Karen Bearse Designs: May 2023

Hello Blogland, I am here today with my Card Case Set Sail Album for Eileen Hull by Sizzix. The team is playing with the theme Die Cut Mania, using different substrates & tips, tricks for using your dies. If you want to join in make sure you share your project in the Eileen Hull Fan Club on Facebook. As always there is a supply list with links below. *Affiliate- some of these companies have given me product to use, play & experiment with. The ideas are my own but I tend to work with companies whose products I like so enjoy the inspiration. **some of these links are affiliate, I receive a small percentage from the company at no cost to you. This helps me deliver free content!

I love working with acetate sheets & the Score Board dies cut them like butter. Starting with the brand new Card Case die was the way to go. I made a gate fold album with it & a unique removable album that makes working in this book much easier. The inspiration for this project was the newest paper line by Heidi Swapp- Set Sail. All kinds of goodies in this book. So grab a cup of coffee & let's make an album!

For the cover I used the acetate paper from Heidi Swapps Set Sail Collection. It has a gold print on one side & silver on the other. I made mine with the gold. You will want to cut 2 covers. The tip with cutting a book cover from Eileen's die cuts is cut one book cover with gold sail boats down toward the die & one with the gold boats up. This will give you a book cover with the same pattern on the left & right side of the book. I also cut a cover out of card board to use as a template. You will have to manually add some of the scor lines when working with acetate.

Use the template to add the scor lines in, with a scor board. You will want to reverse the scor lines on the 2nd cover piece. You end up with an album spine fold on the outside of each piece, the spine middle piece do not scor as this will be a flat back. As with all Eileen's books there are many ways to put them together.

Here is what the book looks like when put together. To make the front pieces line up for the gate fold, you will want to trim the spine in the back so that it only overlaps by about 1/4", then adhere the 2 pieces using Super Tape.

Now to make the booklet. There are a number of ways you could do this. There is room for 2 booklets, one on each side. You could do 2 overlapping books like the gate fold I made here. Or the way I did it which was 1 book that will slide into one of the sides. I like the size of this book idea, page size is 7"x4.5" & it fits 4x6 photos nicely.

Heidi Swapps new line Set Sail is coming into stores now & I only could get a few pieces of the paper. When you get the individual 12x12 papers they are double sided. The paper pads are one sided. The good news is Heidi's papers from different lines work well together so I used the paper pads Art Walk, Old School & Sun Chaser as well. The page above is a side pocket which fits the tags & quote card. Added some stamping & the seagull sticker from Set Sail sheet.

The paper pads come in 6x8 size they are printed on one side & white on the other. Some are vertical & some are horizontal which means the papers ended up different sizes which adds interest & just plain fun. I used washi tape on some pieces to make a longer paper from 2 smaller pieces. Love the quote sheets, they make great tags & cards. This pocket was made from the Card Case die.

Also time to pull in Eileen's other dies like the Library Card which made a handy dandy envelope. The button is from the Card Case die, cut with paper & chipboard then layered to make a stronger element. It was used as the closure on the pocket.

Then the papers, pockets & inserts were assembled to make a booklet. Each page was folded and then fit into each other to make a signature. I like 9 to 10 folded papers to make a book. Once they were assembled holes were punched about an inch from the edges & a ribbon was threaded through.

Then corresponding holes were punched on the left side spine of the cover. The ribbon was threaded through and tied on the outside. The great thing is if I want to work on the book it can just be pulled out.

When working on a transparency I like to double up the image. For example if I put a palm tree on the front cover I will sandwich another on the back side of the transparency. Same goes for photos or images which can sometimes get tricky. The great things with die cuts is they are easy to flip and get the mirror image. So sorry the palm tree from the set Tropical by Tim Holtz has been discontinued.

My final tip is to cut Impresslits using water color paper or heavy card stock. This can also be done with 3D Embossing Folders like Eileen's Crochet Mandala, then cut out. Paint with acrylic paint. Dry. Hit the high points with Luster Wax. I like using 2 colors so in this case I used the new color Charcoal & my stand by fav Rose Gold. I will be adding more photos from the inside of my book using more of Eileen's diecuts on my Instagram & Facebook Pages if you want to follow me on those platforms. Thanks so much for joining me today. Remember to check out Eileen's blog for links to my teamies projects! Now go get inky!!

Supplies: