Fiji Mini Album - Scrapmatts DT

Sofie and Andrew, the lovely owners of Scrapmatts, came to my town to run a day of classes in December last year. It had been far too long since the last time I got to catch up with them, so I took the day off work and signed up to do Sofie's mini-album with a cruise/beach theme. I was doing so well following instructions and got through most of it during the class... but then I got home and went a bit rogue. Before I knew it, there were pockets for hidden journaling, a lift-the-flap photo, even extra pages!

This beautiful cover page is entirely Sofie's design. A stunning mixed media piece, I didn't change a thing from what we created in the class.

For the inside cover I wanted to expand the seaweed at the bottom but didn't have any chipboard left. By masking off the areas I didn't want, I was able to use the frame as a mask and misted some extra seaweed. The photo on the right formed a pocket for a journaling card.

I created a lift-the-flag photo on the left because I had two photos of the jet boating I wanted to share.

The two chipboard shells were raw chipboard I painted with white gesso and then watercolored over the top to get the subtle muted tones.

More hidden journaling in this one. The tree branch is one piece that I've cut to fit across the two pages.

Sometimes the journaling works best without being hidden. 

I used the chipboard to create mini-scenes for each of these pages, continuing the elements from within photo. There are journaling cards behind each photo.

The back page is just to show Sofie I was able to use that beautiful paper as a feature instead of using the reverse striped side like her instructions told me to. :)

Most of my chipboard for this project was specially made in a kit for the class, even taking into consideration the extra pages. Before I was on the Design Team, I would always make sure to take a Scrapmatts class at every expo I went to because there are always lots of extra chippies to play with when you get home included in the kit. If you were looking to replicate this album, similar chipboard includes: CB6062 Shells 02, CB1218 Scrap Words 19, CB6113 Scrap Words 32, CB6103 Scrap Words 21, CB5056 Twigs 02, CB1126 Marine Life 01, CB1221 Nautical Designs 04. I also used stencil ST1004 Stencil Bubbles.

The challenge over at Show Us Your Stuff this month is the mood board above which I saw as I was finishing off my album. I was inspired by the beach theme, the shell and star shapes and the bright accent pink/red colour. My handmade items are all the hand-painted chipboard shapes.