April's Review	Catherine's Review	Chris' Review	Renee's Review	Stephanie's Review

Review by April

Tinkering Ink recently debuted their new Peekaboo albums at the 2008 winter craft and hobby association show. I actually got to see them at show and was immediately drawn to them. They currently have six styles of peekaboo albums and each one them are unique in their own way. After pursuing the new albums, I knew they had created a winner and was anxious to get my hands on one. I mean who wouldn't love the concept of combining chipboard with acrylic and throwing in pre-cut "peekaboo" windows?

For this review I received a 6x12 chipboard and acrylic peekaboo album, one package of pink alpha transfers, and one package of blue alpha transfers. The peekaboo album was very cool and included 4 chipboard pages with windows and 3 acrylic pages to use for layering. Each of the chipboard and acrylic pages came in a different shape and size so that when you layer or stack them in order from the smallest to the largest, you can see a little bit of each page. The chipboard pages were very sturdy and two of them included a little pre-cut window so you could see through to the next page. The two silver book rings included in the package are large enough to allow the addition of all sorts of 3-D page embellishments and also the addition of extra pages! The pink alphabet transfers came on a 5x8" sheet and included both uppercase and lowercase letters along with a set of numbers, flower doodles, and variety of punctuation marks. There was only one of each uppercase letter, but there were three of each lowercase letter and the font was very pretty. The blue alphabet transfers also came on a 5x8" sheet and came in all uppercase letters. There were doubles of some of the letters and the sheet also included popular punctuation marks.

To create my "Highlights of Disney" album, I started by painting the fronts of all 4 chipboard pages. I covered the back of each chipboard piece with patterned paper and then painted the edges of all the album pages with a lime green paint dabber. I wanted to stick with a black, lime green, pink, red, and blue color scheme, so I painted the Tinkering Ink die cut alphabet letters and monogram to match. I decorated the pages by adding pictures, a variety of rub ons and embellishments, some glitter glue, and pen doodling and journaling. It was easy to journal and doodle directly on the chipboard, using several different kinds of pens and markers. When I wanted to write or draw on the acrylic sheets I simply used a permanent marker. I really liked how easy it was to wipe off glitter glue, paint, etc...from the acrylic if you happened to make a mistake. I also loved the fact that the acrylic was easy to punch through to add decorative brads! Although the packaging for this album states you can mix and match the pages as desired, I thought it looked wonderful that way it came so I chose to keep the pages in order. All of the rub ons I transfered onto the acrylic sheets came out beautiful and the effect of combining the acrylic with the chipboard really added interest and dimension to the entire project. The pre-cut windows provided the perfect opportunity to highlight a picture or embellishment and give a sneak peak of what's to come!

Title: Highlights of Disney
Products used:
Chipboard & Acrylic 6x12 Album (Tinkering Ink, Peekaboo Album)
Patterned Paper (Scenic Route)
Die Cuts (Tinkering Ink Die Cut Alphabet & Monograms)
Alphabet Rub ons (Tinkering Ink Blue Alpha & Pink Alpha Transfers)
Other Rub ons (Maya Road, Hambly, 7gypsies, Basic Grey, Jenni Bowlin)
Rhinestones (Karen Foster, Making Memories, Cell Phone Bling)
Flowers (Prima)
Stickers (Making Memories, 7gypsies)
Glitter Glue (Ranger Stickles)
Paint (Jaquard Lumiere, & Ranger Paint Dabbers)
Mirror (Heidi Swapp)
Metal Clips (7gypsies)
Mask (Heidi Swapp)
Rubber Plaques (Creative Imaginations)
Journaling Sheers (Maya Road)
Pens (Staedtler, American Crafts, Ranger Inkssentials)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner, & Zots)

