Artbooking Made Easy: Elegant Mini Albums

Today’s episode of Artbooking Made Easy is all about creating elegant mini books in various sizes to fit your own sophisticated style. Remember that all of the cuts in the Cricut^® Artbooking cartridge are linked, so you can cut all of the elements for an 8" album as easily as you can for an 8 ½" x 11" album – all with just a single turn of the dial. 

The mini albums you’re about to see in this episode are made up of some uniquely-sized shapes, so pay close attention:

That 8 ½" x 11" Cherish Love Mini Album is so full of personality! It celebrates all the little moments that happen during an engagement photo shoot: everyone gets to see the final product in the announcements, but it’s nice to have a gorgeous little book that includes all those details!

Take a look at this page in the book. You can create the same look by cutting a collection of coordinating pennants and stitching them into a layered banner. A helpful trick is to stitch or adhere your shapes onto a strip or panel of cardstock first and then adhere the strip or panel onto the page itself. This helps keep your base pages free of mistakes while you are playing around with the positioning of the elements.

Another contributor to the fun personality of the album is the assortment of hand-drawn borders around many of the Cricut^®-cut shapes.  Take your shapes and add a personal touch by outlining them with a black pen, adding a flourish here and there along the border. 

Try outlining your title pieces, creating borders to help them stand out more. It also will help to tie in other handwritten elements on your page, like journaling. Also try printing your photos directly onto White Daisy cardstock and then drawing borders around them with a regular journaling pen.

I love how the artist of this album has mixed and matched mediums to create custom, mixed titles and sentiments. Titles cut with the Artbooking cartridge contrast nicely with the letters from the Keyboard Kraft Alphabet on this page.

The second album here, the 8" Special mini album is just as elegant and fun as the first.

See how the artist who created it used the negative space of overlays and other shapes in various ways. Many of them are backed withB&T paper or cardstock (as one normally would with the overlays). However, one specifically is simply left with the negative cut on the base page, giving a window effect. 

We see plenty of great overlays backed with colored papers and cardstocks, but what kind of look would come if you backed one with a photo? It would stand out, indeed! Or, if you were looking for a way to help your overlay blend better with your base, you could sand the edges of your overlay to reveal the white core that would lay nicely on a piece of White Daisy cardstock.

You also see here some Artbooking collection stamp sets used with great elegance! The flourish and damask-patterned stamps have been used as borders around pages to create cohesion with the pages that have fancy overlays.

One of my favorite features of this mini album is its use of white! This photo has been printed on cardstock and the “lovely” sentiment stamped in White Daisy ink.  The photo, the photo mat, and the flags that sit directly below the title have been sanded on their edges so that their white cores show through. The entire page is tied nicely together with the white theme—a very elegant touch indeed.

When you try some of the techniques and the very classy “elegant” keys of the Artbooking cartridge for yourself, you’ll have plenty of reason to bask in the beauty of your pages! And this week, when you leave a comment here describing the most elegant event you have ever attended, you’ll be entered into a contest for your very own Cricut^® Artbooking collection. I’ll announce the winner in two weeks. Happy elegant scrapbooking!

Recipes:

8 ½" x 11" Cherish Love Mini Album

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

Z1790 Cricut^® Artiste Collection

D1559 My Acrylix^™ Geometric Background

C1534 My Acrylix^™ Sightseer

X7171B Sarita Paper Packet

X7170B Laughing Lola Paper Packet

Z1830 Brown & Tan Glitter Paper

Z1853 Aqua Dots

Z1850 Lagoon Houndstooth Washi Tape

Z1732 Color-Ready Seam Binding Ribbon

Z1800 Colonial White Rosette Ribbon

Z1825 Kraft Alphabet

Z1852 Stitch Guide

Z1294 Sanding Kit

Colors: White Daisy, Black, Autumn Terracotta, Cocoa, Goldrush, Lagoon, Crème Brulee, Cotton Candy, kraft

8" Special Mini Album

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection (cartridge and stamps)

X7173B Babycakes Paper Packet

Z1701 Bakers Twine Neutral Assortment

Z1817 Slate Polka-Dot Washi Tape

Z1825 Kraft Alphabet

Z1294 Sanding Kit

Colors: White Daisy, Blush, Cocoa, Sorbet, Sweet Leaf, Crystal Blue