Thursday, September 2, 2010

An Anniversary Surprise - Keepsake Album

Thanks to the wonders of the Interwebz, I was recently reunited with a friend from - shall we say - "back in the day".  Actually, we should say WAY back in the day, but I'm in denial so its all good ;-)

Anyways, after incessantly spamming all my poor facebook friends with my blog posts, my newly-refound friend approached me about creating "something special" for his lovely wife for their milestone 10 year anniversary, and let me tell you, I was absolutely ecstatic for the opportunity!

The plan was to build a handmade keepsake album around a BEEEAUTFUL pair of diamond earrings he had chosen which would all be presented in a coordinating altered cigar box (more on that box in a future post - this article is long enough as is, lol).

So, with my 6x6 Origins paper pad from Basic Grey in hand, I started upon a mini-album with little pocket surprises.
The idea behind this album was to give each family member a 2-page spread plus a little pull-out card that would allow them to add their own heartfelt thoughts and sentiments to.  The entire album was comprised of pages for the happy husband, their beautiful daughter and charming son, and the very last page would be built around the pair of earrings.

The album itself measures approximately 6" x 5" and is constructed of painted chipboard covers.  The interior pages are #10 envelopes (4 1/8" x 9 1/2") that have been cut to size and left with an open edge to form pockets for the card tags to slip inside.

Cover:
The butterfly embellishment thingamajig is from Michaels and the background has been handstamped with swirly flourishes.  Velvet leaves are from 7 Gypsies.

Inside cover and first page: 
Note the ribbon on the right edge... this is the pullout tag piece that can be personalized.

Pull-out card Detail:

The girly Pages:

The Boy-ey Pages:

Last page and back cover detail: Note the scalloped flower on the left - this is where the earrings will be inserted.

And now for some closeups of each page:
The word "Family" is framed using a colored slide mount and decorated with rhinestones and Jo-Lee's boutique layered flower embellishment.

The hand-assembled mulberry flower is colored using Glimmer Mist and secured with a Stampin' Up Brad in the center.  Velvet leaves from 7 Gypsies.

Butterfly and swirl rub-ons from My Minds Eye, ribbon trim from my Etsy Store.

Prima flowers, PTI Buttons, ticket stub and mini paperclip from Tim Holtz.  More ribbon from my shop.

Wooden business card decorated with rub-ons from My Minds Eye. Background paper from DCWV.

More DCWV paper along with buttons, tickets, n stuff!

Prima pearl flourish and ribbon trim from my store.

I had never ever done a project like this, and once the initial intimidation wore off, it was sooooo fun!  I have to give a shout-out to my gal pal Christina for the idea of using envelopes for the pages... it saved a ton of measuring and I got a great deal on some invitation-quality #10 envelopes from Paper Source, which jived perfectly with the Origins paper.

Tony and Ellie, thank you so much for the opportunity to be a part of your special milestone and I wish you both continued happiness and prosperity!
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