Accordion album for Helle

Before you start reading this post ladies, I suggest you go and make a cup of tea and move yourself and your computer to a more comfortable chair. While you're at it, find a blanket and turn off your cell phones, because what I've got for you today is going to take a while to get through! ;)

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Ok, you're all settled in? Good! Take a deep breath and let's get started with the basics. My good friend Helle turned 30 years old this January, and this is her (very delayed) gift. It's basically a store-bought accordion fold album that I've decorated. What I originally had in mind was something more like Elise's mini books (like this one). Full of scraps, little details, some pictures and a little text. But you know how it often goes - for whatever reason, a project morphs into something completely different.

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One side of the album (above) has pictures of Helle, combined with a few sentiments and quotes. To create something of a recurring theme in all these different layouts, all pages have a light green background, and green is the dominating colour. I've used a pad of overlays from Making Memories (called Clear Creations: Doodles) extensively throughout the entire album. It seemed to have the right style, and came with sentiments, quotes, definitions, titles, photo overlays and tags. Great value!

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In case she gets tired of watching her own face, I chose mainly nature pics for the other side, with more quotes, poems and sentiments. Again, the dominating colour is green, but this time on a light beige background. I organised the pictures in something of a yearly cycle to get the right flow.

The album can be displayed like in the picture, or partially folded for a smaller space. Below are shown every double page spread in the album. Click on any image to see it larger and read the quotes!

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To start it off, I scanned a few old pictures from my photo albums and printed them at home. Funny pictures, these two. On the left, we're "fishing" for candy out the window, on the right she's wearing two pairs of glasses... :) You can see the MM overlays used here! Other materials include Bazzill die-cut borders, Scrapper's Choice Journaling Spots and DCVW Floral Prints paper stack.
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Slightly newer photos. The one to the right is one of my favourites! I just love the light and her pose. Would have loved to do something about the background though. DCVW papers and Bazzill die-cuts again. I've also added a home made flower (lower left corner) made with this tutorial.
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The quote on the left overlay fits the picture wonderfully: "Open your mind, open your heart, open your arms, take it all in. -Kobi Yamada" The picture on the right is framed by an overlay, with a definition of the word "friend" in the corner. Lots of papers scraps here, Scrapper's Choice Journaling Spots, Kreativ Hobby rub-on and some Panduro Punchinella (the green metallic perforated foil on the left side).
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Now, on the other side of the accordion album! Take a breath ladies, we're more than half way through! ;) The green continues with some photos taken near my previous home. PB sentiment stamp, more MM overlays, BG embossing folder, Prima pearl centers.
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Oops, these two turned out much more similar that what I'd prefer. I had them planned out differently, but moved things around as I worked and suddenly they were almost identical... Oh well. I like the splash of red that echoes the little bit of red found in each picture. Left side: an amazing August evening sky seen from our old cabin.
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With the golden colours of fall dominating these pictures, I abandoned the green almost entirely for this double spread. More Punchinella, the always present MM overlays and also a sentiment stamp.

- Finishing the album in lots of green again! This poem is absolutely lovely, it's all about daring to be exactly who you are, and I felt it fitted Helle just perfectly. It's actually a stamp that I put on one of the SC Journaling Spots. I couldn't resist using this picture again, I already had it lying around and when used in black & white it didn't feel like just a copy of the other layout. Punchinella again, QK Moxie SM and some Prima chipboard digits.
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All in all, I'm really pleased how this album turned out! It was quite a task to complete, but I have once again proven that the right amount of sleep deprivation does wonders for the creativity! I often do my most effective and creative work after my last night shift, when I usually stay up instead of sleeping anything. But I wonder if I've put the bar too high now? This year is filled with 30-year birthdays, and I'm not sure I'll manage to make any more of these... ;) Helle will just have to be the lucky one I suppose.

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Thanks for making it to the end ladies, it was quite a journey. Well done. ;) I'm off to bake a little I think - my fingers are sore from all this typing and I have a serious craving for something with a little bit of chocolate in it. It is Saturday, after all! Have a happy weekend!