"Beautiful", at long last my Clear Mini Scrapbook

It's about time I shared the details of this little Clear Mini Scrapbook that I showed back when we announced the new Spellbinder products and I shared my first projects using the Pierceabilities. I have to admit that I love to scrap pictures of family and friends, but rarely have the time. These little mini scrapbooks may be my answer. I always find it so fulfilling to create a project that uses pictures of my children. It brings a huge smile to my face as I see their smiling little faces appear on the papers before me.

Clear albums are all the rage and I have been wanting to try my hand at one. This is my first attempt and so it was very much an exploration into this medium for me. It became one of those - hmmm - "what can I do with this?" sort of projects. It began with my curiosity as to what plastic would look like pierced. I was thrilled with the look of the completed project!

Taking a picture of a clear project is quite challenging though - unfortunately these are the best photos I was able to get.

It began with finding a plastic that I could cut with my Nestabilities. This has been something I have been looking for. Unfortunately I have not yet found the perfect solution, but this one is pretty close. To complete this project I had to "cheat" a little.

I have found this Crystal Clear plastic that I have packaged and am now selling in our store, but as you can see I only get a really deep impression in the plastic - it does not cut all the way through.

To cut all the way through is quite simple though. The deep impression allows me to use my little Scissor snips to glide along this line and finish my cut. I don't think I would want to do this on a complicated piece, but for the basic shapes that I would like to create books with it has been extremely easy to complete the cuts on these projects. I am still looking for that "perfect" material, but until then I am thrilled with the results I can achieve with this product.

As you can see it is covered on both sides with a blue plastic film. Once I have completed work on the plastic I then peel this film off of both sides and reveal the clear plastic.

Before peeling the plastic I would suggest doing the piercing. This keeps you from marring the surface, as well as reduces the number of fingerprints that may end up on your project Ü

I found that by placing a stick pin through each end of the template it held my piercing template firmly in place and reduced the movement as I pierced.

As you can see in this picture the piercing did "reshape" the plastic slightly, but when the project was complete it ended up just perfect.

First the blue plastic was removed. I then positioned my pierced piece with the "rough" side up. The side you pierce into will be smooth - the opposite side will have a rough appearance to it which catches the light and has the appearance of little pieces of glitter. I added clear gemstones to the center of each square to add some additional bling and then using Palette, New Canvas added a flourish and the word "Beautiful" from this awesome Rummage Bin set. I am finding this set so versatile and useful and so I apologize if I'm using it too much - that's what happens when I fall in love with something though - LOL! Be certain to allow plenty of time for the Palette ink to dry. In this case I left my project untouched overnight. When I returned the next day it was dry and ready to go.

As you can see in the top photo I added a layer of Lagoon cardstock. I cut this using the label die, I then cut the opposite end of this segment with the Victorian Pierceability. Once again using a flourish from the Beautiful set I stamped and embossed the blue side with Versamark and used white embossing powder to really add pop to it. On the opposite side I stamped another flourish using Memento, Rich Cocoa.

This next page is a picture of my littlest sweetie in her dance recital attire. It is on rare occasions that we get to do something with her beautiful blonde hair to take it off her face. She's my wild haired, little free spirit - LOL, and so this slicked back look is indeed rare. Texture was added to the background of her picture using yet another portion of a pierceability.

The back side of this clear page has a picture of my older beauty at her eighth grade promotion ceremony. It is so incredible to see one's children growing and learning; becoming an adult right before your eyes! To pull this little book all together I once again used the Lagoon and Vanilla cardstock and added yet another layer of piercing.

You can see the back page of the album peeking out on the right-hand side. I recently learned that this plastic sent through Cuttlebug folders creates THE most awesome texture. First I cut out the label shape and then I placed it in my Cuttlebug folder and sent it back through the Wizard again. WOWIE - the result is SO cool looking. I can now envision playing with alcohol inks on this way cool surface. If one of you tries it please link us up - I'd love to see your results!

The last thing I did was punched a hole in each layer using my Crop-a-dile and then threaded a pretty little Chandelier crystal through to hold the whole book together. The jump ring was even the correct size for this little project - yippie!

Thank you for letting me share my "beautiful" girls with you once again. What I am most proud of is that they are not just beautiful on the outside, but they are more beautiful on the inside (at least most of the time - LOL!).

Comments

[Karen Wallace]

Wow, this is just so beautiful!!!

[Debbie Olson]

Truly beautiful, Ellen! Thanks for sharing it!

[Liddy]

Wow, this is totally amazing. I have just discovered Spellbinders and I can see the possibilities are amazing, your clear album is beautiful.

[-mary]

Beautiful girls...

And I love the clear album. I've used transparencies with dies, embossing, and inks. Unfortunately, I've given them all away as gifts or I would send you a picture :(

-mary

[Gabriela]

Holy cow! Now THAT's a challenge! Your end product is lovely though. You're a master! I cannot wait for Pierceabilities to be available for purchase. There are a number of them that have my name written all over them.

[Debbie Fisher]

with all the new clear mini albums out there, this is going to be a huge hit that we can make our own! This is awesome!!

[Holly]

Just a really neat project you created and a wonderful tutorial on doing it! Your daughters are just beautiful!