Hello BG fans, we have a really awesome treat for you today! Caroline Gatenby has joined us as our May Guest Designer, all the way from the UK. For anyone who is familiar with Caroline’s work, she creates some pretty amazing mini albums that are so eclectic, charming and fun. The album she created using BasicGrey’s Capture products is no different and she took loads of photos to walk you through her creative process. Enjoy the eye candy and be sure to leave some love for the fantastic album that Caroline created for all of us!
Caroline Gatenby: I was delighted to be asked to put together a journal using the Basic Grey capture collection. I used my sewing machine throughout the album but tried not to add many other techniques because I wanted to showcase these versatile products.
The album is themed as a journal for the next few months, as I am about to have a major life change regarding my work and I am going to highlight the key things I am enjoying at that moment and I will add some favourite photographs in page protectors as I go along.
I like to have a simple front cover, maintaining a relatively flat surface to the album so it’s easy to store.
I used a false sewing technique on the front cover (photo: mini cover 3) and inside(photo: mini page 2) where you stitch through one layer of paper or card and then stick it down so it looks as if the stitching is what holds it together but actually it is double sided tape. This technique is useful when you don’t want the stitching to go through all your layers and make pockets behind other pockets unusable (photo: mini page 33).
Candy buttons are nice and flat, love them so much in all colours!
I broke apart a Spiral journal ledger and used the pages randomly inside the album too as well as all the other great products i this line. I even used the cover of it to make a pocket inside the front cover to keep the tiny alphas handy as I fill the album in (laced the holes with ribbon too.)
I like a transparent title page so a 3×3 page protector with some embellishments – frames, die cuts and transparencies, all held in place with a few stitches on each item here and there. The frame in the lower left pocket had some sequins added and was stitched up completely to hold them in, then the die cut transparency was stitched on the outside of the page protector to add surface texture and depth. You can back the frames with vellum or patterned paper if you don’t like the completely transparent look.
I removed the sticky notes from their plastic backing strip and used the backing strip to create a bookmark that can be moved each time you complete a page, to hold your place. To make sure it stuck out the top of the album, I stitched two long thin snippets together back to back, through the plastic.
I used the assorted pocket page in various ways. I covered the month on this page with a Snippet. I added Snippets to the pocket as journaling cards too. Two arrow stickers back to back as a file tab are great for turning the page.
I was inspired by post it art to use the sticky notes to create a pattern on this page. Stuck them down with dst. Two sticky notes back to back act as a file tab on this Snippet card and Attach Me stickers add it to the album. I like a variety of page sizes.
I altered a lot of the plastic page protectors. This one was filled with some more Snippet cards and the narrow middle section has an arrow made from two snippets papers back to back and some sequins stitched inside.
A file tab made from ribbon stitched to the page protector and one made using an Attach Me sticker, with some seam binding tied through add texture.
A pocket from the spiral journaling binder used as a divider with some Attach Me stickers.
To switch it up I folded one of the tabbed divider pages from the album, back on itself and stitched the upper and lower edge to create a pocket. I added an arrow and some candy dots to highlight it.
(Can’t get enough of these Candy Dots)
I folded a 3×3 page protector back on itself and secured it with two Attach Me stickers. This gave me back two back pockets that could hold a set of tags. The tags were made from the paper pad. 3 inches wide, I backed to backed the patterned papers to make them more sturdy. I added the vellum ring reinforcers and some twine, before sliding them in place.
I like to use some of the packaging from products and recycle it in my albums. (If you only like to use Acid Free items then you can leave this out.) I used the Attach Me stickers again to add this cellophane bag from embellishments and two arrows, back to back, for a file tab.
Below this I cut a page protector in half to make two pages. This is the top half of a 3 pocket page, cut just below the central panel. Two long snippets back to back are added in the long narrow section and the others left empty for photographs. Placing this in the lower ring binder position means you have a half page below the cellophane bag pocket.
The right hand page here is a pocket inside a pocket at the bottom. I taped a page from the spiral journaling binder on to a snippet and added smaller snippets for notes. The file tab on this page is half of a sticker from the waterfall pack.
I stitched two pattern papers back to back to create a wallet page and cut out a thumb hole with a circle punch. Again I added Attach Me stickers and some embellishments.
On the left hand page here I covered the word favourites up with a ticket and some numbers cut from a Snippet because it is not the correct spelling for me.
The right hand page has a page from the Spiral journal stitched to the top of it to create a hidden flap. An arrow sticker shows you to look beneath.
The lower half of the plastic page protector I cut up earlier is used to make a pocket here. Stapling a long snippet along the edge of the pocket highlights the opening.
I turned a pocket page upside down here to make a stack of photo pockets. One page is a cut up page protector, one is back to back papers. All sewn in place along the top folded edge.
File tab from packaging and back to back sticky notes.
A spiral journal page sewn onto a designer journal insert, along the right hand edge and the bottom to make a pocket to add journaling pages.
Frames stitched inside a plastic page protector.
A pocket page cut down short with a file tab and located in the upper binder rings.
A plastic page protector cut in half. I added a whole sheet of Candy dots on their backing paper and stitched them inside for effect.
Half a page protector in the top two rings of the binder.
A frame stitched into the lower right hand corner of a full size plastic page protector, sequins added before the stitching is closed. The packaging backing makes a great slide in tag to the left of the sequin pocket Cut down snippets back to back make a tag for above the sequin pocket, using a shaped paper clip to hold in place. Love how you can see through to the next page.
I like to group embellishments for dramatic effect, so I sewed all the die cuts from the waterfall pack in a line and stitched them in place down the right hand edge of this page. Simple but effective!
I wanted the pseudo pockets on this designer page insert to be real pockets so I used my craft knife to cut along the coloured lines leaving half an inch at each side intact to hold it all together. I then glued a baseline for each pocket and stitched a piece of paper on the back of the whole page. I could then tuck Snippets in each pocket!
The RHS of this page is a pocket i cut from a designer insert and stitched to a plastic page protector. This created two mini sections I could fill with sequins and back to back arrows before stitching across the top of each section to close it. If you slit the page protector carefully from the back you can put another 3×4 Snippet in the back of the pocket too.
Used some Attach Me stickers to make a mini album out of the cards from the waterfall pack. This slides neatly into a pocket.
Carefully unpeel a pocket page and fold it inside out to show the patterned side, before gluing down with dst.
Cut along the pseudo pocket line of this designer page with a craft knife. Glue and stitch a piece of paper to the back so that the pocket can be used. Highlighted the top of the paper glued on the back with some pennants from the vellum stickers.
Back to my love of using recycled packaging! I slide a frame inside a cellophane pack and stitched it down to make a see through pocket. I then used the backing cards from embellishments as a tag in each pocket. Attach Me stickers make file tabs (I adore these, I need loads more!!) More recycled packaging cards in the RHS pockets.
I wanted a 6×4 vertical pocket on this page, so I cut a plastic page protector in half and added the 4×6 part to a designer journal insert with a row of stitching. I slid a page from the spiral ring binder into the pocket. A row of candy dots sewn in the top section adds a unique embellishment to this double sided flap.
I stitched two designer journal inserts together to make a pocket page. I decorated the back of it with vellum tapes and arrows.
For the back page, I folded a cardboard pocket page horizontally and used the Attach
me stickers to make a lace up feature for any extra memorabilia in the back.
I can’t wait to get filling in the journal and may add extra page protectors or switch the pages around to change the order as it suits my stories, best of all the stories are being ‘captured’ in a unique way and certainly not forgotten! How are you going to ‘capture’ yours?
PRODUCTS USED:
CPT4266 Journaling Binder (teal)
CPT4404 paper pad
CPT4250 pocket assortment
CPT4260 Designer journal insert
CPT4249 Pocket assortment library
CPT4257 Sticky Notes
CPT 4253 vellum tape
CPT 4234 waterfall pack
CPT 4240 snippets
CPT 4241 snippets calendar
CPT4265 mini snippets
CPT 4262 divided page protectors
CPT4248 die cuts & transparencies
Candy buttons assortment
Attach Me stickers assortment
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