Covering a physical album

[sussemaus]

Hi everyone! It's been a while. I am shifting into hybrid scrapbooking (thank you Traci Reed for getting me into travelers notebooks!). I am looking for some help or recommendations or how tos. I am stumped on what to actually google or search the forum for, re cover/recover album is apparently not it.

My problem is, I am trying to upcycle an old, really ugly, empty photo album I have laying around. It is the kind with permanently attached pages and that glossy paper type front. I hope that makes sense. I want to recover the front/back covers using printed digital products and decoupage, but I cannot figure out how to remove the glossy paper cover. It rips, just into tiny shreds. Is there any other way? Anybody have experience with this? Would the papers and decoupages just stick to the glossy covering anyway? Thanks for any help!