Need help with Cosmo Cricket Abby Album

T

TerriM

New member
I purchased the Cosmo Cricket Abby Album, and a kit to go with it. The kit said "Fit's Abby album perfectly", but my pages were bigger by 1/8 inch or more than the actual album pages. It was my first hybrid project, and I make such a mess of it trying to cut the pages down, that I threw the whole thing in the trash. I decided to reprint the pages at a smaller size so that they are actually a bit smaller than the album. I haven't bought the album yet, so I can't measure across to see how much I need to reduce my pages.

Has anyone successfully made an Abby album, and if so, can you tell me if I'm going about this the wrong way?

Do you glue down your page, then cut around it, or do you cut it out and try to get it glued down correctly? There are so many small tight cuts with this album that I'm not sure what to do. Plus there's a small border around some of the pages, so if it's not glued down exactly right, one border is bigger than the other.

Thanks for your help!
 
what I did to save a little $$$ when printing is resized my album's width to 6 inches and the height ended up being 3.783 inches then I opened a 6x4 palette and flattened them onto that to print 4x6. They were perfect in size for my album. you can always just sand down the extra instead of cutting.

just curious if you didn't have the album how do you know your pages were bigger? Good luck with it. It's an adorable album once it's finished
 
Well, in MY experience no hybrid project fits "perfectly". Specially MY projects as I'm scissor challenged. LOL
What I do is

1. Measure the cut outs with the chipboard album.
2. Draw the holes of the rings and punch them
3. Glue the paper to the chipboard as much centered as my limited capabilities allowed me.
4. When the glue is COMPLETELY DRY trim the exceed of paper with an exacto knife
5. Repeat with the other side (I do one side first and the the other, doing both at the time will be a mess)
6. Once everything is dry and trimmed, sand the edges and ink the borders. This is great to hide any flaw
 
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Thanks for your help. I'll try your suggestions.

In answer to your question, I bought the album and the kit, and once my pages were printed, I cut them out right to the edges. When I glued them on, the edges of my page hung over on parts of it, so the borders were uneven. I tried to file it in the tight places, but it just was a mess. I tried to pull off the page and start over, but the album pulled up in spots. I ended up throwing the whole thing away and working on a rectangle album instead. I'm now ready to go back and try the Abby Album again, because I love the kit and the pages I made. I just wanted to make sure I was approaching it the right way.
 
You'll learn that perfection and hybrid really do not go hand in hand :)

I cutthe pages, glue one side, and then use my kraft knife to cut it out right up to the chipbaord. Sometimes I sand after that, I usually ink, and I rarely seal cuz I don't have kids who'll be looking them and messing with htem.
 
Terri - did you read the PDF instructions with the album you downloaded? All the pages here at SSD are made just a little bit bigger than the album (to allow for differences from the manufacturer)

I am so sorry you got frustrated & thru it away. :( The way I print always tend to get rid of my excess. But really it was thru trail and error that I figured out how to print w/ my printer.

Here are my basic steps:

1. Add photos, journaling, titles -
2. Save the layered file, then flatten.
3. Drag the flat image to a 8.5x11 in document.
4. Repeat with all pages till I fill the document, I usually end up with 3-4 8.5x11 sheets depending on the album I am using.
5. When I print my page I check the "print to fit letter" option. This way I never lose anything to "margins" and my pages shrink down just enough.

Tip #1 - when you have a page with a border it is a good idea to glue in sections, so that you can place the page on the chipboard without glue to get the margins as even as possible. Then glue it down in sections.

Tip#2 - I do all the "fronts" then trim & sand before I start doing "backs." It makes it harder to sand & trim when both sides of the chipboard are covered.
 
Great tips girls I am gonna have to try some...lol you would so laugh if I told you how I did mine and how much paper I end up wasting
 
Take this for what it's worth and it's probably just my printer settings...but mine get all funky and are too small if I do the 8.5x11 size document. I have to use 8x10 size to print mine- I have no idea why. Maybe it automatically centers and fits to page or something weird like that. So always check on those very last steps before your print. Usually it's under print preferences or a similar title. Trial and error here too!
 
Another thing, print a test page in b/w before you print all of your pages. This way you can do a quick test run to make sure your pages will fit and it won't waste color ink.
 
I agree with all being said here. I'm so sorry you had to throw away your album! We do make the pages a bit bigger all around. It is actually harder to put an exact size/shape page onto the chipboard correctly. Usually if you try that you will end up with chip showing some where and overhang in another!

I print a test page to see if the size is going to be slightly larger than my chipboard page all around. Then I print everything, and cut the pages apart roughly. I line up the paper and chip while holding it up to the light, then I glue just part of the page down, smooth and then glue the rest. The excess paper I crease over the edge and then sand off with a fingernail file. Borders can still be a problem though because it is hard to line things up perfectly.

You'll get the hang of it in no time I bet! Good luck!
 
One piece of advice that I have, if you ever are unhappy with how it looks on the page or accidentally glue the wrong page to the chipboard (um, did I just admit to that... LOL). Just sand off the edges so the layout is smooth and blends in on the sides. Then just put the new layout ON TOP of the old one. That works much better than ripping the old layout off the chipboard. I did that 2 times and you couldn't even tell when the project was all done!
 
Amber1279 said:
Here are my basic steps:

1. Add photos, journaling, titles -
2. Save the layered file, then flatten.
3. Drag the flat image to a 8.5x11 in document.
4. Repeat with all pages till I fill the document, I usually end up with 3-4 8.5x11 sheets depending on the album I am using.
5. When I print my page I check the "print to fit letter" option. This way I never lose anything to "margins" and my pages shrink down just enough.

Tip #1 - when you have a page with a border it is a good idea to glue in sections, so that you can place the page on the chipboard without glue to get the margins as even as possible. Then glue it down in sections.

Tip#2 - I do all the "fronts" then trim & sand before I start doing "backs." It makes it harder to sand & trim when both sides of the chipboard are covered.
Click to expand...

This is SO helpful as I'm starting my first "informed" project right now- my first project I THOUGHT I knew what I was doing... not so much!
 
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