to line up the holes under the suction thing with the holes in the roller mechanism. I placed the two outside bottom screws back into the side of the GC where the suction adjustment knob is to keep the base from wiggling around while I was trying to line things up.

I was still having problems getting everything lined up, so I also put the two upper screws into the top, lining them up with the the holes in the green part of the roller thing. This made it easier to put the four screws back into the holes under the suction thing. Once those are all in and tightened up, it is pretty easy to put the remaining screws in.

Next, put your rubber plugs back into the holes. There are two which are a tiny bit wider, and two which are narrower, so if they either look too big, or they fall down into the hole, just reverse them until you see where they fit.

I sure hope your Grand Calibur is as easy to fix as mine was!

Altered Cigar Box with Compartments

I decided I wanted to make this cigar box with a nautical theme, so I used some JustRite stamps on some pale gold Core'dinations Pearl CS and gold embossing powder. I shaded the edges with gold ink, then cut some gold mirror card with some Spellbinders dies.

When I went to do the inside, it looked too fancy to cover up the design. The label was quite interesting, and it had raised sides which were covered with silk like red cloth.

It's difficult to think of different ways to finish the insides of the boxes, so for this one, I decided to make four compartments out of bass wood, and make red painted covers for each section. Red ribbon was used to attach the compartments and act as hinges.

Each cover has a little knob made from jewelry findings to lift them up. I think this one would work well for a man.