Snippets for Cosmo and Ruby's Album

Have you checked out the very cool Blackboard by Cosmo Cricket? It comes in super album shapes, alphabets and fun shapes.

I found Ruby's Album at my LSS last week and paired it with the Get Happy line. This is my husband's hands down favorite mini album that I have made to date - he loves the contrast between the blackboard and bright, intense colors of the cardstock. I havc to admit, there's few things I like better in this world than brightly colored paper product on BLACK. Although all shades and tones of color look awesome on black, as does white...so really - whatever your favorite color combo it will be awesome on Cosmo Cricket's BLACKBOARD!

Today I want to share a mini album titled "Snippets of Us". Snippets are a great way to scrap little odd and end photos...perhaps you have a favorite photo, but you have no idea on how to use it in a layout. Snippets are (per the dictionary) a little piece, especially of information, i.e. a snippet of news. So why not create a snippets album about your family, or a loved one using a Blackboard mini-album? Here is an xample of snippets about our son…


Below are instructions that I hope will help you create your own Snippets album.
Supplies:
Cosmo Cricket Ruby’s Album
Cosmo Cricket Get Happy Cardstock and Rub ons
Cosmo Cricket Retro Mix Blackboard letters
Cloud 9 Sentiments Stamps (circle journaling blocks)
Staz On ink - Teal Blue and Black Cherry
Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink - black
Misc. buttons
Glitter pens, favorite journaling pen, colored pencils, ribbon

Time Savers:
1. Scan in one page of the blackboard album, reduce size slightly, print image and cut out to create a shape template. When used it will allow you to cut your patterned cardstock at the same approximate curve radius as that of the blackboard album.

2. Use a white sheet of cardstock, 2 journaling stamps and 2 coordinating colors of ink – stamp out all journal blocks at one time, cutting out and inking all edges. (I used the Coluzzle small circle template to trim out Cloud 9 Sentiments journaling stamps.) I allowed for three blocks per page to give balance, and offer plenty of room to write snippets.

3. Print photos to size and trim out, or select 2-3 photos per page that are already in your photo collection, and crop. The inside pages use primarily 3x4 and 2x3 photos, all distressed with black ink along the edges.

With all of these elements now ready to go, the SNIPPETS album can be assembled in less than two hours – as long as you keep embellishments simple. I used rub-ons and buttons – they are fun, the buttons are bright and it was quick to grab them from their storage container. I was tempted to doodle more on the pages, but resisted to a few dash marks around the curves using a white colored pencil.

Each page of this album was designed to allow the contrast of the blackboard album to make an impact with the bright papers of Get Happy. This image shows you the clean lines prior to finishing the album with photos and journaling. If you are “all about clean lines”, by all means make this idea your own and position your photos straight, journal blocks contained within the color blocks, etc.


For the inner strips cardstock was cut to 2” width, and that strip cut into two 6” pieces. The template was used to hand-cut the curved end using a micro-tip scissors. Finished height is 5 5/8” – measuring from the two furthest points.

For the outside portion, patterned cardstock was cut to a 3½” width, then cut to 6” lengths, and again using the template to cut along the curved edge, creating the same height.


For the cover I printed “Snippets” onto a 3x4 journaling card using my favorite “stamped” and distressed font – Social Animal. If you read my tips in a previous post, remember to use two of the smaller cards together for a 4x6 piece of cardstock to feed through your printer, which will prevent frustration with jamming on smaller pieces. Once printed, cut the journaling card to size. I chose to cut around the bracket shape, and am saving the other portion to use as a frame on another project. I used letter brads from my stash and added subtle color to the blackboard letters with colored pencil, which allows the black to pop off the red background. Buttons follow along the curve for a fun accent.






Have lots of snippets? That's okay. Don't forget you can always compile albums together, or even mix up the shapes of the Blackboard albums for a real interesting mini album. I assure you it will be a fun family album to look through time and time again. Enjoy the creative journey - and GET HAPPY with Cosmo!