Amy Tangerine Mini Album Workshop

It was my pleasure to attend the recent Amy Tangerine workshop in Honolulu.  It was taught by Amy Tan and assisted by her cousin and mother.  Apparently it was difficult to get a space in the class which filled up in two hours after being announced.  Besides learning some of Amy's background and style tricks, we were given an ample supply of Amy Tangerine products, well worth the class fee.  The ladies who attended the class were ardent crafters and very serious about learning from a professional designer.  Amy presented her sample and some of the students were determined to replicating it, even taking photos of the entire album.  Others like me, just played with the supplies, loosely following Amy's directions.  The first photo is my version of the album cover.  I'm sure that mine does not look like anyone else's except for the corrugated aqua cover (love that color and texture) and tag/button closure ( a really cute touch).  There were so many embellishment choices from the goodies Amy gave us that I got overzealous...heeheehee and MAY have over done it!

This second photo shows the binding that I did on the pages.  We were supposed to bind the outside of album but I preferred to do the pages like traditional book signatures that are glued into the cover.  I used the Japanese method of binding (very simple instructions can be found in many sources).  Also Amy suggested that we set the pages into each other so that they would alternate between printed kraft cardstock and watercolor pages but I wanted some of the watercolor pages to line up like a  double page scenery so I set the folded pages on top each other.

To hide the messy sewing of the button on the cover, I taped on a pocket which will be used to hold some supplies (for journaling on the go) or memorbilia from a trip.

We were given some thick white paper (maybe watercolor sheets) to decorate with watercolors.  I chose to paint both sides of the 6x12 pages in sort of an Eric Carle style.  (I believe he was the artist/author of some of my children's favorite books.)  I will probably journal on the watercolored pages and perhaps draw a bit on the double page scenes.

Amy gave us some plastic pages to adhere to the back of the album.  She suggested to use them for photos. I really like how they coordinate with all her other products. The Amy Tangerine line is fabulous and all of the items work well together.  Even the pens are just the right color for journaling.  I can't wait to make another mini album with the wood veneer piece that is decorated with a camera.  .

I hope that you will check out the colorful and exciting Amy Tangerine products available now at Ben Franklin Crafts.  I know that they will inspire you to create something unique.