Hello everybody! Spring has sprung and one of my favorite outdoor activities is biking! To celebrate this, I made a mini album using the April Clear Scraps Creating Made Easy Kit with the included Arrow album and keychain album. I have a charity bike ride this month and quite a few cycling days planned with hubby so I made this bright and cheery album to save those memories. It's really simple to make but packs a lot of visual punch!
First, I painted all off the chipboard pages with grass green and lime green acrylic paint. I wanted a matte, chalky finish so I did not prep the chipboard and let it soak in a bit. You can prep it with a base coat if you like. I sealed the pages at the end with a spray sealant to prevent chipping or cracking of the paint.
Using the Clear Scraps Folk Heart border stencil, which I LOVE, I stenciled across all the pages - you will see I alternated light on dark and dark on light. It is very simple to get a crisp, clean stencil edge with Clear Scraps stencils. But I blurred these on purpose, sponging the paint unevenly, then lifting the stencil away and brushing lightly over it while still wet with a paint brush to give it an aged look. An unexpected bonus is that it left them looking like a summery watermelon rind full of hearts! I set the pages aside to dry. (The pages will curl a bit while the paint is wet but flattenes by itself as it dries.)
Meanwhile I used Beacon liquid glue to adhere two of the bicycle images from the My Mind's Eye Jubilee paper in the kit to the acrylic pages of the keychain album, also included. The other pages I left clear to add detail photos to later.
Back to the dried arrow pages, I started with the cover and added a background paper and chipboard adhesive shapes from the paper kit including a bike (of course), a border of hearts for a "road", and two die cut word shapes as a title. A few little hearts from the basket trailing in the breeze and all it needs is a photo! Then I added themes to each page, plus a coordinating photo mat, to each inner page. I have included some images below.
Last but not least, I put the rings through the pre-drilled album holes and also hung the keychain album to the top ring. I like to add little photo details to the outside of mini-albums when I can, for a little sneak peek! When open, the mini-album has the two bikes facing each other. I hope you enjoyed this little walk through of my mini album. What kinds of adventures will you remember with this kit?
Stay crafty, my friends,
Liza
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