LSNED, Album Cover

So I spent all day Saturday creating my album cover! I'm very excited. I decided to do something kind of different - no standard 8x8 or 6x6 for this girl. My album size is 10x6. Random, right? Don't ask me how I decided on that. I have this old sketchbook that I got as a gift in high school that I've used on and off for random artsy things, including the one art class I took my first time around in undergrad, and since the covers of that book have long since been used for various other projects, I decided to use the paper (and likely the binding) to create my Learn Something New Every Day (LSNED) album.

The paper was 10x10, with bind-it-all-like holes on the edge. I just cut four inches off the top and got my base pages:



And now I have left-over 10x4 paper to do something fun with...

Next, I cut down some chip board pieces to 10x6. I painted them green (front and back to cover up that ugly cardboard brown!) and then used my crop-a-dile to punch holes to match the paper:


Then began the process of decorating the cover. This is what took me all day. Saturday was kind of rough because, for some strange reason, I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before. Went to bed around 1:00am, and woke up at 4:00, wide awake, with no hope of going back to sleep. So I watched My Sister's Keeper on demand and balled my eyes out, which certainly didn't help my fatigued state. Anywho, I digress. It took me all day and even into Sunday to finish this cover, when I should have been able to have completed it in a few hours.

I first added some white to my green paint and painted a "10" in the center to signify the year. As it turned out, this didn't turn out, and was barely noticeable after I added everything else, so I ended up having to add more white paint and paint over it again. I think in the end it turned out really good. (This is probably what took the most time, as I was very anal-retentive about painting the 10 the first time, and then highly disappointed that all of my work had been for nothing.)

I used some stamps to create the "learn something" out of a cursive font, and then transferred the image using a pencil technique I learned several years ago so that they would look connected.

(Pencil technique: so easy! "trace" or draw your image (or stamp) on a piece of paper. Turn the paper over and cover the back side of the image with pencil, just coloring over it solid. Then turn the paper back over, place it over whatever surface you want to transfer the image to, and trace over the image, making edits as you desire (in my case, connecting the letters). May seem like a no-brainer, but I thought it was ingenious when I learned it. Of course, I was, what, 12?)

I used chipboard letters painted blue for the "new."

And then came the "everyday." Something else that took entirely too long, but mainly just for me to make a decision. I used a stamp set that looks like typewriter keys, but there was too much black. So I did the negative image by stamping yellow ink on yellow cardstock and then blacking out the non-stamped parts with a Sharpie. However, by this time, I had stamped these cute little flowers in the corner, and the letters were so big they would cover up one of the flowers. So I started from scratch and created my own typewriter key images in a smaller size.

I added a little bird (so cute, I may use him on every page!), and then, realizing that my "learn something" was slightly off-centered, added another flower to the edge to balance it all out. But you can imagine that I did that on purpose.

So, finally, here's my cover:


On the back cover I put the month and date, since the month is not on the front and the date is somewhat obscure:


I have yet to actually scrapbook a page, and even after my plan from my last post, I may not. I have drawn out some 10x6 sketches, so I have something to work with, but I may wait and scrapbook each page after I get the images and learning, to see if they speak to me. I don't want to box myself in.



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