Junk Mail Envelope Accordion Album Tutorial!

How many of get junk mail? I am not talking about spam either, I am talking old good ole' fashion unwanted snail mail. Over on the message board at Scrap Attack Scrapbooking Lauri got us talking about junk mail and what we all do with it. My mouth hit the floor to find everyone either shreds, recycles or just plain tosses it...I was like for the love of all thrifty scrappiness stop! I vowed to make a tutorial to share how to make an accordion junk mail envelope album that I had learned to make a while back. I literally had an hour to make this and no one to take pictures but it is so easy you should have no problem following along if you do just let me know and I will explain further!

Alright then here we go!

You will need: 5 Junk Mail Envelopes (same size)
Scrapbook Kit Cardboard or Chipboard (2-5x5)
Coordinating Paper
Ribbon
Adhesive

First, you will need to seal the envelopes with your adhesive. 

Then using a ruler mark the half way point on your envelopes, because they come in many sizes make sure you check yours as measurements can vary!

Now using your half way mark as a guide line it up on the 4" mark on your cutter and trim each "side" to 4" making your envelope now 8"

Now that your trimmed you will want to fold your envelope in half it doesn't matter which way you fold it can be flipped everything gets covered.

Once you have them all folded, you can begin adhering them together in an alternating format. *Notice on the first picture I labeled the folds where the envelopes crease is, you want to alternate the side the fold is on right, left, right*

Continue alternating and adhering until all 5 are together making your accordion.

Now we will make your cover by taking your board and cutting it to 5" by 5".

Pick out your paper for your cover and back you will cut this to 6" by 6"

Once your paper is cut you will adhere your cover to the back leaving equal amounts of space on all sides.

Carefully cut each corner at an angle leaving only a tiny piece of paper at the 4 points of the cover.

Repeat steps for back cover.

Using a glue runner, run along the complete edge of the back of the cover and don't worry if it is thicker than the fold it will all be covered.

Once you finish putting glue on fold each side over to cover the sides of the board as in the second picture.

Now you will cut out your backing for your cover. I like for some of my cover to show so I cut mine 4 3/4" by 4 3/4" you can do it this way or cut it 5" by 5" just like the cover. Adhere to inside of cover.

Repeat steps for back cover.

Now you need to measure your folds, mine were roughly 4" by 4 1/8" you will need to double check yours. If you only used 5 envelopes you will need 10 pieces to cover you pages. Adhere them in alternating fashion so each page is distinct from the last.

Take your ribbon and cut it into equal lengths, the thicker you plan to make your album the longer it needs to be. If you plan on doing any bluky embellishments like flowers I suggest no shorter than 20". Glue the ribbon either from top to bottom or side to side.

Once you have the ribbon down you can adhere your front page to the front cover and your back page to the back cover.

You now have an accordion album! The best part is it doesn't stop there! You now have pockets on each side to add tags or pictures to, the possibilities are endless!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, I know there are a million out there and each a little different from the last, this is the easiest for me and I hope it was for you as well! I would love to see what you make if I perhaps have inspired you to make one!!

Thanks so much for reading!

Altered Letters and Flower Tutorial :)

My niece turned two end of march and for her birthday I gave her my first altered piece ever! I had such a huge response to the letters from family and friends on the distressing and vintage feel I was truly overwhelmed as I have only done two vintage type pieces ever! For the letters, I picked them up from the local flea market,  you can also find them at any craft store. I painted them brown then cut out the letter shape. I distressed everything I worked with using distressed ink, crackle paint, sander, and files. I hand made the large flowers and layered several embellies in hope to give more of 3D look.

I have also had an unbelievable about of complements of my flowers and so many people email or ask how they were made so I decided to make my first tutorial (so please be kind armature here!). I originally found a 3 piece video on youtube on how to make it (I have lost the link will update) so I took pictures as I went to show you the steps.

Here are the supplies you will need:
1.Packing Paper (brown or cream)- you can use butcher paper or go to home town pottery and they use it to wrap your breakables in

2.Circle cutting tool -I am using Creative memories
you will need 3 different sizes
3.Embossing pad, large background stamp -you can use smaller it is just easier to use big one
4. Embossing Powder
5. Heating tool
6. Glimmer mists
7. Flower centers (gems button, glitter)
8. Glue Dots
9. Hot glue gun

First you need to cut 3 circles in decreasing sizes
*if using the lighter paper it is really thin so it tears super easy, don't worry it is fine

Next you will need to stamp the circles with embossing ink, apply powder and using your heating tool heat the powder.The image does not need to be perfect the messier they are the better!

Once they are completely cooled (if using distressing ink make sure you get the release crystals off before this step by rubbing the circle with your finger) Spray them with which ever mist you would like. Generally for lighter colors I use the lighter paper and for darker colors I use the brown paper.

If you want a darker color, multi color, or blend several to make a new one Spray one color then dry completely, then spray the next color. Repeat until desired color is reached. Here are the colors I used and results

Here is the fun part! Scrunch it, crumble it, roll it...destroy it, then open it but do not smooth.
*do this to all of them before continuing.

Now you want to fold the circle in half, then in again, and again. While folded pinch the bottom of the triangle and hold here.

While pinching the bottom, start to unfold and open the flower. The point is to have the pinch remain to use as the center of the flower... if you get this right simply place it on a glue dot. (I have a wood circle I like to use from a bag at Micheal's of wood shapes, you can use cardstock and cut it if you like)

This is the hard part, I have yet to master it, so I have a trick for you if you can't get it either!!! Once you open the flower and your "pinch" has fallen apart grasp the flower like I am here, cradle the bottom while pinching you fingers to the center as you place it on the glue dot. If you are still unhappy see the next picture. Here my layer didn't look right so I pinched the center squeezing the paper into the glue dot while turning it to give it the scrunch look NOTE: this will only work if you use sticky glue dot or similar product, liquid adhesive takes to long and hot glue gun tend to dry to fast

Then repeat the steps for the next two layers, play with it until it takes the shape that you like, it is your flower so make it yours! Once you have finished the layers, I use my Cat's Eye Liquid Chalk to ink the edges, you can use any ink really. You can either use coordinating color or contrasting, or go with color to match your distressing powder...or the always faithful brown.

Now it is time for the center, again this is another "you" moment you can add what ever you like to either match the flower, your layout or just your style in general. I have two examples here of my favorites... I use the large gems alot, also if I really want it to match and I have nothing that will...my tusty old Martha Stewart glitter pack usually has something close enough and with glitter the color changes in the light so it can blend better. I have also used buttons as well as stickers. Again it is a "you" moment here.

If you use the glitter, my opinion is the hot glue gun works best for this. I have used the glossy accent and a liquid glue here as well and it takes way to long and doesn't have the enough height for me. Same with a glue stick or runner no dimension to it.

At this point you are either done or continuing your "you" moment, sometimes I  go back and ink the layers more with a slightly darker shade or I use stickles to edge them. A really neat look for more simmers, I make a draw a line with the stickles on the smallest circle all the way around  the smear it through the layers to give a touch of color and shimmer!
And wall-la you have your flower! Here are some of the ones I have used in the past as well as my finished product from this tutorial...

Ok so YAY my first tutorial! I hope it was easy enough to follow. let me know if you have any questions!!Thanks for reading!