Stitched With Love Purse Album - The Tutorials

If you took my Stitched With Love Purse Mini Album Class at the Crafty Scrapper or bought the kit, here are the extra tutorials you will need to finish the album. If you have any other questions or need more info don't hesitate to contact me. There is a button on the right side of my blog to do just that!

Spine:

The spine of the album has been pre-scored for you. Notice how it is divided into narrow and wide sections - one narrow, two wide, one narrow, two wide,,,, I always number mine to keep it straight (or I mess it up every time, I promise you). Number the wide sections #1 - #8 as shown  (it doesn't matter which side you start from). Apply 1/4" tape to the numbered sections as shown.

At this point you are going to fold the paper, on each and every score mark, forwards and backwards, using your bone folder to really crease the paper. The purpose of this is to make each fold as flexible as it can be so that the pages will open up and lie flat when the spine is in the album. So, start at one end, with the first score mark, and fold it one towards you and crease really well, then fold it away from you and crease really well. Move on the the next score mark and repeat,,,,, all the way down the line.

To blameless the spine, pull the backing from ONE piece of tape at a time off and fold the two wide sections together so that you have a ridge that looks like this. Repeat 8 times.

Your spine will look like this when all the sections have been adhered together.

Next step: Clip the corners of each ridge, on both sides, then add 1/4" score tape to one side of each ridge. The tape will allow you to add your pages later on in the assembly process.

Flip the spine over.  We need to treat the back like it is three different sections - two sides and a middle. The middle section - the space between the two arrows - is the portion that will be adhered down on the center chipboard of the album. Cover the ENTIRE center section with strong tape (leave the backing on) and then cover the side sections in tape as well. BEFORE removing the paper backing from the center section, fold the two side sections up and place the center section down on the album so that you can gauge your placement. You will only get one chance to get this in the right place - so take your time. You want to have an even spacing between the top and bottom of the album (see below) and the center section should fit just about perfectly on the chipboard piece. When you feel comfortable, remove the paper backing  from the center section ONLY and carefully place on the album. Once that is done, remove the backing from one side section at a time and press those into place.

Notice the even spacing from top to bottom - try and get as close as you can. (this photo has the inside decorative papers already in place - evidently, in the bazillion photos I took I didn't get one with just the spine inside the album. :(  )

Handles

This one is coming! I have to reshoot a couple of the photos because they were blurry.