My Acrylic Album
Product Review
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| April's Review |
Renee's Review |
Tammy's Review |
Stephanie's Review |
Pomaika`i's Review |
Review by AprilAcrylic has quickly become a very popular scrapbooking and crafting material because it provides the designer with an endless number of possibilities when creating. To me, embellishing acrylic is exciting because it's like working on a blank canvas where anything is possible...only it's clear, firm, and resistant. My Acrylic Album currently carries hundreds of different clear album designs to choose from and I was very pleased to learn we would get the chance to review some of them!
For this review I received a 6x6 acrylic Wonky Square album. The album consists of five funky scalloped acrylic pages and one slightly smaller slanted acrylic square. There are 2 silver colored book rings included, and each sheet of acrylic comes with a protective kraft covering on each side. Each of the sheets have a nice durable thickness to them and are approximately 1/16th of an inch thick. There are two pre cut holes on the side of each acrylic sheet and because the acrylic is not too thick, you can easily add more holes using a heavy duty hole punch or you can add pin holes using the tip of a metal awl that has been heated over a flame. The website for My Acrylic Album can be found at http://www.myacrylicalbum.com. You can view the large variety of acrylics in their store, check out other project ideas in their gallery, and even learn a few tips on working with acrylic on their blog.
As soon as I saw the Wonky Square acrylic album, I decided to use the pages individually and create a set of holiday sun catchers. To create my first sun catcher, I turned the acrylic page on it's side and adhered a transparent overlay in the middle of it using mini glue dots. I added felt shapes, a large glittered flower, and then decorated the page with glitter glue.
Title: Believe Sun catcher
Products used:
Acrylic Album Page (My Acrylic Album: Wonky Square)
Glitter Glue (Ranger: Stickles)
Felt (Fancy Pants)
Transparent Overlay (Hambly Screenprints)
Flower (Heidi Swapp)
Glitter Brad (Making Memories)
I wanted to add a little color to my second sun catcher, so I colored the back of the acrylic with a pretty green alcohol ink. I loved how cool the transparent green looked on the acrylic, so I decided to keep the project very simple in order to show it off. To complete the sun catcher, I added a rhinestone frame and some pretty red holiday felt pieces.
Title: Merry Sun catcher
Products used:
Acrylic Album Page (My Acrylic Album: Wonky Square)
Alcohol Ink (Jaquard)
Felt (Fancy Pants)
Jeweled Brad (Imaginesce)
Rhinestones (Heidi Swapp)
Stickers (Making Memories)
I used the two acrylic sheets from the front cover of the album to create my third sun catcher. I adhered a pink transparent overlay to the scalloped acrylic sheet and then decorated the smaller acrylic square. I used a mixture of rub ons, stickers, felt, rhinestones, and a small bird mirror to dress up the top acrylic sheet. Afterwards, I placed mini glue dots on the underside of the acrylic square underneath several of the embellishments and then adhered this to the large scallop sheet. I also added a green velvet ribbon knot through the pre cut holes in the acrylic for extra binding.
Title: Joy Sun catcher
Products used:
Acrylic Album Pages (My Acrylic Album: Wonky Square)
Felt (Fancy Pants)
Transparent Overlay (Hambly Screenprints)
Rub Ons (Fancy Pants)
Mirror Bird (Heidi Swapp)
Rhinestones (Wal-Mart)
Stickers (Heidi Swapp)
Velvet Ribbon (Maya Road)
I colored the back of my 4th sun catcher with a mixture of red alcohol inks. Then I added a decorative transparent overlay across the top of the acrylic and transferred rub ons on top of that. To add a little more sparkle, I applied glitter glue on top of the felt pieces and placed a couple of rhinestone brads in the pre cut holes on the side.
Title: Wish Sun catcher
Products used:
Acrylic Album Page (My Acrylic Album: Wonky Square)
Alcohol Ink (Jaquard, & Ranger)
Glitter Glue (Ranger: Stickles)
Felt (Fancy Pants)
Rub Ons (Hambly Screenprints)
Rhinestone Brads (Heidi Swapp, & 7gypsies)
Transparent Overlays (Heidi Swapp, & Best Creations Inc.)
I loved the creative shape of my acrylic album and I am anxious to try out several more of the unique acrylic albums "My Acrylic Albums" has to offer! The acrylic was very sturdy, and I was able to easily add extra holes as needed using my crop a dile. Although it was a little difficult at first getting my fingernails under the protective kraft covering, I really liked that each sheet came with a protective cover on each side of the acrylic. I love the idea of having each side protected until I am ready to decorate it and I was able to keep the back cover on while I decorated the top of the acrylic page which made it less likely to get scratched or nicked. The Wonky Square acrylic album I reviewed was super cute and very reasonably priced at $13.95. I would recommend these acrylic albums to anyone who is looking to create a one of kind acrylic project!
