I am delighted to share my completed 4th of July scrapbook album for 2023! I had so much fun making one for 2022, I decided to create another for this year :)
Here is a walk-and-talk through of the album:
The idea for these scrapbooks all started with cute charms from Emily Inspired Designs! She released a bunch of patriotic tassels in the summer of 2021 and I grabbed 6 of them. I used 3 last year and 2 this year so I have 1 left for next year!
We wanted a repeat of our last two 4th of July holidays spent with my entire family in the cute & quaint town of Wallace, ID. About a month before our trip I pulled out my box of 4th of July supplies and purchased more to replenish my stash. I can't resist red, white & blue collections!
Then I began working on foundation pages for this album. I shared a lot of the process in my instastories and saved them to a HIGHLIGHT.
Affiliate linked to supplies I used:
ALBUM & PAGE PROTECTORS
PAPER COLLECTIONS
Made in the USA by Miss Kate (my favorite!)
EMBELLISHMENTS
Charms & Tassels by Emily Inspired Designs
I also used ribbons, sequins, enamel dots, and brads from my stash.
With all the supplies in hand I got started! I used a red striped 6x8 SNAP album by Simple Stories to hold all our memories.
I tied a bundle of ribbons around the front cover and then made a bunch of layered stars with punches. To add sparkle & shine I attached a specialty jewel, pearl, or glitter brad through the center of each star. I've had these brads since the days I worked in-house at American Crafts way back in 2008! I gave life to the stars by creasing at every point and then hot glued them onto the left side of the cover. I embellished with stickers, buttons, and enamel dots.
To decorate the spine, I trimmed a piece of floral paper to fit the width, folded it in half to make it more sturdy, then tucked it into the plate. I used the red foil Mini Thickers from my new Sugarplum Wishes collection to make the year 2023. I clip the charm onto the top of the spine as a cute dangle.
Once the cover was complete, I made 9 foundation pages. Techniques range from paper piecing & backing a cut file to hand stitching, punching & more!
In almost all the patriotic paper collections I purchased there are cut-apart papers perfect for pocket scrapping. I cut apart all those papers into the individual cards, grabbed a wide variety of 6x8 Page Protectors, and then figured out the placement of most of the cards and my foundation pages. At this point, all I had to do was wait for our vacation and take lots of photos!
Just like last year, I sent an email to all my family and asked them if they would help me out and wear only red/white/blue clothes. And most of them did :)
We flew to Spokane, WA on Saturday July 1st and returned on Wednesday July 5th. I took over 700 photos then narrowed it down to 182 which I cropped and edited. I printed almost all the pictures at 4x6", 3x4", and 2x2" from the super speedy printing service by Walgreens. I printed 9 favorites to 6x8" at home on my Canon Pro-100 printer to back the 9 foundation pages,
Once I had my pictures in hand and trimmed down to size, all I had to do was insert them into the pocket pages which meant moving some cards I'd already slipped in elsewhere and adding a few more pocket page protectors, and attached the 6x8 photos onto the backs of the 9 foundation pages.
I had a few other assignments to complete first so this project was on standby, and then on Saturday July 22nd I spent 12 hours, from 8am-8pm, finishing the album. All in that day I typed/printed/trimmed/glued journaling strips throughout as well as wrote journaling here and there. Then I worked on each page one at a time from beginning to end adding stickers, die cuts, ribbon trims, patterned paper page turners, and more embellishments until the album was finished. Ta-da!!
Here are pictures of all the spreads - please let me know if you have any questions about anything, I'm happy to answer!
I backed my 4th of July cut file cut from white cardstock with my favorite papers from the Made in the USA collection by Miss Kate and then made the year with white Alphabet Soup Stickers by Doodlebug and the location with Red Foil Mini Foam Thickers.
This blue polka dot paper page was included in the Navy 6x8 Album I used last year. I clustered stickers from the Made in the USA collection by Miss Kate on the top right corner and stitched white puff ball ribbon on the edge.
Layered die cuts on the top left adorn the left page and on the right I slipped cards and a photo into the pockets then embellished with stickers, typed journaling, a tab, and more.
I think my favorite 4th of July embellishment is banners!!
Sometimes the cards are just so pretty they become the embellishments themselves! Just pop a few stickers on top and call it good!
Oh my goodness I had SO.MUCH.FUN making this album! From beginning to end and every moment between this album filled and continues to fill me with joy! I love being able to relive our family vacations through scrapbooks.
I hope you are inspired to make a whole 6x8 album too! Whether documenting the 4th of July or any other holiday, pre-planning pages and using pocket page protectors helps make an album come together quickly & easily.
This is now the 5th traditional 6x8 pocket page scrapbook I've made! The first was my December Daily 2016 album. Then I made an album about Disneyland. My December Daily 2021 was a 6x8 hybrid. My first 4th of July album and now this 4th of July album!
Let me know if you have any questions about anything, always happy to help!
Thanks for stopping by, have a great day, and see you again soon!
This is absolutely gorgeous! A labor of love! So much to look at, so many textures. It's a beautiful documentation of your trip!
ReplyDeleteLove this! You are so talented!
ReplyDeleteSo much inspiration! Thanks for sharing your beautiful work with us!
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