Artbooking Made Easy: Travel Mini Albums

This week marks the official end of winter! When the weather starts warming up, I know many of us take that as a sign to start planning our summer getaways! With that in mind, today’s episode of Artbooking Made Easy is all about the travel mini-album keys. These keys are found on pages 38 and 39 of the Artbooking booklet, so let’s take a look!

Such great projects! I love how versatile the Artbooking cartridge is—from just two pages of keys, we saw three totally different looks. Use your favorite colors, embellishments, and shapes to make your projects your own! Let me show you some of the details to inspire you.

I really love the simplicity of this page. Using kraft cardstock, the artist cut out the little geolocation icon and the airplane, and then, using the scallop border punch, created a simple border with the White Daisy and Goldrush cardstock. I love how the look of the scalloped borders matches the shape of the clouds on the next page. Sometimes using simple shapes ties things together nicely. If you have a favorite shape or cutout you’re using, experiment to see what other shapes or borders might coordinate with it.

This overlay from page 39 of the booklet looks great sized down for this card, but I especially love how the artist has decorated it with a unique twist on baker’s twine! These little wheels are easy to create, and I love the way they match the circles on the overlay, the border, and the center of the flowers. And of course, baker’s twine is typically used for tying bows or wrapping around paper, so I love seeing embellishments used in a way you don’t see very often! All you need to create these wheels is some Liquid Glass (or Glue Dots). Apply a circle of Liquid Glass to your paper, and then take your baker’s twine, adhering the end to the center of the circle, and just wrap your way around. Because the baker’s twine already has a twisted design, wrapping it into wheels creates a great multi-dimensional look.

The other thing I want to point out on this card is the flower cluster. The artist used several different colors and then cut out each element individually, using 3-D foam tape to make them really stand out.

From the "Our Vacation" album, these washi tape ruffles are just too adorable! They add such a fun element to these pages, and they’re so simple to make. Just put two pieces of washi tape together (so that the adhesive sides stick together), fold to create the pleat, and staple one side down along the edge. You can hide the stapled side behind another piece of paper, or just leave it exposed—however you’d like.

If you love the colors of your plain cardstock but want to give it more visual interest, you can always use the same color of ink to stamp backgrounds onto your solid-colored cardstock. The good thing about creating your own patterned paper using stamps is that you control how it looks—you can stamp several times to create a lot of contrast, or you can stamp it lightly to just give a hint of a pattern.

Another thing I love about this page is how the artist used the "Just Be" title in her own way to create a new title! Use your imagination to see what new titles you can come up with. 

What inspiring artwork! Feel free to adapt and adjust some of these techniques to work for your own projects. I’d love to hear about what you plan on creating with these ideas! But even more than that, because these are the travel mini-album keys, after all, I would love to hear about your dream vacation! Leave a comment here, on our Facebook page, or on YouTube, telling me about your dream vacation (it could be one that you’ve already taken, one that you’re planning, or just one you’d love to take) for a chance to win your own Artbooking cartridge! I will announce the winner next Monday.

Recipes

On This Day Mini Album:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

D1555 My Acrylix^™ All the Details

Z1888 My Crush^™ Memories Assortment

Z1889 My Crush^™ Favorites Assortment

Z1887 My Crush^™ Best Day Ever Assortment

Z3005 Timberline Assortment

Z1863 Color-Ready Midtown Cork Shapes

Z1844 Color-Ready Trinkets Wooden Shapes

Z1853 Aqua Dots

Z1929 Topiary Mini Chevron Ribbon

Z1851 Scallop Border Punch

Colors used: White Daisy, Goldrush, Whisper, New England Ivy, Lagoon, Pear, kraft

Blossom Card:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

B1452 My Acrylix^™ Funky Blossoms

X7180B Balloon Ride Paper Packet

Z1921 Baker’s Twine Neutral Metallic Assortment

Colors used: Cocoa, Juniper, Sorbet, Honey, Champagne

Our Vacation Mini Album:

Z1906 Cricut^® Artbooking Collection

D1536 My Acrylix^™ Perfect Fit—Frames 2

C1575 My Acrylix^™ True to Life

E1028 My Acrylix^™ Hopscotch Alphabet

C1534 My Acrylix^™ Sightseer

A1150 My Acrylix^™ Charming Chevrons

B1431 My Acrylix^™ Reel Life

D1579 My Acrylix^™ Windy Day

E1029 My Acrylix^™ Marquee Uppercase

D1579 My Acrylix^™ Flight of the Arrows

X7177B Skylark Paper Packet

X7181B Jubilee Paper Packet

Z1935 Black & Grey Epoxy Bubbles

Z1958 Base & Bling Craft Queen Charms

Z1931 Honey Triangles Washi Tape

Z1844 Color-Ready Trinkets Wooden Shapes

Z1921 Baker’s Twine Neutral Metallic Assortment

Z1918 Silver Shimmer Trim

Z1850 Lagoon Houndstooth Washi Tape

Z1817 Slate Polka-Dot Washi Tape

Colors used: Whisper, White Daisy, black, Outdoor Denim, Honey, Pear, Lagoon, Cranberry