Review by ReneeMini Albums are one of the hottest things going in scrapbooking right now. Not only are they small, easy to complete and seriously fun to do, but they also give a scrapbooker a chance to tell to tell a complete story in one small area. Rather than spreading out your memories on several pages of your family album, a mini album lets you get them all together in one succinct place.
Among the hottest of this hot craze in mini albums is the acrylic albums. These are really versatile in that they allow the scrapbooker to use either a clear background or cover the acrylic as apposed to with a regular chipboard album. Right in the middle of the acrylic album mix is My Acrylic Album. My Acrylic Albums has hundreds of different acrylic albums in many shapes and sizes.
The album pages of My Acrylic Albums are a high quality, thick acrylic sheeting. Each album is die cut from this sheeting and is protected on both sides by a paper covering. This covering peels off to reveal the underlying pages of the album. For my review, I received a stocking album. This album contained a cover page, with a 3 inch oval opening, along with four additional pages cut identically to the cover without the opening.
For my project, I chose to use alcohol inks on the cover of my album to create a clear backdrop for the photo below. Alcohol inks are a perfect accent for clear albums as they dry transparent.
Title: Stocking Cover
Products used: Album (My Acrylic Album)
Alcohol ink (Jacquard)
Felt (Rainbow felt)
On the interior pages, I chose to use a mixture of clear and wallpapered pages. I found the acrylic pages very amenable to the wallpapering process and found clear drying white glue applied in a thin amount to be the best for no show adhering.
Inside Pages 1
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Paper Studios)
Die Cut machine (Cricut)
Die Cut cartridge (Cricut Don Juan)
While I did not use them in the album, rub on’s would make a nice addition to this type album. The My Acrylic Album has many ideas such as this one in its idea gallery. I spent quite a while perusing the gallery looking at the eye candy.
Inside Pages 2
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Paper Studios)
Felt flowers (American Crafts)
Brads (Making Memories)
Stickers (Flair Designs)
If you are looking for a new challenge, or just want unique way to scrap your pictures in one location, be sure to check out My Acrylic Album. I was very impressed with these albums, the quality of the albums and the wealth of ideas and information found on the website.
Review by TammyLooking for acrylic albums or embellishments? With over a hundred different designs to choose from, My Acrylic Album certainly should have something to fit your need.
The Fire Hydrant book that I received measures 7 x 5 1/2 inches and comes with 6 acrylic pages. The cover page is unique in that it has two long vertical rectangles cut from the center to give the illusion of the ribs on an actual fire hydrant. I loved how this added more depth to the overall project. I also received a small package of Puppy Bling Charms; Dog Bowl, Dog Bone, Woof, Fire Hydrant, and Paw. All of the charms are made from the same acrylic material as the book. The acrylic pieces are very sturdy and will not bend or break very easily. Each piece is also covered with a thick brown paper which has a plastic backing to help it release from the acrylic pages. Rest assured this protective covering will not come off until you are ready which means you won't have to worry about scratches or scuff marks on your pieces due to loose areas of the protective covering. To remove this covering, I found it easiest to use a small pin and gently lift up a corner, making sure that I did not scratch the surface of the album. Once the corner was lifted I was then able to peel away the covering leaving me with a crystal clear page to work on.
As I looked at my Fire Hydrant book and Puppy Bling Charm pieces I was thinking how appropriate this book would be for a fireman or possibly a Dalmatian. Since we have neither one of these in our home I turned to our wonderful Golden Retrievers as the subject of this book - hence the title, "The Golden Years".
When working with acrylic albums, I find it easiest to start with the pictures first and place them down on the pages with a removable adhesive. Once the pictures are positioned where I would like them to be, I begin adding color, patterns, and embellishments. As I add each embellishment or paper I continue to double check how it will appear throughout the entire book. Once all of my pictures, papers, and embellishments are in place I adhere all of my elements using a permanent adhesive.
Adhesives can be a concern since all of the pages are acrylic and most adhesives will leave a mark. On page 2 of my album (shown below) I wanted the acrylic to be sandwiched between the title and red paper to provide depth and interest to the page. Since normal scrapbook adhesives would show through, I decided to use a spray adhesive on my red paper to minimize any adhesive marks.
Not all mediums will work on acrylic and therefore care needs to be taken when choosing products. Staz-on ink is a solvent ink that will not smudge or wipe away from acrylic once it is dry. Knowing this, I used a black Staz-on pad to ink the edges of all of the pages and embellishments in the album.
Rub-ons are also another good source of adding artistic elements to the pages, but once again, you need to choose carefully - not all rub-on's are created equal. If the rub-on is going to be seen from both sides, make sure that your rub-on does not have a white backing otherwise you will either need to place a mirror image or another element on the reverse page.
