Tag: mini album

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Celebrations Creating files Free Greeting Cards Mini Album and Brag Books Paper scrapbook silhouette design store Template

Grab the Free Folio Now

free Folio page 4 side 2 all flaps open
open all flaps

Folios are multi use pages that I love! and free files are dear to my heart so put them together: Free Folio can’t be beat! See my Halloween Folio. These folio pages can be used as mini albums, an interactive greeting card with photos, or as I am using them here in the wedding brag book.

To grab your free folio, subscribe below and tell me you want free folio page 4 side 1 or side 2. These will be generic and you can customized them yourself.

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For page four I am using two different folio pages one for each side.

Although these folios are the same as my Halloween layout, they will look different as I customize the flaps and envelopes and also may rearrange the order the pages and flap attach to each other.

Free Folio Page 1

Both free Folios files available for page four have lots of flaps and pages and close like a book. When opened all the way the folio is an impressive 30 inches long!

  • Folio page 1 position in Brag Book
    Folio position
  • Folio Page is opposite the double trifold page
    Folio 1 for page 4
  • Folio page closed up
    Folio 1 closes like a book
  • Folio Page 1 closed once
    open once
  • Folio Page 1 flaps closed
    open again
  • Folio page 1 opened up all the way
    flaps open

Since nothing is stuck down, I may still rearrange the flaps and pages to be slightly different from the Halloween Folio. I will only know for sure when I start gluing it all down.

Customize Your Folio

I may add more pockets and tags but in the mean time, the customization done so far is :

  1. With the flap, I use a file from silhouette design store: snapdragon snippets is one of my favourite designers and I used one of her flourishes for the flap.
  2. On the pocket, I use a wedding cake I found on Google for free.The weld technique can be seen here

Free Folio side 2

Like Folio 1, Side two is about 30 inched opened up. Due to the bulk, I may move this page anywhere and swap the layouts with one of the first 3 pages to prevent the brag book becoming too bulky and hence unable to close.

Although this page for side 2 is the same size when opened up, there is slightly more space for photos due to the longer flap. If you wanted even more space,,you could make all the flaps long

Photos of Folio side 2

  • Folio page 2 position in Brag Book
    position in brag book
  • Folio page 4 side 2 all flaps open
    open all flaps
  • Folio 2 flaps closed up
    closed flaps
  • Folio 2 with page close once
    pages closed once
  • folio page with page close twice
    page close twice
  • folio page closed all the way up.
    all closed up

Again, this folio opened all the way out is huge and has a lot of space for photos and journaling.

More Customization for free folio possible

Seems hard to belief that you can add more to this layout but you will be surprised! In the Halloween layout, I used a slotted inset for tags and in this one I may use a file I have been working on that is super interactive! Pulling tabs that make stuff move gets my blood moving!

Keep following me and subscribe for your chance to get any of my files I make and post.

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I am also going to sell the entire package soon if that is what you are looking for. Note that you can make your entire brag book with just one layout! does not have to be so many different pages like mine.

Keep crafting and I look forward to finishing pages 5 and 6 so that we can get to the really fun stuff of decorating it all.

Here is a quick look at some of my past pages that you can request the file for free when you subscribe.

  1. Page 1
  2. Page 2
  3. Page 3

Regards

Carolyn

Categories
Creating files Mini Album and Brag Books Paper scrapbook

Wedding Album/Brag book

some possible materials
paper and Vinyl

When I was making my Halloween Brag book I had this wedding album in mind, and although the dimensions are different (8 x 8) from the Halloween brag book, I knew that the digital files were going to be very easy to modify.

The album base I got on sale in Michaels and painted it white. so I did not build my own cover , spine and binding. If you want to do so yourself I cover it here.

I wanted to cut ALL the inserts out for ALL the pages and then start assembling and photographing the pages and posting BUT got to page three and looked at the amount of stuff I had cut out and WOW… I am starting to get a bit confused as to what goes were!

So, I am pausing all of that the cutting madness to go through the album, of what I have so far, and catalogue it here on my blog.

I will post both my screenshots of the modified files and the cut files. Note that there is no decorative page matting or embellishments cut out yet and I will post each page as I assemble them

The Album Base

As I mentioned, I did not build the base album from scratch but got this one on sale in Michaels. My Halloween base was built from scratch and if you want to make your own you can review the process here: Brag book Base

  • painted and unpainted side by side

I am trying to keep all the pages as close to the Halloween layout in order to show how ease it is to adjust the digital files I developed. I may rearrange the layout as I go along to illustrate the flexibility of these files, because I know I won’t be able to resit reorganizing them!