When using the alpha transfers, I thought the pink and blue colors remained vibrant after rubbing them on the pages and they were extremely easy to transfer. I did prefer the pink alpha transfers over the blue ones because I like the option of having uppercase and lowercase letters. There were also several more duplicate letters on the pink, so it was easier to spell out more words. The blue alpha transfers did have duplicates on some of the letters but not all of them, so it was not as versatile. I think the retail price of $4.99 is a bit high for the blue alpha transfers, but overall I thought the quality of the transfers was great. I have used several other Tinkering Ink transfers and have always been happy with their quality and ease of use. I have to be honest and admit that I have a large stack of cute mini albums just sitting on my shelf waiting to be decorated. I am always inspired to buy them, but never inspired enough to figure out what to put in them or how to dress them up. Oddly enough, the minute I pulled the 6x12 peekaboo album out of the package I couldn't wait to get started. There was something about the mixture of unique chipboard and acrylic pages that just got my wheels spinning and before long I was knocking out pages left and right! The difference in size and shape of each page really makes the entire album very eye-catching and I think it would look totally great even if all you did was add pictures! You have so many different options when it comes to this album and I look forward to buying and using more of the other peekaboo albums. I thought the retail price of $19.99 was a good price for this mini album considering what plain acrylic mini albums usually run. This is definitely one of my top picks for mini albums and I would recommend it to anyone looking to create a fabulous, super cute project!

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Review by Catherine

Tinkering Ink has created a fun new product recently and introduced it to the scrapbooking world as the Peek-a-boo album. Other members of the Scrapfriends review Team were able to review some smaller Peek-A-Boo albums previously, so I was excited to learn that I would be reviewing the 6”X12” album this month.

Each of the six different Peek-a-boo albums from Tinkering Ink include four chipboard pages with windows, and three acrylic pages; making the Peek-a-boo album quite a bit different from either the acrylic albums that are flooding the market lately, or chipboard albums that have been around for a while. One of my favorite sizes to scrapbook is 6X12 pages. This album however is not your typical 6X12” album. The pages are stacked, so that the edges of the album are not even. In my opinion, the staggered pages make the album much more interesting. The cover page measures more like 6X8” and each following pages is about 1” wider. In addition, the quality of the album is extremely high, and once you hold it in your hand you are sure that this album will hold up well to any prying hands and eyes. For this review, I also received two packages of Tinkering Ink Alphabet rub-on Transfers. Having used Tinkering Ink Transfers in the past, I knew that I would easily be able to incorporate them into my album without fear of them either not sticking, or flaking off after I had them adhered to my pages.

I love doing mini albums, but have kind of gotten out of the practice of doing them lately. Once I started thinking of the ways that I could use the Peek-a-boo album from Tinkering Ink, and I started flipping through the various sized pages, the ideas began flowing. Having recently returned from a trip to Florida with my husband, I decided to use this album to highlight some of the pictures I took of the magnificent scenery there. I knew that the combination of chipboard pages and acrylic pages would be the perfect compliment to the photos that I had. I began by choosing my patterned papers, which ended up being the hardest part of the project. All projects should come together as easily.

Title: Florida Vacation 2008
Products used: Peek-a-boo Album (Tinkering Ink – 6”X12”)
Patterned Papers (Scenic Route; Making Memories; American Crafts)
Transparent Overlay (Hambly Screenprints)
Silk Flower (Li’l Davis Designs)
Rub-On Transfers (Tinkering Ink)
Alphabet Stickers (Doodlebug Designs; Making Memories)
Phrase Stickers (7Gypsies)
Rhinestones (Heidi Swapp)
Journaling Blocks (Fancy Pants Designs; Scenic Route)

Adhesive (Adhesive Tech Permanent Bond Glue Runner; UHU Stic Glue Stick)

After choosing my pictures and my papers, I began assembling all of my pages. I love working with acrylic pages. It makes placement so easy. I knew that if I placed something on one side of the page, I just had to place something of the same size on the other side of the page. The shape and interest of every page made me want to quickly finish this album so that I could see the end result.

Title: Florida Vacation 2008 (Inside Cover)
Products used: Peek-a-boo Album (Tinkering Ink – 6”X12”)
Patterned Papers (Scenic Route; Making Memories; American Crafts)
Transparent Overlay (Hambly Screenprints)
Silk Flower (Li’l Davis Designs)
Rub-On Transfers (Tinkering Ink)
Alphabet Stickers (Doodlebug Designs; Making Memories)
Phrase Stickers (7Gypsies)
Rhinestones (Heidi Swapp)
Journaling Blocks (Fancy Pants Designs; Scenic Route)

Adhesive (Adhesive Tech Permanent Bond Glue Runner; UHU Stic Glue Stick)

