Halloween Gatefold Mini Album with Gypsy Soul

Hi everyone!  Barbara here with my first project for October.  My favorite theme in October is, yep, you guessed it, Halloween, and Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts has a fabulous selection of chipboard albums to suit the occasion.  I chose the Graphic 45 An Eerie Tale paper collection to cover the pages.

Trace around the chipboard and cut out all of your scrapbook papers to match.

Adhere papers to both sides of chipboard pages.  (TIP:  At this point, I painted the edges of each page with black gesso to finish if off.)

Paint chipboard pieces with black gesso.  The ghost was painted with white gesso.  (TIP:  If you think any portion of your chipboard shape will extend past the book pages, or if you have a shape that may need to be used in a left or right facing, like the ravens, it is a good idea to paint both sides now.)

Heat emboss gates with copper pigment ink and rustique patina bronze embossing powder.

Adhere gates to front page with a tacky glue.

Sponge black gesso over the gate sections that extend beyond the top of the page, as shown.

One more thing before we start decorating the pages is to mark and punch  3/16" holes in the side of the book pages to bind it when we are finished.  This will help remind you not to cover up the areas for the binding.  I have decided to use two binding rings, so I will use a strong hole punch, like a Crop-a-dile.  Then use this page to transfer the hole position to the following pages and punch.

Cover Page

Spread 3D gel medium through stars stencil over witch skirt, let dry.  It will dry translucent and shiny, leaving this pretty black star design on her dress.

Spooky was painted with Snap Dragon and Orange Peel Silks.  Two spooky eyes were printed and adhered behind the O's, then adhered to the top of the gate.

The raven was painted with Majestic Blue Silks acrylic glaze and a tiny glitter sticker added for his eye.  He was adhered above the word Spooky.

The two bats were painted with Olive Vine Silks and tiny glitter stickers added for eyes.  I adhered these to the front as though they were flying out of the witch's hat.

The black cat only needed a couple of glitter stickers for eyes and adhered along the bottom rail of the gate.

The pumpkin was painted with Orange Peel Silks, and a bit of shading was added with Chestnut Brown Silks and Olive Vine for the leaf.  The pumpkin eyes and mouth were left black and a couple of glitter stickers were added to make the eyes a bit more creepy.

Page 1 and Page 2

Page 1:  Using the top piece from the stackable label, center and trace around the words "Once Upon a Time".  Cut out and glue to the top piece, sand off any excess paper.  Paint the bottom part of the label with black gesso and two coats of Harvest Sol.  Adhere the two pieces together.

The remaining embellishments were fussy cut from the paper collection.

Page 2:  The "moon" chipboard was first coated with white gesso.

Next, I sponged on a tiny amount of beige chalk paint, leaving some white areas.

Lastly, I wet the sponge and added a wash of Harvest Sol over the surface to give it that creepy, night time color.

The witch was left black and adhered over the moon, then adhered to the page.  The remaining embellishments were fussy cut from the paper collection.

Page 3 and Page 4

Page 3:  The spider web was left black, while the word Boo! was painted with orange chalk paint.  Images were fussy cut from the papers and adhered as shown.

Page 4:  Images were fussy cut from the papers and adhered as shown.  A pocket was made with one image by only adhering along three sides.

Page 5 and Page 6

Page 5:  The skeleton was painted with white gesso, then dry brushed with Raw Umber Silks to antique and age it. The boney hand was fussy cut from the paper.

Page 6:  The images on this page were all fussy cut from the paper collections, while the tag was adhered on three sides  only to form a pocket.

Page 7 and Page 8

Page 7:  The images on this page were all fussy cut from the paper collections, while the piece at the bottom tag was adhered on three sides only to form a pocket.

Page 8:  These images were cut from the paper collection, and the border piece was adhered along the bottom, leaving the top open to form a pocket.

Page 9 and Page 10

Pages 9 and 10:  Both pages have images adhered that were fussy cut from the paper collection.

Back Cover

The back cover was also left unembellished excecpt for the image that was fussy cut from the paper collection.

I like to leave some of my pages unadorned so I can embellish as needed, such as adding photos of upcoming Halloween parties or events.  

Supplies used:

GSL Gates Mini Album
GSL Spooky Shape Set
GSL Witches
GSL Bat Wings Miniatures
GSL Skeletons Shape Set
GSL Apothecary Jars
GSL Stackable Labels Shape Set

GSL Cutout Cover Mini Album - Gothic Novel
GSL Spiderweb Shape Set

Graphic 45 An Eeerie Tale paper collection
ColourArte Silks Acrylic Glazes
  Majestic Blue
  Rich Cobalt
  Snap Dragon
  Orange Peel
  Chestnut Brown
  Olive Vine
  Harvest Sol
Beige chalk paint
Stars Stencil (Tim Holtz)
3D Gel Medium (Finnabair)
Rustique Patina Bronze embossing powder (Judi-Kins)
Copper pigment ink pad (ColorBox)
Black Soot distress ink pad
Blending tool
Black gesso
White gesso
E6000 Extreme Tack glue
3/16" hole punch (Crop-a-dile)
1" or larger binding rings
Eyeballs collage sheet (AlphaStamps)
Decorative Edge Punch (Woodland Branch-Martha Stewart)

I hope I have inspired you with my project today, and that you will make a mini album for your upcoming holiday events.   Be sure to stop by regularly to see all the latest laser cut chipboard, as well as the fabulous designs from the rest of the team.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful day!

