Flashback Friday Envelope Mini Album

Hello and welcome back to the craft room and today’s Flashback Friday Envelope Mini Album post. We are officially three days away from Christmas 2023! Where has the time gone?? Today I would love to share with you an envelope mini album I made as a Christmas gift in 2012. The design for this album is by the talented Kathy Orta King. While I had created a few mini albums prior to this, I have to say creating this mini album was stressful. It was by far the most involved pattern I had ever taken on. I am still so proud of how this book turned out though! Let me take you on a little show and tell.

Hey there, future Leen here. I was just informed by a blog visitor that the Kathy Orta video link I had listed is no longer on YouTube. I did some searching and found the video series “Baby Mini Tutorial/Kathy Orta Style” by @myserenitycrafts for this album and wanted to share the links with you. Happy Crafting!

• Baby Mini Tutorial/Kathy Orta Style Part 1
• Baby Mini Tutorial/Kathy Orta Style Part 2
• Baby Mini Tutorial/Kathy Orta Style Part 3
• Baby Mini Tutorial/Kathy Orta Style Part 4
• Baby Mini Tutorial/Kathy Orta Style Part 5

Envelope Mini Album – Kathy Orta Style

Over the last week and a half, I have been spending a lot of time on YouTube looking for fun stuff to make. One of the videos I came across was an Envelope Mini Album by Kathy Orta.

After watching the video, I knew it was a project I had to try. I also wanted to use black envelopes, if for no other reason than to help hide any mistakes I may have made. LOL It took a while to track down a pack of envelopes, but finally after a trip to Michael’s, I came home with the Recollections A7 envelope pack. I followed most of Kathy’s sizing directions, although I had to make a few tweaks along the way. I am really happy with the look of this album. The paper is Recollections 12″ x 12″ Habitat paper pad, which is absolutely Yummy! I also used a Martha Stewart edge punch throughout the book.

Without further adieu – here is my album.

Front cover:

Inside cover and page 1:

Page 2 and 3 – as seen when first opening the book:

Pages 2 and 3 again showing the inside of the card insert as well as the large tag:

Pages 4 and 5 with the tags and booklets:

Page 6 and 7, one of my favorite spreads:

Page 8 and 9:

Pages 10 and 11:

Page 12 and 13, another favorite:

Pages 14 and 15 with the tags and booklet:

Page 16 and 17:

Pages 18 and the back inside cover:

As you can see, there is a TON of room for pictures and journaling in this album! Below, you can see that every photo tag in the album has a journaling page on the reverse side. I also have smaller journal pages to slip in where they are needed or wanted. All of these were created on Word and printed onto white card stock. Some of the smaller pages resemble three ring binder paper, while others to look like they came from a spiral notebook.

The large pocket tags:

Here are the dimensions for my large tags (this piece is not to width of course, I was just checking to see how close to the top I wanted the pattern paper):

For the card inserts, Kathy suggests using an envelope that is a little smaller, I believe it was an A6 size. I don’t have any other black envelopes, so I had to improvise. I made the double pockets along the same line as the center pocket page. Starting with a piece of 5 ½” x 6” card stock, score each side at 3/8”, and another score 2 ½” from the bottom to create the second pocket. Adhere the piece to your card making sure to use a bead of glue along the back side to close the bottom of the pocket.

After getting this glued down, then you can go in to add your pattern paper on all three sections.

Here’s one more little tip that I changed after seeing it on a video. To close up the bottom of large tag pocket, Kathy scored the paper just once. Another crafter said (And I’m sorry I just don’t remember what video that was on, but GREAT idea!) when she scored the paper, she added an 1/8” gusset for the bottom. This way it allows for the extra thickness of all that cardstock. In the image below you can SORTA see what I’m talking about with the extra thickness.

The Flashback Friday Envelope Mini Album Binding

The material used for the binding of the book is something that scared me the most – Duct Tape! I was pleasantly surprised when it worked so well! I only wasted 1 strip of tape and the binding turned out great. Now, because I wasn’t thinking things through far enough when I added front and back covers, I do not have a way to add (and hide) a strip of ribbon to clean up the front of the book. I won’t make that mistake again! However, I may add another little pocket for a gift tag and explanation on how to use the album. That way I can hide the ribbon under that without making the inside look too funky.

Well! That was a super fun project to do! This mini album is a Christmas gift, but I think I will make another one at some point for my wedding pictures. Thank you, for stopping by and if you make an album like this, please let me know so I can take a peek at it!! I also want to thank Kathy Orta for her amazing creativity!

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Thank you for joining me for today’s Flashback Friday Envelope Mini Album post. This was a labor of love for sure. It turned out so pretty I didn’t really want to give it away. Unfortunately, the recipient was not with us Christmas Day, but I know she loved it. Have you ever tried making one of Kathy Orta’s mini albums? Let me know in the comments below and share a link if you have one! If you would like to check out a few of the mini albums already on the blog, you can find them here: Mini Album/Folio. Until then, have a wonderful weekend!

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