Posted by ChrissyTina (Chrissy):
I think one of the most requested tutorials as far as mini albums go would have to be how to put together an acrylic album. I know that these see through beauties are often intimidating and seem quite daunting at first. I know that from experience!
Here, I hope to break that intimidation and show you that with a little bit of forethought and planning, they are actually quite easy to do. Also, this acrylic album is my first time doing one too!
I used an acrylic album by KaiserCraft and Pink Paislee's "Vintage Vogue". I also dressed up my album edges using alcohol ink. Since I used sepia colored prints, the alcohol ink and these papers work beautifully together.
Now, the key to an acrylic album is PLANNING and THINKING BEFORE STICKING! The way I did each of my pages is that I would hold a piece of patterned paper up against one side of the acrylic and see how it looked on the other side. If Iiked the way it complimented the photos on both sides, then I would think about photo placement in order to hide the adhesive.
That leads me to the biggest question regarding acrylic anything. Which adhesive do I use??!! I highly recommend using any clear adhesive. I used Zots and my ATG. When I planned my page, I remembered to carefully place my adhesive so that I could cover it up on the other side with the photo, papers, or embellishments.
There really isn't a good way to show you how in a pictorial. It's something that you are going to have experiment with and just jump off the edge with. I will show you how my finished album turned out and give you tips and tricks as I go.
If you look carefully, you'll notice that none of my "edges" are glued down. If I were to place adhesive on the very edges of the papers, then I would have to figure out how to cover that adhesive on the other side. I also made sure that my embellishments did not extend too far past the edges of the patterned papers as they are not double sided.
Keeping the page designs simple makes planning both sides of the page super easy. I kept my designs very basic by using circles and rectangles. I tried to pick my photos for the backside of the page to compliment the patterns that showed through.
I also relied heavily on layering and pop-dotting to keep things visually interesting and to add depth.
Here, you can see the backsides of the pages peekeing through. I used the papers that showed as added matting to my photos and picked my layering papers to coordinate accordingly. This is where and why I recommend working within one product line for papers. The papers do the work for you.
Here's another example where you can clearly see the backsides showing through and adding depth and coordination within the layers. Once again, all of my adhesive is placed in the middle of my photos and papers. That way, no matter what, it'll be covered by whatever you use on the reverse side.
I got so engrossed in making this album and figured out that it was sooooooooo ridiculously easy to put together, that I lost track of my pages and turned the back "cover" into a photo page! OOPS!! So, I just traced and cut out a template for a back cover out of the packaging from the album and covered it with coordinating paper.
These albums really are easier to put together than they look. The trick is THINKING BEFORE STICKING. They do require a certain amount of planning and forethought. It's really important to keep the design simple at first until you get comfortable with doing them.
You can use any adhesive as long as you remember that it needs to be covered on the other side. I do hope that you will approach these albums with a bit more understanding and clarity. They really are easier to do than they look.
Products Used:
Here, I hope to break that intimidation and show you that with a little bit of forethought and planning, they are actually quite easy to do. Also, this acrylic album is my first time doing one too!
I used an acrylic album by KaiserCraft and Pink Paislee's "Vintage Vogue". I also dressed up my album edges using alcohol ink. Since I used sepia colored prints, the alcohol ink and these papers work beautifully together.
Now, the key to an acrylic album is PLANNING and THINKING BEFORE STICKING! The way I did each of my pages is that I would hold a piece of patterned paper up against one side of the acrylic and see how it looked on the other side. If Iiked the way it complimented the photos on both sides, then I would think about photo placement in order to hide the adhesive.
That leads me to the biggest question regarding acrylic anything. Which adhesive do I use??!! I highly recommend using any clear adhesive. I used Zots and my ATG. When I planned my page, I remembered to carefully place my adhesive so that I could cover it up on the other side with the photo, papers, or embellishments.
There really isn't a good way to show you how in a pictorial. It's something that you are going to have experiment with and just jump off the edge with. I will show you how my finished album turned out and give you tips and tricks as I go.
If you look carefully, you'll notice that none of my "edges" are glued down. If I were to place adhesive on the very edges of the papers, then I would have to figure out how to cover that adhesive on the other side. I also made sure that my embellishments did not extend too far past the edges of the patterned papers as they are not double sided.
Keeping the page designs simple makes planning both sides of the page super easy. I kept my designs very basic by using circles and rectangles. I tried to pick my photos for the backside of the page to compliment the patterns that showed through.
I also relied heavily on layering and pop-dotting to keep things visually interesting and to add depth.
Here, you can see the backsides of the pages peekeing through. I used the papers that showed as added matting to my photos and picked my layering papers to coordinate accordingly. This is where and why I recommend working within one product line for papers. The papers do the work for you.
Here's another example where you can clearly see the backsides showing through and adding depth and coordination within the layers. Once again, all of my adhesive is placed in the middle of my photos and papers. That way, no matter what, it'll be covered by whatever you use on the reverse side.
I got so engrossed in making this album and figured out that it was sooooooooo ridiculously easy to put together, that I lost track of my pages and turned the back "cover" into a photo page! OOPS!! So, I just traced and cut out a template for a back cover out of the packaging from the album and covered it with coordinating paper.
These albums really are easier to put together than they look. The trick is THINKING BEFORE STICKING. They do require a certain amount of planning and forethought. It's really important to keep the design simple at first until you get comfortable with doing them.
You can use any adhesive as long as you remember that it needs to be covered on the other side. I do hope that you will approach these albums with a bit more understanding and clarity. They really are easier to do than they look.
Products Used:
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