a Rustic Country Wedding Mini Album

a Country Crafts Creations Design Team Project

My favorite way to create is to create for a special someone.  It used to be all I did when I first started making mini's.  I'd have a person or couple in mind with a special occasion and create something unique just for them.  As I began to design more for teams and stores the projects came faster the supplies more abundant and the projects took on not so much a personal note anymore.  I must say though I feel as if each creation is a labor of love whether it has a home in mind before I start or whether it finds one down the road. Creating takes on a life of it's own as the papers and chipborad begin to morph into something unique, something special, a one of a kind piece of art.  I hope you'll enjoy today's creation since I so enjoyed making it for this special couple.  I was fortunate to be able to attend the wedding and had a few photos we'd snapped plus a very few the bride gave me.  So even though the mini isn't completely filled there will be some photo spots to give you ideas.  It's always great to see what pages look like after the photos are placed instead of imagining it in your mind's eye.

This time  I used a larger format, the outside of the mini is an 8" square with over a 4" spine.  There are six pages with 1/2" gussets allowing it to lay almost flat as you can see above.I wanted to allow lots of space for the bride to be able to place large photos so there are abundant spots for 4x6' photos plus pull out tags and tuck in areas for 5x7" or larger.  It always amazes me at the quantity of photos you can get into an album this size.

I have to tell you about the front cover before I move forward.  I had purchased these unfinished wooden frames with the chicken wire in the middle.  I painted the square one with Tattered Angels DIY paint in Sable and then used the Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam in Rustic to added a little sparkle and the hints of rustic orange to it.  I love how it turned out.  I popped it up on foam tape and left the top open.  I had this photo we'd snapped of the Bride, her Dad and Step-Dad as they walked her down the aisle.  She can use it or easily pull it from the top tap and replace it with one of her own.  At the moment I'm going to let Grandma decide if she'd like more adornments on the front.  I kind of like the simple look but I had taken the twine and braided it and laid it around the three sides of the wooden frame, I like that look as well, we'll see if Grandma does too since she the one getting it for the Granddaughter as a gift.

By making the spine so large and allowing 1/2" gussets between the pages you can see there is lots of room inside to add a wheel barrel of photos and memorabilia.

Having six pages gave me 14 sides, including the inside front and back, to decorate.  I won't show them all here but the video is a complete walk through front to back sharing all the flip, flaps and extras plus lots more still photos.  Here I cut a double frame with the Cricut and popped the brides boot and the hubby's head to the outside of the frame.  I love doing this it just gives the photo so much more life like they are inside the frame and out at the same time.  You'll see lots of little stick ons throughout the pages like the banner and heart here.  These were Jolie's Stickers my friend Cheryl Wells gifted me.  I was so happy with I saw the cowboy boots and hats, perfect perfect perfect for this barn wedding were everyone wore boots including, as you can see, the bride!

The tables for the reception were decorated with canning jars filled with flowers, now how perfect to find a paper collection like Carta Bella's Rustic Elegance that had canning jars in it.  Thank you Tammy Merrill from Country Craft Creations for suggesting this paper line. I hadn't seen it prior to this and it was the best fit ever.  It even had the wood grained paper for the front and spine.  Amazing how things, as I said, simply begin to fall into place as the mini takes on a life of it's own.  I cut this jar from a one of the mats, left a white border and added Glossy Accents to the jar.  I took jute twine to make the string and added some flowers  to give the 3-D pop.

Let's talk about embellishments for a moment.  The little flowers that are shown throughout the book were white 49 Market Pina Colada.  They come 49 flowers of varying sizes to the package and they are all white.  My preference always is to get white when possible, flowers- ribbon - bling anything at all because with white you can alter it to fit your color scheme perfectly.  I misted the white flowers with Tattered Angels mists of Candy Corn, Valencia and Red Rose.  Perfect match for the colors in the book.  If the flowers are too big, pull a few petals off or add others that you've made or have from other assortments.  The sky is the limit when altering and adding to a mini.  That's the fun part!

One of my favorite additions to mini albums are waterfalls, they provide lots of space for a multitude of photos. When filled this will house 12 4x6" photos and room for an extra if she chooses to put one over the decorative paper on the front.  Because this theme is rustic I went hunting to see what I had in my stash for ribbon and found this wired canvas which just fit so well.  Again here's the largest of those flowers I was talking about along with a spray of the Sisal Rope.  I really liked using this rope throughout because it has the wispy threads that make you think of straw or hay, just pulling the theme together more.  I tucked the ribbon under the edges of the page gluing them securely.  I also added a wide strip of packing scotch tape over the edges so when the side mats slides in and out it won't get hung up on the edges of the ribbon.  The closure is simple a velcro strip along the edge glued in place with Beacon's 3-in-1.

I think I'll finish today's post with a view of the back inside cover.  Here I created a cluster pocket with lots of stickers from the Jolie's packages Cheryl sent.  The cowboy boots and hat along with the love banner end the mini so well.  When creating a cluster like this I start with a piece of cardstock, in this case I used the Cream Artisan cardstock from Tammy's store.  Then I start building up with the burlaps and stickers tucking in wisps of the sisal rope here and there.  Gluing only the three sides allows for a roomy pocket to house lots of photos.

I hope you'll join me on todays video.  It's a little long, you know me when I'm excited about something and start sharing I always like to add the why's and how's of the creation.  Check out the links to the Country Craft Creations store along with their Social Media sites.  I'll also post links to my own Social Media as well.

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