Amboise, France Mini Album

It's Auburn Lane week on the Pink Paislee blog and I made a mini album about our day in Amboise, France - the colors went together perfectly and even the houses throughout this collection matched this city to a "T"! Definitely a French vibe in Auburn Lane and it's beautiful.

A quick flip through of the mini album:

How did this mini album come to be? A couple weeks ago we went with my parents to their house in Wallace, Idaho for General Conference and I brought this collection with me. I wasn't planning to make a mini album but after I cut apart Paper 01 and Paper 11 into the individual cards and sentiments, I thought about what I could do with all of them and a vision of a mini album popped into my head. The idea was born! Using only the limited supplies I brought with me, including embroidery threads and my sewing machine (YES, I brought my sewing machine on vacation, lol), I created most of the foundation pages.

Here are the finished front sides:

And the finished back sides:

For the cover I trimmed a piece of Paper 10 to 3x4", rounded the bottom corners, and then backed one of the Wood Veneer Frames with vellum. Since the space was small and my title was quite long, I created a "ransom note" style title by cutting out letters from lots of different pieces from leftovers of Paper 01 and Paper 11. The year and heart stickers are from the Sticker Book.

On the top page I applied a gold frame Rub-On to white cardstock, fussy cut it out, and adhered it with foam squares over a tangle of thread. For the journaling strips throughout this mini album I copied and pasted my blog post into a new word document, changed the font to Remington Noiseless, printed it out, and then trimmed it into strips. I used liquid glue to adhere the tiny strips in place. For the bottom page I fussy cut one of the flowers from the Specialty Floral Vellum and adhered a "thankful" Ephemera Die Cut on top along with an "October" sticker from the Sticker Book underneath.

This card is made from a piece of Paper 12 with a frame and floral Ephemera Die Cuts glued on top then I stamped the date on the handy dandy space on the bottom right corner. I tucked a photo behind the flower and adhered a caption below.

Left photo top: I stapled a paper flower over a Puffy Sticker flower and overlapped them on a photo. I glued journaling pieces down the right side. Left photo bottom: On a small piece of Paper 02 I added a journaling spot Sticker and journaled on top. I tied pink embroidery thread to a paperclip from the Mixed Embellishments and slipped it onto the left edge. Right photo top: I adhered a photo onto the back of a stitched sentiment card, rounded the corners, and then place a heart and sentiment sticker from the Sticker Book on the top left corner. Right photo bottom: I stamped journaling lines and hearts onto a card from Paper 01 then rounded the corners.

I fussy cut all of the adorable houses from Paper 05 and tucked one behind a photo of Leonardo da Vinci's house. Then I made a sequin pocket using packaging and sequins from the Mixed Embellishments. I placed a floral Puffy Sticker on top for added interest.

Here is a full-page photo and I added a piece of a Floral Die Cut at the bottom then machine stitched around the edges.

Left photo top: I applied a gold floral Rub-On at the top of a full-page photo. Left photo bottom: I hand stitched on a sweet card from Paper 01. Middle photo top: I applied a floral Rub-On at the top of a full-page square photo with rounded corners. Middle photo bottom: I hand stitched around the bouquet on this card from Paper 01, placed a "beautiful" Ephemera Die Cut at the bottom, and added a caption below. Right photo top: This card is made from Paper 08 and at the top I added a journaling spot Sticker with journaling over it and then a photo of a pie we ate so the little utensil and teacup Stickers matched well. Right photo bottom: This is a flower fussy cut from Paper 06 with another Floral Die Cut layered on top.

At the bottom right corner of the full-page photo I created a cluster of little embellishments. The bottom page is a card from Paper 01 with hand stitched frames and only at the very end of making this album did I realize the "A" could also be for "Amboise" instead of "Autumn!" (That's what's printed underneath the handmade "for Amboise" banner".) How serendipitous! I topped the printed "A" with a Chipboard Thickers "A".

A detail shot of some layered fussy-cut and die cut flowers. After tucking a photo under an Ephemera Die Cut frame I glued sequins on the right side and then glued journaling strips below. The bottom page is a floral card from Paper 11 with a matching "beautiful" Puffy Sticker on top - after adhering a photo to the back I machine stitched around the edges.

I layered all kinds of flowers down this piece of Paper 09, machine stitched down the center a few times, and then placed a "wander" Sticker on top.

On the top card I added two photos of half-timber houses and then embellished with stickers and die cuts. The bottom page is a card from Paper 01 with hand stitching details, a tiny fussy cut flower, and typed journaling strips.

Left photo is flowers, flowers everywhere :) The right photo is a Wood Veneer Frame on a page made from Paper 08 and a photo tucked into the corner.

On the back of a fussy cut flower I layered a round floral frame and stapled a photo with gold Washi Tape. The bottom page is another card from Paper 01 and I hand stitched through the "love more" sentiment then carefully trimmed around and bent up the leaves and flowers. See detail shot below.

Underneath the photo of the church interior is journaling written with a white pen. | You can see the dimension on this card made by cutting around leaves and flowers then bending them up.

I backed this card with white cardstock that I stitched pieces of Washi Tape onto. I tucked a photo behind a floral die cut and added a caption. The "wander" tag is from Paper 11.

I spent some time hand stitching through the "gathered" word on this Ephemera Die Cut tag and then edged the bottom with gold Washi Tape and a flower sticker.

On the back of the tag I covered the hand stitching with flowers and leaves topped with a photo and heart puffy sticker. The bottom page is a full photo with a Wood Veneer Frame and Puffy Sticker decorations.

Details. On the top right corner of this full page photo I placed three stickers from the Sticker Book then machine stitched around the edges. The bottom is another card from Paper 01 with hand stitching through the word "gather".

One final card from Paper 01 with hand stitching.

The last page is a family photo and embellishment/journaling cluster at the top.

I wasn't even planning on making this mini album but I'm so glad I did because we have more wonderful memories documented! Plus, I love playing with paper, scissors, glue, and all the embellishments :)

I hope you get your hands on the new Auburn Lane collection - once you start sifting through all of the pretty things you'll be so inspired you'll want to run to your crafty space to get to makin'!

SUPPLIES: AUBURN LANE: Paper 01, Paper 02, Paper 03, Paper 04, Paper 05, Paper 06, Paper 07, Paper 08, Paper 09, Paper 10, Paper 11, Paper 12, Specialty Floral Vellum, 6x8 Paper Pad, Mixed Embellishments, Wood Veneer Frames, Floral Die Cuts, Sticker Book, Washi Tape, Rub-Ons, Stickers, Puffy Stickers, Foam Thickers, Chipboard Thickers, Chipboard Stickers