Random Inspiration Challenge #2

I will be posting my Random Inspiration Challenges on the 1st Tuesday every month. Also, if you have any ideas or suggestions for topics please contact me.
This month's challenge is to alter an album cover. Challenge yourself to do something out of your usual norm. Perhaps a technique you've never tried before, or a color scheme you seem to never use, or some supplies you've been hoarding for a special ocassion layout or project. Any materials may be used: patterned paper, flowers, jewelry making, or other crafting supplies, found objects, etc.,...the sky is the limit! You can get as creative with this as you like.

Above is my altered mini album cover that will house the photos from our recent trip to Mexico. This is actually my first effort in many aspects: 1st time altering an album, 1st time working on a mini album size layouts (previously I've only done all 12"x12" pages), and 1st time trying a new beading technique. So I've really stepped out of my own comfort zone an tried something new and different. Altering objects is such a forgiving endeavor, that even if you "mess up" it will look like a purposeful artistic effect, not a mistake. Such is not the case with making jewelry since that calls for a high level of precision. The coral branches you see on the album were just a trial run to see if I can make smaller coral branch earrings. Since I've never attempted this technique with seed beads I thought even if I mess up, it will still look decent on the album cover. Sometimes just giving yourself the freedom to make something without the expectation of perfection, uninhibits you to do your best work.

Now on the how I made this album cover:
Started with a plain, linen-covered KOLO album. Gathered my jewelry supplies. The gold mesh you see is hand crocheted from a 28 gage wire (in my previous posts I mentioned practicing crocheting with wire to make a heart that led to enough bravery to attempt to do this with 14K gold wire). This remnant was from my first attempts to crochet with cheaper wire.
The golden sand dollars, Silver fish, assorted pearls were from THIS jewelry supply catalogue (highly recommend this catalogue for scrapbooking charms and other embellishments that you will not see in the scrapbooking industry. You may be the first kid on the block to include these on your layouts!).
The coral branches were done with seed beads and pearls. I learned this coraling technique from THIS book. Ms. Varvara Konstantinov really does an amazing job with her diagrams and step-by-step directions, that I was able to pick up the materials and make these coral branches from my first attempt. I just might get you hooked on jewelry making too, and give you something else to cry about instead of only your scrapbooking budget :)

Everything you see on the album has been sewed onto the cover using an invisible thread (also great for the bobbin of your sewing machines when sewing on paper). You can also use Nymo thread (which is what I used for the coral branches, and seed bead work in general). Glue in this case would not have adhered the metal elements and beads for the great longevity and handling that an album will go through. If you're sewing anything onto the cover, using a thimble to protect your fingers is wise.


For the spine of the album, I tied fibers from the Basic Grey Jack collection, and braided hemp to which I added wire-wrapped fresh-water pearls. I was deliberating whether I want to add a tag with the date and our trip destination, but figured since I'm making a title page this might be overkill.

I hope to see all of your work and post your creations on this blog!