Mini Album with Special Guest Heather Leopard

Here we are in a new month, with a brand new guest designer to inspire you! If you follow the scrapbooking industry, you will know this lovely lady’s work, and we are so excited that she is here with us on the Elle’s Studio blog! Let’s welcome Heather Leopard, and check out the beautiful mini album she made with this month’s kit!

Hello everyone!  It’s Heather Leopard and I am so honored to be here with you this month. I have loved working with Elle’s Studio products for years and years, so to be here sharing with you on her blog for the first time is so exciting! I’m a traditional scrapbooker, but I thought I’d change it up a bit today and create a fun mini album.

EllesStudioSpecialGuest-HeatherLeopard-01Supplies: May exclusive kit, Little Moments bits and pieces, Little Moments cutouts, Little Moments journaling tags, True Story acrylic, Good Stuff puffy stickers, letter and number stickers- black, letter and number stickers- light pink

This mini album was really easy to create and can be duplicated relatively quickly depending on how much “personality” you choose to add to each section.  Let’s take a look at my creative process:

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The mini album happened by accident really.  As I was looking through the tags in the May exclusive kit, I laid them out and starting picking and choosing which ones I might want to use on my layout.  I found several that I loved, as well as some journaling tags from the Little Moments collection.  As I looked down at them scattered about, I realized they’d be perfect for an accordion mini!

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Once I had all of my cards selected, I trimmed two sheets of white cardstock to 4″ x 12″. Next, I made one single long strip, sized at 4″ x 18″, by adhering and trimming down the second strip to the first, which served as the base to my mini.

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After creating my base, I decorated each tag and/or photo by adding some stitching. The key is to do this before you add it to your base so you’re not stitching through the other side.  I guess it’s okay to stitch through side one, but definitely not side two.  Once they were all stitched up, I adhered them to the base with strong adhesive. Beginning with side one, I added a 3” x 4” tag or photo and made my fold, which you can do using a bone folder or a scoring board, at the edge of the tag. I then added the next tag or photo and folded again, and repeated that process until I reached the end of side one.  Then I added any additional embellishments to the tags or photos.

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On side two, I repeated the same steps as on side one. On this side, I even used the 4” x 6” “sunshine” tag, but I just scored it in the middle along my fold. You can see here that I added stitching to one of my photos as well as the tags. This is important: when you get to the last tag or photo, make sure to adhere two pieces of ribbon or twine between the tag and the base layer, making sure that one piece is long enough to wrap around the entire album so that it can tie with the second piece in a bow to keep the album closed.

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I hope you enjoyed this mini album and see just how easy it is to create!  Follow me on Instagram for sneaks of the projects I’ll be sharing when I come back later this month.  Thanks again for having me!

EllesStudioSpecialGuest-HeatherLeopardHi! I’m Heather Leopard and I am thrilled to be guest designing for Elle’s Studio!  I was born and raised in the Lone Star State and live in Cypress, Texas with my family – hubby, 2 daughters, 1 bonus son, and 2 rescue dogs. I lead marketing initiatives for a major computer company but my real passion is playing with paper, glue and scissors.  I started scrapbooking in middle school WAY back and scrapped here and there through college. I got REALLY into it when I got married in 2002 and then I became OBSESSED with it when I had my babies, who aren’t really babies anymore. I love to scrap the little details and daily adventures of my family and I aim to capture the essence of whatever it is they are doing. My signature style includes lots of pattern mixing, matching, and layering in fun and unique ways. I also design for Shimelle.com and Gossamer Blue.

You can find more of Heather’s work at her blog, The Spotted Leopard, on her Instagram feed or at Periscope! Thanks so much for sharing your lovely mini, Heather!