Monday, March 29, 2010

My "Green" Mini Album

I'm starting to think about those all-important Mother's Day Gifts. I normally make fun little mini albums and this year will be no exception. I've decided to go "Green" this year and I knocked one of the albums out this weekend with this fun little circle album made out of recycled old CDs. Recycled CD Albums are one of my favorite mini-albums to make - they're SUPER sturdy (translation: my 3-yr-old doesn't tear them up as easily as a chipboard or paper album), they're the perfect size for a fabulous little gift, AND there are lots of really cute circle ablum templates out there making them SUPER quick and easy!!

I'll go ahead and share all of my project photos with you, then give you all of the nitty gritty details:
For this album, I started out by gathering up a handful of old scratched up CDs and DVDs (I NEVER throw these out for this purpose) and sorting through my digi pics of Dean from the past year+. I went with all my fave photos from the past year (you've probably seen several of these photos on various projects this year). Next I needed to find the perfect digi kit to use. I went with the awesome All-Star kit by Kristin Cronin-Barrow (Sweet Shoppe). Just look at everything you get in this kit for just $6.99 (I'm betting for all those papers, ribbons, buttons, tags, chipboard pieces, alphas, and other embellishments in "real life" you would pay WELL over $40!!):


Next, I needed a template (yes, I could have designed my pages from scratch - but let's face it - I'm waaaay too lazy for that!! LOL). I decided to use the new CD Album 4: Stars by Janet Phillips (Sweet Shoppe). Take a look:


I simply "clipped" my papers, photos and embellishments onto the layered templates using my Clipping Mask Tool in Photoshop Elements, added some journaling with DJB Print font by Darcy Baldwin (Sweet Shoppe), then printed out the album pages at home onto some Matte double-sided presentation paper. I cut out the individual album pages and used Mod Podge to attach them to the front and back of my recycled CDs. I punched a hole in all of the CDs using my Crop-o-Dile and used a book binding ring to hold all of the pages together. I added some bits and scraps of leftover ribbon to the ring for added embellishment.
And there you have it! A very special "Green" keepsake photo Mother's Day Gift from start to finish in a single afternoon. How are you going "Green" this Spring?

10 comments:

Jodi Collins said...

I totally LOVE this Jen Tapler (I can't just call you Jen...weird right? I must type Jen Tapler...LOL!!). The colors ROCK on this and I LOVE the idea to recycle CDs!!!!

Carol said...

Jen, love your recycled CD album...too cute! Sweet
Mother's Day gift! Carol :)

katemeri said...

I love this album Jen! It is so adorable! I have saved CD's over the years to make an album like this but have yet to do so. Do you do anything to reinforce the center hole or do you just paste paper and pics over it?

Jan Castle said...

Sooooooooooo cute!

Lisa said...

Hi Jen,
I love this clever idea! My mind is running away with itself on all the various ideas for mini albums. I have seen these done but never explained quite so well. You are so creative!
Hugs,
Lisa
muffy74sf@aol.com

Rosita said...

Beautiful .... I love the idea ... I will look for materials to create one ...n thanks for the sketches.....

And for sharing ....

luvstoscrap said...

Love the CD book!!! It would go great with Texas pictures too. I have an interest in digital scrapbooking, but could never give up my old ways of doing it and I'm too old to figure out how to do digital. Sad, commentary on me!!! Great job!!!
Nancy B

Maria Matter said...

oh WOW this is totally fabulous!

Blessings, Maria

Nonnie said...

These are so awesome Jen!!! Thanks for the GREAT inspiration!!!

Anthonette said...

Hi Jen, this album is a fabulous idea! What a perfect use for recycling old CDs. The digi template looks cool.