Flip Album Class Update

On Sunday afternoon I taught my first Flip Album class at the scrapbooking store where I work part time. It was FUN but chaotic! The class was slated for 2 hours and there were 8 ladies ready with glue sticks in hand. I'm only sorry I didn't take photos of all the albums created that day...

To refresh your memory (or for those of you who just started reading my blog) here is the link to my sample for this class. Here it is again AFTER I loaded it with my photos and added some journalling.

The results are really beautiful (more so after you add your photos) but getting there - boy oh boy - there are just toooooo many pieces to keep track of! Thank goodness I wrote the page numbers on the back of each piece in pencil for the customers!

Some ladies chose their own paper prior to the class - 2 patterned and 3 solids - and I chose the papers for those that didn't choose their own paper or didn't choose enough paper. I cut up allllll the MILLIONS of pieces (a bit of an exaggeration) before the class to save time. We only had 2 hours and believe me WE NEEDED THE WHOLE 2 HOURS!

The ladies LOVED the papers I chose for them!

The above photos are from a colour combo I put together for a customer who only chose 2 colours of green solid paper and a blue-green bubble patterned paper. I added the French Vanilla and the Basic Grey blue/green paper with graph paper pattern (sorry I don't know the name of it). Well she didn't like the paper I chose for her so I put the album together as a store sample and she chose other paper.

Everyone agreed it was beautiful and I have to admit it turned out better than I expected too! I think the lady was a bit disappointed that she didn't trust my paper choices for her...

I'm doing this class again on Thursday morning (with paper I've chosen) and I will be taking photos of the completed albums. I'll be posting them here if you'd like to check back on Friday night I should have them posted then!

TIPS FOR THIS FLIP ALBUM PROJECT:

1. This project uses a LOT of paper. Map out your paper before you cut so you can conserve paper and reduce the cost of the project.

2. If you are teaching this class LABEL all the pieces by page number. Sorting out the pieces during the class takes a bit of time but saves time and mistakes in the end.

3. If you are making more than one of these albums, cut the paper at one time for all the albums. It took me almost 1/2 hour to cut the paper for 1 album before I figured this one out and then started doing 2 books at once. That speeded up my prep time!

4. Do NOT use the scoring blade on your trimmer to score the folds for the cover. It does cut through the paper and after many folds it will tear. I recommend using the Score-Pal or a stylus/bone folder in your trimmer channel.

5. Do NOT use bulky embellishments inside when finishing off this album. It makes it hard to close, causes bending and leaves unsightly dents in your photos!

6. Take lots of photos and share with all your blogging friends. There are so many variations of this album and we want to see them ALL!