Paper and Embellishments

  • Base pages white Cardstock 8.5 inches x 11 inches from Recollections 65 lb. I was going to use the heavier weight Cardstock but I think it will make the album too bulky.
  • Decorative paper for matting is Recollections Wisteria 12 inch x 12 inch.
  • Decorative paper from Dollar tree Metallic silver 11 inches x 14.28 inches come in a pk of 5 different colours for $1.25
  • Silver Vinyl
  • Embellishments love birds purchased and free.
  • Other wedding symbols to be determined
  • Quotes to pint or cut to be determined.
  • Magnets for closures
  • Ribbon and other nick knacks as I find them
  • paper and Vinyl
Paper and Vinyl to be used

Will add as I go along but this is the basics of what I intend to use.

Measurements for this project

  • The Cover Measurements : 8 inches x 8.5 inches.
  • The base page will be 8 inches x 8 inches and allow for a large photo mat 7.75 inches x 7.75 inches insert.
  • The matting for base pages will have a 7. 75 inches x 7.75 inch

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Categories
Mini Album and Brag Books Paper scrapbook silhouette design store Template

Folio Page 4 :Best Brag Book

Middle Flap of Folio opened

The folio for page 4 side 2 is now all glued together, In this post I will walk you through exactly how this folio opens and mention any changes I made or options for layout.

Recap of Folio

Side 2 of page four is complete: a little final gluing down to be done, but I am OK with that! If you are just getting here and want to see the other pages and templates take a look here:

Use this Folio

  1. The folios can be used in many ways. Side 2 of page 4 can be a stand-alone folio, and so can page 4 side 1.
  2. A lovely mini photo album to give as gifts.
  3. Add your own photos and give as a very elaborate greeting card or
  4. attach as to a page in a brag book: like we are doing here.

This is what it looks like all closed up. You could put a photo here on the cover if you wanted… maybe put a photo mat on top then the photo.

Pages of this Folio

  • Cover for page 4 side 2. The folio is all folded up in the photo below and has a magnetic closure.
  • Next, open it up . The tag “the Witch Night Party ” is a magnetic closure.
  • The large piece front page can also hold a photo if needed folds
  • The cover opens to the left.

Opened Folio up once

  • there is a pocket on the left.I welded on the skull and candles to the pocket. If you would like to try this my post on how to weld items is here.
  • On the right is a flap with a cat tab attached. The cutout pieces are from the scrapbook paper and can be used as spaces to hold notes or small photos.

Opened up twice

The left piece opens and there is a half page with a cutout candelabra, this page could be matted and used for photos or any of the flaps in this insert can be eliminated.

The central panel is a cutout Halloween scene, small tags can be slipped into the cut sections and the oval-shaped moon can be used for a photo… It is not glued down yet (notice the paperclip?) Both candelabra and Halloween scene are cut files from the Silhouette Design store

Let’s open The Folio for the third time

  • The half page on the far left is matted and can be used for photos.
  • Next to this is a page with a flap that has a cat tab attached, this pulls down .
  • For the rest of the pages on the right, the view has not really changed much.

Fully opened Folio: all flaps open

Middle Flap opened

Ok, we are getting to the end of all the flaps and folds…here it is all opened up.

NOTE: it is NOT upside down, it was not 100% glued down and at the very last minute, I changed where i wanted the flaps to be on this last folio page. The template digital files are flexible that way, Changed how the flaps are attached, the number of pages, pockets…each time can be a different look and feel using the same cut files.

My layout when I cut the cardstock was arranged differently, see the post here

Things to note

  • The middle page flips up and the gold “Halloween” cut out file is from Silhouette Design Store.
  • The pocket with skulls (GOLD) can be a flap that folds down instead.
  • The flap on the top has a narrow pocket to hold items.
  • On the right, there are slots for tags that can hold photos…I need to cut the large tags for this.
  • The bottom flap got cut off in the photo…it has a magnetic belly band to hold items.

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Really liked this Folio? Subscribe and send me a message: “I want Folio page 4 side 2 and its yours!”

Have fun

Carolyn

Categories
Creating files Free Mini Album and Brag Books Paper scrapbook Template

Brag book 101: Page 2

Waterfall page with bellyband
belly band &waterfall pages

Since my last post, I have been busy with real life :job and family but finally got to put this post for page 2.