Once all of the elements were permanently adhered to my pages I used the binder ring (packaged separately) to bind my book. I added some coordinating felt ribbons and attached one of the Puppy Bling charms to one of the ends of the felt ribbon to complete my Fire Hydrant Acrylic Mini Album.
Title: The Golden Years
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Fire Hydrant album (My Acrylic Album)
Puppy Bling Charms (My Acrylic Album)
Patterned Paper (Paper Studio)
Staz-on ink (Tsukineko)
Bling Images (Paper Studio)
Ribbon (Paper Studio)
Rub-ons (7 Gypsies & Basic Grey)
Flowers (Paper Studio)
Stickles (Ranger)
Sticker letters (American Crafts)
Spray Adhesive (Elmer)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)
The Fire Hydrant mini album from My Acrylic Album was a perfect size to work with. Each page of acrylic was crystal clear and the edges were clean with no rough edges providing a high quality album. The Puppy Bling Charms added fun and whimsy to this album but would also be cute used in a suncatcher, mobile, or even on tags or bookmarks.
Looking for a unique acrylic album or embellishment? The answer is clear - My Acrylic Album!
Review by StephanieMy Acrylic Albums have been around the scrapbook market for approximately 2 years and are seen as one of the leaders in acrylic albums. Created by a husband and wife team, they have hundreds of different shapes and styles of acrylic albums in any number of sizes. Continually pushing the envelope, My Acrylic Albums has debuted some exciting new albums this month. Check out their website for lots of inspiration. I have always admired the creations of individuals who have worked with acrylic albums, but I had never had the opportunity to create with one of My Acrylic Albums. So I was very excited to know we’d be working with an assortment of albums from My Acrylic Albums this month.
For my review I received Polly’s Pocketbook to work with. Now I must say I was quite intimidated when I first opened my package because I have never worked with a pure acrylic album before. Working with acrylic is not like working with any other album because everything you do impacts the entire album. Unlike a regular scrapbook, you need to think out your album from start to finish, working out your pages in advance, understanding the impact of each layer. Believe it or not, this was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be – but preplanning is definitely the key to creating a gorgeous album.
So where to start!!!!! I first pulled off the cover film on each acrylic sheet. This film keeps the acrylic clean until you are ready to work with it. As I began working with the album, a number of ideas presented themselves. My first thought was to use the album as a template and create pages. So that’s what I did. The pages turned out nice, but then I realized that the purpose of working with an acrylic album is to think outside your comfort zone and create something very different from that which you are used to doing. Once I finally had this point of reference, I put aside what I had done and began to play and this is the final result.
There are a number of things to keep in mind when working with an acrylic album. (i) Since your papers will show through the album, make the most of all the double sided papers you own since you can utilize both sides at once. With all the gorgeous papers around, the possibilities are endless. (ii) Be aware of your adhesive. Since most adhesives will show, look at each page before adhering everything so that the adhesive is covered. When you can’t cover adhesive, I found using Diamond Glaze along flower lines, along torn edges, on dots, etc., helped hide the adhesive. Also adding rub-ons around those areas helped hide any tell tale signs of extra adhesive. Rub-ons adhere to acrylic like butter so use them everywhere you can. (iii) Ink all your edges – it gives a great definition to your album and really finishes it off. (iv) Layer your elements so they can be seen throughout the album. Flowers peeking through the layers look awesome. (v) Glimmer mists provide a nice touch as do alcohol inks. And both can add dramatic impact to your album. (vi) Have fun with it and let your creativity flow.
Title: She’s got Purse-anality
Products used: Acrylic Album (My Acrylic Album, Polly's Pocketbook)
Pattern paper (Prima)
Rub-ons (DaisyDs, Fancy Pants, Heidi Swapp, Making Memories, Prima)
Tags (Creative Imaginations)
Thickers (American Crafts)
Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels)
Flowers, Bling (Heidi Swapp)
Brad (Making Memories)
Ink (Colorbox)
Alcohol Ink (Ranger)
Glitter Cuts (Fancy Pants)
Acrylic embellishments (Brenda Walton)
Ribbon (Maya Road, Michaels)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner, Judikins Diamond Glaze)
I have worked with other albums that have included some acrylic within the confines of the album, but this is first time I have worked with a pure acrylic album. Acrylic really gives you the opportunity to experiment. It takes rub-ons like butter. Mists, alcohol inks and chalk inks provide different, beautiful effects. While I did not use brads through my album, I understand the Crop-A-Dile will punch holes without cracking the album, so that will be my next item to play with.
My album focuses on me, but I easily could have focused my nieces, my friend’s granddaughter, my friends, or on the contents of my purse. However you decide to work with this album, just play with it and have fun. Don’t stress, because whatever you create will be a one of a kind work of art! Thanks My Acrylic Album for the chance to work with one of your wonderful albums this month. I truly enjoyed my play time.