Title: Florida Vacation 2008 (Inside Pages)
Products used: Peek-a-boo Album (Tinkering Ink – 6”X12”)
Patterned Papers (Scenic Route; Making Memories; American Crafts)
Transparent Overlay (Hambly Screenprints)
Silk Flower (Li’l Davis Designs)
Rub-On Transfers (Tinkering Ink)
Alphabet Stickers (Doodlebug Designs; Making Memories)
Phrase Stickers (7Gypsies)
Rhinestones (Heidi Swapp)
Journaling Blocks (Fancy Pants Designs; Scenic Route)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech Permanent Bond Glue Runner; UHU Stic Glue Stick)

I have truly enjoyed working with the Tinkering Ink Peek-a-boo Album and the Rub-on Transfers. As with every product that Tinkering Ink produces, this album holds a great deal of uniqueness and fun. Since I’ve created the album, my family has passed it around and looked at it several times, and the main comment has been “That’s Cool!” High praise from my three sons. If you haven’t tried one of the Tinkering Ink Peek-a-boo Albums yet, my only question is “Why not?” Go find yourself one today!

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Review by Chris

I have heard about Tinkering Ink's Peek-a-Boo albums; I have read reviews and seen photos of completed albums. I have read talk on the internet about how awesome they are, but I never actually had one in my hands until now. And NOW I know what the buzz is all about. They are amazing! I recently received the newest in the Peek-A-Boo line – a 6" x 12" album with both chipboard and acrylic pages in fantastically creative shapes. The chipboard pages have windows cut into them, allowing a view of the next page; the acrylic pages are clear by definition. Thus the concept, peek-a-boo.

The chipboard is a nice heavy weight, as is the acrylic used in the album. The first and second pages of the album are the same shape, with a window cut in the chipboard, allowing a peek at what is actually the third page in the album. Placement of photos and embellishments means everything to the success of the "peek" part of the album, so care must be taken during assemblage of each page with a view to previous pages as well as those further into the book. The fourth page is another acrylic page with a bracket shape as its edge. Page 5, another chipboard page has a tall, thin window near the spine. Since page 6 is also acrylic, you can see all the way to the last page through this window. So clever!

I used my album as packaged, with the shortest page as the cover and longest page as the last page, holding the album in a horizontal position. However, you are not limited to this arrangement. You can rearrange the pages in this album as you want, adding additional pages if you wish. Memorabilia can be incorporated and the pages made quite bulky since the binder rings included in the album are large enough to allow it. Thanks for that foresight, Tinkering Ink!

Matt recently celebrated his eighteenth birthday. Since that is a birthday with a view to the future and as well as glimpses into the past, I thought this Peek-A-Boo album would be perfect to scrap the occasion. I included the number 18 on each page and some whimsical quotes from I’m Eighteen by Alice Cooper. My cover is embellished with an acrylic letter on which I placed Happy B-Day stickers. I used grungeboard and some fun stamps on top of paper from Basic Grey’s Boxer line and Tinkering Ink’s Provincial Fare collection. This cardstock is a nice heavy weight that will take anything you want to attach to it! I used a lot of ink on both the chipboard and acrylic pages. I did use my heat tool to set the ink on the acrylic (because I am an impatient scrapper) and I was pleased to see that it accepted the heat without distorting. Nice!

Happy B-Day Album
Products used: Peek-A-Boo Album from Tinkering Ink
Patterned papers (Tinkering Ink, Provincial Fare; Basic Grey, Boxer)
Grungeboard (Tim Holtz, Idealogy by Advantus)
Ink (Ranger, Pigment Ink, Snow Cap, Denim, Pitch Black; Tsukineko, StazOn, Jet Black, Midnight Blue)
Stamps (Inque Boutique, Arrows, Majestic Flight, Lotsa Dots, Cabana; Paper Trunk, 1974 Border Stamps; Dollar Tree; Kolette Hall; Inkadinkado; Stampabilities; Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous, scratches)
Rub-ons (Basic Grey; Tinkering Ink; Luxe Designs)
Stickers (Magenta; Making Memories)
Pen (Ranger, Inkessentials, white opaque)
Chipboard (Scenic Route; Maya Road; American Crafts; Heidi Swapp; Magistical Memories)
Flowers (Prima)
Die Cuts (Sizzix; QuicKutz)
Metal elements (Tim Holtz, Idealogy by Advantus)

My first two pages "peek" foward to a photo of Matt with his traditional birthday breakfast complete with a few candles to start off his special day. This photo is actually on my third page, along with several other photos of candle-blowing events from the day.

