Working with Chipboard Albums

Recently I had many people browsing my blog after doing a search for chipboard albums. Some of the searches were for how to finish the albums, how to cover them, or just a plain search for the famous Bo Bunny Word albums. So I decided to do a little tutorial on these.

Below you will see photos of some of the albums I have made in the past. On the right side and on the bottom of my blog you will find links or slides to see all the photos of these albums. So I will just post a few to introduce you to what I will be talking about.





I have made these albums covering them with paper and painting them with acrylic paint.

When covering with paper I found that the best way was to lay your page down on the paper, lining the edges of the album with the edges of the paper. Once you have an idea where you will place the page, then quickly brush a layer of modge podge on the album page and then on the paper. To help you better cover the paper area, you can trace the letter when you lay the page down on the paper. Once page and paper are covered with the glue, you lay the chipboard page down and press firmly, making sure that the whole area is glued down.

Now you take a craft knife and carefully trim the excess of the paper. If you lined the straight edges of the chipboard and the paper you should have very little to cut off. With a little practice using the craft knife is a breeze. :) Make sure you have the side of the knife against the chipboard as you slowly pull the knife towards yourself and cut. Do it slowly. Make sure you have a self healing mat under the chipboard and paper so you don't damage the surface you are working on.

I find that this is easier than tracing each letter (chipboard page) out and then trying to glue it on the board. You can certainly use other adhesive instead of modge podge. To finish the album I will sand the edges (use a nail filer) and ink. You can also paint the edges if you like. Just dab a make up sponge on some acrylic paint and slowly and carefully smear the edges of all the chipboards.

The second way I have created these albums is painting them with acrylic paint. oh, this is so much fun. :) Both times I used black paint and used a light coat on each side of each chipboard. The paint dries quickly so by the time you finish the last one, all the other pages should be dry. When the paint is wet the chipboard will warp a bit, but don't panic. As the paint dries the chipboard becomes flat again.

I usually let them dry a whole night before I start adhering papers and embellishments down.





I hope that helped. Feel free to email me with questions and I would love to hear comments. :)

Have a blessed week. :)

tereza