Ok girls, I need Bracket Album help!

[wvasweetness]

I just finished my 5th one, and I'm definitely getting better with each. But there are a couple of things I'm still having problems with...

1. How do you cut out the hole where the ring goes?
I have been gluing the paper onto the chipboard, then turning the chipboard over and using an exacto knife to cut out the circle. It gets the job done, but it definitely doesn't look perfect with the jaggedy little edges. And the hole is too small to get my file in to file it down. Am I just over-thinking this, or am I missing something?

2. On the first and last pages, where the grommet is, do you cut around that? Or do you remove the grommet, glue on the page, and then reinsert the grommet?
I have been removing it, gluing on the page, and then reinserting it in an *attempt* to create a nice, clean front page. But what I end up with is a grommet that is all dented and twisted b/c it's nearly impossible to reinsert it *gently*. So instead of getting the look I'm going for, I end up with a chewed up looking grommet. Ugh!

3. Can you tell me, specifically, how you cut your pages to fit the chipboard?
I have been cutting out the page roughly with scissors, gluing it on, turning the chipboard upside down and using my exacto to get right to the edge, then sanding. Is that what you do?

I think my biggest problem with this is that I'm too much of a perfectionist. I need to get over it and realize that the imperfections just mean that it was made with love. LOL.

Thanks, girls! I think after a few hundred more projects, I might actually get the hang of it!

 

[ColleenSwerb]

I use my crop-o-dile to cut out the hole inside the grommet. Close enough for my anyway, no one is paying attention to that specfici spot when they look at the album anyway.

I glue the page on, flip it over, and use my exacto to cut the extra paper off. Sometimes I sand after that, sometimes I don't.

For the covers, I glue it on, flip it over, cut it out, and thenuse my exacto to gently cut out the circle of the grommet. Sometimes I'll punch the hole before I glue it on, and then make slightly bigger circles around that hole before I glue it on.

Basically though, it's like you said, learn to deal with imperfection. Perfection sucks. It only stresses you out.

 

[cindyg]

1. hole puncher
2. for the grommets, you can use an exacto to cut around the grommet, I cut the hole a little smaller than the grommet and used my fingernail to push the tiny bit of extra paper under the grommet so you don't see where the hole was cut, hope that makes sense.
3. That's pretty much what I do too.

 

[MikkelPaige]

1. Same way you do it
2. I cut around the grommet b/c I like the "finish" the grommet gives it. It looks more professional to me that way, with the grommet on there.
3. Same way you do it