I placed two photos, back to back, on the first acrylic page, along with rub-ons by Luxe Designs and Basic Grey. Look for rub-ons that transfer without a white backing to allow them to show from both sides of the acrylic. I have had great success with Tinkering Ink, Luxe Designs, and Basic Grey rub-ons for this effect. Stamps are another fantastic tool to use on clear pages. I used Andrea's technique to curve my acrylic stamp, conforming it to the edge of the acrylic page. Check out her article in our How-To section. As you are stamping, watch out for words or directional elements, as they will be backwards on the other side of the clear page! Here you can see how clear the acylic is as well as how well the stamps and rub-ons work on the acrylic pages.

Here are a couple of page spreads. The first is the inside of the cover with the acrylic page on top and the second chipboard page.

This spread shows the reverse side of the chipboard page from above and the final four pages layered, showing the window on the left and the overlapping decorated edges. I love the design of this album!

I have a few pieces of memorabilia from the day to track down and include on the last pages of the album which will thicken it up quite a bit. That won’t be a problem, since the rings that come with the album are huge and they'll take a lot of thickness as I finish up the final pages. Look for those finished pages in the gallery in the next few days!

If you have not yet had the chance to create with Tinkering Ink's Peek-A-Boo line of albums, you really should give them a try. The quality of the materials is excellent, the design of each page creative and clever. And the resulting album is very fun to look through! Although I'm not sure how they will improve on this line of albums, knowing Tinkering Ink, I'm sure they have something up their sleeve for their next release. I can't wait to see what it is!

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Review by Renee

I had never really gotten into the whole mini album thing before now. It wasn’t that I thought they weren’t cute, but more because I am not really a themed scrapper and most of the albums I saw spoke “theme” to me. Enter the chipboard, clear and handmade book styled mini albums. This new generation of mini albums can be themed, but really speaks “trendy” more than anything else. And if it’s trendy, well,…I have to try it.

Given my penchant for trendy, you can imagine my excitement when I discovered that I would to be working with the new Tinkering Ink 6 x 12 Peek a Boo album. I already love all things Tinkering Ink. They are one of the most trendy, artistic scrapbook companies currently on the market. Their products are cutting edge and almost any project completed using them takes on a cutting edge feel just by using them. The Peek a Boo albums are no less innovative.

The album itself has four chipboard pages, including the cover and back cover. Between each chipboard page is a corresponding clear album page. Each page, both chipboard and clear, measures six inches tall. The pages are of varying lengths, the longest being 12 inches. The pages are placed in such a way as to make a small portion of each page visible when the book is closed. True to it’s name, two of the chipboard pages have small portions on them cut away, to allow a view of the next page through the preceding page. The albums come with two large circular closures to use for binding, which I chose to embellish with lots of ribbon.

For my project, I decided to use a set of pictures taken during our recent spring break trip, while were house hunting prior to our move. Because of the nature of a mini album, I was able to use scrap sheets from four or five different Tinkering Ink collections in wallpapering my chipboard pages. That alone was a huge bonus. I also used a wide variety of Tinkering Ink and other rub on’s when working with the clear pages. Again, this really helped in using up some of my stash. Working with the peek through and clear pages was a little daunting at first, but after the first page or two, the process got much easier.

Title: Spring Break Fun Album
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Tinkering Ink, various collections)
Rub On Transfers, Felt Finery(Tinkering Ink and Hambly)
Brads (Making Memories)
Flowers (Prima)
Bling, Ghost embellishment, Chipboard accents (Heidi Swapp)
Chipboard buttons (Love Elsie)
Ribbon (Tie One On Ribbon Club)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

Working with the clear pages was a little daunting at first. The clear acrylic sheets come encased in blue protective sheets to prevent scratching. This sheeting takes a little maneuvering to get off, but did a good job of protecting the acrylic. I had to really think to figure out how to embellish the acrylic pages. I finally decided to keep these fairly simple using basically two sided embellishments like rub on transfers and back to back bling. Likewise, making sure that I properly planned for the peek a boo pages took a little thinking as well. However, the extra work really pays off with the end product.

