Woven Paper Album Cover

Create an elegant album cover with punched, woven paper strips.

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Filed under: Paper, Scrapbooking, Crafts

This album cover has the look of woven lace or ribbon, but is actually created with punched and woven paper strips.

Renee Sparks creates an album cover with an heirloom appearance—and it's all made from paper!

Materials:

generic album of your choice
large sheet of specialty paper approximately 24" x 30"
pencil
spray adhesive
border punch from Fiskars (here, Lace Border Punch)
cream scrapbook pages
paper trimmer
14" x 14" ceiling tile
1/2 yd. double-sided iron-on interfacing
straight pins
iron
clean sheet of scrapbook paper or pressing cloth
double-sided tape or archival glue
wide ribbon (enough to go around outside edge of album)

Steps:

Remove pages from album and set aside.
Place large sheet of specialty paper face down on work surface. Open album and place onto paper, ring-binder side up. Mark a two-inch border all around outside edges of album with pencil. Use scissors to cut paper on marked line.
Remove album and set aside. In a well-ventilated area (preferably outside) spray back of cut specialty paper piece with an even coat of spray adhesive. Allow to dry one minute.
Place sprayed paper adhesive-side up onto work surface. Place back of album onto adhesive and center. Flip album with adhered paper over and smooth securely with hands to remove any wrinkles or air bubbles. Flip album back over and smooth excess paper over edges of album and onto front and back of the inside of album, mitering corners. Trim paper as needed to fit around the metal ring-binder.
Place a piece of the remaining specialty paper face up over the inside of the front of the album cover. Mark with pencil to within 1/8" of outside edge and against the edge of the ring binder. Use scissors to cut on marked line. Spray back of paper with adhesive and press down securely onto album. Repeat for the inside back of the album cover. Set covered album aside.
Use paper trimmer to cut cream scrapbook papers and remaining specialty papers into 2-1/2" wide strips.

Figure A

Then, use border punch to punch paper on both sides of each 2-1/2" wide strip.

Mark and cut a piece of iron-on interfacing to fit the front of the album. Place adhesive side up onto ceiling tile. Secure at corners with pins.

Place punched paper strips vertically onto interfacing alternately between cream strips and specialty paper strips. Secure strips at top with pins.

Figure B

Beginning at the top of the vertical paper strips, begin horizontally weaving a cream colored punched strip by going over the first strip and under the second strip. Repeat until the strip is woven all the way across. Repeat with a specialty strip underneath the woven cream strip. Repeat, alternating cream and specialty paper strips until you reach the bottom of the vertical strips.

Figure C

Turn iron on highest heat setting and allow to heat up. Place clean sheet of scrapbook paper or pressing cloth over woven paper strips. Press woven paper strips securely to interfacing by moving iron in a circular motion over entire piece (figure C). Periodically lift edges of pressing cloth to check adhesion. If not secure, continue pressig until all strips are adhered. Remove cloth and allow woven piece to cool. Remove pins. Remove woven/adhered piece and peel away backing paper.

Place woven/adhered piece adhesive side down onto front of album and center. Place pressing cloth onto top of woven piece and repeat pressing in the same manner as above until the entire piece is securely adhered to the album front. Allow to cool. Trim as needed. (Because there is no adhesive under the overlapped pieces of the punched papers, it may be necessary to secure the edges of the woven piece with double-sided tape or glue.)

Cut a strip of the interfacing to fit the width and length of the ribbon. Place interfacing adhesive side up onto ceiling tile or ironing board.

Center ribbon, wrong-side down, onto interfacing. Cover with pressing cloth and iron as above. Allow to cool. Peel backing away from ribbon. Center and place ribbon evenly over the outside edge of the album all the way around, with one half of the width of the ribbon over the front edge (covering the cut edges of the woven piece) and one half over the back edge. Iron to adhere into place with the iron. Overlap where the ribbon begins and ends and secure with glue or two-sided tape.

Replace the album pages into the album and enjoy!