Well, here I am and page two is ready. In the first page I used zombie hands, gates, tombstone tags and a skeleton. This page is all about haunted houses.

To review a few details

  • My base page is the double page that looks like a large sealed envelope with the long ends cut out: very standard with  Brag bookmakers.
  • I am using 6.5 W x 8.5 H for each of the 6 pages.

Front

The front of my brag book page 2 has a waterfall page with a belly band. I will call this side one of page two as there are a few pages that flip open on this side.

  • Waterfall page with bellyband
Waterfall pages
waterfall page belly band is up

Under the last Waterfall pages is an area to hold journal tags and a large photo mat.

20171030_105845.jpg

Side 1 of page two continues

If you close up the the waterfall page back to the beginning, with the belly band keeping everything shut, this entire page then flips opens to a double spread: there is a pocket insert with slits for tags on the right (two shown here but up to 4 can fit.) and a flat page with a narrow pocket on the left for photos. The flourish is from the Silhouette design store

20171030_110042.jpg
The waterfall pages are behind on the left

Back OR Side 2 of page two

The side 2 of page two has 2 envelopes. Tag insert not shown here.

These then flip open to reveal a flat page for photos. The envelopes on this side has some of the tags that came with the paper but I notice its a little big, so will trim them down later

Sides

One open side of the page is attached to the binding, (on the right not seen here). The other side of the page will have a tag insert. This tombstone tag is not the correct tag but shown as an example of how the tag will be inserted

I like this second page and have Page 3 all ready to photograph for tomorrow.

Below are the screenshot of what the files look like in Silhouette Studio, a free software that you can use with or without the silhouette machine to make pages like this . I filled the image with the same pattern as my paper.

Screen shots Page 2 side 1

  • waterfall pages
Waterfall pages closed and the whole page open again to this
pages expanded

Screen shots Page 2 side 2

If you would like the file for this second page, Subscribe below then email me what you would like.

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Carolyn

Categories
Creating files Mini Album and Brag Books Template

Making The first page of Brag book 101

After seeing all the beautiful projects on YouTube I really wanted to start building my pages, it is so exciting! Well, I needed to decide what my base page would look like. I decided to go with the “sleeve” page…this is made to two pieces of paper glued on the short ends and the long open ends are attached to the spine, or open for a tag to be inserted. This type of construction seemed sturdier to me; I could be wrong but that is the method I am going to choose.

Once I chose the type of page, the next consideration was the hinge method for the binding. Well did you know that the hidden hinge method is copyrighted/ patented?I DID NOT KNOW!

I did my version of a bookbinding hinges with different spacing and score lines. There is also stack the deck method that looks good. For an example of the hinge I use check out my Shadow card

Now, what will I include on each page?

With so many ideas running through my head, I feel paralyze and decide to sit back to watch people craft on Youtube. It really is entertaining, and I love it!

Eventually, though this blog post keeps calling and it won’t write itself so I decide “I can do this!”  and start my page.

These pages are going to be Halloween themed ( coming up really soon! and I am creating them in no particular order. I also decided to make a wedding album since the pages will be the same only the embellishments and paper will be different! I am going to illustrate only Halloween but I will post my wedding album that will use the same files so you will see how flexible the digital files are.

First the digital file

Screenshot 2017-10-05 09.59.21
Screenshot 2017-10-05 10.05.23
Note that Light blue is just the digital color, I will use cardstock from Recollections Ravenshead Manor collection
Screenshot 2017-10-05 10.08.48
Gate on left, matting for behind gate on right. In the middle is what you see when the gate opens: a pocket with a tag.
Screenshot 2017-10-05 10.11.58.png

The Cut files

When I cut these files with the Silhouette Cameo, I noticed a few adjustments needed to be made.

On side one:

  1. the gate was too big
  2. the pocket under the gate was too large

One side two:

  1. the flap with the pocket would not close because the envelope with the zombie’s hands was too big!
  2. I redid the layout so that the zombie envelope is now on the outside, it also flips open. I added a flap to the inside and may add more see photos below

I have not stuck anything down as I am going to place magnets and cut the matting then glue it all together.

Each page really has two side that need pockets and flaps etc. so page one has a side A and a side B Side A will have the gate that opens to a pocket.

