2021: Wedding Album with 3D Vignettes

When my (now) brother-in-law told us he was going to propose to my sister, I immediately knew I wanted to give them something elaborate AND sentimental.

Inspiration

A few months earlier, Becca Feeken and Spellbinders released the 3D Vignettes collection and I had picked up a couple of the dies during holiday sales. I immediately thought of those dies and started browsing the Spellbinders blog, the APG site, Pinterest, and Instagram looking for inspiration.

With the pandemic and travel restrictions, I wanted to include the best wishes of family members who wouldn’t be able to attend. Lastly, at some point, I had a conversation with my parents about how enthusiastically our grandparents would’ve celebrated. Unfortunately, three of our grandparents had already passed while our paternal grandmother was in poor health. With that in mind, I wanted to include them too.

Meanwhile, once my sister started her wedding planning, I reached out to ask her about wedding colors. Based on her response, an inspiration board she shared, and knowing both my sister and brother-in-law liked purple – I chose Mint and Lavender as the main colors. Using my cardstock swatches, I pulled out shades that matched or complemented the inspiration. I ended up choosing a variety of both regular and specialty cardstock. For regular cardstock, I picked 100#/110# from Bazzill, Gina K, Lawn Fawn, Papertrey Ink, Hero Arts, MFT, Reverse Confetti, Simon Says Stamp and Taylored Expressions. Since I only use specialty cardstocks to die cut or layer, paperweight wasn’t important and I stuck to Grafix, Papertrey Ink, and Tonic Studios.

Gathering Memories (and some supplies)

The process of getting everything together was long and (at times) stressful. The beginning step was to reach out and let all our family know I wanted messages and photos from them.

To ensure the individual pages flowed together, I decided to keep the layout consistent. First, I cut the largest die from Spellbinders’ Classic Nested Ovals LG die set. I used Papertrey Ink cardstock in Vintage Cream as the cream complimented all of the Mint and Lavender cardstocks I liked. Once I cut enough ovals, I mailed one out to each family member I wanted a handwritten message from. I coordinated with each person to also get photos of some of their favorite moments with my sister (and brother-in-law).

Luckily, since I had over a year to put the memento together, I was able to reach out to both my mom and dad’s sides of the family. I also was able to get messages/photos from my brother-in-law’s parents and siblings. Both sets of parents also agreed to write messages on behalf of our grandparents and share childhood photos.

With that done, I could focus on making sure I had all of the supplies. After selecting cardstocks, I sorted through my supplies and re-ordered any colors I had used up.

Next, I cut a bunch of different nested and layering oval dies from scrap cardstock. I layered the die cuts against a test album page in different combinations. Visualizing the pages this way confirmed I had the dies to create the look I wanted. I decided to hold off on getting any embellishments until the album was further along.

I cut the coordinating Universal Accordion Fold Spine die to hold the album pages together. The spine die cuts a panel 4″ wide providing space for 4 double-sided album pages plus a front and back cover. Since I wanted more pages, I used partial die cutting to extend the spine. It took a few tries to figure out the right length. Eventually, I cut an 11″ wide panel, which held 13 double-sided pages (plus the front and back cover).

With such a large album, I knew the spine needed to provide a lot of support. I used 120# heavyweight cardstock but the first spine was unstable at the folds. After trying a few other options, I ended up getting Tyvek paper to reinforce the cardstock before I scored it. I then scored both the front and back. Next, I used both extra strong redline tape plus Tombow liquid glue to keep it together. Finally, I added another Tyvek panel over the scored/folded flat edge. I placed binder clips on each fold and let the spine dry overnight. The next day, I set it aside in the same project bin where I collected other items related to the album.

Working in small pieces

Once I saw that the spine was quite sturdy, I felt comfortable cutting the album pages.

I used Spellbinders’ 3D Vignettes Mini Album die to cut a background page in each cardstock color. I cut the detail layering panel in each of the specialty cardstocks. Finally, I laid them all out – mixing and matching – to find the combination of colors that worked best. I tried to have no more than two pages identical.

Once I had that finalized, I placed every gold, lavender/lilac, and aqua/mint embellishment that matched the final cardstock colors in a project bin. Separating my embellishments like this I could see the only items I was low on and might need to get were artificial flowers and flatback pearls.

To keep it manageable, I worked on the album in parts. After getting the basic pages, I first die-cut small decorations and panels. I cut Spellbinders’ Elephant Festival die in coordinating shades of Mint/Lavender. Then I used the same Spellbinders’ Classic Nested Ovals LG die and partial die cutting to create panels that would be able to fold out so I could layer photos on top of the messages. I pulled out a few of the pocket, swirl, and tag dies in my collection and cut them from the specialty cardstocks to have options for decorating some of the pages.

Putting it together

Once I started receiving messages and photos from all of our family, I realized there were so many cute photos that I wanted more space. To increase how many photos I could put in the mini album, I used an APG die of the month – Elegant Swivel & Sashay Card – to make fold-out photo strips. I find the APG dies of the month with interactive elements to be useful for papercraft projects. For a few of the pages, I added trifold oval panels so I could include even more photos. For all of these panels and strips, I used the same PTI Vintage Cream cardstock.

To avoid overbuying, I didn’t purchase any extra embellishments until after I was ready to start assembling. After I started putting together the pages, I decided to have the handwritten messages stay hidden. To make that work, I picked up small velcro dots. One I glued on the page and the other I attached to a 3/8″ satin ribbon. I ran the ribbon under the photo on the center ovals. Finally, I used a small button embellishment over the ribbon, where the two dots matched up.

The inside pages, I kept mostly free of extra embellishments. I wanted the focus to be on the messages and photos. Instead, I limited the decoration on the inside to a few intricate die cuts. All of the message/photo panels were layered with an intricate oval die cut from a few different Spellbinders sets.

Decorating with Embellishments

Once I finished assembling the album, I focused on embellishing the cover pages and spine. I mostly used die cuts, gems, and flat-back pearls. I used permanent vinyl on the spine as support and decoration over the Tyvek. On top of the vinyl panel, I placed small die-cut embellishments and flatback pearls.

For the front cover, I used a combination of flat-back pearls, small floral trinkets, and green rhinestones. I used a photo from their engagement as the cover image. For the clasp of the album, I used partial die cutting to lengthen the clasp die included as part of the vignette die set. I cut the entire clasp from Tonic Studios’ iridescent mirror cardstock in Water Sprite.

On the back cover, I used Heartfelt Creations’ Decorative Blossom Corner die to create a place where I could have an insert with my logo (plus an extra photo). I also embellished with flat-back pearls, gem stickers, and rhinestones. The corner pocket I cut out of shimmer cardstock but it wasn’t flashy enough for my taste. So I used Versamark Embossing ink to cover the entire panel and then heat embossed in Ranger’s Bridal Tinsel embossing powder. I wish this embossing powder came in the large jar – I go through so much of it! I cut the panel for my logo from gold glitter cardstock with Spellbinders Oval Coronet die.

Once the album was complete, I needed a sturdy gift box that would also double as protection. I tried many, many options but eventually found a lacquer gift box at the Container Store, which was acid-free and the correct size. I decorated it with vinyl letters cut using Tim Holtz’s Classic Lower Alphanumeric dies, artificial flowers, and some embellishments from my stash. Conveniently, I had just enough leftover ribbon in Sage and Orchid to tie around the gift box.