Flip Fold album with Heartfelt Creations.

Yesterday on the Heartfelt Creations blog, Emma Lou hosted a live stream from the design room where she released the brand new flip fold albums and inserts, and storage. These album are awesome, but I can see how they may seem a bit overwhelming for some at first glance, so I am sharing heaps of photos of the first one I have created, to hopefully give you lots of ideas. 

I have to admit, when I first opened up the packets, I was at a bit of a loss as to where to start. simply because there are so many options, which is really what you want to see in a new product, but it does make it tricky to know where to start.

Here's a bit of a run down of how I approached this, but of course this doest;t mean you have to do it this way. Once you get a roll happening, you really will love making these albums. I can't wait to get a start on my next one. 

The process:

1. I knew that I wanted to line each of the pages as well as the cover, and I had the idea of the belly band  for the cover straight away, so knowing that this would use up the biggest pieces of paper, I started there, to make sure I wouldn't run out. I measured up the covers first, then the pages. Remember that while the pages are all the same, the inside from and back cover are different measurements. I used double sided tape for the papers, so that I could go back and lift up some of the edges to tuck in the hinges of some of the pockets.

2. I made sure I saved the sentiment and decorative strips so that I could use those in the spine between each of the pages. At this point, I also set aside time to make my belly band. You can see detailed instructions for that over on the Heartfelt Creations blog. 

3. I went through all of the flip folds and pockets and folded them up to see how they would look, and   started to plan out where they would go in the album. I used some reposition able tape to hold them in place. 

4.  I went through and started measuring and cutting. (hint:  measure all your panels in one go and write the measurement on the card base. It will be covered in paper anyway, and saves a lot of time). Starting again with the biggest panels, I started cutting and pasting all the panels in place. Keep in mind this is where you will want to die cut any of the flaps. You can see how Emma Lou did that in the stream from yesterday. Keep in mind also where you want to add a magnet to help everything stay closed. I used a bottle cap magnet on one side and a small washer on the other, adhered under the paper. Remember to check that you don't have too many layers for the mange to work through.

5. With the panels now covered, I went and adhered them in place, lifting the large panels and resticking where necessary. I also die cut lots of borders. 

6. Now I made lots of leaves and flowers all in one go. I have a big box of them on my desk. I went all assembly line and made stacks, dipping many of the centres in Gala Glitz. Once dry, I went through and embellished all the while going back and checking that the album wasn't getting too bulky to close. 

This one has now gone off to head office, so I chose not to add photos this time, but hope to next time around.

So now some photos, starting wth the front cover: 

The band closes with a magnet. 

The spine

 Inside front cover and page 1. I used a corner die to create a pocket and more of the border dies to made large decorative tags, which both pull out. 

 The second page has a pull out mini album, with a pocket for memorabilia or just to slide a photo into. I used a mix of small panels and plain background paper to cover each page. The panels add extra printed embellishment without adding more bulk. 

 Page 3 has small pull out tags and an envelop at the top 

 Page 4 is a full size open out album. I used a border die from the December collection to create a band down the front of the album, that a photo could be slipped into. 

Page 5 has a small flip out mini book, plus a decorative matt at the bottom. 

   Page 6 is a single open pout flap with a double pocket. The printed square panels in the patterned paper fit this perfectly. 

Page 7 is a fold out book with pockets at the top and bottom. 

  Page 8 is a cascade pull out. I sed the same paper across the panels for a cohesive flow.

Page 9 opens out with a hidden pocket underneath, and a library envelope pocket on the top with a decorative tag.  Opposite is a trifold card fold out.

Inside the back cover is a pair of cascade fold outs. I used the small decorative corner as an accent under the album corner. I used one of the new border dies to create an extra decorative pull out on the back cover. 

Some of the flip folds do look a bit confusing at first glance, so be sure to check the blog and save photos of the albums that the team is sharing, so you can see how they look all made up and decorated. I find that a far easier way to work out how they go. Most of the team will also have heaps more photos on the blogs, so please do take the time to go and take a look. Some also have videos to go with them. 

I have more photos but didn't want to go to crazy, if there is something you want to see or have explained in more detail, please leave a comment and I will get back to you. 

I hope this has inspired you to have a go at making one of these albums. I won't lie, it is time consuming, but I think it is well worth it.