New Design: Faux Paperbag Pop-Up Album

So I finally made it to the end of this new mini album design project I set out to do several weeks ago. If you want to skip straight to the video, scroll down to the end of this post.

I’ve felt significantly less creative energy since the lockdown(s) started, so I’m having trouble crunching out new album designs every month, like I used to. But, I got this one done, and it’s definitely NEW!

I designed what I’m calling a faux paperbag mini album, and because it also sports four fold-out and/or popping elements, I added ‘pop-up’ to the title as well. But there are more themes than it just being faux paperbag and having pop-ups. It is also rich in belly bands, plus it offers several micro envelopes. So if I wanted to be precise about it, my design would be called a Faux Paperbag Pop-up Belly Band and Micro Envelope Mini Album. Phew, that would be a mouthful…

If you’re wondering why the “faux”, well, I didn’t use actual paperbags. Instead, I created my own, while still employing the techniques that are typical for a paperbag mini, like the binding style, as well as the many flaps and the way they are styled.

If I managed to charm you into wanting to create one yourself, then head on over to my shop. There are lots of customers who left reviews, so I recommend rummaging through those if you want to check what other crafters think before you make a purchase.

The papers I used were from AliExpress this time, so I guess you could also consider this another AliExpress product test. I have to say I loved this Paper Designer or perhaps Enogreeting pad (I’m still not sure what the brand is actually called), with its beautiful graphic designs in vintage colors. Moreover, it measured 18×18 cm (7×7″), which I believe is quite unique in the papercraft community.

I suspect it may be a dupe for an older Kaisercraft collection, but if it is, I’m not aware of it. If you do recognize it, please leave a comment below!

I also did some mixed media techniques this time. Not only on the napkin fold element in the back of the album, but also on the spine, for which I altered a piece of pitch black book muslin and turned it into a nice muted slate gray pattern on an antique bronze base.

As for the cute little pop-up I added to one of the page layouts, I used a pop-up die for that. And I did a video tutorial on how to use it, a couple of blog posts ago.

I also did a video tutorial for the Twist & Pop element in the album, you can find that here.

And last but not least, the video tutorial for the Napkin Fold element at the end of the album, is only one click away too.

So, finally, here’s the end of my blabbing along endlessly. On to the video! 🙂

No tutorial for this one yet, let me know if you’d be interested in one

Graffiti-themed Paperbag Mini Album

Here’s my latest mini album, Graffiti-themed this time! Meant for a young man turning 16 soon, his mother (my friend) asked me to create a paperbag mini for her son. It has been a while since I made these; I did a romantic shabby chic version and a Christmas version several years ago, and this Graffiti version has been the first one since.

This time I used some of the mixed media techniques I recently started adding to my papercraft repertoire – which added a whole new dimension of fun to working with design papers!

Princess Paper Bag Mini Album

I created this paper bag album with Prima’s soft-colored, romantic Princess design paper. I added several Prima flowers from the Princess collection and others, did some die-cutting and used a cutapart sheet from the Delight collection, also by Prima. The one you see on the front of the album (see picture) I printed myself, choosing the sentiment, the font and font color and size. So you don’t need a stamp to add some sentiments, printing is a fine and very versatile alternative! (Tip!)

Of course there’s some of my scrap mats in there as well 🙂

Enjoy the video!

For the basic construction of this album I used a tutorial by Kathy Orta, which you can check out on Youtube. The construction of the spine is of my own design however.

You can check out my Christmas paper bag album here.


Gift idea: Christmas Paper Bag Album

Before you read any further: this album is for sale for a special opening price, so please check it out on my Showroom page! (International customers: please pay attention to the fact that international shipping fees will have to be added).

Tis the Season, yea! 🙂 I haven’t got my Christmas tree yet, but nevertheless it’s that time of the year again, which means holiday-themed projects for crafters all over the world! Soooo many gorgeous new Christmas collections and I haven’t even bought a single one this year. Not because I don’t want to create anything for Christmas, on the contrary. But since I bought like a gazillion Christmas collections last year, I’m afraid I’ll be not-buying any new Christmas collections the coming years until I’ve used up the ones I already own…. (Right. Like that’s going to happen! But: at least this year it is! 🙂 )

Anyway, here’s a so-called paper bag mini album, the pages of which are basically created from paper bags – and some cardstock. I really love this type of album, for it requires less basic construction than the usual cardstock albums, so you can relatively quickly move on to decorating and embellishing – which, you know, is grrrrreat! 🙂

The paper collection I used is North Country, by Prima Marketing, plus some separate sheets from other collections. I also used this paper line for my Christmas cards this year.