A Closer Look

Remember when I posted about being a runner up in the Creating Keepsakes Teen Talent Contest?  Well, I thought you all might like to see the album that got me that prize in a little more detail.  I took fresh pictures of it, and I'm going to show you some of the pages.

And I did promise that I'd show you some more of my craft projects. :)

Let's start at the beginning: the cover.

I know it's not the full view, but I wanted to experiment with different photo angles.  So I did.  About the cover, though...first off, it's not exactly a cover.  It's a just a page with the title of the album on it: "15."  But in front of the cover page, there is a journaling card as well as a little envelope with some extra pictures in it.  I incorporated these little "look inside" envelopes throughout the book so that there would be some interactive-ness to it.  It's always more fun to be able to pull things out while you're looking at a book.  It's like those little lift-a-flap books they make for toddlers.  Kind of.

A few pages later, you see this page of me and my sister.  I used a picture with a chipboard heart on it, and I attached another journaling card and envelope to the opposite page.  That way, I had a place for journaling about my friendship with Emily.  Wondering what's in that pocket?  Well, there's nothing in there.  It's a trick pocket.  (Or maybe I forgot to put something in there...no, that couldn't possibly be the case.)

Here's a smaller page I made about some of my favorite books.  That's a signature element of this album - different sized pages.  Personally, I think this gives albums more visual interest, and it makes it much less stressful - I didn't even have to worry about making the pages the same size! 

This page is a collage of a few pictures from my family's trip out west.  The journaling card tells some information about the trip, and there are extra pictures in the little envelope.  I used a journaling sticker to write the date of the trip, and embellished the page with button stickers.

This next page, one of the bigger ones, lists some of my favorite quotes and Scripture verses.  There are more quotes and verse on the journaling card and in the envelope.  I handwrote all the quotes, except the ones in the envelope - those are printed out from the computer.  Those little dots on the page are rhinestones - a favorite scrapbook embellishment of mine.

Here's page about some of the music and bands that I liked at the time I made this album.  I still like most of the same ones, but my repertoire has increased a little bit.  I like this page especially because of that stamp (love the reverse rounded corners of that label design!), and because of the red and turquoise.  And the butterfly trim - I really love using butterflies on my pages.

Here's another little page, just a simple statement of what my goal is: to put God first, others second, and myself third.  The patterned paper already had the "1, 2, 3" on it, so it worked out perfectly for this concept!

The last page before the back cover holds a paper I had to write as an introduction to myself.  The assignment was to name and explain three personality characteristics that describe you, and I chose passionate, creative, and steadfast.  The journaling card in front of the paper explains the assignment, and the envelope holds little pieces of red paper with my three words written on them.

I hope you liked this quick glimpse into my album.  This was a really fun project, and I'm so excited that it happened to win a prize in the CK contest!  I love scrapbooking, and it was such a fun thing for me to be able to participate in the contest.