My Dad was a bit of a cowboy. He was a stuntman and actor in his twenties who became a (brilliant) documentary filmmaker. A man who likes jazz and a good martini. He has always been a kind and generous man and I love him. I have wanted to make him a crafted gift for a while now. But masculine scrapbooking gifts are hard to get right, plus I wanted him to experience why I love paper crafts. And finally it hit me. Graphic 45 Curtain Call. It has movies, jazz and cowboys plus the sepia and black coloring would make for a masculine tone. My original idea was a mini album, but this grew to be a interactive album with a matching altered cigar box to hold it.
Because this is a gifted item, I am interspersing photos of the album with no photos and embellishments with (iphone) photos of the finished piece. I hope they give a good idea of what it looks like and how all the flaps, tags and moving parts work. This may be my favorite piece I have made thus far and I really want to do it justice.
The box is an altered cigar box. I was not intending to use it as a container for a mini album, but when they fit together it was so perfect. How could I not? I used liquid glue and a sealer to attach the paper to the box. On the bottom edges and top I added the dotted pattern paper from G45's Curtain Call. I also added an image of a cowboy, film and a camera cut from the same paper.
Using Tim Holtz Sizzix dies and my Big Shot, I cut two film strips in black and one ticket strip in a medium brown cardstock, I then cut a metallic gold vellum so it was the width of the film frames and glued it between the two filmstrip pieces I had cut. I also stamped the tickets with "Admit One." (I had thought this was the ticket from the G45 set that matched the paper, but it seems I was mistaken and am unsure what set this stamp is from, if anyone does, please let me know so I can post it.) I glued the film strip down to the top of the box in a wavy pattern. the thickness of the paper made it fairly easy to manipulate and I curled the ends around a pencil. The tickets were torn and glued down with a Jolene's Boutique gold pointed finger embellishment. Around the edges, I added the words "Cowboy," "Filmmaker." "Actor," "Dad," and "Hero" in Dear Lizzie Thickers. I also added a Tim Holtz crown, a Bo Bunny camera and a star in a circle charm as embellishments.
Inside the box, I lined the top with the ticket paper from Curtain Call and the bottom (not pictured) with the peacock paper and black and white dot paper. I also added a strip of film printed ribbon to help lift the mini album out of the box.
The front cover features the cowboy/movie image I had also used on the top of the box. I added a strip of film with images of starlets from the 8x8 pad and a semi circle cut with the can-can woman on the top edge. My Dad's name in the Dear Lizzie Thickers was placed about an inch an a half from the top, I tried to used the edge of the film as a guide to line the lettering up. On the right side of the book is a Seven Gypsies metal edge decoration. On the inside corner, at the bottom is a decorative metal photo corner, also Seven Gypsies. The spine/binding of the book is covered with MT washi tape in a striped pattern. The base for this book is one and a half of the Pinecone Press interactive albums, I added several new flaps and pockets using some light weight chipboard. I will point out and explain the processes I used on these changes.
The first pages have a pop-up middle with a cut out circle frame that is part of the album. I added a flap to the right page that is slightly smaller than the page it folds on to. To add the flap I cut a piece of chip board about and inch or two wider than I wanted the flap. Then I scored that chipboard at the actual size. I glued the flap to the existing edge of the album making sure the new flap lined up well. After inking the album edges in black, I covered it in the movie poster paper, ticket paper, music paper and dotted line paper from Curtain Call that was cut to size. I covered the center pop-up with two panels. I used a two inch circle punch to match the cut out. Behind the cut out I added the "The Kiss" image. I decorated the rest of the center panel with with tags and images from the matching Curtain Call die cut sheet and a fussy cut image of Buster Keaton. Here and with the rest of the album I added some cream colored photo mats I chalked in creamy brown. To these I added film washi tape and some black ribbon with a dramatic woman from the G45 paper. After adding the photos to the album, I also added a metal photo corner and some additional paper tape, (Pointed finger tape by Seven Gypsies and film taper by Teresa Collins.)
The third set of pages originally had two symmetrical flaps, one on each side. This seemed boring, so using chip board I added a second flap to the top of the left one and a two-thirds sized flap to the center of the right page that flips in the opposite direction of the existing flap. (To keep the pattern paper clean and tidy over a flap in the middle like this, cut a slit in the paper and slide the flap into it.) I inked all the chip board in black and covered it with Curtain Call. I think the piano keys look really nice on the back of the added flap. Photo mats with inked edges were placed.
