Kaisercraft Curiosity Paper Bag Mini

Here's another Design Team Project for Cut at Home
It's that time of year again, the kids have headed back to school and our minds begin to form that mental Christmas Gift List.  Why not make a mini for that special friend, sister, aunt in your life?  This one's not hard at all and takes only one 6.5x6.5" paper pad, Curiosity by Kaisercraft.  I wasn't sure how I wanted to put it together so I searched YouTube for a tutorial and found Kathryn Krieger's Paper Bag Album Assembly video, pretty simple stuff.

The closure consists of  chain link, tuck and loop pieces I bought from Michaels and a zipper pull from Prima.  I added some beautiful lace trim, a metal word and key from my stash to the front.  

The key and metal pieces weren't the right color but a little Alcohol ink fixed that problem.

This little mini measures 6"x7", that's the outside dimensions.
Inside it's constructed from 4 paper bags, mine were from
Hobby Lobby's Paper Studio that a friend sent me.

 
I like sturdy mats to slide in my end pockets especially if they have a punched border.
This time I doubled my black cardstock by gluing 2 pieces together and then punched the edge with
the Eyelet Border punch.  Now here's the thing, if you're going to be punching 2 layers of cardstock make sure it will punch smoothly without causing damage.  So try out different  cardstock to see what works well for your punch.  I used Core'dinations Black Cat cardstock, it's the perfect weight.

Each paper bag forms a pocket on the left and room for photos on the right.

I stamped on a colored cardstock scrap this saying from the Curiosity Stamp Set.
Since the primary part of this stamp is solid I had trouble with the new stamp picking up enough ink to create a nice crisp image.  A trick that works great is to add a think layer of Versamark
(yes like you'd use for embossing) over your stamp first and then apply the ink,
in this case I used Tsuineko's Brilliance  Graphite Black

Add a bit of ribbon, mine is colored seam binding, some Glossy Accents
and an inked torn edge to create some page interest.
Throughout the book I used Vintage Photo Distress ink for the edges,
and stain to color the paper bag,
I just like the look of the stain instead of the bag,
but it's surely your choice and preference when you make yours.   

some well placed die cut pieces from the Curiosity Collectables package
enables lots of room and tuck in spots for mats and cards.

Fussy cutting, oh how I love to do this!  You can fussy cut about anything your patience will allow.
In this instance it's a pretty easy cut around these gorgeous flowers.
The fussy cut pieces create the pockets on the two page spread and
you know how pulling things in and out of pockets can stress the cut edges.

I solved that by adding Aleene's Collage Podge (a couple of layers) before attaching
them to my pages.  Now it can take a lot of wear and tear and still look good.
I found though that because the Collage Podge was on adjoining pages when the book closed they wanted to stick to one another, not stick like rip and tear, more stick so you had to pull them apart a little.  I solved that by taking my powder embossing buddy and running it over the flowers, brushing away any excess.  You don't see it and it gets rid of any tackiness.
(you can use Mod Podge or matte medium to strengthen as well)

A few more of the Curiosity Collectables form my last 

two placeholders for mats and tags.   

I wanted to show you the key here, that was a sticker from the Curiosity Sticker sheet.  I used one on the front and back inside covers to hide the prongs from the attachers that were on the outside covers.  

The brad in and of itself wouldn't be strong enough to hold the opening and closing of the chain closure so I used not only the brad feet but Beacon's Fabri Tac.  That stuff holds like cement!  

The bird in the class dome, that the tags slide under, it's also been given a few coats of Collage Pod to eliminate the possibly of tearing as the mats are pulled out and pushed in repeatedly.  It's a little extra work but the end results are well worth the time.

So I hope you enjoyed my book and will consider making one or more
for those special people on your gift list.