PaperArtsy Scrapcosy Nautical Fish Stamps Mini Album Tutorial

Hi friends!  Today is our sixth challenge at Mini Album Makers!  Woo hoo!  My blog baby is half a year old now.  Awe!  :)  We have an exciting giveaway going on, so do hop on over and check out the blog.  My fabulous design team has created the most beautiful array of albums for our February challenge.  I hope you will pay them a visit and leave them some comment love.

Our giveaway ends on Valentine's Day, so don't delay in joining in!  One lucky winner will receive a $25 giftcard to the Funkie Junkie Boutique!

I created a small album, perfect for stamped, collaged, mixed media pages.  I've filled my album with images from the new PaperArtsy E³ {Scrapcosy} collection, just released at Creativation.  These wonderful nautical themed sea stamps designed by Raquel of Scrapcosy are so much fun to play with!  Check with your local stockist for this release.

The album measures 5 3/4 x 4" and has a beautifully curved spine with a 1/4" page gap for all of your embellishments and layers.

To start, I cut 6 watercolor pages to 5 1/2 x 7 3/4 and scored at 3 3/4 and 4".  I then used my gelli printing plate and a beautiful array of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Arylics {Blue Glass} {Inky Pool} {China} {Jade} and {Blue Oyster} beginning with the darkest color and working to the lightest color.  After these were printed, I dipped each panel into watery Distress Oxides in Cracked Pistachio and Vintage Photo.

Next, I glued the backs of the pages together to form my book.  Then I used three strips of Graffers tape to secure the edges.  This tape is similar to duct tape, but has a cloth weaving and is a matte finish.

I cut my cover boards to 5 3/4 x 3 7/8" and my spine to 5 3/4 x 3".  I scored the entire spine at every score mark on my scoreboard.  Then I glued one half inch of each side of the spine to the cover boards, using my mat as a guide.

Next, I cut a piece of vintage ticking fabric large enough to wrap around my covers.  I have learned from previous books that it is best to do any wet media before wrapping, as to not warp your cover boards.  So I sprinkled A Bit Jaded and In the Navy Infusions powders onto my fabric, then spritzed with water to move the color around and dried the panel before wrapping.

I applied glue to the top and bottom of my inside cover and wrapped the fabric nice and taught, then mitered the corners and wrapped from left to wright.  Note: I did not add any glue to the outside of the covers.  This way no glue will show on the outside of your book and what shows inside will be hidden when you assemble the pages.

The last step is to glue the pages in place.  Align the first page with a 1/8" margin inside the front cover, then repeat with the last page.  Note: the spine is not glued, only the first and last pages.  I collaged each page before assembly.  Here are the pages...

All of the stamps and stencils are by PaperArtsy and the circle rings are dies from our sponsor Seth Apter.  The tan geometric stamp is part of Seth's new release for PaperArtsy.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing these stamps in action.  This album was sooooo much fun to make!  In fact, I have already made a second one!  :)  Join me on the Mini Album Makers Challenge blog on Valentine's day for a second tutorial on using designer paper with this album, as I share a Tim Holtz Valentine album.  We would love for you to play along in our current challenge for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Lindy's Stamp Gang.  We have tons of tutorials on the blog and encourage you to use those in your entries.  Thanks for visiting, Autumn

Join our February Mini Album Makers challenge HERE!

Eclectica³ Scrapcosy Set 10 (ESC10)

Eclectica³ Scrapcosy Set 11 (ESC11)

Eclectica³ Scrapcosy Set 12 (ESC12)

PaperArtsy Stencil 093 (PS093)

To see my sneak peek ATC post on the PaperArtsy blog with these beautiful stamps click HERE.

To view the launch posts by Raquel click HERE and by Marissa click HERE.

I'm also sharing with:

Crafty Creations: Anything Goes

Crafty Gals Corner: Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

Stampavie and More: Something Blue