2009 Christmas Albums - Oh little Town of Bethlehem - The Nativity

The good news and the bad news.

The Good.
I have finally finished and posted pictures of the first of my three 2009 Christmas Albums.

The Bad.
First, I'm a bit frustrated with how this album came out. I've had a lot going on in my personal life that has me emotionally tied up and has really limited my creative abilities. It's also tied up my time like you wouldn't believe.

And so...
I'm not making kits this year. I know, I'm sorry. I WILL be selling the acrylic albums and I'm granting permission for anyone who wants to use my techniques and even use my album as a reference for creating their own permission to do so... on a couple conditions:

I just ask that you:
1. Give credit where credit is due.
2. Don't market my work as your own design and sell them for profit.

I will have the acrylic album ready for purchase within a few days. Email me, if that's not soon enough.. camillemcc@gmail.com

And now, I am proud to present to you my 2009 Christmas Album.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

The Nativity
Copyright Camille McClelland 2009

The album is much larger than my previous designs at 16.5 inches x 8.5 inches for the acrylic only, or 16.5 inches x 16 inches if you include the star.

The album is comprised of four sheets of custom designed and hand cut acrylic pages. The papers for the most part are the coolest new papers from Melody Ross Designs. Gorgeous saturated colors with glitter and flocking and texture... Pretty much everything you've ever loved about everything Melody has ever created.

Here's my latest tip and secret. I can't stand the look of binder rings holding my albums together. Who says your pages all have to be aligned on the left side with holes and 15 yards of ribbon to hide the binder rings?

I've developed a new technique using strong ribbon as hinges and those super powerful flat magnets to keep pages perfectly in place. It looks awesome , it's completely functional, and no bulky binder rings.

I'll show you how later in the post.

Sorry for the lighting problems....


The building windows are all cut out . One of my favorite bits about using acrylic as a page is the three dimensional versatility.


The words "Glory in Excelsis Deo" I printed onto tissue paper, by taping the tissue paper onto a piece of regular printer paper and running it though my printer. I then used paint medium to decoupage the words onto my star, and added glitter.

View without the black background. I'm planning on stringing my mini Christmas lights behind the album so the light shines through the windows.

With the pages open, freestanding. I prefer to keep the pages closed and use a small easel for display.

That's the album.

Now for technical stuff.

The hinges and magnets.

Glue two to three 2 inch pieces of ribbon between the acrylic and the paper as shown.

I find it's helpful to use a small amount of glue and glue my paper in place before adding the ribbon, trim the paper to the exact size with either sandpaper or a metal file. Then remove the paper, glue the ribbon in place, and then glue the perfectly trimmed and inked paper back into place. saves trying to trim around the ribbon.

Place the page in place where you want it, and glue the ribbons down to the second sheet of acrylic.

Next, design the "wise man" or whatever paper item you choose to use to cover the hinge and cut the item to fit around the first acrylic page as shown.

Slide, half behind, and half in front and glue in place as shown.



In the next picture you can see the back of the first acrylic page, unfinished.

(Do you love my sketches? Yes, that's really how I start each album.)

A couple things to notice:

First, The ribbon hinges. You can see they extend about 3/4 inch or so, and are securely glues in place so they won't slip out.

Second, the thin magnets. Here's how to line them up just right. Stick two magnets together. Put glue on the outside of one magnet and glue it in place on the page, while the second magnet is still stuck to it. Then put glue on the back of the second magnet and close the page, making sure the acrylic pages are lined up right were you want them. Then leave it alone while the glue dries completely. After completely dry, very carefully open the page, separating the magnets. Then glue in place the papers, or photo mats or what not, on the back side of the pages, covering the magnets, and holding them securely in place.

Ta Da!


Repeat the process for each page.



I hope you like it!

I am still planning on making two more albums.

One will be a Stable, and one the Inn...