20171005_114744
This is the gate, I will have a mat at the back, the pink is just for visibility

Open the gate and see the pocket where I will have a tag in the shape of a tombstone. This pocket will be on a page that flips up and there will be place for 2 large photos.

20171005_114911.jpg
This is the pocket when the gate is open. I will have a tombstone tag for the insert.

Side B of page one:

This is the large envelope.

20171005_114942.jpg

The envelope flips over to the left. Space for photos.

20171005_115035
large envelope with Zombie hands

Again the page flips and there is a pocket to the right and a pocket to the left. The pocket with zombie hands is on a flap that opens for large photo mats…..see next photo.

20171005_115058.jpg
20171005_115209

It took a bit of time to mat the pages and there are a few places that still need matting. When doing the matting I placed my magnets first but found they were very thick so went and got some thinner ones but alas, they are not holding very well…next page I will try a different brand.

I am not going to attach to my binding until all the pages are complete because I want to make sure that I am absolutely finished adding flips and flaps to my page.

So here is the first page:

Side A of page one with the gate, now with the matting. I did not get a chance to go looking for cute doorknobs so I used small brads. This was one place my magnets did not hold. EEKS!

20171006_100630

When the gate opens there is a pocket with zombie hands and a tag. the flat space behind the tag can hold a photo and the tag can be shorter.

This is to show the space for a photo mat that I have not yet completed but each page will have one in the side pocket.

20171006_100803

Side B of Page :

A hinged page pulls to right for photo mat space. On the other side of the zombie’s hands is an envelope

20171006_100935

this opens to reveal another envelope no matting yet and the page opposite has another large envelope with more zombie hands

20171006_101009

This zombie envelope is on a page that flips up

20171006_101054

That is the end of the first page…..

I use the tombstone and zombie hands from the Silhouette design store and the paper is Recollections  Halloween Ravenshead Manor collection.

For my template page subscribe and email me your request.

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Carolyn

Categories
Mini Album and Brag Books Template

Working on the Brag book Cover

Scared yet?

I have to say that this step took a long time for me to begin as I was feeling out of my comfort zone and just not certain if this cover will be what I wanted.

Take it from me, now that I have done the cover…no need to freak out! Follow my instructions or look up video instructions…lots of information out there and have fun, make mistakes and move on!

Step One: Make your cover

I first needed to buy medium density chipboard but I was not willing to make a trip to Micheals or wait for Ebay or Amazon delivery…LOL…sooooo I and went looking to see what I could substitute. I found stacks of very thick photo mats in my garage and cut it down to size (9 in x 9in ) with my Exacto knife. So far so good.

Tip

As I make each piece of this brag book, I am creating the digital templates AKA the Digital SVG cutting files and PDF files so that the next book will be a breeze. If you decide to make your own book from scratch, consider doing the same.

Step two: A Decision to make.

Now the decision was to lay the pieces out on one sheet of paper and wrap front, back, and spine together or wrap separately.

1, Here is an example of a cover wrapped in one sheet of paper (video at about 32 minutes in) This video is also a great resource for making a brag book.

2, Here is a video with an example of the pieces wrapped separately and joined. This is from one of my favourite brag book creators Jen of Eve

I am going to use method # 2 for a few reasons, but the main reason is that I want to make bigger albums and to find paper large enough to do a one-sheet wrap is not easy.

Cover, Spine and Binding cut

Here are my front and back covers and spine cut from matting material I am using 9 x 9 as my size. I did not use my Silhouette to cut these but you can use your machine with a deep cutting blade. If you want to skip all the measuring and just want the SVG files to cut , then subscribe and the message me: I want your Brag Book cover package and I will send the files for the cover and spine and the files for the wrapping.

Brag Book Cover and spine
“chipboard ” pieces for the book cover and spine

Here are the front & back covers, and the spine wrapping cut out. I used 12 x 12 sheets to fit the 9 x 9 cover size with a 1/2 inch tab allowance for glueing. Dollar store Bristol board works well and all you will need is one sheet

  • Cover and spine binding with edges mitered

Here are the front and back of the cover with the cardstock wrapping glued on. The spine cardstock is not attached to top and bottom of the spine yet and will be attached next.

20170930_204509.jpg
IMG_20170930_205446.jpg

Everything is covered up and this is the finished cover and spine

If you want the digital cut files for the cover, spine and binding , subscribe to my blog and send me a request.

Next post: the page binding: found out some interesting information!

