creating a simple & graphic mini album cover.

Summer books launch tomorrow and I am so excited about them. I originally planned on NOT making my own this year because of Project Life and all the other stuff I have going on.

But then the papers I ordered arrived.

And they looked so much radder together in person than they had on my computer screen. I realized right then that I couldn't not do a book. (This sounds like a terrible marketing ploy, I know, but it's the truth.) But instead of using mine throughout the summer, I plan on filling it up with photos, thoughts and stuff from the weekend trip Paul and I are taking to Palm Springs at the end of May. I used just a plain chipboard cover and fancied it up with paint. (Plain-covered albums as well as un-punched paper packs will be available when the books launch tomorrow.)

First, I stuck letter stickers on top of the chipboard (I ran out of black, hence the white S).

Then I painted the whole cover with a mix of white and teal acrylic paint. It was messy but that is sort of the look I'm going for. I let that dry for a bit and then peeled off the stickers carefully using an x-acto knife. After that step, the whole thing looked a little unfinished, so I covered it with a layer of mod podge. 

When the mod podge dried, it looked pretty good and glossy.

To finish it off further (and cover up the blue paint I'd smeared all over the back-side), I adhered a piece of American Crafts patterned paper from my stash to the backside and then used my sewing machine to go around the edges of the cover with white thread. Sewing always seems to "complete" whatever I'm doing.

And now my little book is trip ready! I'll be bringing it, some washi tape and a pen to Palm Springs and then finishing it up with photos and sharing the complete album here on the blog at the beginning of June. (On the pages above the arrow fabric tab is from Ormolu, the little yellow flag clip is from the SMASH book line and the blue stamped page and yellow star clip both come with the books.)

ps : here's my complete summer book (and how-to video links) from 2011.