I started with a Fansells.com photo album link: https://tinyurl.com/y8m7jbdg and Magnetic Vent Covers from Amazon link: https://tinyurl.com/y7o9hxta  Note: You can buy the vent covers at your local hardware store for under $5, but I was quarantining, so bought what I could get online.

I needed to cut the strips of vent cover to 6″ tall x 4 1/2″ wide. (Initially, I measured the outside of the album, so I had to cut twice and had more thin strips left over.)  I didn’t want to waste any of the magnetic sheets, so all of the scraps were used.  I put tear tape on the back of each piece, making sure to go around the entire sheet, and run a couple of lines of tear tape through the center section so the magnet would be well adhered. I laid the magnetic sheets as close to the outside of each page so the bulk caused from adding the dies won’t make the album bulge.

For a closure, I decided to wrap elastic around the album with an eyelet.  Before putting the eyelet in the album, I coated the diamonds with Deco-Arts Triple Thick Gloss Glaze (link: https://tinyurl.com/ycncrdx9) and let it dry. This will help to make sure the diamonds don’t pop off with use. I used my Crop a dile (link: https://tinyurl.com/y9vfps5f ) to punch a hole through the front cover near the center about 1/2″ from the right edge. I put an eyelet there and squeezed it in the Crop a dile to adhere it. I took elastic string I found at the Dollar Tree in the kids craft section and cut two, two feet lengths to keep the album closed. Hold both strings together and fold them in half. From the inside of the cover, push the folded strings through the eyelet. I used a white button and pushed the string ends through the holes of the button. I pulled the strings so I could decide how long they’d need to be to keep the book closed, and once I determined the length, made sure the button was flush with the back of the book and tied double knots in the strings to ensure they stayed tied. (Note: Fill the album before this step.)

Before cutting off most of the excess elastic string, wrap the elastic around the album to decide if it is tight enough (or too tight.) If it’s not tight enough, un-knot the elastic, and pull more through the eyelet and retie the knot. Wrap it around the album again, and if it feels right, cut off most of the excess string. If it’s too short, un-tie the string and pull more through the eyelet, wrap it around the book, and if it’s good, tie it and cut off most of the excess. I leave a little extra elastic in case my book grows thicker if I add more dies.

Even with all of the magnetic vent covers, I didn’t have enough magnetic sheets to hold all of my holiday dies, so after showing the video, I added more magnets that I had on hand and now all of my holiday dies fit and stay put. I really like this project and hope you do too…It gives you another way to use diamond art to make pretty storage, or a lovely photo album..

Thanks to the nice people at Fansells for the photo album, I love it.

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