Title: Spring Break Fun Album
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Tinkering Ink, various collections)
Rub On Transfers, Felt Finery(Tinkering Ink and Hambly)
Brads (Making Meemories)
Flowers (Prima)
Bling, Ghost embellishment, Chipboard accents (Heidi Swapp)
Chipboard buttons (Love Elsie)
Ribbon (Tie One On Ribbon Club)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I adored working with the Tinkering Ink Peek A Boo 6 x 12 album. The size is perfect for telling the story of a set of pictures. And, as an extra benefit, the size was perfect for using up a number of scraps leftover from many different projects. The small windows are just plain fun and the clear pages are elegant and beautiful. I can hardly wait to work on my next mini album, peek a boo of course!

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Review by Stephanie

I am such a fan of Tinkering Ink products – I just can’t get enough! Tinkering Ink hit the scrapbooking world in 2007 when they debuted at CHA with their Perfectly Posh and Westminster paper lines. The papers were fresh and funky and so different from the average paper line on the market. Lately, though, they have been adding really exciting new products – lots of exciting paper lines, rub-ons and albums. I am happy to say I had the pleasure of working with their rub-ons and a 6x12 album this month. You have to try this album. It is a mix of chipboard and acrylic shapes and is absolutely amazing. This 6x12 album is an addition to their other exciting Peek-A-Boo albums which came out earlier this year.

For this review I received a 6x12 chipboard and acrylic Peek A Boo album. This album is a mix of seven varying sized pages which are die cut into different shapes. The acrylic sheets are covered in a blue film to keep them clean until ready to use. Several of the chipboard pieces have windows cut in them, which allow the design on the next page to peek through. Two metal rings were included which are big enough to allow for expansion as you add onto your album. In addition, I received two packages of rub-ons – an upper and lower case pink script font and an upper case blue block font. Because the pink rub-ons were smaller, I had four complete alphabets to work with. Being larger, the blue rub-ons included duplicate letters, but I did run out of letters sooner than anticipated. I was very pleased with how easily these rub-ons go on.

As with all non-traditional albums, and by that I mean an album that is die cut into different shapes, you need to determine what you are going to do before proceeding. Since I wanted to create an album about our home, I selected the photos I wanted then worked on papers and placement before actually adhering anything. This gives you the ability to "review" your album before you actually put it together to be sure items peek through the windows, to be sure brads or eyelet backs don’t show, etc.

Since this type of album is fun and funky at the same time, feel free to experiment by adding all kinds of embellishments. I added acrylic office sheers, synthetic and chipboard flowers, ribbons, chipboard arrows, brads, stamps and stickers. Once I had the album arranged, I then adhered everything. When completed, I then went around the edges with ink to give it a finished look.

This is the final view of the album.

Title: Home Sweet Home Album
Products used: Album (Tinkering Ink, 6x12 Peek A Boo)
Rub-ons (Tinkering Ink)
Pattern Paper, Stickers (KI Memories, Love Elsie)
Ink (Colorbox, Staz on)
Office Sheers (Maya Road)
Chipboard (Maya Road)
Thickers (American Crafts)
Stamps (Hero Arts)
Flowers (Heidi Swapp, Prima, Fancy Pants)
Ribbon (Maya Road, Creative Imaginations, Prima, Michaels)
Brads (Making Memories)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

These are sample pages from the album. The rest of the album can be seen in the Tinkering Ink gallery.

This is a close up look of one of the pages on which I have used Tinkering Ink’s rub-ons. I used both sets and they work very well together and are extremely easy to use.

I must tell you, once you start creating with Tinkering Ink’s Peek A Boo albums, you won’t be able to stop. There are just so many possibilities. Think how much fun an album of this style would be to create about a family reunion or perhaps family friends or even a graduation party. Tinkering Ink’s designs are original, as is the concept of combining chipboard with acrylic. I know Tinkering Ink has some more exciting products coming out soon and I can’t wait to see them. Thanks Tinkering Ink.

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