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!

Autumn Leaves Card

A few weeks ago, I was going through some of my older stamp sets and decided to make a few fall and Thanksgiving cards with this older JustRite set.

The layers were stamped onto ivory CS with brown and embossed with clear EP, then I cut them with the matching Justrite dies by Spellbinders, colored them using Gellyroll pens and mounted them dimensionally.

For matting, I used a dark brown with a slight metallic finish, and copper. The DP is from Graphic 45's Botanica Bella collection. This was the only time I have ever seen Graphic 45 products in a store, and it was the only design they had. It was in a Hobby Lobby in Webster, NY. I have been sorry every time I have been there since, that they didn't have any more Graphic 45 products, because I love them, and never get around to mailing away for them.

For embellishments, I added a few gold pearls and some fall flowers which were in a silk flower bouquet I bought at a dollar store.

My Second Album is Finished

The beautiful Botanica Bella paper by Graphic 45 had one of the designs printed on heavy glossy cardstock for the back of the paper stack. I decided to use the glossy printed one on the back and front of my album.

I sure wish Graphic 45 paper was easier to get in my area, because I love their designs. The most difficult part is deciding which side of the paper to use, since on almost all of my projects one side is always hidden from view.

Anyway, this is the front of the album. It is mounted on a 6x9 envelope. The central motif is mounted on foam tape, and the two corner motifs are mounted a little higher to give plenty of dimension to the cover.

The inside of the front cover has a flip up flap. Photos could be mounted on both sides. under the flap, there is access to the inside of the envelope, which can be used to hold more photos or memorabilia. There is also another flap which flips up, providing more space for journaling or photos. The tag slides into the butterfly strip to hold everything in place.

The next page has a tag for journaling or photos holding down a square flippling section.

This photo shows how the section flips out into a twelve inch square. This section can be used for photos and journaling.

The next page has two booklets to hold photos and journaling. I forgot to take pictures of the inside of the one with the fish.

I love the paper on this page, so I wanted to cover as little of it as possible. I made two little booklets for journaling or pasting little photos or memorabilia. One booklet flips open like the earlier page, and the other is accordion folded. On the sides with the busy patterns, I glued tags from the paper stack for added interest.

This page has a flip up section for photos, and behind it are three tags for journaling or photos. There is also a motif with ribbon woven through it on one side.

This page has a little four page booklet for photos or journaling under the raised pocket and raised tag. The whole page also flips out revealing two more places for photos inside.

Inside the pocket on this page is an accordion fold section for more photos and journaling.

This section has gatefold doors to reveal another spot for photos. It is decorated with diamonds of paper from the stack, and has half pearl doorknobs.

The pocket on this page contains two tags for journaling and photos.

Inside the back cover is another spot for a photo. It is also done on a 6x9 envelope. The flap opens up to give access to the inside of the envelope, providing more space for storing extra goodies in.

The back of the album is not dimensional. I glued the motif on flat because it will probably be lying down on a surface most of the time, and I figured it would be more durable this way.

The whole album is bound in my Cinch, and I used old photo distress stain around the edges. There are a few other brands of paper used, but the majority is Graphic 45. Most of the places for photos are sized for 4x6.

This item is for sale in my Etsy shop.