Barbara

Desk Calendar with Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts and Graphic 45

Hello everyone.  Barbara here today with a pretty cool flip album with stand from Gypsy Soul.  This kit comes with six chipboard pages, each with a different decorative bottom edge.  I decided to turn this into a calendar, beginning with August 2016, and carrying on through July 2017.  You can google calendars and find lots of different styles to print and cut apart for this project.  I found that the Graphic 45 paper, Time to Flourish, was a perfect complement for my flip calendar.  

This is the way the album will attach to the stand.  Simple!  I removed the rings and the chipboard pages and first glued the stand together.

Next, I painted the stand with a coat of white gesso, just to give it a good base for paints to adhere.

I wasn't sure where I was going with this, so my first coat of paint was an olive green chalk paint. I knew I wanted a dark color for the base to show beneath the crackle paint I wanted to apply.

I spread a medium thick coat of white crackle paint over the stand and allowed it to dry naturally for best crackling results.

Next, I began adding ColourArte Silks in Peridot, mixing a little Sky Blue into the still wet paint.  I felt this color was not going to work well with my chosen papers, so I tried adding Emperor's Gold Silks.  

I still was not happy, so I added Chestnut Roan chalk ink from a re-inker bottle and applying the color with a piece of cut n' dry foam.  

I was beginning to like it, but it needed some red tones, so I added Transparent Red Oxide with a damp baby wipe.  In the photo above, you can see where I started adding the red on the base, and I completed adding the red in the photo below.

I decided to make the wood look aged, like it had been sitting in a barn somewhere for quite awhile.  So, I added Carbon Black antiquing cream with a damp baby wipe.  

Let the antiquing cream dry, then using a damp baby wipe, remove as little or as much of the antiquing cream as you like.  Allow the piece to dry, then apply a coat of gloss varnish over the piece to protect it.

You may be wondering why I used so many layers of colors when my final layer looks like aged wood.  Well, that is the funny thing about mixed media.  It is all about layers, and to be honest, even though I was not sure about where I was going, those layers are showing through and adding to the aged look.    

Now it is time to decorate the pages.  I added dry adhesive to each of my chipboard pages and covered them accordingly.  Below, you can see that I have laid the first piece down onto the back of the January paper, then I used a craft knife to cut around it and re-punch the holes.  (Note:  Be careful as you work.  The opposite side of my January page will be covered with the July page, February will be covered with August, and so on, so that it will be easy to flip the set of pages at the middle of the year.)

Here are the first six months of the year on the first side of the six pages.  

Here are the second six months of the year on the opposite side of each of those pages.  

Now it is time to decorate each page with images that were fussy cut from the paper collection, and then embellished with appropriate chipboard from Gypsy Soul.

January = Snowflakes Shape Set (Brilliance Galaxy Gold and Platinum Planet)

February = Border Sticks Lattice Hearts (Pink Pastel, Rose Coral, Tangerine Chalk ink pads)

March = 4 Leaf Clover Set (Olive Pastel, Lime Pastel chalk ink, Firefly glitter glue)

April = Collage Border Splash (Inktense Blocks, Star Dust glitter glue)

May = Dressforms 2 Miniature Shape Set (Inktense Blocks)

Miniature Shapes Set - Ladies Choice (Inktense Blocks)

June = Butterflies & Dragonflies (Inktense Blocks + Star Dust Glitter)

July = Seaside Decor (Umbrella and water) (Inktense Blocks + white pen)

Beach Shape Set (chair) (Inktense Blocks + black pen)

August = Butterflies & Dragonflies (Inktense Blocks + Hologram glitter glue)

September = Vintage School Shape Set (Pen, ink bottle, book) (Inktense Blocks, black pen)

October = String Alongs Gothic (Raven) (Inktense Blocks, black, white pens)

Spiders & Webs (Inktense Blocks, Star Dust glitter glue)

November - Fall Shape Set (Inktense Blocks, charcoal pencil, black pen)

December - Light String Border (Inktense Blocks, Star Dust glitter glue)

Christmas Stocking Border (Stocking = Inktense Blocks, Gold Flower Soft)

(Ornament = Inktense Blocks, Diamond glitter glue)

And here it is again, all finished and ready for August!

Supplies used:

GSL Standing Flip Book  

GSL Snowflakes Shape Set

GSL Border Sticks Lattice Hearts

GSL 4 Leaf Clover Set (coming soon)

GSL Collage Border Splash

GSL Dressforms 2 Miniature Shape Set

GSL Miniature Shapes Set - Ladies Choice

GSL Butterflies & Dragonflies 

GSL Seaside Decor (coming soon)

GSL Beach Shape Set

GSL Vintage School Shape Set (coming soon)

GSL String Alongs Gothic

GSL Spiders & Webs (coming soon)

GSL Fall Shape Set

GSL Light String Border 

GSL Christmas Stocking Border

Graphic 45 Time to Flourish 8x8 paper collection 

ColourArte Silks Acrylic Glaze

  Peridot

  Sky Blue

  Emperor's Gold

Fluid Acrylics 

Chalk Ink Pads & Reinkers

I hope you enjoyed my project and have been inspired to make one of these super fun Standing Flip Books for yourself, or with Christmas coming up, this would make a fabulous gift for someone special.  And think about using it to display your favorite photos on your desk.  

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful and crafty day!

Barbara