A Perfect Summer Mini Album

Hello! I just want to warn you this is a very long post. ;) I don't know about you but after seeing Echo Park's A Perfect Summer I was so excited to scrapbook summer pages. I was thrilled when I found out it was the paper pack that was going out in the Scrapmaster's Paradise Kit for this month. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it when it arrived...I wanted to make a mini album. I did incorporate a lot of Echo Park's Hello Summer by Lori Whitlock into it too. The good thing is that Lori designed both lines and the colors worked PERFECTLY together. YAY!

I used an old Basic Grey "Mini" chipboard album that measures 12 x 6. It holds 14 pages plus front and back cover,

I had so many pictures and so many pages to do I wanted to simplify it. I decided to take this album step by step. Here are the steps I followed:

1. Choose photos
2. Make Storyboards in Photoshop Elements for all the photos This is a great way to get a lot of pictures into one album without having to cut all the pictures down and worry about not getting them all the exact same size. I created clipping masks to make it much easier. Here is a great tutorial for those that don't know how to do it.
3. Sketch each layout out. I actually did this as I created the storyboards. It was so much easier to know what I wanted each page to look like with photos as I went along.
4. Cut down 15 pieces of cardstock to 6x12 (just cheap stuff. use it as a base so you can stitch each page without it going through the other side--I didn't add one to the back cover)
5. Cover those pages with the patterned papers you want and then sew them all at once
6. Add photos
7. Embellish

It actually went pretty fast. It did take me two weeks but I was really sick in between it all.

Here is the album:

This is the cover.

 A close up. I did a lot of sewing on this and a lot of pop dots

 Page 1

Journaling. Sticker title is from Echo Park's Sweet Summertime

Just add water sticker is from an old Scenic Route line (I tried to use older product up), banner at top is from Hello Summer by EP

Love the little journaling cards that Lori Whitlock adds to her paper lines. I always pray there is a paper on the other side that I am not too crazy about. ;)

Journaling to above page

Totally love all the letter stickers that came with A Perfect Summer and Hello Summer. A great way to add just a little bit more writing.

A simple sticker can really draw your eye in.

An example of how well as Story Board can work. The top and bottom rows are all the same size. The middle row is smaller, longer photos. Ones that showed what fun they had but not the greatest pictures.

A story board with photos all the same exact size. That sticker sheet got huge use in this book. It's almost all gone. I have enough left for one more layout I want to do. ;)

Dot paper is from Hello Summer as is the bird. Sun is a rub on from a set I picked up years ago.

American Crafts foam letters and a couple Jillibean Soup tags helped this page of pictures I wanted to include but didn't really fit anywhere.

This becomes the title page for the next section of photos which is obviously us at the beach. ;)

A close up. All I did was tear and ink kraft cardstock and added some American Crafts thickers.  All stickers are from The Perfect Summer sticker sheet. Cloud paper is either EP or Jillibean Soup. I forget...I apologize. It's older.

Another story board with different sizes. Stickers are from Hello Summer, paper is from The Perfect Summer, rub ons are Cosmo Cricket. I cut out the "No" pare of the rub-ons and used letter stickers instead.

I used the new We R Memory Keepers Lucky 8 Punch to create the large sun (click it and you can see it better). More letter stickers. I think they are my new favorite tool. So fast and easy.

Close up of sticker title

journaling

I added an ice cream sticker over the one on the journaling tag to make it pop more. I had to add some of my handwriting. I try to incorporate it in everything for my kids.

Family get together.

journaling

 More thickers and letter stickers just make for a simplistic yet effective title

While we did a lot more than fish while camping I only had one page left and wanted to at least get it in.

That's all for today.  If you want a kit from Scrapmaster's Paradise head over HERE. You get a heck of a deal for very little money. I ended up with a great album full of memories from one kit!!! 

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

Have a great day.

Michelle