Grungy Passport Mini Album with Karen Bearse

We are excited to welcome Karen Bearse to our Design Team. Karen is up on the blog today sharing a  beautiful grungy passport mini album that is sure to inspire you. Sit back and relax and learn all about how she created her first project for us!

First of all I would like to thank Southern Ridge Trading Co. for letting me be a part of their team. I am excited to play with these awesome chippies!

For my first project I made one of my favourite things, a mini album. Using the Eileen Hull Passport die from Sizzix with mat board as my base seemed a good place to start. Have you ever had an idea that was fairly simple but as you started to create inspiration took over? I love when that happens, only it makes for a tough tutorial! I will try and keep the steps simple. 

Cut 2 covers and a spine from white mat board. I placed my chippies onto the cover of my album for 

placement (list of supplies at end). After running my covers through an embossing folder it was time to add colour.

Spritz the outside pieces with various blue Glimmer Mists. When mist is dry, use a hard foam piece with just a bit of white acrylic paint. Carefully swipe across hitting just the high emboss points. Repeat until emboss pattern shows nicely. If you streak too much paint, just wipe quickly with a baby wipe to fix. Dry.

Now for the magic! Dab entire cover with Emboss It, or Embossing Ink, and UTEE (ultra thick embossing powder). Use a heat gun until UTEE melts completely. Let cool. Do 2 coats for the outside covers and 1 coat for the inside. 

For the spine I stamped with Distress ink & heat embossed with UTEE. Once that was cool the spine was covered in a light coat of Glimmer Glam, so the stamped image would show through. One of the things that is great about Glam (other than the glitter) is it acts like a glaze, so if I sprinkle copper embossing powder in random spots, it sticks. Once heat set it creates a very cool, shiny, looking spine. For the chippie gears, I spritzed with Chalkboard and sprinkled some emboss powder then heat set. The bird was painted with Glam and the hinges with Glam & sprinkled with a bit of copper emboss & heat set. Time to assemble.   If you want your piece to look like a book adhere spine to the outside of the front & back covers. To show more of the cover, adhere spine on the inside. Use a strong glue. 

Now for the signatures. One of the reason I love this book is it is so simple to put together. I made 3 

signatures (sections) layering 4 pieces of paper in each.

I did sew through the center of each signature but you don’t have to. It was just a matter of pulling wax thread through the spine, adding some beads and tying off the thread inside the middle section of each signature.

The final touch was to add a ribbon to hold the book closed using a metal gear. This book would be great as a mini art journal, scrap book, travel book… endless possibilities! 

Southern Ridge Chipboard Supplies:

- Swooping Birds

- Med. Gears   

- Iron Hinges 1.

 Remember to play along in the monthly challenge over on the Southern Ridge Trading Company blog. Each month enter for your chance to win 4 designs from the online store - chipboard.ca -$20 (before tax) retail value of YOUR OWN CHOOSING! 

Thanks for joining me!!

-Karen