May 18, 2016

Metro Gear Box and Mini Album

Hello everyone!

Today's project is a box and mini album that showcase Laura Denison's (Following the Paper Trail) first digital paper collection which she recently introduced, "Metropolitan Gallery".

The theme for this project is gears/steampunk. The gears on the top of the box all turn - the big gear turns the medium sized gear, and the medium sized gear turns the small gear.  I designed the box to hold one of Laura's mini albums - the "Split Paper Bag Album".


The box is 5 3/8" x 7 7/8" x 2 3/8" (not including the feet).  The lid slips down covering a slightly smaller box which holds the mini album.  The box is covered with paper from the Metropolitan Gallery collection.

There is a 3/4" frame around the top.

The gears were made using Tim Holtz' new Gadget Gears 2 die.  The die includes three sizes and all were used in the project.  I was so excited to see the teeth on these gears and find they could mesh with each other.


Each base gear is three layers of medium weight chipboard glued together to give them some depth.

The medium and small gears have another chipboard gear attached above the base gear using multiple chipboard "washers" to elevate them.

On top of the largest gear is one of Tim Holtz Faucet Knobs.  It is attached to the gear so that it can be used to turn the gear assembly.

You can see the gears turn in the completed project video - a link to YouTube is provided at the end of this post.

In this side view you can see the elevation of those gears.

I used some older Prima drawer pulls on the sides of the lid to make it easier to take the lid off.

Hiding in the shadows under the box are four feet made from 1 1/4" wood wheels painted black.



Inside the box is this little mini based on Laura Denison's "Split Paper Bag" Mini Album.  It is 4" x 7" x 1 3/4".  I used mini Michaels bags for the construction, and limited the album to three bags.

The gear theme continues here with a pocket made from Tim Holtz' "Gearhead" die.  The metal pieces are both Tim Holtz and Prima.

The background paper is more of Laura's Metropolitan Gallery digital paper.  The map images and most of the steampunk images are Laura Carson designs available at Alpha Stamps.

The charms hanging from clip are steampunk themed and come from Butter Bee.
The light colored gear hides a magnet and is attached to the back cover to form the closure.

Inside the cover is another gear pocket that holds an envelope (more on that in a minute) and a ticket.

On the right side is a flap with a photo mount.




I made the envelope out of black cardstock with the We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board.

The envelope is decorated with more of the Metro paper and Steampunk images.

Inside the envelope is a photo mount.

It is sized to hold a 2x3 photo.





Behind the flap there is a pocket with a large tag featuring the Metro paper and a Steampunk image.

The mini has six of these large tags.



When the flap opens, there room for more photos...

on the back of the removable map on the right and then on the photo mount behind the gear on the left.




When we turn the page here is a double pockets made with the Gearhead die.

Each pocket has a medium-sized tag with a photo mount and a small decorative tag.



The next pages start a repeat of the page design with two flaps that will open outward.

The decorative elements form pockets for more photo mounts which were removed so you could see the background paper.

I found some phrases I thought worked with the theme and used MS Word to add them to some digital images.


Opening the flap on the left side, we have another map...

... and then a photo mount.

Both are removable.









And underneath the right hand flap...

... another map and photo mount.






Then another double pocket spread...









... and then turning the page, more flaps with their photo mounts removed.






Here's what we see when we open the left flap (don't you love that diver's helmet??)...










... and here's what is under the right flap.








One last double pocket spread.









And then finally the last page.

On the right is another envelope with a photo mount inside, just like the inside front cover.






Here are links to the paper and Mini Album patterns on Laura Denison's site.
-  Metropolitan Gallery Digital Scrapbook Kit
-  Split Paper Bag Mini Album Pattern (Laura also has construction videos for the album on her site)

In a few days I will have finished editing the videos on how to make the Gear Box and will post more info about that construction as well as links to those videos.

If you would like to take a video tour of the completed project, a video has been posted to YouTube - see the link at the bottom of this post.

Thanks for visiting!
April

YouTube Video of the completed project:

1 comment:

LindaFS said...

I find this so absolutely cool! The whole thing and the parts and the colors too. But for me, the little gears on the top of the box are just amazing. I love the movement. And the little feet and handles. Super.