Scrapbook Memories - Dan Album

Some of you have commented that you saw me on Scrapbook Memories recently, episode 1408. If you didn't see the episode then I will step you through the main project I altered: a mini wooden scrapbook for my brother, Dan.

I made a number of other little things for that show, but today I'll step you through how I altered this album.

First, a little backstory...
Last Fall I was teaching a certification class in Kansas City with a couple of dear friends - Lori Craig and Sharon Harnist. They found out that the next week I was going to be filmed for a TV show and they wondered what project was I going to make... um... project?... well, it's for a scrapbooking show, so obviously I was going to make a scrapbook, right?

"Marianne, have you ever made a scrapbook before?" they asked me. Hey, that's a really good question! Have I ever made a scrapbook...not exactly...I mean, I've made a few odd pages, but no, never a scrapbook as they envision it (when I make books I do it on the computer and I create finished books for publication, not "scrapbooks")... so I guess the answer is NO. But I know what techniques I want to show on the TV!

After much head shaking and tsk-tsk's they took me to my first scrapbook workshop with Melissa Frances, where we made her cancer-survivor Remember Matchbook. With Lori on one side and Sharon on the other I couldn't help but succeed (though my methods were a little odd to them). And then, Ta Da! Project made. Now I was ready! I had taken my first scrapbooking class and I had two great mentors at my side, TV was waiting!

So with much giggling, we gathered our supplies and headed back to our hotel room and Lori and Sharon proceeded to teach me how to make a great scrapbook. Here is the process we used to create my fabulous scrapbook (in-progress photos by Sharon Harnist, finished photos by Marianne).

Dan Album
We made the main album and prepared embellishments in Kansas City, then when I got back to Oregon I added the photos and final touch-ups, leaving a few spots open to color during the show.

Originally we were going to make a family reunion album, but after I got to adding the final photos I changed it to an album just for my brother, Dan.

Cover
We started with a wood album and covered it with patriotic papers to create a theme of antique Americana. Each page was covered, then we used a dark brown marker to tone the edges of the wood so it was all dark. Where we added paper and had to punch out the holes for ribbon we touched up the white of the paper with appropriate markers.

The bit of twine we used to tie the red ribbon onto the large tag was colored with Copics. You can see how we took the metal star and colored it red, then I added dark purple flecks with the airbrush ssytem to give it variation. The wood flourish was wood colored until we airbrushed it red.

Here is the final cover that I created when I got home, complete with chipboard letters that were originally light green, but I airbrushed them blue to match the album. You can also see we added some small star shaped embellishments. Each of these was colored red with the markers to match the album better. I love how the markers can tie in many different elements that wouldn't match usually, but with some minor color adjustments it all works in the end.

Inside page 1
You can't tell, but the tan paper with small stars was originally white with small stars. I used an E31 or E33 wide marker and colored the whole paper to match our antique theme.

The star on the next page was also white paper colored with a wide marker in wavy stripes to create interesting journaling lines. Writing was done with a Garnet Spica pen and multiliners. You can see on the holes how they needed to be touched up before we assembled the binding.

This page went through a couple revisions. Compare the in-progress shot to the final page. I added a few more tags, each started as white and I added marker to tone it to match my paper. All twine was originally white and I changed it to match. The metal stars were also colored with red markers and airbrushed to match. I printed my photos to fit the background papers we had placed.

The last page of this mini album incorporates elements we already made from the cover and first page. Colored wood flourish, colored foil stars, colored clear star embellishments, white tags colored brown and more.

You can see in these photos the color of the twine before I altered it to be tan. I also distressed the star on this page so it was more aged looking to match the photos of my brother's dirty old cars.

It was great to get my brother's reaction when he saw the final album. When I had called his wife to get photos my brother was picturing a cute, flowery scrapbook and he was sure he wouldn't like it. When he saw my manly tribute to his dogs and rusty cars he was very pleased. He had no idea that scrapbooks could be so cool.

It is doubly cool to think that his album was shown on TV (more from the show tomorrow)...


Supplies Used for Dan Album:

• Sketch markers, assorted colors, Wide marker, Airbrush System and Spica Glitter Pens: Copic
• Beyond the page Tag Album, Occasion Planner, Wood Flourishes by Kaiser Craft
  
• Blue Awning Chipboard Alphabet, K&Co
  
• Red Ribbon, May Arts
  
• Star shaped Crystal Stickers, Star Metals Stickers: Mark Richards
  
• Freedom Collection Paper & Stickers by Reminisce
  
• Wizard Die Cut Machine, Star Netabilities, Rectangle Nestabilities and Copper Foil: Spellbinders
  
• Memento Potter’s Clay stamp pad, Tsukineko