Entries by Raechelle Bellus

We don't do baseball in our house. So when I received a baseball themed album for my assignment this month (baseball diamond shape) I immediately set out to think of how I was going to use this album in a creative manner and still create something I would enjoy. An idea popped into my head so I ran with it and out came this fun "Home is where the heart is" banner that I am going to display on our mantle.

To see the entire album please visit the gallery. Don't forget to check out the work from the rest of the talented team. They've done some amazing and fun albums!

An album doesn't have to be an album, there are other creative ways to use your albums.

I used the Cascading Rectangle Acrylic Album to create a series of 6 plaques. Each has an inspirational quote and can be hung together or seperately.

To see each plaque individually you can visit the gallery here. It's full of amazing inspiration from members as well as the other DT members!

Rae

A great way to add some texture or get a "rough" look around the edges of your acrylic album is to emboss. It takes some time, but it is well worth it. I wanted to achieve a frosted look with my Snow Day album and this was just the trick to add to the overall feel of the album.

To do this peel the protective covering off of each side of the page. Holding the page along one corner apply ink to the edges and then sprinkle with embossing powder. Use your heat tool to set into place. Repeat process on other side and along all edges. The acrylic might bend a bit, but don't worry, it goes back to place once cool. You can even do this on the page itself, just rub an ink pad onto the page in desired areras, sprinkle embossing powder and heat. Repeat if you would like for more texture.

Creating an elegant stamped image on top of acrylic chips is easy and fun!

Here's how to do it:

1. Remove the protective paper from only one side of each chip you are going to use.

2. Adhere a bit of adhesive to the side of the acrylic chip with the protective paper still on and place onto a sheet of scrap paper that you are not going to use lining them up so the edges are touching and they are square. Be sure to use enough chips to be able to stamp the image onto them.

3. Select your stamp and brush acrylic paint over the image.

4. Carefully press stamp onto acrylic chips. Be careful not to wiggle stamp. Pull up carefully holding scrap paper down. Let dry.

5. Once paint is dry, remove chips from scrap paper and peel off backing.

6. Paint around each edge and allow to dry.

7. adhere stamped chip images onto paper leaving a small area between each chip.

When planning how you are going to place the papers on your clear
album pages, it's a good idea to try to create texture on both sides of
the album page. This helps create a more finished look and adds some
extra dimension to each page. Double sided papers are perfect for clear
albums because they take some of the "work" away.

Place the
desired patterned paper on one side of the album page. This creates
texture on one side. Then add another paper to the backside of the
album page to create texture for this side. 

I used some
torn paper on the front side of this page and then flipped it over and
added some lace cardstock to the backside. This gave me the look I
wanted without one side being too "heavy". It's difficult to see, but if you look at the lace cardstock you can see how the papers are overlapped.

Have fun creating!