Review by Pomaika`iWhen acrylic albums first came out, I was among the first wave to run to the hardware store and get large sheets cut into album sized pieces. My first attempts at acrylic albums were pretty amateur, with rough edges and crooked cuts. I took enormous amounts of time drilling holes in the pages for the binding. Since then, I have watched with excitement as acrylic albums have evolved from squares into glorious shapes, anything from apples to fire hydrants. Thank goodness these albums are now so readily available for purchase!
I was really looking forward to seeing My Acrylic Album in person for this review. I was blown away when I first set eyes on the shaped album I received. It was in the shape of an evergreen tree called "Oh Christmas Tree"! The album set came with six tree shaped pages almost 10 inches tall and around 8 inches at the widest part of the tree. Each page feels substantial and sturdy and came encased in plastic coated paper on both sides to protect the acrylic. The top of the tree blends into an "O" shape for the binder ring that will eventually hold all the pages together. Also included in the package was a decorative cut out star shape about 5 inches tall (with an"O" shape on top), 7 small starburst shapes, a binder ring, and a diagram of the finished album.
I was impressed that the starburst shapes and the binder ring were in separate plastic bags. I think that this helps with protecting the album and the elements from getting scratched during transport. One page, designated as the cover (though you could use it anywhere), has seven pairs of tiny holes that match the seven starbursts which each have a pair of holes as well. The idea is that you can use twine or ribbon to attach the starburst to the cover for creative dimension.
I began my project by peeling the protective coating off the front of one page. It is a little difficult to get started, but once you pry a tiny piece of the paper off, the whole thing comes off with a firm pull. I had to peel two page sides before I realized that it's easier to pull from the top down on this shape rather than the bottom up. I have short nails, and I noticed that the tip of my nail was starting to peel a little after about three pages, so I carefully used tweezers to loosen the paper from the acrylic after that. If you decide to use tweezers, be careful and just use them to get the paper started, then use your fingers because you don't want to slip and accidently scratch your pages with the tweezers. Though it is a little difficult to remove, I appreciate this type of coating rather than the thin blue plastic that cover most acrylic albums, because I think that it offers better protection from accidental scratching.
The first thing I did was to cover my page with alcohol ink using a piece of felt. Something I learned when I had some albums cut by a laser specialist is that the laser process tends to weaken the acrylic in the cut area. The result of this is that you can develop cracks when using certain types of solvents. Unfortunately, alcohol is one of them. I did notice a few small cracks on the edges and in some holes. They don't appear right away, and luckily they are small. I had forgotten about the tendency to crack until it happened. Next time I will use the alcohol ink, but keep it away from the edges and cut areas of the acrylic. The cracks will not be noticeable unless you really look for them because of the way I embellished the piece.
On the edges of each tree on the front and back, I stippled white acrylic paint with a tooth brush by lightly bouncing the brush bristles onto the surface. This effectively covered the cracks on the edge. On the cover, I tied antique buttons with ribbon in the pre-cut holes instead of using the starbursts. I will use the starbursts another time for embellishments on another project.
To decorate the pages, I used two different patterns of felt lace. Luckily the lace is the same color on the front and the back so that I did not have to cover the other side of the project to hide an ugly back-side. I placed the self adhesive lace onto the surface of the page and trimmed the edges closely. I traced and cut letters from a basic stencil to spell the word "peace", then embellished with flowers and winter friends.
Title: Peace Banner
Products used: Album ( My Acrylic Album, Oh Christmas Tree)
Patterned Paper (Basic Grey)
Felt Lace (Queen and Co.)
Stickers (Paper Bliss, Mrs Grossman)
Alcohol Ink (Ranger)
Acrylic Paint (Plaid)
Flowers (Prima)
Ink (Adirondak Ranger)
Ribbon (Offray)
Embroidery Floss (DMC)
Other (antique buttons)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)
What a blast it was, playing with my Oh Christmas Tree Album by My Acrylic Album. In my opinion, this album is of very high quality from start to finish. I was very pleased with the way my banner turned out, and if I ever get bored with the banner, I can pull the banner apart and add photos to my pages to make a super album! How's that for versatility?
Since I had so much fun with this album, I went to check out the My Acrylic Album website www.myacrylicalbum.com to see what other products they make. Boy was I impressed! You can find just about any theme you desire. The album shapes are unique and look like tons of fun to play with. Better yet, if you need some ideas on how to embellish your acrylic album, you'll find the "Tips and Tricks Blog" to be of immense help. You can find it on the menu bar at the My Acrylic Album Website. In it you'll find some wonderful tutorials on great techniques to use on your acrylic albums.
This product is perfect for everyone, whether you are a beginner or advanced scrapper. The album shapes are excellent fun, no more scrappers block here! You'll have a blast decorating and in the end, you'll have a gorgeous project when you are done. I hope you'll give one of these a try!
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