Please subscribe for my blog, i would also love to know what you want to read about.

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Carolyn

Categories
Mini Album and Brag Books

What Size should it be?

What is Too small or Too big?

What is the ideal size for a brag book? In some of the tutorials I viewed, the brag book was closer to a mini album than a brag book.

Which brings me to another question I had as I sorted through the mass of material online: what separates a brag book from a mini album?  

As far as I can tell, its size and to some extent, complexity….by that I mean how many flips and flaps, pockets, tags, and belly bands an album has.

Another feature that brag books tends to have are different methods of binding the pages together.

As the name implies, brag books are made to showcase something you wanted to brag about … its used in business to showcase skills, testimonials etc and for the craft sector it would be used for a new baby, a grandmother/ father to have the grandkids photos in, weddings, travel memories and more.

If anyone has a true definition, I would love for you to comment below.

My goal

Is to develop all the components of a brag book in digital file format and PDF that can then be used interchangeably to create interactive, unique brag books easily with many different looks and feels.

I also hope to incorporate techniques I am not seeing in my search to give a WOW factor each and every time.

Back to size: there were a few page sizes I considered

  1. 6.5 in. x 8.5 in.
  2. 8.5  in. x 8.5  in.
  3. 5 in. x 7 in.
  4. 6.5 in. x 6.5 in
  5. 7 in x 7in

Sizes I Like

  1. I really liked the  6.5 in x 8.5 in.  size for a few reasons, first because it fit 8.5 x 11 in. cardstock, also it allowed for a potential of two  4 in x 6 in. photos.
  2. The 8.5 in. x 8.5 in.  fit 8.5 x 11 in. cardstock and allows for the 8 in. x 8 in. pads of paper for matting. Similar with the 6.5 in. x 6.5 in. page as it allowed for the use of 6 in. x 6  in. paper stack.
  3. I found a blank base already bound that is 8 in x 8 in, so if I use this pre-made book pages I will skip the steps for making the cover and pages and my files will be tailored for the 7 in x 7 in page clearance.

Binding methods looked at:

  1. Stack the deck
  2. Coptic stitch
  3. Hidden hinge (trade marked)
  4. Accordion hinge
  5. The popular method seems to be stack the deck, and I am researching if this is the method I will use. For my TUNNEL / SHADOW card, I used a version of the hidden hinge which I really liked.

My Pinterest board has pins for binding methods and for brag book ideas

The saga continues next post with making the digital pages.

Please join my mailing list for every free file I post

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Carolyn

What feature do you love most in a brag book?

Do you have a true definition of a brag book to share?

Categories
Mini Album and Brag Books Paper

Making Of A Brag Book

My Pinterest Brag book folder

At last, I have started the process of creating a brag book from scratch. I must admit that this has been a prolonged process because of how I do things:

My Thinking Process

  • I need to look at as many examples as possible,
  • Collect the ideas and then sort through them
  • Choose my favourite. 
  • A bit of procrastinating is involved and sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all the information out there.
  • Eventually, I start to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I get started.

Looking At examples

So the first step was looking at examples and collecting ideas : I pinned the ideas on Pinterest, great way to get organized! For those of you who want to start this process and are like me, here is my board Mini Album and Brag books

There is maybe duplicates as I did get a bit carried away! I also used youtube to look at tutorials online, there are so many amazing ideas on creating Brag Books!

Making Decisions

Once I finished looking at the examples,  I figured that what I liked most were brag books with templates pages that can be used in many ways.

Heartfelt creations was one such maker and another was Jen of Eve designs , both of these brag book creators gave me the sense that their templates can be used to create many variations of a brag book.

I liked that Jen of Eve design has templates that can be stored in a binder and when you are ready to make a brag book, you just have to photocopy the pattern onto cardstock and cut it out by hand. There are many who do not own cutting machines like Silhouette Cameo, Circuit, Brother machines etc. and SVG files would be useless.

With Heartfelt Creations, the brag book and all the inserts came precut and you just had to assemble and put your own matting and photos.

Decoration A paper

This is a good time in the planning process to look :

  • At what decorative paper you will use and what
  • Embellishments and images needed. I use free images from Creative Fabrica that are for personal and commercial use.
  • Who is the book for? I am going to make a brag book for a newly wed but the template will be adaptable for any type of brag book.

In my next post, I will start the actual process I went through to make my brag book digital file and PDF version.

Till next time,

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Carolyn