After adding photos, I added some embellishments. A Bo Bunny camera and film clap board. Some chipboard photo corners and the CC man on the moon die cut. (I love this one, so cute!) Some more film style washi tape was added to the edges of a couple photo mats.
On this page I used the clock paper from Graphic 45's Kraft Reflections paper as the background, and the CC stamps on the front panel of the pockets. I made tags for the pockets using my Cricut with the Artiste, Holiday Tags and More and Movie Night images. The paper is an unknown ticket pattern kraft paper, the cream and yellow stripe CC and black cardstock. I left the backs the cream photo mat color. I added photos with decorative kraft paper shapes behind them.
Here on the fifth spread, I added a small pocket wit a flap that holds a tag and a square flap that is attached just to the right of center. To make the pocket with flap I scored the chipboard at about two-thirds of the width, this made the flap. And when I attached the pocket I only put glue/tape on the edges of the left side, bottom and to left of the flap scoring (right edge of pocket.), so that the top was open. When I covered up the flap I used a sheet of G45 Happy Haunting for the stripes. I fussy cut the flapper and couple dancing to make a tag that fit in the pocket. On the opposite side I attached a large flap about an inch from the center. I placed the jazz image from the Curtain Call paper with the four quadrants, I really like this image and think it looks on its own without additional embellishments.
In the margin between the flap and center fold of book I placed the keyboard from the CC diecut sheet. And on the back is the jazz band, also from the die sheet. When you flip it over a fussy cut orchestra and another photo mat is revealed. Along with the photos I added some more of the Seven Gypsy photo corners and a Bo Bunny camera.
The sixth page is another that originally had the flaps on both sides. I removed the flap on the left and added a small one to the center of the spread. The left side has a picture mat that is almost full page that is on top of the music note paper. On the small flap, I used one of the larger die cuts (of an orchestra and trumpet player) and made it into a pocket by only gluing down the bottom and left side. Having removed the corner image I made a tag with the die cut records glued back to back in the corner. On the back of the flap is the poster of Blood and Sand from CC along with a die cut tag. The right side has an image of a couple dancing with a silhouette of a band behind them. I fussy cut one side so the dancing couple was on top of the photo mat. When the photos were placed more washi tape in both film and camera patterns and metal photo corners were added.
The final spread of pages is also a pop up with the circular cut out. This time I glued bakers twine between the film spool die cut from CC to a black cardstock circle with my grandfathers brand symbol on it (half circle p.) I then glued the twine to the back of the fold so the film and brand hung in the cut out space and the tension in the twine makes it spin slightly. On the left I have cut around the edge of the girl with the fan. And on the right I made another pocket/tab combination. I used the small ticket kraft paper over the Curtain Call ticket paper so that when the tag is removed you see them both against each other through the die cut star. (The star was used on one of the large tags on the second page.) To make the tag I used a black and white striped paper and added a can-can/moulin rouge woman I had fussy cut. The "handle" for the tag are tickets cut from the CC paper and ripped in half. On the center panel is a fussy cut of the who's who in Hollywood book. With the photos I added a snapshot of love embellishment next to a picture of my Dad with his wife. (awwww) And with the photo attached the tag can go in backwards so the photo shows in die cut, depending on what looks good.
The back of the mini album features another collage of movie images with film. Over this I added more film from Curtain Call and Tim Holtz' film tape. I also added a stamped ticket and a fussy cut Charlie Chaplin. The edge has a Seven Gypsies metal edge decoration to match the front.
I really love this album. I think it ended up being the right balance of masculine and pretty. And that there is a matching box the album is stored in makes it seem so much more complete. I also really loved the chance to go through all these old photos of my Dad to fill the album.
Materials used:
Cricut Cartridges: Artiste, Holiday Tags and More, Movie Night
Papers: Graphic 45 Curtain Call (12x12, 8x8 and die cuts), Happy Haunting and Kraft Reflections, Kraft paper with small tickets by ?, black, brown and cream colored cardstock, gold colored vellum.
Inks/Glitters/Paints: Colorbox creamy brown chalk, black Sharpie
Other: Bo Bunny film and camera 3d stickers, Seven Gypsies metal edge decorations and photo corners, Tim Holtz Sizzix dies (filmstrips and tickets), crown embellishment and film tape, "Admit One" cling stamp, film and camera washi tape (Teresa Collins, Seven Gypsies and MT, Jolene's Boutique gold hand, American Crafts Dear Lizzy Thickers (Lucky Charm)
Thank you for patience reading a long blog post, but I didnt want to leave anything out.
<3 Laurel
