IMP Blog Team Melinda Staley | Week 2 Album Cover and First Page

Melinda here today here on the blog. Most of the time I like to just jump in and get started on pages in a new project and I put off doing the cover because I think that 1) a book cover should reflect the contents, and 2) I don’t have a good vision for the whole project yet. But then I get to the end of the project and I’m just ready to be done, and I still have to make a cover.

This year, I started with the cover. I played with the papers in the IMP Life Stories Collab and just started putting some of them together in the 2022 album cover template by Scrapping With Liz that she offers free on her blog. After placing the papers and clipping them to the number pieces, I added some stitched numbers so the cover matched the page templates I plan to use. I pulled and tweaked the corners of the stitches layers with the transform tool to make them fit the shape of the numbers a little closer than the way they were originally designed – closer is good enough in this case and they don’t match exactly either giving it more of a ‘handmade’ feel. The washi tape piece on the template is dressed up quickly with a bit of paper added to it. Adding just a few buttons, and a sticker and a little word strip from the kit keeps the focus on those big beautiful numbers with my photo peeking out.

Working on the cover straight off helped me a get a feel for some of the kit contents and I think it turned out pretty awesome. One of the beauties of digital scrapping is the ease with which you can change something later if you want to – just keep the layered file.

And here is my first page. I love how colorful it is, and even though it looks layered and fun, it was quick to put together using templates and the awesome cards and coordinating papers and bits of the IMP Life Stories Collab. I added a few realistic elements by Rachel Jefferies as well. Full credits for this page and the cover will be at the bottom of my post.

I’ve pulled out some of the ‘individual cards’ on the page and given a brief summary of what I did to make them. The card shapes, stitches and strings, and torn paper pieces are a part of the template by Rachel Jefferies.

4×6 Making Memories card:

1- Extended the white portion of the card to give myself more journaling room.
2- Clipped a piece of patterned paper to the torn edge above it on the template.
3- Added the number sticker from the diecuts pack in IMP Life Stories Collab and gave it a small shadow so it looks well adhered.
4- Added making memories stamp from Papier Studio Shop: Life Stories Digital Stamps.
5- Typed my text on individual lines so I could easily adjust and move them around later.

Picture 3×4 card:
1- I added a square picture spot using the shape tool and a layer style.

2- I made a digital enamel pin from the pink shutter graphic on the card by selecting it and using the Mommyish Enamel Pin Builder action and style set.

3×4 Quote card:
I placed the digital stamp quote from Papier Studio Shop: Happy New Year Digital Stamps on the paper and added a small shadow so that it looks like I had a cut out the individual strips and stuck them to the paper.

Double Card 1:
These cards are simple with some typed text and one small embellishment added to each.

Double Card 2:
L card: pink paper fromThe Practical Scrapper Every Day Life Digital Kit was clipped to the torn paper on the template and the sequin spill, flower and word strip added on top. The round label from the labels pack of In My Pocket: Life Stories Class Bundle was tucked under the stitching at the top of the card and a typed letter added to it. I picked a font resembling a messy stamp – TXT Soda Shoppe.
R card: all I had to do on this card was type my text and adjust the rotation and line leading to make it fit the notepaper spot.

4×6 card:
I added a photo in the spot on the card with the shape tool.
2. Added text with the type tool
3. I used the magic wand to select the inside of spaces of the smile emoji I wanted, then used a distress brush (charcoal large smear or oil pastel large ) from the brush tool default palette to color it in by clicking a few times .

Full credits used in my pages. These pages can also be found in my IMP Life Stories Pinterest Board.

Cover credits:
In My Pocket: Life Stories Class Bundle
Nefty Crafts Co: Life Stories Expansion Kit 12×12 paper
ScrappingWithLiz: 2022 Cover Page (blog freebie)
Rachel Jefferies: Today Mixed Media Artistry (yellow button, blue flower), A Second Chance Mixed Media Artistry (heart button)
Studio Basic and Rachel Jefferies: Trust the Journey Stay Patient (black button)
Studio Basic: Studio Favorites Stitches 1
Michelle Godin: Keep Calm and Splatter On brushes (retired)
font: The Dry Ribbon Regular by Heather Joyce

Page credits:
In My Pocket: Life Stories Class Bundle
The Practical Scrapper: Every Day Life Digital Kit
Papier Studio Shop: Happy New Year Digital Stamps, Life Stories Digital Stamps
Rachel Jefferies: Pocket Art: Mixed Media Template 1, Today Mixed Media Artistry, A Second Chance Mixed Media Artistry (Yellow flower and word strip)
Mommyish: Enamel Pin Builder
font: The Dry Ribbon Regular by Heather Joyce, TXT Soda Shoppe